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Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal


MidwestTV

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As someone living on Oklahoma, all I'm waiting for is to see which duopoly in OKC stays and which one goes elsewhere.

 

Hello. As an Oklahoma native living in the Greater Seattle Area. What you are waiting for is also among the things I am waiting for. I am also hoping that Sinclair would keep Seattle's KOMO 4 and Univision Seattle and that 21st Century Fox would buyout the Tribune Media-owned Seattle duopoly of KCPQ and KZJO. (If you believe I was going off the topic, then my apologies.)

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Why does everyone think this deals gonna go through? Meredith was gonna merge with Media General and it never came through because of the Nexstar merger... Tribune doesn’t even have to merge really...

 

If the merger does go through, I hope Fox gets KCPQ. It’s definitely time for Seattle to get another network O&O and plus Fox has some interest in broadcasting Hawks games.

 

If Tegna or Nexstar get a duopoly in the Grand Rapids market with WXMI, I almost certainly see them canceling WXMI’s own newscasts and making a Primetime newscast on said station.

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Why does everyone think this deals gonna go through? Meredith was gonna merge with Media General and it never came through because of the Nexstar merger... Tribune doesn’t even have to merge really...

 

If the merger does go through, I hope Fox gets KCPQ. It’s definitely time for Seattle to get another network O&O and plus Fox has some interest in broadcasting Hawks games.

 

If Tegna or Nexstar get a duopoly in the Grand Rapids market with WXMI, I almost certainly see them canceling WXMI’s own newscasts and making a Primetime newscast on said station.

 

One Can only hope.

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Going back to Raycom here for a bit:

 

What are the odds that Fox gets WSTR from Sinclair and WXIX from Raycom?

 

Sinclair has wanted to spin off WSTR for a while, and it’s one of their biggest standalone MyNetwork TV affiliates. Sinclair tried offering it to Fox in 2013, however they didn’t want it unless they could get WXIX.

 

WXIX is one of Fox’s strongest affiliates, producing a 6 1/2 hour morning newscast (from 4:30 - 11am), a 30 minute 6:30 newscast and an hourlong 10pm newscast, a total of 8 hours of news a day. Their 6:30 show frequently beats Nightly, WNT, and the CBS Evening News. WSTR airs the 7am and 8am hours of Good Morning Cincinnati and a 10pm newscast produced by WKRC. I’m quite sure Fox would love to kill that competition.

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I would LOVE to see FOX get WPGH (FOX) and WPNT (MyNetworkTV), The Steelers are a Huge draw here and would be a huge benefit to the duopoly's success. Sinclair has run both stations into the ground and is in dire need of a complete makeover and FOX can do that.

 

Although it probably won't happen, I too, would like to see that happen. Maybe make things interesting in the Pittsburgh market...

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Going back to Raycom here for a bit:

 

What are the odds that Fox gets WSTR from Sinclair and WXIX from Raycom?

 

Sinclair has wanted to spin off WSTR for a while, and it’s one of their biggest standalone MyNetwork TV affiliates. Sinclair tried offering it to Fox in 2013, however they didn’t want it unless they could get WXIX.

 

WXIX is one of Fox’s strongest affiliates, producing a 6 1/2 hour morning newscast (from 4:30 - 11am), a 30 minute 6:30 newscast and an hourlong 10pm newscast, a total of 8 hours of news a day. Their 6:30 show frequently beats Nightly, WNT, and the CBS Evening News. WSTR airs the 7am and 8am hours of Good Morning Cincinnati and a 10pm newscast produced by WKRC. I’m quite sure Fox would love to kill that competition.

 

I'm actually surprised WXIX is not on more during the day but that's because of its morning news being so long. I for one, wouldn't mind if WXIX did an hour at 6pm instead of just one half-hour at 6:30pm (don't mean to go off topic on here).

 

The only probably about that is its not an NFC market.

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I'm actually surprised WXIX is not on more during the day but that's because of its morning news being so long. I for one, wouldn't mind if WXIX did an hour at 6pm instead of just one half-hour at 6:30pm (don't mean to go off topic on here).

