dman748 1250 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 I mean, Sinclair has been known to propose license swap shenanigans in the past. One iteration of the Allbritton deal contemplated moving WHTM to WHP's transmission facilities and vice versa, then selling WHP (on the WHTM license). Ultimately, Sinclair engaged in a like-kind exchange with Media General (in the midst of swallowing LIN at the time) in which they traded WJAR for WTTA, probably WHTM, and KXRM. That was before enough pressure, mostly DOJ if I recall correctly, prompted them to simply sell WHTM whole. So probably it'll take a consent decree from the DOJ, for Sinclair to sell KPLR off if that's the case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2878 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 So probably it'll take a consent decree from the DOJ, for Sinclair to sell KPLR off if that's the case Well, that's what you get at the end of the process. The consent decree will also specify the other stations to be sold, some of which are already happening, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Well, that's what you get at the end of the process. The consent decree will also specify the other stations to be sold, some of which are already happening, of course. And that's probably what the negotiation is between Sinclair and the DOJ is right now where the DOJ will probably approve the Sinclair/Tribune deal on a condition that Sinclair sells KPLR off to an unaffiliated third party who would be barred from entering into any agreements with Sinclair (kinda like the consent decree on the Gannett/Belo deal on St. Louis in 2013) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2878 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 And that's probably what the negotiation is between Sinclair and the DOJ is right now where the DOJ will probably approve the Sinclair/Tribune deal on a condition that Sinclair sells KPLR off to an unaffiliated third party who would be barred from entering into any agreements with Sinclair (kinda like the consent decree on the Gannett/Belo deal on St. Louis in 2013) Correct. That buyer needs to be identified and approved by Justice. Then the application needs to be filed at the FCC. The problem is that so many of KPLR's assets are tied up in KTVI that a divorce is a bit messy for someone who has no stations in St. Louis. If Sinclair can keep KTVI and KDNL, they could conceivably work out a transition services agreement with the buyer where KPLR and KDNL swap studios and a handful of personnel. The new KPLR owner, however, would now be the one stuck with building a news department and likely investing money if KDNL hasn't touched a lot of its studio equipment in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Hey folks, Nobody wants the place because it's gonna be a freaking money pit with crappy billing...and no growth potential. Why would any sane business person want that station? Show me the books ..(accounting ones)...cuz right now I'm not seeing ANY value in this clunker. They MAY not even be able to trade it off to some poor unsuspecting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Correct. That buyer needs to be identified and approved by Justice. Then the application needs to be filed at the FCC. The problem is that so many of KPLR's assets are tied up in KTVI that a divorce is a bit messy for someone who has no stations in St. Louis. If Sinclair can keep KTVI and KDNL, they could conceivably work out a transition services agreement with the buyer where KPLR and KDNL swap studios and a handful of personnel. The new KPLR owner, however, would now be the one stuck with building a news department and likely investing money if KDNL hasn't touched a lot of its studio equipment in a while. That is a similar situation in OKC (my home DMA), where the KOKH/KOCB duopoly was broken up but Standard (the buyer of KOKH) and Sinclair reached a transitional services agreement I do wonder though could Sinclair decide to have their facilities swapped? (For example, KOKH would move into KFOR's facility while KFOR would move into KOKH's facility) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NowBergen 486 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Correct. That buyer needs to be identified and approved by Justice. Then the application needs to be filed at the FCC. The problem is that so many of KPLR's assets are tied up in KTVI that a divorce is a bit messy for someone who has no stations in St. Louis. If Sinclair can keep KTVI and KDNL, they could conceivably work out a transition services agreement with the buyer where KPLR and KDNL swap studios and a handful of personnel. The new KPLR owner, however, would now be the one stuck with building a news department and likely investing money if KDNL hasn't touched a lot of its studio equipment in a while. If Sinclair had actually operated KDNL like it should have been, not just an empty mothballed studio, no news department and more than just a transmitter operator and a local sales staff, then they would not be in this pickle. So in reality, they created this mess by being the lousy cheap broadcast operator that they are. The thing to remember is that the KTVI/KPLR studios were KPLR's studios before Tribune executed the shared services agreement with Local TV, followed by the outright purchase of Local TV. Whoever buys KPLR (or any other permutation Sinclair tries to get out of this mess) may claim rights to the current studio building and a portion of the news staff considering the original Koplar/Tribune heritage. In the end, we are getting closer to a court decision which could throw and even bigger monkey wrench into Sinclair's scam ownership schemes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4167 Posted July 8, 2018 Share Posted July 8, 2018 Hey folks, Nobody wants the place because it's gonna be a freaking money pit with crappy billing...and no growth potential. Why would any sane business person want that station? Show me the books ..