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mardek1995

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I figured that since Nexstar's value increased 725% since 2010, combined with the possibility of Nexstar buying Media General (much as we all would hate that), I might as well create this thread and tell everyone that the reason Nexstar's value went so high within 5 years is because localism is back, and we thought localism in broadcasting and in general was dead before the recession hit hard

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If you define "localism" as branding as Local Channel #, having a cheap ass set from FX Group, having one of the older/blander Stephen Arnold Music packages for news music, and having a website name like WeAreCentralPA.com, then yes, localism is back.

 

:rolleyes:

 

Nexstar's increase in value has nothing to do with how they run their stations and everything to do with how many stations they've been acquiring in recent years. I'm sure Sinclair, who has also grown a lot through acquisitions in the past few years, has also seen their value skyrocket. More stations = More $$$

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Apparently not all owners feel that way. Graham Media has been dropping the (cheesy) "Local" branding, including at WKMG/Orlando and KPRC/Houston.

Nexstar clearly doesn't think it's cheesy, in fact, they were inspired by post-newsweek while that group was still using it.

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I figured that since Nexstar's value increased 725% since 2010, combined with the possibility of Nexstar buying Media General (much as we all would hate that), I might as well create this thread and tell everyone that the reason Nexstar's value went so high within 5 years is because localism is back, and we thought localism in broadcasting and in general was dead before the recession hit hard

 

Did we?

 

The reason Nexstar's value is so high is because they've been purchasing stations like crazy and running them all on the cheap. It has nothing to do with slapping the term "Local" on everything or shitty portal websites with long, cheesy names.

 

Perry Sook throws around the term "local(ism)" constantly but I don't think he has any idea what it really means and I doubt he really cares. It's all about delivering maximum value to the shareholders.

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If you define "localism" as branding as Local Channel #, having a cheap ass set from FX Group, having one of the older/blander Stephen Arnold Music packages for news music, and having a website name like WeAreCentralPA.com, then yes, localism is back.

 

:rolleyes:

 

Nexstar's increase in value has nothing to do with how they run their stations and everything to do with how many stations they've been acquiring in recent years. I'm sure Sinclair, who has also grown a lot through acquisitions in the past few years, has also seen their value skyrocket. More stations = More $$$

 

You forgot such crappy slogans as "Keeping it Local", "local news that matters", " ___________ Proud" etc

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If you define "localism" as branding as Local Channel #, having a cheap ass set from FX Group, having one of the older/blander Stephen Arnold Music packages for news music, and having a website name like WeAreCentralPA.com, then yes, localism is back.

More like they hire a person to design news sets for them in-house, and then hire local contractors to build the set on-site for them at the station.

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The value of TV stations since 2010 has been pinned mostly on political and scale (for retrans and centralization purposes), plus the low cost of money making M&A a lot more feasible to fuel economies of scale.

 

The US was different from most countries in developing a television system in which local stations controlled the majority of the broadcast day, which Canada to some extent (and, in part, Argentina, though I think they've kinda gone more toward a stronger network model) adopted. Many countries were far more centralized in the way TV developed, resulting in mostly national stations with few local opt-outs, sometimes with local stations as sort of sidecars to the system.

 

The problem is that while there is a demand for local TV content still, it is getting harder to make. Most small markets are drifting toward having two or three TV operators because television isn't the sort of cash cow it used to be.

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Did we?

 

The reason Nexstar's value is so high is because they've been purchasing stations like crazy and running them all on the cheap. It has nothing to do with slapping the term "Local" on everything or shitty portal websites with long, cheesy names.

 

Perry Sook throws around the term "local(ism)" constantly but I don't think he has any idea what it really means and I doubt he really cares. It's all about delivering maximum value to the shareholders.

Which involves localism, which is what shareholders seem to like (at least Perry Sook's way of doing it)

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No, but hyperlocal content (and sometimes the "Local channel #J" branding) does

Calling it Local 4 rather than News 4 does nothing but repaint it. Hyper local content might but the shareholders don't care. They want a return on investment... They don't care how they do it, just that they do. Assuming investors care about the content is like assuming investors in a railroad care how nice the equipment looks and invest more when its shiny...

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Assuming investors care about the content is like assuming investors in a railroad care how nice the equipment looks and invest more when its shiny...
You might as well say the same thing about most viewers (except for those here on TVNT, those who work in and/or pay attention to the media industry, and a few others) despite their claims of the opposite
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I'm a firm believer that the "Local" branding is pure BS. Even worse when the marketing touts that "it's more than just a slogan."

 

If that were the case, stations would not be airing time-filling fluff and distant packages, and breathlessly covering anything that moves just because it's happening NOW.

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No, but hyperlocal content (and sometimes the "Local channel #J" branding) does

 

What exactly is hyperlocal about Nexstar stations' content? Especially compared to competitors. This is exactly the perception they're trying give off without actually doing anything meaningful.

 

Their stations don't exactly have a reputation for sweeping the Murrows.

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What exactly is hyperlocal about Nexstar stations' content? Especially compared to competitors. This is exactly the perception they're trying give off without actually doing anything meaningful.

 

Their stations don't exactly have a reputation for sweeping the Murrows.

That's the thing, it's the advertisers that they care about.

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I'm incredibly lost on this topic, but I'm pretty sure you're now contradicting yourself.

But local ads are where it's at for Nexstar. And on a side note which many people, even here on TVNT, forget, Perry Sook is a member of the NAB and honored twice in B&C, and even compared Nexstar to CapCities (which, to be honest was an accurate comparison)

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Seeing that the future model of television is the Internet makes a decentralized model technologically redundant, doesn't it?

Well, that's where their sites with URLs like insertcityhereproud.com, insertcitymatters.com, andwearecity.com come in. As much as we all hate those URLs with a passion, they do come with less Internet clutter than if they were separate websites (brproud.com is one example), though, whether it's a good idea or not is debatable and depending on your point of view, you might like it or, as many of us do, you might hate the way Nexstar did that

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Well, that's where their sites with URLs like insertcityhereproud.com, insertcitymatters.com, andwearecity.com come in. As much as we all hate those URLs with a passion, they do come with less Internet clutter than if they were separate websites (brproud.com is one example), though, whether it's a good idea or not is debatable and depending on your point of view, you might like it or, as many of us do, you might hate the way Nexstar did that

 

Nexstar operates clusters, not individual stations, especially in its legacy markets. They kind of have to have those sorts of "portal" domain names.

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