 

The only probably about that is its not an NFC market.

 

 

I think Fox would end the morning show at 10, move Rachel Ray to 10, Judge Faith to 11 and put an 11:30am newscast in its place: “FOX 19 Midday.”

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Going back to Raycom here for a bit:

 

What are the odds that Fox gets WSTR from Sinclair and WXIX from Raycom?

 

Sinclair has wanted to spin off WSTR for a while, and it’s one of their biggest standalone MyNetwork TV affiliates. Sinclair tried offering it to Fox in 2013, however they didn’t want it unless they could get WXIX.

 

WXIX is one of Fox’s strongest affiliates, producing a 6 1/2 hour morning newscast (from 4:30 - 11am), a 30 minute 6:30 newscast and an hourlong 10pm newscast, a total of 8 hours of news a day. Their 6:30 show frequently beats Nightly, WNT, and the CBS Evening News. WSTR airs the 7am and 8am hours of Good Morning Cincinnati and a 10pm newscast produced by WKRC. I’m quite sure Fox would love to kill that competition.

 

The option for Fox to acquire WSTR was before Sinclair acquired WKRC in 2012, so I don't see Sinclair selling it now. Also, it's not really a standalone station anymore since it's in a duopoly with WKRC.

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I think Fox would end the morning show at 10, move Rachel Ray to 10, Judge Faith to 11 and put an 11:30am newscast in its place: “FOX 19 Midday.”

 

Well hold on... look at WJBK and WTTG. They both go till 11am with 'JBK offering an extra hour until noon.

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Well hold on... look at WJBK and WTTG. They both go till 11am with 'JBK offering an extra hour until noon.

 

Wait....news from as early as 4:30am all the way till noon?!? Do they not have enough syndicated programming to cover the last two hours of the morning?

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Well then.

[MEDIA=twitter]938072196089597958[/MEDIA]

 

It may sound absurd, but there is no doubt in my mind that this Disney-Fox deal is being set up to provide enough money for Fox to cherry-pick the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates they want from Sinclair. Just like the New World stations that were divested in 2008 so News Corp. could buy Dow Jones.

 

Follow the money...

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Well then.

[MEDIA=twitter]938072196089597958[/MEDIA]

 

It may sound absurd, but there is no doubt in my mind that this Disney-Fox deal is being set up to provide enough money for Fox to cherry-pick the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates they want from Sinclair. Just like the New World stations that were divested in 2008 so News Corp. could buy Dow Jones.

 

Follow the money...

Wow.

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It may sound absurd, but there is no doubt in my mind that this Disney-Fox deal is being set up to provide enough money for Fox to cherry-pick the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates they want from Sinclair. Just like the New World stations that were divested in 2008 so News Corp. could buy Dow Jones.

 

Follow the money...

 

I think you're right, but I'm beginning to wonder if FOX is overvaluing the long-term prospects of football. If football ratings continue their downward trend, they're separating the still very lucrative content arm from the distribution, and that could get dangerous. FNC alone can't prop the whole ship up.

 

Sinclair will have this problem too (frankly all OTA TV will) but they will have enough affiliate diversification and leverage with distributors when this is all squared away to weather it. I'm not sure that will be the case for the FOX O&Os.

 

Only way to tackle it is to nab the AFC rights from CBS, own the Sunday afternoon rights outright, and start buying up AFC markets. If the Murdochs get $60 billion from this, that's enough of a war chest to start putting the pieces together now relatively cheaply using the Sinclair castaways--and maybe as innocuous MyNet affils to start--and then make your move when the rights are up next.

 

It's a super risky move.

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I think you're right, but I'm beginning to wonder if FOX is overvaluing the long-term prospects of football. If football ratings continue their downward trend, they're separating the still very lucrative content arm from the distribution, and that could get dangerous. FNC alone can't prop the whole ship up.

 

Sinclair will have this problem too (frankly all OTA TV will) but they will have enough affiliate diversification and leverage with distributors when this is all squared away to weather it. I'm not sure that will be the case for the FOX O&Os.