(accounting ones)...cuz right now I'm not seeing ANY value in this clunker. They MAY not even be able to trade it off to some poor unsuspecting.... Shark is 100% right. KDNL at least has some value because they have some infrastructure behind them, KPLR has a CW affiliation, some programming inventory, and... little else that isn't (or wouldn't be claimed as) property of KTVI. It will be a total money pit for any prospective buyer, and that's why it is and will be unsalable as a standalone. The DOJ gave Sinclair the equivalent of a Hobson's Choice: sell KTVI/KPLR to a third party and retain lousy KDNL with no newscasts, or watch as no one steps up to buy KPLR, and risk seeing the merger be thrown into total chaos. It's really a simple choice, but as Sinclair has demonstrated throughout the years, they don't handle simple choices all that well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Shark is 100% right. KDNL at least has some value because they have some infrastructure behind them, KPLR has a CW affiliation, some programming inventory, and... little else that isn't (or wouldn't be claimed as) property of KTVI. It will be a total money pit for any prospective buyer, and that's why it is and will be unsalable as a standalone. The DOJ gave Sinclair the equivalent of a Hobson's Choice: sell KTVI/KPLR to a third party and retain lousy KDNL with no newscasts, or watch as no one steps up to buy KPLR, and risk seeing the merger be thrown into total chaos. It's really a simple choice, but as Sinclair has demonstrated throughout the years, they don't handle simple choices all that well. Could selling KDNL and KPLR together to a third party and keep KTVI be doable in the eyes of the DOJ? I know it may not sound attractive but that may be the only way how Sinclair finds a buyer is by selling KPLR with either KDNL or KTVI and keep whoever they don't go with KPLR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megatron81 181 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Why doesn't Sinclair try to sell KPLR to Standard Media then they have an even 10 TV stations. If the mergers get killed off which I doubt it will I could see Tribune selling some TV stations to Standard Media Fox gets Seattle as Tribune sells the station to Fox as they have had their hearts on Seattle for years. Piecemeal is what Tribune will have to be sold for if Sinclair merger doesn't get approved and Sinclair will have no one to blame but themselves as they dragged their feet for over a year now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 would the Koplar family be interested in KDNL or getting KPLR back? they own a Fox affiliate in Springfield (MO) with no news dept Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4167 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Could selling KDNL and KPLR together to a third party and keep KTVI be doable in the eyes of the DOJ? I know it may not sound attractive but that may be the only way how Sinclair finds a buyer is by selling KPLR with either KDNL or KTVI and keep whoever they don't go with KPLR That’s as messy and undesirable a scenario as just selling KPLR by itself. You’re going back to the likelihood that whomever buys KPLR will most assuredly be in court in intellectual property disputes with Sinclair/KTVI. It’s one thing to buy an ABC affiliate that has been operated poorly since 2000. It’s another to buy that station and a station that will need a costly rebuild all its own. I can’t say it enough, apparently: KPLR is 100% unsalable if KTVI isn’t included. No matter how much you slice it, the only option Sinclair has is to simply retain KDNL and find a buyer for KTVI/KPLR. Otherwise they’ll have to just sit and watch the merger outside date pass them under a cloud of their own hubris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie56 3066 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 would the Koplar family be interested in KDNL or getting KPLR back? they own a Fox affiliate in Springfield (MO) with no news dept KRBK does have a news department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 KRBK does have a news department. built from the ground up, maybe they could do the same with KPLR or KDNL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTV1983 743 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 built from the ground up, maybe they could do the same with KPLR or KDNL KDNL tried that and failed. Competing against three already well-established stations in KMOV, KSDK, and KTVI is very difficult to overcome in a market like St Louis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 KDNL tried that and failed. Competing against three already well-established stations in KMOV, KSDK, and KTVI is very difficult to overcome in a market like St Louis. but KDNL lacked, and still