Allbritton could be selling too.......

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

And lest we forget, Sinclair suddenly started demanding recently to have WTTG removed from area Baltimore cable systems. Of course, it could be totally unrelated.

 

I love the fact that the owners of WBFF who believe in a philosophy of "limited government interference" want the FCC to interfere in what the suburbs of Maryland can carry on their cable systems.

 

It would be shocking if I already knew that they're just BS artists who don't believe in anything they air and are just looking out for their own self-interests.

 

It's also interesting that the Anne Arundel and Howard County executives are stepping in pleading the FCC to deny Sinclair's request. I think they're right, WTTG probably gets a lot of viewers in these counties because residents in those counties commute to both Baltimore and DC.

[CircleSeven 1945]

I love the fact that the owners of WBFF who believe in a philosophy of "limited government interference" want the FCC to interfere in what the suburbs of Maryland can carry on their cable systems.

 

It would be shocking if I already knew that they're just BS artists who don't believe in anything they air and are just looking out for their own self-interests.

 

It's also interesting that the Anne Arundel and Howard County executives are stepping in pleading the FCC to deny Sinclair's request. I think they're right, WTTG probably gets a lot of viewers in these counties because residents in those counties commute to both Baltimore and DC.

________________________

 

The Baltimore Sun posted that Sinclair's flagship station WBFF 45 has filed a petition to the FCC to have Washington's Fox O&O WTTG 5 blocked from the counties of Ann Arundel, Harford & Howard counties in Maryland. Sinclair states that WBFF wants to block WTTG because is no longer "significantly viewed" in those counties. But a county executive in Ann Arundel county filed a petition to deny the block, stating that her county benefits both WBFF & WTTG.

 

This is similar to what happen when WISN 12 tried to block WLS in Racine County, WI. And they lost that fight.

Exactly!!! I stated this last week. It's similar to Hearst trying to pull WLS from the TWC systems in Racine County (south of Milwaukee), and lost. I have a feeling Sinclair will lose this fight as well. It's very difficult to fight and when many who probably work in either DC or B-more city, and would probably benefit for both stations. Are those folks from central Jersey stations are fighting to remove one of those channels away, while all the stations involved (in NY & Philly) are owned by the network? Hell NO!

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

 

Exactly!!! I stated this last week. It's similar to Hearst trying to pull WLS from the TWC systems in Racine County (south of Milwaukee), and lost. I have a feeling Sinclair will lose this fight as well. It's very difficult to fight and when many who probably work in either DC or B-more city, and would probably benefit for both stations. Are those folks from central Jersey stations are fighting to remove one of those channels away, while all the stations involved (in NY & Philly) are owned by the network? Hell NO!

 

Another thing that Howard and Anne Arundel county can use is that blacking out WTTG will negatively impact Redskins fans who wouldn't be able to watch the game on WBFF (due to some Ravens conflict, etc.).

 

I can't see how WBFF can win this case.

[DirtyHarry 720]

 

 

Exactly!!! I stated this last week. It's similar to Hearst trying to pull WLS from the TWC systems in Racine County (south of Milwaukee), and lost. I have a feeling Sinclair will lose this fight as well. It's very difficult to fight and when many who probably work in either DC or B-more city, and would probably benefit for both stations. Are those folks from central Jersey stations are fighting to remove one of those channels away, while all the stations involved (in NY & Philly) are owned by the network? Hell NO!

 

Attention Sinclair haters: This is normal in the TV business. Who wants the competition taking their viewers away when they can have exclusive rights to a market. Everybody loves a monopoly. Columbus cable companies used to air WUAB from Cleveland and WXIX from Cincinnati back in the old days. Today, they are nowhere to be found because of the same phenomenon. I don't know that it's such a big deal, either. I remember the big thrill I used to get during Tropo season DX-ing stations from adjacent markets. They had unique programming, and a unique flavor back in the old days. Now you get another set of channels and it's like, so what? Rikki Lake on three different stations?

 

I was going to upgrade my outdoor antenna because I've been led to believe that I will be able to receive Dayton stations if I do. The only advantage I can see is in watching sports, especially during football season, where the Dayton channels carry different games than the Columbus channels do. Otherwise, don't really see much benefit.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

Attention Sinclair haters: This is normal in the TV business. Who wants the competition taking their viewers away when they can have exclusive rights to a market. Everybody loves a monopoly. Columbus cable companies used to air WUAB from Cleveland and WXIX from Cincinnati back in the old days. Today, they are nowhere to be found because of the same phenomenon. I don't know that it's such a big deal, either. I remember the big thrill I used to get during Tropo season DX-ing stations from adjacent markets. They had unique programming, and a unique flavor back in the old days. Now you get another set of channels and it's like, so what? Rikki Lake on three different stations?

