The Meredith Thread

[tyrannical bastard 3980]

I've said it a thousand times, these are Gray's stations to have should the TV side split from the publishing side. 

It's a clean merger aside from Flint/Saginaw, and there are so many shared platforms (mostly from Raycom and some with Gray) that fit like a glove, not to mention filling in some major gaps in their coverage.

 

Perhaps with the pandemic, it will lower the value enough that a company like Gray can easily purchase or finance to acquire the Meredith stations.

[dman748 1256]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I've said it a thousand times, these are Gray's stations to have should the TV side split from the publishing side. 

It's a clean merger aside from Flint/Saginaw, and there are so many shared platforms (mostly from Raycom and some with Gray) that fit like a glove, not to mention filling in some major gaps in their coverage.

 

Perhaps with the pandemic, it will lower the value enough that a company like Gray can easily purchase or finance to acquire the Meredith stations.

Plus this will complete 2 states for Graycom (Alabama and South Carolina)

 

Gray-Meredith would fit like a glove just as much as what Cox-Meredith would

 

That would be one side of the coin to think about.

 

The other side of the coin would suggest that Meredith does nothing beyond splitting the 2 companies (except become buyers on the TV side) Meredith could just as easily do that as they could selling to Gray

[TheRob 938]

Unfortunately, more layoffs are happening today. I saw a KCTV reporter post she was looking for work.

[dman748 1256]

1 hour ago, TheRob said:

Unfortunately, more layoffs are happening today. I saw a KCTV reporter post she was looking for work.

At this rate nothing surprises me anymore.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if it impacts everybody in the Meredith chain.

[ATLNEWS46 6]

Well some more people on the hit list from Meredith

 

Steve Savard, Longtime Sports Anchor turned news anchor in 2013 looks like he's out at KMOV. his bio has been scrubbed and no posts on his station Social media pages in a few days

 

Joe Gagnon, Morning Reporter for WHNS Fox21 is out after over a decade

 

Alan Frio, Weekend Anchor for WSMV is out as well

 

Marrisa Hollowed, Morning Anchor at KMOV has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Alyssa Toomey and Weekend Met. Meghan Danahey

 

Eric Parker, Morning anchor for WFSB has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Carolina Cruz and Meteorologist Mike Cameron

 

at KPHO/KTVK, Heidi Goitia has been scrubbed

 

and lastly here in Atlanta, Reporter Aiyana Cristal and Weekend Meteorologist Molly McCollum have scrubbed from CBS 46

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roadrunner 217]

Definitely getting that CBS-style slash-and-burn vibe -- how nice of them to off so many people, especially their vets, in such a way in these still unsettling times.

[newsman123 114]

Molly at CBS46!? She was so good! Is that all that was let go in ATL? 

[who?cares 254]

There’s also plenty of behind the scenes layoffs going on as well. 

[dman748 1256]

2 hours ago, ATLNEWS46 said:

Well some more people on the hit list from Meredith

 

Steve Savard, Longtime Sports Anchor turned news anchor in 2013 looks like he's out at KMOV. his bio has been scrubbed and no posts on his station Social media pages in a few days

 

Joe Gagnon, Morning Reporter for WHNS Fox21 is out after over a decade

 

Alan Frio, Weekend Anchor for WSMV is out as well

 

Marrisa Hollowed, Morning Anchor at KMOV has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Alyssa Toomey and Weekend Met. Meghan Danahey

 

Eric Parker, Morning anchor for WFSB has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Carolina Cruz and Meteorologist Mike Cameron

 

at KPHO/KTVK, Heidi Goitia has been scrubbed

 

and lastly here in Atlanta, Reporter Aiyana Cristal and Weekend Meteorologist Molly McCollum have scrubbed from CBS 46

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add Steve Savard of KMOV to the list https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/kmov-layoffs-include-longtime-news-anchor-steve-savard/article_22b9f022-7d42-542d-83e1-075502fd0dbb.html 

 

At this rate who knows how many more Meredith is going to layoff.

