Meredith to buy KMOV, KTVK

[C Block 1488]

 

I see an angry lady and an angry station out of this.

 

1) Katie Horner. She is probably in a position where she needs to start sending resumes out again since she is not well liked at Meredith.

 

2) KPHO. Given their higher quality product despite being an independent, maybe Meredith will keep the KTVK staff and building, use that for a base and perhaps the KPHO staff are expendable? Some duopolies are very well done (such as the Denver and St. Louis Tribune duopolies) while many others are horribly managed.

 

I don't know if I would say that the KDVR-KWGN merger was well done, or at least not initially. KDVR saw some minor cuts (including, oddly enough, the layoff of Chris Dunn, who's now at KPHO), but KWGN was pretty much cut to the bone. Most of the off air staff was dismissed, and all but a few on-air talent were carried over to the merged operation. Not only that, but the combined newsroom was subjected to truly horrible leadership from an unforgiving GM who pushed a really poorly thought-out branding strategy, especially for KWGN (remember the Deuce orbs?). Morale was pretty low over there until a new GM, ND, and rebrand brought the two stations on the right path. Right now, I think both stations turned out okay, and I think they put out a pretty good product, but KWGN, and to a lesser extent, KDVR, look nothing like what they did five years ago. I miss the days of having yet one more news choice in town (and I always loved watching KWGN as the underdog), but I guess duopolies are just a reality.

 

So from what I would guess, two things might happen: KTVK will be gracefully integrated into KPHO's operations and become the KCAL to KCBS with only minor cuts, or the duopoly will follow most other cities' duopoly paths, where one station is cut to the bone and is used mostly as an extension of the parent station's news brand.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

KMOV hasn't mentioned a peep about this deal on either their website or their newscasts.

 

However it looks like KPHO and KTVK both did earlier.

 

http://www.kpho.com/story/24288740/meredith-to-expand-phoenix-tv-presence-with-purchase-of-ktvk

 

http://www.azfamily.com/news/business/Meredith-to-buy-3-Gannett-television-stations-237030781.html

 

I wonder why KMOV hasn't reported on this yet?

[TVIntheDesert 183]

Looking at the subchannel situation in St. Louis, I don't think Meredith will mess with Me-TV (they've probably heard about the Dallas uproar), but given the company's nonexistent relationship with ABC, LiveWell will be dropped. The reason: "we need extra bandwidth available in case Dyle expands."

 

In the past few months, LiveWell has lost two Scripps markets (and they have a great relationship with ABC). I wonder what this means for the future of that network.

[Samantha 2878]

"There are many questions that people have about this deal, and so do we. (That's right, and there's a lot of speculation around.)" The KPHO anchors themselves characterized this as a "very long transition" and hinted that they, too, have some questions. (So did Javier Pasmore on 3TV.)

 

Wow, KTVK barely covered it. The Bloomberg reporter failed to note that Meredith already owned channel 5, as well. I recorded a newscast from all five Phoenix stations today: KTVK's 4:30 hour didn't cover it (KPHO did at 5pm).

[Thundershock MN 169]

 

And see, while it's absolutely the best case scenario for St. Louis, this is almost a worst case scenario for Phoenix. At least under Sander we had guarantees that KTVK/KASW were to be run separately. That looks like it isn't happening now.

 

One thing to note: today Meredith held a conference call to discuss the acquisitions. The transcript will be up on this page within 48 hours.

 

Not directed at you but just a general comment...Be careful what you wish for. Although, the Sander/Gannett arrangement in Phoenix was less then ideal I think it would have been a better deal for all involved compared to what we now have. The end result is still the same, a virtual triopoly. The difference being Sander/Gannett at least had reason to maintain some semblance of two distinct operations. Meredith doesn't and will surely move to consolidate into one operation. And, with the way this deal is structured it seems destined for a rubber stamp.

 

 

Meredith is such a bottom-line-before-everything-else oriented company that it wouldn't make $en$e for them to keep two newsrooms open. These are two well-established news stations, and a lot of people will be on the street after the integration is completed.

 

The upside is that KPHO can start simulcasting the cable-only "Arizona News Channel" on their 5.2, and they will have a better library of "E/I" shows to meet the "three-hour rule" requirement besides the dated and creepy "Gina D's Kids Club" they currently air.

 

Meredith isn't a bad company. That usually is end result of creating a duopoly when two news producing stations combine. That said a lot of folks are updating their resumes right now.