 

I was going to upgrade my outdoor antenna because I've been led to believe that I will be able to receive Dayton stations if I do. The only advantage I can see is in watching sports, especially during football season, where the Dayton channels carry different games than the Columbus channels do. Otherwise, don't really see much benefit.

 

As I said before, the main issue would be losing local DC news as well as guaranteed access to Redskins games. Considering that these counties in question are halfway between Baltimore and DC, residents in these counties have interest and are influenced by both regions. WBFF can't carry all of them because the Baltimore Ravens are in the same market. If the Redskins are playing at the same time as a Ravens home game, those Redskins fans in Howard and Anne Arundel County would be screwed because WBFF wouldn't be able to air it because of the NFL's archaic TV rules concerning Ravens (or any team for that matter) home game in that market.

 

Howard and Anne Arudel County have quite a strong case in why WTTG shouldn't be blacked out.

[Rusty Muck 4248]

Attention Sinclair haters: This is normal in the TV business. Who wants the competition taking their viewers away when they can have exclusive rights to a market. Everybody loves a monopoly. Columbus cable companies used to air WUAB from Cleveland and WXIX from Cincinnati back in the old days. Today, they are nowhere to be found because of the same phenomenon. I don't know that it's such a big deal, either. I remember the big thrill I used to get during Tropo season DX-ing stations from adjacent markets. They had unique programming, and a unique flavor back in the old days. Now you get another set of channels and it's like, so what? Rikki Lake on three different stations?

 

I was going to upgrade my outdoor antenna because I've been led to believe that I will be able to receive Dayton stations if I do. The only advantage I can see is in watching sports, especially during football season, where the Dayton channels carry different games than the Columbus channels do. Otherwise, don't really see much benefit.

That this comes mere months after Sinclair bought WUTB from WTTG's owners, guaranteeing them a quadopoly in the market? That's no coincidence.

[CircleSeven 1945]

 

That this comes mere months after Sinclair bought WUTB from WTTG's owners, guaranteeing them a quadopoly in the market? That's no coincidence.

 

You mean triopoly?

[Rusty Muck 4248]

You mean triopoly?

Yeah. My bad. It only seems like they have four Baltimore stations.

[CircleSeven 1945]

 

Yeah. My bad. It only seems like they have four Baltimore stations.

 

I'm not mad at you. It'll be like a distant "quadopoly" of sorts, once they get WJLA. What if Scripps do the same thing to them and try to get WJLA off of certain overlap counties? Talk about a taste of their own medicine. They'll be the first one to comment against that POD. They can't get pissed off about that. You strongly need that DC-B-more connection because of heavy folks who commute to and from those both cities, there's need for news in both those markets, especially for folks who live in between that 50 mile stretch from B-more and DC. And what Sinclair wants to do is to eliminate another voice. That's a lovely way to stab Fox in the back after they gave you WUTB. I still think the FCC will shoot down their request. Yes I understand many stations have lost their coverage area after the 2009 DTV transition, even if that station was "significantly viewed" in those affected counties.

 

Instead of killing off WTTG, why don't you extend the current NewsChannel 8 into the Baltimore cable systems so the Northern sections of that state can benefit while they make their commute to DC, similar to Belo's NWCN. Heavy commuters from both markets would benefit from this. But this just another way to describe how greedy these bastards are. SMH.

[montydavis 7]

Question. Once the sale of Allbritton to Sinclair is finalized, what will happen to stations like WTAT in Charleston that receive their news programming from WCSC? Will there be an immediate change for WCIV to provide the news?

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

Question. Once the sale of Allbritton to Our Lord and Savior is finalized, what will happen to stations like WTAT in Charleston that receive their news programming from WCSC? Will there be an immediate change for WCIV to provide the news?

 

Most likely a very quick change. I think you'll hear Raycom complaining, even though WCSC dominates ratings in Charleston.

[Samantha 2878]

Fun fact: KDBC translator KKNJ in Alamogordo, NM, changed its callsign five different times in the year 2006:

 

K36CK -> KCWI-LP -> KDMI-LP -> KCWI-LP -> KPWB-LP -> KKNJ-LP

 

I assume this was Pappas trying to park some call letters on its LPTV. It switched to KPWB on the day its Des Moines CW outlet became (!) KCWI, and it switched from KDMI to KCWI when channel 56 in Des Moines took on those calls. (KDMI also oscillated between KDMI and KCWI.)

[Rusty Muck 4248]

It's been posted on the general S!nclair thread, but the Allbritton-S!nclair deal was just docketed by the FCC.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

I know it is highly unlikely, but if the deal is denied, I wonder what happens to the Allbritton stations? There is no one I know who can take them whole without any shells or divestitures and be able to afford the price tag (likely about $800M in that case).

