Could Disney unload the ABC O&Os?

[mre29 1537]

 

You'd be surprised. I work on a college campus, and I was overhearing conversation among a large group of female students excitedly talking about "The Vampire Diaries" and "Supernatural." I would say that The CW doesn't have a broad appeal, but their laser sharp focus on older teen and twenty-something female viewers does seem to work to some degree.

 

I'd say it's more accurate to call the CW the young adult channel, as its target audience is the 18-30 (35?) range.

[channel2 979]

A network not having O&Os has happened before; The WB never had any O&Os (Tribune's stations didn't count; Tribune held only an equity stake).

 

Disney should unload ABC, but I do wonder how viable it is on its own, or even in combination with ABC Studios and Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Broadcast television has seen better days, and Disney would hold onto more valuable things like the cable channels.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

I just can't see it. If Iger is dumb enough to unload the stations, then he should spin-off the network too. Everything should be in one package deal and not separate. Possibly being the only network without O&Os. That's more foreign than most, I tell you.

 

Sports rights are so expensive, it's hard for me to see how ABC works without O&O TV stations and common ownership with ESPN. Without sports and without Disney produced series, what do we have? Reality shows and infomercials?

 

On the plus side, maybe under new management we go back to the "old" ABC, which gave us all kinds of interesting programs that were entertaining in their time and day. Say what you will about the Six Million Dollar Man and Charlie's Angels, but those shows created a lot of buzz.

 

But, you need $$$$ to do that and without cable $$$$ or money coming in from the O&O's,I think that woiuld be hard to do.

[sanewsguy 511]

Sinclair would love to have ABC. Give it to them and spin off the smaller market stations. Also watch ABC's news coverage go from left to right.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Sinclair would love to have ABC. Give it to them and spin off the smaller market stations. Also watch ABC's news coverage go from left to right.

 

I would like something straight down the middle, skeptical of all. Even that would qualify as right wing in the current environment.

 

But Ring of Honor five nights a week?

[BehindNYNews 147]

 

Even that would qualify as right wing in the current environment.

 

Sadly so true.

[NYNewser_676 26]

A network not having O&Os has happened before; The WB never had any O&Os (Tribune's stations didn't count; Tribune held only an equity stake).

 

Disney should unload ABC, but I do wonder how viable it is on its own, or even in combination with ABC Studios and Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Broadcast television has seen better days, and Disney would hold onto more valuable things like the cable channels.

And look where the WB is now...

[CircleSeven 1955]

 

Sinclair would love to have ABC. Give it to them and spin off the smaller market stations. Also watch ABC's news coverage go from left to right.

 

You know they would love to have all of those stations. They would love to grab every station in the land if they had the guts too. But I wouldn't give those devilish bastards shit. Over my dead body if Sincrap comes to WABC, WLS and the rest.

 

You can't run the TV stations you already have efficiently, and those devils continue with that compulsive 25-month 100+ station buying spree, why in the hell you want to buy THE largest and most profitable station group in the land?

[Big Country News 435]

There's a lot of Sevens in that bundle. Who's to say that Sunbeam isn't a possible buyer? *Mass Sarcasm*

[Weeters 1916]

 

ok can we please stop with the sinclair conspiracies please? TVNT is becoming a parody of itself any time someone says "station for sale". I don't think Sinclair's strategy is to take over a large group of top market stations. I don't think any one buyer would buy all the ABC O&O's in one piece. I don't think anyone could afford them all.

[sanewsguy 511]

 

 

ok can we please stop with the sinclair conspiracies please? TVNT is becoming a parody of itself any time someone says "station for sale". I don't think Sinclair's strategy is to take over a large group of top market stations. I don't think any one buyer would buy all the ABC O&O's in one piece. I don't think anyone could afford them all.

 

No one's going to buy the O&Os without buying the network and it would probably be some mass conglomerate before a local station operator. Was just having some fun, that's all.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Sadly so true.

 

Check this out. "Chyron of the Day" (see lower right hand corner).

 

Orwellian.

 

 

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2013/10/18/chryon-of-the-day/

[Rusty Muck 4378]

Count me in among those who find this possibility of ABC unloading their O&Os hard to believe. A network needs to have O&Os in order to have internal stability and branding/standardization purposes. Otherwise you would have UPN post-2001, when Fox outbid Viacom for the United Television group, and thus had a majority of one network's largest affiliates be owned by another network.

 

It should also be noted that ABC, CBS and NBC no longer have their original heritage radio networks under their original configuration. The "CBS Radio Network" only exists in their radio news service, as WestwoodOne (the former Dial Global) absorbed their sports play-by-play coverage and distribution/ad sales rights years ago. The CBS Radio station GROUP is still 100% owned by CBS, and I consider that a different entity (some people have been speculating for awhile that CBS wants to sell that off).

 

ABC still manages their radio news services, but Cumulus Media handles distribution/ad sales. When Cumulus Media announced that they were buying WestwoodOne, it was fueled by speculation that Cumulus would wholesale switch affiliations on their stations from ABC to either NBC or CBS, as their current affiliation agreement with ABC lasts until sometime next year.