[rdtv 13]

3 hours ago, ATLNEWS46 said:

Well some more people on the hit list from Meredith

 

Steve Savard, Longtime Sports Anchor turned news anchor in 2013 looks like he's out at KMOV. his bio has been scrubbed and no posts on his station Social media pages in a few days

 

Joe Gagnon, Morning Reporter for WHNS Fox21 is out after over a decade

 

Alan Frio, Weekend Anchor for WSMV is out as well

 

Marrisa Hollowed, Morning Anchor at KMOV has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Alyssa Toomey and Weekend Met. Meghan Danahey

 

Eric Parker, Morning anchor for WFSB has been scrubbed as well as Reporter Carolina Cruz and Meteorologist Mike Cameron

 

at KPHO/KTVK, Heidi Goitia has been scrubbed

 

and lastly here in Atlanta, Reporter Aiyana Cristal and Weekend Meteorologist Molly McCollum have scrubbed from CBS 46

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At KVVU: Christine Maddela (weeknight news), Rachel Smith (MORE), and Maria Silva (news/MORE) are all gone on the on-air front. At least three to four staffers behind the scenes as well.

[TheRob 938]

 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

6 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

At this rate nothing surprises me anymore.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if it impacts everybody in the Meredith chain.

 

If they are so cash strapped, they should just sell the stations and accept it at, say, $1.5 billion. That would give them the money for magazine operations through the pandemic.

[dman748 1256]

3 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

If they are so cash strapped, they should just sell the stations and accept it at, say, $1.5 billion. That would give them the money for magazine operations through the pandemic.

I agree at least to avoid going bankrupt because I have a bad feeling Meredith is heading towards that after all of the layoffs they made today.

 

If nothing else I think Meredith has 3 very simple options.

 

Sell the company as is.

 

Spin the TV division off into its own company and maybe do something with it.

 

Do nothing and ultimately declare bankruptcy.

 

We're essentially dealing with a company that was cash strapped before the Pandemic and even more so now.

 

This also further proves that the Time, Inc acquisition was a bad buy for Meredith.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

2 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

I agree at least to avoid going bankrupt because I have a bad feeling Meredith is heading towards that after all of the layoffs they made today.

 

If nothing else I think Meredith has 3 very simple options.

 

Sell the company as is.

 

Spin the TV division off into its own company and maybe do something with it.

 

Do nothing and ultimately declare bankruptcy.

 

We're essentially dealing with a company that was cash strapped before the Pandemic and even more so now.

 

This also further proves that the Time, Inc acquisition was a bad buy for Meredith.

 

The publishing division will be next to impossible to sell. I agree the Time purchase was catastrophic for the company (and then they sold it at a big loss).

[scrabbleship 429]

WFSB also fired their Assistant ND, their Nightside EP, and their entire art department.

 

I said this in the Discord, but today I learned that TV were just passions for Eric Parker and Mike Cameron and that both are also practicing attorneys. Might this have played a role in how they got the boot versus someone who could lobby an age/sexuality suit at the station or someone whose departure would be a bad look on Meredith?

It'll be interesting to see how WFSB's morning show goes along. In the last year and a half their former co-anchor downgraded to being a freelancer and the former traffic person became co-anchor. 

[dman748 1256]

2 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

The publishing division will be next to impossible to sell. I agree the Time purchase was catastrophic for the company (and then they sold it at a big loss).

True the print industry is a dying industry and finding a buyer is almost like trying to find a needle in the haystack.

 

At least spinning the TV stations will do that sector some good maybe they become buyers again and recover from this, maybe they find a buyer. 

 

Anything is better than going bankrupt at this rate.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

57 minutes ago, TheRob said:

 

 

KMOV shot itself in the foot. He was the most known person on that station. But unfortunately he's been around long enough that it's "costly".

[tyrannical bastard 3980]

37 minutes ago, Mrtraveler01 said:

 

KMOV shot itself in the foot. He was the most known person on that station. But unfortunately he's been around long enough that it's "costly".

Meredith is reeling from the COVID pandemic and it's effects on an already dying magazine industry. 

They may be worse off than Media General was a decade ago since there may not be a savior in the wings like Warren Buffett to buy away the money-losing print publications. 

At this point, the company is going to have to cast off their TV stations to keep the lights on for a quarter or two, than it's likely going to end up in bankruptcy, and probably an auction of the remaining assets.

[dman748 1256]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Meredith is reeling from the COVID pandemic and it's effects on an already dying magazine industry. 

They may be worse off than Media General was a decade ago since there may not be a savior in the wings like Warren Buffett to buy away the money-losing print publications. 

At this point, the company is going to have to cast off their TV stations to keep the lights on for a quarter or two, than it's likely going to end up in bankruptcy, and probably an auction of the remaining assets.

Clearly COVID-19 is just simply not going to wait until there's a vaccine and/or other treatments to collapse Meredith. They need to make a move as soon as they possibly can, even if that means they only get $1.5 billion at the most. Otherwise I have a bad feeling that at this time next year instead of talking about for instance what the Graham graphics would look like on WALA or what the WMC graphics would look like on WFSB we may be talking about a long auction process and quite frankly I don't even know how much the Meredith TV stations would be worth if it were to come to pass.

