The Frog 393 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 The TV producer, local broadcaster, and owner of WGN America says this morning that it hired two financial advisers, Moelis & Co and Guggenheim Securities, to “explore the full range of strategic and financial alternatives to enhance shareholder value.” The range of options include “the sale or separation of select lines of business or assets, strategic partnerships, programming alliances and return of capital initiatives.” That could include the sale of WGN America, which recently completed its conversion from a superstation to a conventional basic cable channel. https://deadline.com/2016/02/tribune-media-for-sale-hires-financial-advisers-1201711430/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvcg66b3r 97 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I already mentioned this over on Speculatron. http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?threads/potential-buyers-and-sellers-pure-speculation.12928/page-29#post-152313 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newsbot 269 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Meredith could be a buyer for Tribune's Big Four affiliates; Hartford would be an obvious conflict http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-08/tribune-said-likely-to-sell-assets-rather-than-whole-company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I mentioned that too on Speculatron. http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?threads/tribune-media-for-sale.15297/#post-152969 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvcg66b3r 97 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Meredith could be a buyer for Tribune's Big Four affiliates; Hartford would be an obvious conflict http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-08/tribune-said-likely-to-sell-assets-rather-than-whole-company In this case, either WFSB would become a CBS O&O or WTIC would become a FOX O&O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 In this case, either WFSB would become a CBS O&O or WTIC would become a FOX O&O.I mentioned that exact thing, and I think the former is more likely to happen for a synergy with KYW, WCBS, and WBZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Hartford-New Haven is not a market either network would be interested in. It is gradually shrinking, there's no clear reason for either to go into that market (CBS's Hartford radio stations aren't a reason), and both CBS and Fox are bumping up against the ownership cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrabbleship 427 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Hartford-New Haven is not a market either network would be interested in. It is gradually shrinking, there's no clear reason for either to go into that market (CBS's Hartford radio stations aren't a reason), and both CBS and Fox are bumping up against the ownership cap. Finding anyone with regional relevance to Hartford to go in there is going to be difficult. The one group that is viable with a presence in an adjacent market would be Cox unless Hearst let up on their dislike of Fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Finding anyone with regional relevance to Hartford to go in there is going to be difficult. The one group that is viable with a presence in an adjacent market would be Cox unless Hearst let up on their dislike of Fox.Or CBS, which has 2 adjacent markets (NYC and Boston). Hartford-New Haven is not a market either network would be interested in. It is gradually shrinking, there's no clear reason for either to go into that market (CBS's Hartford radio stations aren't a reason), and both CBS and Fox are bumping up against the ownership cap.There is a clear reason. For synergy with KYW, WCBS, and WBZ, especially the latter 2 because they're in adjacent markets. And I calculated for both Fox's and CBS's ownership percentage and I put the UHF discount into account (which, by the way I somehow wonder why you forgot to put that into account). Fox is at 32.244% (with the UHF discount), while CBS is at 35.443% (again, with the UHF discount). Both have some room to buy a few stations, however because CBS has less room to expand, they could still sell all 3 standalone CW O&O stations (WTOG to TEGNA to make a duopoly with WTSP, KSTW to Cox for a KIRO/KSTW duopoly, and WUPA to Fox for it to convert it into a MyNetworkTV O&O station) and shed 3.432% off its ownership total down to 32.011% to make room for buying more stations (including WFSB for reasons I just mentioned). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgiesing 46 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Meredith Corp. is interested in buying some of Tribune’s broadcast TV stations, according to two of the people, and would be particularly keen on some of the 19 stations Tribune added when it acquired Local TV in 2013, one of the people said. This would be interesting as out of those 19, KTVI/KPLR would not be able to be sold to Meredith as they also own KMOV and it would be a triopoly which according to the FCC is not legal unless there is 18+ stations that are licensed within the market (St. Louis has a mere 7). Who do you think would buy those two then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceHawk447 17 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 If WFSB were to become an