 

 

good Idea, but last I heard, KTVK used to be the Master Control Hub for the stations that were owned by BELO that merged in Gannett. Has Meredith considered or even thought of this idea before hand? I think it would be a great idea, but I remember that KVVU-TV is the Main hub for KPHO and the two west coast stations it owns.

 

 

KTVK hubbed KMSB and KTTU in Tucson until Belo struck an SSA deal with Raycom. Those were the only stations operating from 5555 N. 7th Avenue.

 

As I mentioned above, KPHO, not KVVU, is the west coast centralcasting hub for Meredith. But, KPHO's studios are in a run-down part of West Central Phoenix.

 

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. But, to the best of my knowledge Belo never did much in the way of hubbing. They attempted one in Seattle that never really went anywhere. And, had the aforementioned hub at KTVK. I don't think Belo did much in the way of automation (at least compared to other station groups), either. I think the folks at the former Belo stations are in for a rude awakening in this regard.

[mre29 1340]

 

KASW still has a great inventory of syndicated shows. But, after The CW closes shop (I do see that happening in 2016, if not sooner), the station will have ten less hours to fill.

 

The KASW license is an attractive property for a Spanish-language broadcaster that is currently relegated to low-power, such as Liberman or Azteca. It probably won't happen until the advent of ATSC 3.0, though.

 

Here's a thought: Why not offer it to one of those Spanish broadcasters now and move the CW to KTVK once the deal is finalized? That way, the triopoly concerns are alleviated, a low-power Spanish-language channel gets a better signal, and Meredith/SagamoreHill earn some goodwill.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

 

Here's a thought: Why not offer it to one of those Spanish broadcasters now and move the CW to KTVK once the deal is finalized? That way, the triopoly concerns are alleviated, a low-power Spanish-language channel gets a better signal, and Meredith/SagamoreHill earn some goodwill.

 

The problem with that is that KTVK's current prime time lineup has better ratings than The CW. They could move "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel" to KPHO, but I don't think they want to.

 

There is always the Cincinnati solution for The CW, which is putting it on a subchannel with NO HD.

[nickp 297]

Let's hope Channel 3 and 5 will become more of a professional news outlet

[hathawaynson2 38]

Let's hope Channel 3 and 5 will become more of a professional news outlet

I hope so too. same way with KMOV, but a much better product.

[TexasTVNews 1366]

If the deal with KTVK (3TV) and KPHO (CBS 5) is official, will the stations continue to run separate newscasts on both stations or will it merge into the largest news organization in the valley?

[T.L. Hughes 752]

No surprise about KMOV (it was exactly what we all speculated, since it seemed very logical), but would KTVK be a legal duopoly (are they 5th or lower in ratings? I suspect with the large Hispanic community they would be) or does Meredith need to start a shell?

First off, I just heard this, and I stated on the Gannett/Belo thread that if Meredith did buy KMOV, Hearst would the odd man out in the M&A craze. Now it is.

 

In regards to Phoenix, apparently, it was KPHO that had the lowest ratings of the two stations. According to the KTVK article on Wikipedia (yes, I know the reliability of the source is questionable, but stay with me on this), KTVK placed among the four highest-rated stations in Phoenix at the time the deal with Meredith was struck, KPHO was in fifth place, thus allowing a legal duopoly to occur.

 

It also cited that KTVK and KPHO (despite the latter having been weaker as a CBS affiliate compared to KSAZ before it switched to Fox) both usually place among the four highest-rated stations among Phoenix's English-language outlets (if it this were the case when the deal was struck, either KTVK or KPHO might have gone to SagamoreHill, already a pretty random choice to sell KASW to since Phoenix is much larger a market than the others SagamoreHill owns stations in, as well). So KTVK is a fairly strong station despite being independent, than even I thought from doing the research on it. Unless it's already been determined, it might not be out of the question that KTVK ends up as the senior partner in the new legal duopoly/virtual triopoly.

 

The article also poses one possible outcome as to whether Meredith could eventually move CBS from KPHO to the stronger KTVK, when or before KPHO's contract is up.

[nickp 297]

If I were Meredith move the CW affiliation to KTVK

[Samantha 2878]

That'd be both surprising (given CBS's successes) and not surprising (given the position KPHO wound up in after the 1994 switches).