 

Only way to tackle it is to nab the AFC rights from CBS, own the Sunday afternoon rights outright, and start buying up AFC markets. If the Murdochs get $60 billion from this, that's enough of a war chest to start putting the pieces together now relatively cheaply using the Sinclair castaways--and maybe as innocuous MyNet affils to start--and then make your move when the rights are up next.

 

It's a super risky move.

That's one scenario or they could get sunday night football. But your right it's a risky move.

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I think you're right, but I'm beginning to wonder if FOX is overvaluing the long-term prospects of football. If football ratings continue their downward trend, they're separating the still very lucrative content arm from the distribution, and that could get dangerous. FNC alone can't prop the whole ship up.

 

Sinclair will have this problem too (frankly all OTA TV will) but they will have enough affiliate diversification and leverage with distributors when this is all squared away to weather it. I'm not sure that will be the case for the FOX O&Os.

 

Only way to tackle it is to nab the AFC rights from CBS, own the Sunday afternoon rights outright, and start buying up AFC markets. If the Murdochs get $60 billion from this, that's enough of a war chest to start putting the pieces together now relatively cheaply using the Sinclair castaways--and maybe as innocuous MyNet affils to start--and then make your move when the rights are up next.

 

It's a super risky move.

 

That's one scenario or they could get sunday night football. But your right it's a risky move.

 

I feel like the FOX football product has gotten old. The music is old and overused on non-NFL sports coverage (I miss the MLB and World Series themes). Curt Menafee is no James Brown, Greg Gumbel, Bob Costas, or Jim Nantz. Terry Bradshaw is old. The desk is too small that it feels like Michael, Howie, and Jimmy are sitting knee-to-knee. I find it more likely that ABC or NBC or even CBS will make a bid for the NFC rights.

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I feel like the FOX football product has gotten old. The music is old and overused on non-NFL sports coverage (I miss the MLB and World Series themes). Curt Menafee is no James Brown, Greg Gumbel, Bob Costas, or Jim Nantz. Terry Bradshaw is old. The desk is too small that it feels like Michael, Howie, and Jimmy are sitting knee-to-knee. I find it more likely that ABC or NBC or even CBS will make a bid for the NFC rights.

 

Tough call. NBC is happy with sunday night football. CBS May get redemption and bring the NFC games back as for the AFC games, most likely will go to FOX, ESPN Can easily snatch up The thursday night football rights and broadcast on ABC.

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The owners of Fox affiliates in AFC markets:

 

AFC East

Buffalo Bills - Sinclair

Miami Dolphins - Sunbeam

New England Patriots - Cox

New York Jets - O&O

 

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens - Sinclair

Cincinnati Bengals - Raycom

Cleveland Browns - Tribune --> Sinclair

Pittsburgh Steelers - Sinclair

 

AFC South

Houston Texans - O&O

Indianapolis Colts - Tribune --> Sinclair

Jacksonville Jaguars - Cox

Tennessee Titans - Sinclair

 

AFC West

Denver Broncos - Tribune --> Sinclair

Kansas City Chiefs - Tribune --> Sinclair

Los Angeles Chargers - O&O

Oakland Raiders - O&O

 

Sinclair would have 8 of the 16 AFC markets (half of them), while only 4 would be Fox-owned.

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The owners of Fox affiliates in AFC markets:

 

AFC East

Buffalo Bills - Sinclair

Miami Dolphins - Sunbeam

New England Patriots - Cox

New York Jets - O&O

 

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens - Sinclair

Cincinnati Bengals - Raycom

Cleveland Browns - Tribune --> Sinclair

Pittsburgh Steelers - Sinclair

 

AFC South

Houston Texans - O&O

Indianapolis Colts - Tribune --> Sinclair

Jacksonville Jaguars - Cox

Tennessee Titans - Sinclair

 

AFC West

Denver Broncos - Tribune --> Sinclair

Kansas City Chiefs - Tribune --> Sinclair

Los Angeles Chargers - O&O

Oakland Raiders - O&O

 

Sinclair would have 8 of the 16 AFC markets (half of them), while only 4 would be Fox-owned.

 

Hmm. Point taken.

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