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Sinclair, Tribune Close to Merger Deal


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Posted
Before we welcome our new Sinclair overlords, they made a pit stop to buy Bonten Media.

 

$240 million

Believe it or not, Bonten should get approved relatively quick. However, this does hamper Sinclair in staying under the cap in order to get Tribune.

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Posted
Before we welcome our new Sinclair overlords, they made a pit stop to buy Bonten Media.

 

$240 million

I think that Sinclair is just jealous of not being the largest station owner anymore after Deathstar bought Media General.

Posted
Believe it or not, Bonten should get approved relatively quick. However, this does hamper Sinclair in staying under the cap in order to get Tribune.

 

Agreed since there were no conflicts. I don't think the damage to those stations will be too great, since they are in red areas and fairly small (three of them compete against Nexstar, with the rest of the competition being Gray, Heartland, Cordillera and small companies). Regarding the cap issue in a Tribune acquisition, it means that Sinclair will need to probably divest one more station (maybe two) after that purchase, probably 4 or 5 now (instead of 3 or 4) beyond conflicts.

Posted
I think that Sinclair is just jealous of not being the largest station owner anymore after Deathstar bought Media General.

 

The only others that could reasonably come close with a quick purchase is either Raycom or Gray, by purchasing (or merging with) the other of those.

 

As for Sinclair buying the entire TV spectrum in America, they have called for a total elimination of the cap and allowing 100% coverage.

Posted

Could an existing company that already owns one station in Cleveland buy WJW? (Tegna, Scripps, Raycom - especially with WUAB giving up its frequency and moving to WOIO's)

Posted
Could an existing company that already owns one station in Cleveland buy WJW? (Tegna, Scripps, Raycom - especially with WUAB giving up its frequency and moving to WOIO's)

 

No, since they would own two stations in the top-4.

Posted
Big mergers does not end well for anybody or anyone for that matter.

 

Yeah!

Just look what happened to the Hillbillys....bad mergers....bad...mergers.

 

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Posted

Does Sinclair taking ownership of these tribune stations have any impact on the tribune employees already working there? Possible layoffs?

Posted
Does Sinclair taking ownership of these tribune stations have any impact on the tribune employees already working there? Possible layoffs?

 

Not so much layoffs as there would be many fleeing for the exit gates because of their heavy-handed style.

Posted
Does Sinclair taking ownership of these tribune stations have any impact on the tribune employees already working there? Possible layoffs?

It's impossible to gauge an honest answer because a S!nclair-Tribune merger hasn't happened yet. And it may not for quite awhile due to a myriad of reasons.

 

But look at how S!nclair has begun to drive the former Allbritton and Fisher stations into the ground.

Posted
Not so much layoffs as there would be many fleeing for the exit gates because of their heavy-handed style.

Overall, I really hate to think of what this could end up doing to WGN (TV and Radio) in the long run. Even affiliates KTLA and WPIX, among others.

Posted

Let's not kid ourselves, there will be layoffs at the Tribune stations if Sinclair were to take them over. Some of the Tribune stations are quite bloated. Under different circumstances such as a different ownership group and not being in the top 3 in the market, most of these stations would be operating on the lean side.

 

Take KTLA as an example: Large staff, quite a few resources, very competitive with the major network affiliates. Don't you think that an owner such as Sinclair would be salivating at the prospect of cutting the excess fat off the station? I mean they'll justify it by saying the station is doing well in the ratings, why shell out more than you need to?

Posted
Let's not kid ourselves, there will be layoffs at the Tribune stations if Sinclair were to take them the over. Some of the Tribune stations are quite bloated. Under different circumstances such as a different ownership group and not being in the top 3 in the market, most of these stations would be operating on the lean side.

 

Take KTLA as an example: Large staff, quite a few resources, very competitive with the major network affiliates. Don't you think that an owner such as Sinclair would be salivating at the prospect of cutting the excess fat off the station? I mean they'll justify it by saying the station is doing well in the ratings, why shell out more than you need to?

 

 

I would hope KTLA would be saved by some local entertainment guru in SoCal...but we all know how this ends.

Posted
I would hope KTLA would be saved by some local entertainment guru in SoCal...but we all know how this ends.

They already had Gene Autry as an owner. And he's been dead for ... what ... 15 years now?

Posted
Rupert Murdoch already tried buying Tribune once, and blamed cross-ownership laws from preventing him from doing this (because he already owns Fox O&Os in markets where Tribune has major stations). I guess he hasn't given up that dream! Especially with the FCC under the new administration, which is probably not going to be as hard on this sort of thing as they were previously.
Posted
Rupert Murdoch already tried buying Tribune once, and blamed cross-ownership laws from preventing him from doing this (because he already owns Fox O&Os in markets where Tribune has major stations). I guess he hasn't given up that dream!

 

I wonder whether it's a serious offer or just a way to fend off Sinclair owning more Fox affiliates than anyone by a wide margin. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fox at least try to snag up KCPQ or one of the other Seattle stations though. They want KCPQ baaad.

Posted
I wonder whether it's a serious offer or just a way to fend off Sinclair owning more Fox affiliates than anyone by a wide margin. I wouldn't be surprised to see Fox at least try to snag up KCPQ or one of the other Seattle stations though. They want KCPQ baaad.

Could be, especially with all of the Fox affiliates that Tribune owns in some fairly big markets (Seattle, as you mentioned, plus San Diego, Denver, St. Louis, etc.), this is probably their chance to get some of these stations and make them Fox O&O.

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