[nickp 297]

KPHO has generally been one of CBS's weaker affiliates since the 1994 switch

[TVIntheDesert 183]

I saw no citation for that article on KTVK's Wikipedia entry. It's been my understanding that KPHO has had higher sign-on to sign-off ratings than the local ABC affiliate, KNXV, since the early 2000's. KTVK's ratings have dropped over the years that Belo had owned the station, especially after Oprah left broadcast TV and they lost the Diamondbacks baseball rights. Here's proof (WARNING: large PDF file).

[Samantha 2878]

Thank you for that.

 

Here are the ratings in Phoenix for each of the newscasts then, to save people the difficulty of the PDF and crystallize the picture, in order:

 

Morning 6-7am: 3, 10, 12, 15, 5. 7-9am: 10, closely followed by 3.

Noon: 5, 12, 10 (3 has no midday news, 15 at 11am below others at noon)

5pm: 10, 12, 3, 15, 5 (10 has the highest-rated lead-in, Judge Judy)

6pm (6:30 for KPHO): 12, 5, 10, 15, 3 (that KPHO 6:30 is barely behind 12's 6pm ratings; NBC Nightly News has a higher rating than the other network newscasts combined in Phoenix)

9pm: 10, 3 (two to one)

10pm: 5/12 (tie), 15, 10, 3

 

The 10pm on 3 could definitely go (it hasn't fared that well since its reintroduction). GMAZ is definitely 3's best news program, in a tight race with 10 and superior to 5 from beginning to end. 3 is also beating 5 in the 5pm hour, though the final 30 minutes at 6 aren't doing all that well. KPHO's been winning at midday, 6/6:30 and 10. What's amazing is that every station except 15 leads in something. (And 15 at 10, with a 3.3, isn't that far back from 5 and 12 which both have 3.7s.)

 

In fact, a KTVK/KPHO combination would create a more definitive market leader than anything currently out there, even 12 or 10; each station has a strength where the other doesn't.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

And see, while it's absolutely the best case scenario for St. Louis, this is almost a worst case scenario for Phoenix. At least under Sander we had guarantees that KTVK/KASW were to be run separately. That looks like it isn't happening now.

 

One thing to note: today Meredith held a conference call to discuss the acquisitions. The transcript will be up on this page within 48 hours.

 

There's no transcript yet, but if you have 30 minutes to spare, you can listen to it online:

 

http://www.media-server.com/m/p/u88i7aaf

[T.L. Hughes 752]

 

There's no transcript yet, but if you have 30 minutes to spare, you can listen to it online:

 

http://www.media-server.com/m/p/u88i7aaf

 

I heard the entire thing, a couple of notes: one, KASW was accidentally called KSAW about three times during the conference call (there is a KSAW serves Twin Falls, Idaho as a low-power repeater of Journal's Boise ABC affiliate KIVI). Two, of the questions posed, there wasn't any mention of if the operations of KTVK/KASW and KPHO would be integrated (but considering it's early in the acquisition process, they'll have to sort that out later). They acknowledged that the KMOV deal will likely get the FCC stamp of approval much sooner, but that the KTVK/KASW deal might take more time (closer to the end of the first quarter or second quarter of 2014) due to the structure of that deal and the crossownership issues involved.

 

The deal is problematic, though, given that these are two news-producing stations: the best outcome here if their news departments are merged, would be if Meredith either just merged reporting staffs but keep separate newscasts produced out of separate studios (similar to what Schurz does with its virtual duopolies in Springfield, Missouri and Augusta, Georgia, which are based out of the same building but have their own studios for their newscasts) or structure it like the "First Coast News" operation in Jacksonville (where neither station drops any newscasts but KTVK and KPHO have newscasts that are exclusive to either station in certain timeslots and simulcast newscasts in timeslots where they currently do compete with one another).

[Mrtraveler01 737]

 

I heard the entire thing, a couple of notes: one, KASW was accidentally called KSAW about three times during the conference call (there is a KSAW serves Twin Falls, Idaho as a low-power repeater of Journal's Boise ABC affiliate KIVI). Two, of the questions posed, there wasn't any mention of if the operations of KTVK/KASW and KPHO would be integrated (but considering it's early in the acquisition process, they'll have to sort that out later). They acknowledged that the KMOV deal will likely get the FCC stamp of approval much sooner, but that the KTVK/KASW deal might take more time (closer to the end of the first quarter or second quarter of 2014) due to the structure of that deal and the crossownership issues involved.