[Breaking News 830]

Newsblues Headline 10.21.13

Latest rumor: Sinclair to operate Disney ABC O&Os

 

Pls NO!

[DirtyHarry 727]

So they own more TV stations? So what! Tell me how Sinclair owning more stations changes anybody's daily life. It's mostly unwatchable syndicated crap anyway. And when they do show movies, they've become so commercial-laden anymore as to render movies unwatchable unless you DVR them.

 

It would be completely different if local TV were still going strong and they were doing this to eliminate all the local programming. I would agree with you guys then. But TV in its current configuration is a wasteland - Sinclair can buy them all as far as I'm concerned.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

So they own more TV stations? So what! Tell me how Sinclair owning more stations changes anybody's daily life. It's mostly unwatchable syndicated crap anyway. And when they do show movies, they've become so commercial-laden anymore as to render movies unwatchable unless you DVR them.

 

It would be completely different if local TV were still going strong and they were doing this to eliminate all the local programming. I would agree with you guys then. But TV in its current configuration is a wasteland - Sinclair can buy them all as far as I'm concerned.

 

It's pretty clear that I'm no fan of Sinclair, but for their sake, acquiring those stations would be a fatally stupid mistake for them to make. The amount of debt they would have to take on to acquire those stations (It would easily be in the billions) would be hard to recover from, no matter how much they think they'll make on the retransmission fees. It would sink the company or at the very least make them go into bankruptcy.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

It's pretty clear that I'm no fan of Sinclair, but for their sake, acquiring those stations would be a fatally stupid mistake for them to make. The amount of debt they would have to take on to acquire those stations (It would easily be in the billions) would be hard to recover from, no matter how much they think they'll make on the retransmission fees. It would sink the company or at the very least make them go into bankruptcy.

 

I always laughed at this phenomenon. When a big company loses money, they can borrow money for years and the bankers keep them afloat. You and I get two months behind on our cable bill and they pull the plug.

 

Sears/Kmart has been losing money for at least a decade and someone just gave them a billion dollar loan.

 

Sinclair will be around for a long time even if they do lose money.

[DirtyHarry 727]

Let's look at things rationally here. Look at the crap on every station's schedule. Ellen, Dr. Phil, Maury, Jerry, etc. That's why I can't get upset if Sinclair takes it all. 90% of programming is crap ....

 

Does it really matter who replays The Simpsons and Two and a Half Men and gets to sell commercial time for the privilege of doing so?

 

=======

 

Here's tonight's schedule for WSYX:

 

5:00P - ABC 6 News at 5 6:00P - ABC 6 News at 6 6:30P - ABC World News with Diane Sawyer 7:00P - Entertainment Tonight 7:30P - Access Hollywood 8:00P - Dancing With the Stars 10:00P - Castle 11:00P - ABC 6 News at 11 11:35P - Jimmy Kimmel Live 12:39A - Nightline

 

Here's tonight's schedule for WTTE:

 

5:00P - The Simpsons 5:30P - Two And A Half Men 6:00P - The Big Bang Theory 6:30P - Modern Family 7:00P - Modern Family 7:30P - The Big Bang Theory 8:00P - Bones 9:00P - Sleepy Hollow 10:00P - FOX 28 News at 10 11:00P - The Arsenio Hall Show 12:00A - Two And A Half Men

[Daybreak 288]

I wanted to so hope this is a rumor but it seems to get more real everyday. I hate to say but this to me is a real stupid idea.

[Samantha 2896]

If Sinclair attempts to buy the ABC O&Os they will break the bank on their coverage cap, it won't be grandfathered and it will cost billions. The stations are so high-profile that a lot of attention from national groups would be attracted to the acquisition. A Sinclair-ABC deal will make the Gannett-Belo, Tribune-Local TV and Sinclair-Allbritton deals seem like small fries in terms of attention. It'd be the first time in eons that television stations of such enormous value as WABC or WLS or WPVI would be sold. (I can only think of NBC buying WCAU as something coming close in value in the top five markets, and even then that was one station 18 years ago.)

[Rusty Muck 4378]

I always laughed at this phenomenon. When a big company loses money, they can borrow money for years and the bankers keep them afloat. You and I get two months behind on our cable bill and they pull the plug.

 

Sears/Kmart has been losing money for at least a decade and someone just gave them a billion dollar loan.

 

Sinclair will be around for a long time even if they do lose money.

And Clear Channel has been stuck in the arms of Bain Capital for close to seven years. Bain can't get rid of CC, even if they wanted to. It's the mother of all toxic assets in mass media.

 

Favoritism doesn't extend to all companies.

[Rusty Muck 4378]

Newsblues Headline 10.21.13

Latest rumor: Sinclair to operate Disney ABC O&Os[/size]

 

Pls NO!

Just because its a rumor doesn't mean it's going to happen.

 

As I posted earlier, people still keep posting unsubstantiated rumors that CBS will sell off the remainder of their radio unit to Cumulus. Never mind that such a sale is utterly impossible due to massive amount of market overlap in virtually every major market that both companies have a stake in, and few if any would be able to afford any displaced or spun off stations.

 

But that doesn't stop people from treating that rumor as 100% fact.