O&O, the resulting northeast corridor Eye line would actually cover 5 top-30 markets, from Boston to Baltimore (WJZ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 This would be interesting as out of those 19, KTVI/KPLR would not be able to be sold to Meredith as they also own KMOV and it would be a triopoly which according to the FCC is not legal unless there is 18+ stations that are licensed within the market (St. Louis has a mere 7). Who do you think would buy those two then? Nexstar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 This would be interesting as out of those 19, KTVI/KPLR would not be able to be sold to Meredith as they also own KMOV and it would be a triopoly which according to the FCC is not legal unless there is 18+ stations that are licensed within the market (St. Louis has a mere 7). Who do you think would buy those two then? I would put my money on either Raycom or Scripps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I would put my money on either Raycom or Scripps.I put my money on Nexstar, not Raycom or Scripps (especially not the latter) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I put my money on Nexstar, not Raycom or Scripps (especially not the latter) Nexstar is kind of flirting with the cap once the MG deal is done, so no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Nexstar is kind of flirting with the cap once the MG deal is done, so no.Actually, yes, that is, once the spectrum auction is done since KRON's spectrum is likely to be sold off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breaking News 802 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 In this case, either WFSB would become a CBS O&O or WTIC would become a FOX O&O. None of the big (4) want any more O&O outlets. There trying to stay in the top 10. There only a few that outside the top 10 from the big (4) networks. Not happening! However, why would Tribune sell? Is Tribune too big? I always thought they should get back into the syndication realm and would do good for cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I could see Meredith getting all of Tribune's Big 4 stations cleanly except for three markets, Hartford/New Haven, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Hearst might go after Hartford and St. Louis IF they can get WFSB and KMOV for sure. Otherwise, the only group I can see going after all three (and KC for sure) would be Raycom. As far as the weaker standalone CW/MNT affiliates: KDAF Dallas-->Tegna KIAH Houston-->Tegna WSFL Miami-->Either Sunbeam or BH Media WDCW Washington, DC-->Tegna WPHL Philadelphia-->Fox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRolyPoly 1847 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I could see Meredith getting all of Tribune's Big 4 stations cleanly except for three markets, Hartford/New Haven, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Hearst might go after Hartford and St. Louis IF they can get WFSB and KMOV for sure. Otherwise, the only group I can see going after all three (and KC for sure) would be Raycom. As far as the weaker standalone CW/MNT affiliates: KDAF Dallas-->Tegna KIAH Houston-->Tegna WSFL Miami-->Either Sunbeam or BH Media WDCW Washington, DC-->Tegna WPHL Philadelphia-->Fox If that becomes true... KDAF shuts down its in-house news department and partners up with WFAA. KIAH also shuts down in-hour news and partners up with KHOU. WSFL stops airing NewsFix and airs no news because it will be with WSVN or it partners up with WPLG and airs news on WSFL. WDCW goes from WTVR-produced news to WUSA-produced news. WPHL will be joined by WTXF, therefore dropping WPVI's 10:00pm news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swillh2k2 203 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I could see Meredith getting all of Tribune's Big 4 stations cleanly except for three markets, Hartford/New Haven, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Hearst might go after Hartford and St. Louis IF they can get WFSB and KMOV for sure. Otherwise, the only group I can see going after all three (and KC for sure) would be Raycom. As far as the weaker standalone CW/MNT affiliates: KDAF Dallas-->Tegna KIAH Houston-->Tegna WSFL Miami-->Either Sunbeam or BH Media WDCW Washington, DC-->Tegna WPHL Philadelphia-->Fox WPHL to Fox would make sense, but would Tegna really be interested in pairing its Big 4 affiliates in DFW, Houston and DC with CW stations? I really don't see it. I think Sunbeam is fine with WHDH and WSVN and doubt they'd be in a buying mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weeters 1811 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 However, why would Tribune sell? Is Tribune too big? Because of $$$$. Selling off unprofitable/poorly performing stations makes the company do better on paper. If a station is siphoning off profits from elsewhere, getting rid of it will shut off that siphon. I wouldn't be surprised to see them sell off the stations that don't produce traditional news (i.e. KDAF). Syndicated programming is a huge money sink, which is why many stations and groups like Scripps are moving away from it. Also, folks: let's try to keep the station specific speculation in this thread to a minimum. Use the existing speculation threads if you must do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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