 

The deal is problematic, though, given that these are two news-producing stations: the best outcome here if their news departments are merged, would be if Meredith either just merged reporting staffs but keep separate newscasts produced out of separate studios (similar to what Schurz does with its virtual duopolies in Springfield, Missouri and Augusta, Georgia, which are based out of the same building but have their own studios for their newscasts) or structure it like the "First Coast News" operation in Jacksonville (where neither station drops any newscasts but KTVK and KPHO have newscasts that are exclusive to either station in certain timeslots and simulcast newscasts in timeslots where they currently do compete with one another).

 

The other thing I found interesting in that phone conference was when asked if there was a certain threshold that Meredith wanted to reach in terms of a certain percentage of the nationwide TV audience they wanted to reach, they shot that down. Once again emphasizing that they're looking for quality of the stations they're buying instead of just randomly buying any TV station that's for sale.

[Mrtraveler01 737]

I figured I'd post this here instead of starting a new thread for it since it involves KMOV. But it looks like Meredith picked the perfect time to buy KMOV as the gap between KMOV and KSDK is growing wider and wider in the St. Louis market.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/gail-pennington/despite-anchor-changes-kmov-wins-big-in-november/article_11e0f0df-df92-562f-a92a-184d1af9fbfa.html

[Samantha 2878]

Another stat I noticed: 2013 was the best year in the 65-year history of Meredith's Local Media Group. $375 million in revenue, $150 million EBITDA. Wow.

[sanewsguy 509]

Involving KTVK: Do they have their own news helicopter again? I was watching

on Youtube, and I noticed they were reporting from the "Fort McDowell Casino News Chopper" and then they switched to "Chopper 3" aka Chopper 20 (the one they share with KPHO and KPNX). Interesting they have two news helicopters (unless the casino one was KSAZ's chopper and they have an agreement to use both). I thought KTVK dumped theirs in 2009 to pool with KPNX (then KPHO also dumped theirs and joined the pool). I know KSAZ still has theirs and they pool with KNXV. Remember the deadly 2007 chopper incident? It makes no sense for all five news stations to have a chopper there.

 

When Meredith takes over, they will probably dump one of the helicopters. is it really necessary to have two of them? besides, Meredith hates news choppers anyways.

[Samantha 2878]

 

Involving KTVK: Do they have their own news helicopter again? I was watching

on Youtube, and I noticed they were reporting from the "Fort McDowell Casino News Chopper" and then they switched to "Chopper 3" aka Chopper 20 (the one they share with KPHO and KPNX). Interesting they have two news helicopters (unless the casino one was KSAZ's chopper and they have an agreement to use both). I thought KTVK dumped theirs in 2009 to pool with KPNX (then KPHO also dumped theirs and joined the pool). I know KSAZ still has theirs and they pool with KNXV. Remember the deadly 2007 chopper incident? It makes no sense for all five news stations to have a chopper there.

 

When Meredith takes over, they will probably dump one of the helicopters. is it really necessary to have two of them? besides, Meredith hates news choppers anyways.

 

KPHO had a chopper, "NewsHawk 5", pretty soon after they expanded their news department. I think it was in use up until the crash (which didn't affect KPHO but did change the way it was done).

 

I'm not sure why KTVK has an agreement for another chopper, but it does. The chopper is piloted by longtime KTVK pilot-reporter Bruce Haffner. It's not the KSAZ/KNXV chopper. I think it was more for Haffner than anything else.

[jero23 105]

 

Involving KTVK: Do they have their own news helicopter again? I was watching

on Youtube, and I noticed they were reporting from the "Fort McDowell Casino News Chopper" and then they switched to "Chopper 3" aka Chopper 20 (the one they share with KPHO and KPNX). Interesting they have two news helicopters (unless the casino one was KSAZ's chopper and they have an agreement to use both). I thought KTVK dumped theirs in 2009 to pool with KPNX (then KPHO also dumped theirs and joined the pool). I know KSAZ still has theirs and they pool with KNXV. Remember the deadly 2007 chopper incident? It makes no sense for all five news stations to have a chopper there.

 

When Meredith takes over, they will probably dump one of the helicopters. is it really necessary to have two of them? besides, Meredith hates news choppers anyways.

 

 

I don't know about that because their "flagship" station WGCL-TV "CBS Atlanta (46)" in Atlanta has its own news helicopter "SkyEye". It has been in use since the early 00s.

[Thundershock MN 169]

 

First off, I just heard this, and I stated on the Gannett/Belo thread that if Meredith did buy KMOV, Hearst would the odd man out in the M&A craze. Now it is.