 

This rumor really has nothing to stand on, yet people will keep spreading it like the gospel truth in the coming weeks and months.

[NewsMaster 226]

 

Just because its a rumor doesn't mean it's going to happen.

 

As I posted earlier, people still keep posting unsubstantiated rumors that CBS will sell off the remainder of their radio unit to Cumulus. Never mind that such a sale is utterly impossible due to massive amount of market overlap in virtually every major market that both companies have a stake in, and few if any would be able to afford any displaced or spun off stations.

 

But that doesn't stop people from treating that rumor as 100% fact.

 

This rumor really has nothing to stand on, yet people will keep spreading it like the gospel truth in the coming weeks and months.

 

Agreed. Plus, as stated earlier, even if Sinclair doesn't own the ABC O&O's, if they operate them, they will still have to count them as if they owned them, which puts them way over the 39% cap even with the UHF discount. So I think that such rumors can safely be dismissed.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

First and foremost, It's just rumors. if ABC wants to sell the O&Os, sell KFSN and WTVD and keep the other six top market ABC O&Os and focus on possibly purchasing WJLA (if that happens).

[Thundershock MN 169]

Anyway, I still don't think ABC will dump the stations despite challenges they have now, I just can't say ABC dumping their stations while they're on the top. It is stupid to get rid of the stations and not the network. I don't think it's ever heard of ever. The radio, I probably understood that, but the eight TV stations, which are cash-cows of their own, i just can't see any other group or an entirely new firm come and acquire the ABC stations as it with a price range that's not even close to the Tribune/Local TV deal. I just can't see it. If Iger is dumb enough to unload the stations, then he should spin-off the network too. Everything should be in one package deal and not separate. Possibly being the only network without O&Os. That's more foreign than most, I tell you.

 

Should the inevitability occur, Iger is making a gigantous mistake. But I don't think it's going to happen.

Buy low, sell high. Might as well look to cash out on top instead of on the way down.

 

Yes, the ABC O&O's make wads of cash. But, unless you are backing up a damn Brinks truck loaded to the hilt Mickey is really not going to be impressed.

 

I always laughed at this phenomenon. When a big company loses money, they can borrow money for years and the bankers keep them afloat. You and I get two months behind on our cable bill and they pull the plug.

 

Sears/Kmart has been losing money for at least a decade and someone just gave them a billion dollar loan.

 

Sinclair will be around for a long time even if they do lose money.

It's called collateral. Sears Holdings real estate is quite valuable.

 

I made this comparison before. Again, a bit apples and oranges. But, The physical assets (ie: real estate) Sears Holdings owns are potentially worth more than the business as a whole. Plus, they have already stripped away the IP of their private labels (Kenmore, Craftsman & DieHard) into a separate shell. So, if they make some money on their retail operations, cool. But, if the **bleep** hits the fan they sell the real estate (or, forfeit to the banks), pocket the cash and walk away along with the crown jewels of Kenmore, Craftsman & DieHard to boot.

 

SInclair is simlar in that the spectrum they are purchasing is highly valuable "real estate". If the **bleep** hits the fan they (or, the banks) could offer up all the stations in the incentive auction. They could then "repack" the stations offered up on the frequencies of other stations they own. Then use the cash from the incentive auction to pay down debt and still potentially walk away with a chuck of change. Basically allowing them to have their cake and eat it, too.

 

^In either case the banks are secured. That's why banks are willing to loan the Sears' and Sinclair's of the world gobs of cash because for the most part their *** is covered.

 

Your cable bill is an unsecured debt the only recourse they have is cutting you off.

 

Just because its a rumor doesn't mean it's going to happen.

 

As I posted earlier, people still keep posting unsubstantiated rumors that CBS will sell off the remainder of their radio unit to Cumulus. Never mind that such a sale is utterly impossible due to massive amount of market overlap in virtually every major market that both companies have a stake in, and few if any would be able to afford any displaced or spun off stations.

 

But that doesn't stop people from treating that rumor as 100% fact.

 

This rumor really has nothing to stand on, yet people will keep spreading it like the gospel truth in the coming weeks and months.

I totally agree with the first sentence.

 

However, It's not really like someone just dreamed this up out of thin air Jimmy Cieloha-style. As has been stated here Disney under Iger is much different than Disney under Eisner. This has been floating around since at least 2008. Iger did nothing to shoot down the rumors in March 2010 when he stated "There are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not" when asked about spinning off or selling ABC at a shareholders meeting. Then the cat was seemingly let out of the bag on a deal by the former administrative assistant of Disney's Head of Corporate Communications in a insider-trading scandel 2 months later. So, I wouldn't say it has nothing to stand on. There is obviously something to this.

 

That Iger is apparently testing the waters again in a hot market shouldn't be all that shocking.

 

Agreed. Plus, as stated earlier, even if Sinclair doesn't own the ABC O&O's, if they operate them, they will still have to count them as if they owned them, which puts them way over the 39% cap even with the UHF discount. So I think that such rumors can safely be dismissed.

LMA's, etc. don't count towards ownership limits/caps. They do on the radio side but, not on the TV side.