[d247 43]

Have any public notices aired yet? KTUL aired theirs a few minutes ago.

[broadcastfan9751 136]

Free Press now plans to file a petition to deny the deal.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

It definitely is emotionally an unpopular deal, but from a straight legal perspective:

 

WJLA, WSET, KTUL, KATV - No other Sinclair assets exist in those markets, so there are no legal obstacles in the way.

 

WCIV - Neither current Sinclair stations in that market runs their own newscast. WCSC currently does the newscasts for WTAT, which presumably would become WCIV doing it after the sale. WCSC already is the dominant station there so the change is minimal. It's a barely top 100 market with Sinclair owning the #3, 4 and 5 stations and the news operation total remaining at three, so the damage isn't as great as it could be.

 

WBMA et al - Similar situation as Charleston. Neither WTTO/WDBB nor WABM do newscasts and they are the #5 and 6 stations in the market. The news operation difference would be minimized as a result - 4 separate operations remain.

 

WHTM - The big problem. Since it is likely that the WHTM (#2) and WHP (#3) news operations would merge and the stations combined, one voice would be lost in the Susquehanna Valley. Given that they are both top-4 stations in a top-50 market, that should not be permitted. Sinclair also operates the Nexstar-owned #5 station in the market, WLYH, who are tied to WHP for news. Net loss of one operation (down to three basically).

 

Conclusion: At a minimum, WHTM should be forced to be divested with no Sinclair control permitted.

[sanewsguy 509]

WCIV - Neither current My Little Pony stations in that market runs their own newscast. WCSC currently does the newscasts for WTAT, which presumably would become WCIV doing it after the sale. WCSC already is the dominant station there so the change is minimal. It's a barely top 100 market with My Little Pony owning the #3, 4 and 5 stations and the news operation total remaining at three, so the damage isn't as great as it could be.

 

Conclusion: At a minimum, WHTM should be forced to be divested with no My Little Pony control permitted.

 

Anti-Sinnclair bias alert!

 

Seriously though, the first bolded reference is self-explanatory. Now the second one, wouldn't you think S.B.G. would keep the higher rated WHTM and sell WHP? You want the higher rated to go to someone else, I see your motive there...

 

And of course you went along with the word filter...

 

[channel2 880]

If they had to get rid of any of the HLLY stations without controlling them, it would be less of a headache to keep the WHP-WLYH operation going than to change that up...

[bhratbrat 423]

Its all depending on what Sinclair (a.k.a. Mid Atlantic Broadcasting Company) is willing to do.

[broadcastfan9751 136]

The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition has filed a Petition to Deny the deal, asking the FCC to designate the application for hearing to determine whether Sinclair is qualified to hold a broadcast license, and whether Sinclair's planned SSAs violate FCC rules. It also claims that the FCC has not yet acted upon a Petition for Reconsideration of some Sinclair applications from the early 2000s.

[hathawaynson2 38]

The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition has filed a Petition to Deny the deal, asking the FCC to designate the application for hearing to determine whether Sinclair is qualified to hold a broadcast license, and whether Sinclair's planned SSAs violate FCC rules. It also claims that the FCC has not yet acted upon a Petition for Reconsideration of some Sinclair applications from the early 2000s.

 

hmmmm.....lets see, is Sinclair even capable of holding a broadcasting license after the fact that they went on a shopping spree? Personally speaking and looking through the transfer of control paperwork, I would find them physically unfit to hold an license. But, that's realy up to the FCC to decide.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

hmmmm.....lets see, is Sinclair even capable of holding a broadcasting license after the fact that they went on a shopping spree?

 

Rhetorical question.

 

They are fit of holding a broadcast license because they follow the law. Plain and simple.

[Rusty Muck 4248]

Rhetorical question.

 

They are fit of holding a broadcast license because they follow the law. Plain and simple.

And considering that Rainbow/PUSH is helmed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, I really am not surprised by that filing. The cynic in me says it is politcally motivated, as much as S!nclair's news coverage is politically motivated.

 

And if you want to redress grievances, take it to the legislators who wrote the T-Com Act of 1996 and President Clinton, who signed it into law. But the genie left the bottle a long time ago on this one. The FCC has generally rubber-stamped M&As over the past decade +, and likely will still continue despite this recent spate of docketing.

 

If the NBC Universal/Comcast M&A could be rubber stamped with little to no opposition, then anything can get through the FCC.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

It's a frivolous and politically motivated move. Not that I am a fan of Sinclair and their political actions, but they shouldn't go by that ruling. It is a private company after all.