 

In regards to Phoenix, apparently, it was KPHO that had the lowest ratings of the two stations. According to the KTVK article on Wikipedia (yes, I know the reliability of the source is questionable, but stay with me on this), KTVK placed among the four highest-rated stations in Phoenix at the time the deal with Meredith was struck, KPHO was in fifth place, thus allowing a legal duopoly to occur.

 

It also cited that KTVK and KPHO (despite the latter having been weaker as a CBS affiliate compared to KSAZ before it switched to Fox) both usually place among the four highest-rated stations among Phoenix's English-language outlets (if it this were the case when the deal was struck, either KTVK or KPHO might have gone to SagamoreHill, already a pretty random choice to sell KASW to since Phoenix is much larger a market than the others SagamoreHill owns stations in, as well). So KTVK is a fairly strong station despite being independent, than even I thought from doing the research on it. Unless it's already been determined, it might not be out of the question that KTVK ends up as the senior partner in the new legal duopoly/virtual triopoly.

 

The article also poses one possible outcome as to whether Meredith could eventually move CBS from KPHO to the stronger KTVK, when or before KPHO's contract is up.

 

As TVInthedesert also points out below I also find that info highly suspect. Whomever posted that was clearly just making crap up (thankfully it's been cleaned up.) The "top four stations" rule is based on total day ratings (ie: sign-on to sign-off) not newscast ratings, primetime, etc. Nor, does the "top four rule" separate stations by language. Those top four spots are usually occupied by the "big 4" affiliate in most markets. But, as Raymie already pointed out earlier in this thread that KTVW does quite well in the market and was ranked #1 in total day ratings a little over 2 years ago. And, I would highly doubt that KTVW has fallen out of the top four since then.

 

 

I saw no citation for that article on KTVK's Wikipedia entry. It's been my understanding that KPHO has had higher sign-on to sign-off ratings than the local ABC affiliate, KNXV, since the early 2000's. KTVK's ratings have dropped over the years that Belo had owned the station, especially after Oprah left broadcast TV and they lost the Diamondbacks baseball rights. Here's proof (WARNING: large PDF file).

 

Thank you. I haven't seen any recent numbers but, I have a hard time believing KTVK is top four in total day. If true their GM (or whomever) needs a bronze statue outside their studios.

 

 

Involving KTVK: Do they have their own news helicopter again? I was watching

on Youtube, and I noticed they were reporting from the "Fort McDowell Casino News Chopper" and then they switched to "Chopper 3" aka Chopper 20 (the one they share with KPHO and KPNX). Interesting they have two news helicopters (unless the casino one was KSAZ's chopper and they have an agreement to use both). I thought KTVK dumped theirs in 2009 to pool with KPNX (then KPHO also dumped theirs and joined the pool). I know KSAZ still has theirs and they pool with KNXV. Remember the deadly 2007 chopper incident? It makes no sense for all five news stations to have a chopper there.

 

When Meredith takes over, they will probably dump one of the helicopters. is it really necessary to have two of them? besides, Meredith hates news choppers anyways.

 

 

KPHO had a chopper, "NewsHawk 5", pretty soon after they expanded their news department. I think it was in use up until the crash (which didn't affect KPHO but did change the way it was done).

 

I'm not sure why KTVK has an agreement for another chopper, but it does. The chopper is piloted by longtime KTVK pilot-reporter Bruce Haffner. It's not the KSAZ/KNXV chopper. I think it was more for Haffner than anything else.

 

I believe the "Fort McDowell Casino" chopper is Haffner's own chopper. If my memory serves me correct... I thought Haffner left KTVK to go start his own aerial production company. It just kinda worked out that Haffner came to an agreement with KTVK to provide aerial coverage for the station. I'd hazard a guess that the agreement with Haffner was so favorable they couldn't turn it down. It's also possible that Haffner isn't providing exclusivity to KTVK since he is using the chopper for his aerial production company and not just leasing it to the station. Therefore, KTVK can't really opt out of the "Chopper 20" agreement if Haffner was off shooting something else for his company they would be stuck with nothing. So, that could explain the two chopper arrangement at KTVK.

 

EDIT: At least my memory isn't failing me. A quick google search turned up an article on Bruce Haffner's new "Chopperguy" venture, a promo on KTVK's site touting their two helicopters and a link to the ChopperGuy website.