 

But Meredith can avoid it if they can come up with an actionable plan to spin and/or sell off the TV division before the end of the year.

 

Meredith wouldn't be in as serious of a trouble as they are right now had they not made the 130+ layoffs they made this week.

[tyrannical bastard 3980]

7 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Clearly COVID-19 is just simply not going to wait until there's a vaccine and/or other treatments to collapse Meredith. They need to make a move as soon as they possibly can, even if that means they only get $1.5 billion at the most. Otherwise I have a bad feeling that at this time next year instead of talking about for instance what the Graham graphics would look like on WALA or what the WMC graphics would look like on WFSB we may be talking about a long auction process and quite frankly I don't even know how much the Meredith TV stations would be worth if it were to come to pass.

 

But Meredith can avoid it if they can come up with an actionable plan to spin and/or sell off the TV division before the end of the year.

 

Meredith wouldn't be in as serious of a trouble as they are right now had they not made the 130+ layoffs they made this week.

The timing was especially bad in Mobile, as Hurricane Sally came through the area on Wednesday, and coverage of the aftermath continued into yesterday.  Much of the area still does not have power.

 

FTVlive reported that a reporter was let go, as well as an engineer and people in Creative Services.  They opted to pre-empt Studio 10 for additional news coverage, hopefully it wasn't a result of the layoffs likely going down.

[scrabbleship 429]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

The timing was especially bad in Mobile, as Hurricane Sally came through the area on Wednesday, and coverage of the aftermath continued into yesterday.  Much of the area still does not have power.

 

FTVlive reported that a reporter was let go, as well as an engineer and people in Creative Services.  They opted to pre-empt Studio 10 for additional news coverage, hopefully it wasn't a result of the layoffs likely going down.

 

Isn't Studio 10 produced by sales and not news? IIRC the only local lifestyle show that Meredith produces that is produced by news would be Better Connecticut.

I'd pin this on storm coverage honestly. Though these cuts in a storm are shades of when the ties between WALA and WVUE were cut in the wake of Katrina.

8 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Otherwise I have a bad feeling that at this time next year instead of talking about for instance what the Graham graphics would look like on WALA or what the WMC graphics would look like on WFSB.

 

Graham on WALA would look pretty decent. WMC on WFSB would be a mess. WOIO would fit WFSB better to be honest.

[dman748 1256]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

The timing was especially bad in Mobile, as Hurricane Sally came through the area on Wednesday, and coverage of the aftermath continued into yesterday.  Much of the area still does not have power.

 

FTVlive reported that a reporter was let go, as well as an engineer and people in Creative Services.  They opted to pre-empt Studio 10 for additional news coverage, hopefully it wasn't a result of the layoffs likely going down.

Based on this info above, I'm afraid to say more is coming today. I hope that's not the case.

 

Meanwhile, Eric Parker is also among the layoffs at WFSB that took place yesterday https://www.journalinquirer.com/living/bucklers_airtime/anchor-eric-parker-included-in-channel-3-staff-cuts/article_ce059f2e-f9b4-11ea-ba31-8785cac5f9ce.html

[Greggo 358]

2 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Based on this info above, I'm afraid to say more is coming today. I hope that's not the case.

 

Meanwhile, Eric Parker is also among the layoffs at WFSB that took place yesterday https://www.journalinquirer.com/living/bucklers_airtime/anchor-eric-parker-included-in-channel-3-staff-cuts/article_ce059f2e-f9b4-11ea-ba31-8785cac5f9ce.html

The note sent out by WFSB’s boss said everything was done yesterday and no more were coming. Hopefully that’s the case everywhere. 

[scrabbleship 429]

32 minutes ago, Greggo said:

The note sent out by WFSB’s boss said everything was done yesterday and no more were coming. Hopefully that’s the case everywhere. 

 

If there is any GM at Meredith who is a cheerleader for the company, it's Dana Neves at WFSB. Part of me wants to give her the benefit of the doubt but part of me thinks something else might happen. 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

 

10 minutes ago, scrabbleship said:

 

If there is any GM at Meredith who is a cheerleader for the company, it's Dana Neves at WFSB. Part of me wants to give her the benefit of the doubt but part of me thinks something else might happen. 

 

I suspect that the moment that another company, such as Graham, Cox or Gray, gets their hands on WFSB she will be cut loose.