lacks, committed local ownership, their transmitter failures didn't help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 how much could they get for KDNL and/or KPLR at a fixer upper price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewsMaster 226 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 but KDNL lacked, and still lacks, committed local ownership, their transmitter failures didn't help It's not even that KDNL isn't locally owned, it's that Sinclair has refused to put any money whatsoever into the station. Whomever buys KDNL (or possibly KPLR) will almost certainly start a news department at the station. It may not be a ratings factor at first, but let's be honest, that market is too big to have only 3 news departments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4167 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 how much could they get for KDNL and/or KPLR at a fixer upper price? For those two, any price would be too much. Even trying to re-establish KPLR as a simple CW affiliate with no newscasts will be problematic, because there's no guarantee that 1) Sinclair would sell the buyer the current KDNL facility, and 2) whomever would buy KPLR would even want the KDNL facility. If the Koplars really wanted KPLR back, then they would be making an offer for both KTVI and KPLR, simply because the merger of both stations meant a cross-pollination of KPLR's intellectual property, and there's no way they would let that all that - especially the studios and history - go to Sinclair with them holding the bag. Thus, I wouldn't even consider the Koplars as buyers in any sense of the word, unless Sinclair just gives up on any viable presence in St. Louis and sells the existing Tribune duopoly solely to get the damn merger over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nomadcowatbk 144 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 does CW even require it's stations have news departments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dman748 1250 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 That’s as messy and undesirable a scenario as just selling KPLR by itself. You’re going back to the likelihood that whomever buys KPLR will most assuredly be in court in intellectual property disputes with Sinclair/KTVI. It’s one thing to buy an ABC affiliate that has been operated poorly since 2000. It’s another to buy that station and a station that will need a costly rebuild all its own. I can’t say it enough, apparently: KPLR is 100% unsalable if KTVI isn’t included. No matter how much you slice it, the only option Sinclair has is to simply retain KDNL and find a buyer for KTVI/KPLR. Otherwise they’ll have to just sit and watch the merger outside date pass them under a cloud of their own hubris. So I guess out of ALL places St. Louis is what will probably kill off this merger correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSSZNews 1046 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 That’s as messy and undesirable a scenario as just selling KPLR by itself. You’re going back to the likelihood that whomever buys KPLR will most assuredly be in court in intellectual property disputes with Sinclair/KTVI. It’s one thing to buy an ABC affiliate that has been operated poorly since 2000. It’s another to buy that station and a station that will need a costly rebuild all its own. I can’t say it enough, apparently: KPLR is 100% unsalable if KTVI isn’t included. No matter how much you slice it, the only option Sinclair has is to simply retain KDNL and find a buyer for KTVI/KPLR. Otherwise they’ll have to just sit and watch the merger outside date pass them under a cloud of their own hubris. I feel like they could throw FOX the duopoly in with the rest of what they're getting and call it a day. Not really sure why that hasn't happened yet. I get St. Louis isn't a football market anymore, but I was always under the impression the Cardinals did better anyway--so why wouldn't FOX want a presence back there with them owning MLB playoff rights plus Saturday night baseball in the summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie56 3066 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 does CW even require it's stations have news departments? No. Most CW affiliates rely on newscasts produced by Big 4 sister stations or just general syndicated programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mre29 1340 Posted July 9, 2018 Share Posted July 9, 2018 Shark is 100% right. KDNL at least has some value because they have some infrastructure behind them, KPLR has a CW affiliation, some programming inventory, and... little else that isn't (or wouldn't be claimed as) property of KTVI. It will be a total money pit for any prospective buyer, and that's why it is and will be unsalable as a standalone. I thought he was talking about KDNL. Also, could Sinclair sell KTVI, its building, and its infrastructure but keep KPLR? They get a duopoly and KTVI's new owner gets a fully operational station and news department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3464 Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Then there could be the "nuclear option".....give up on KPLR and absorb all of the non-license assets into KTVI or KDNL. That's how they finally completed the Allbritton deal. What power does the FCC have in stopping them from doing so? (And like in Birmimgham and Charleston, Armstrong Williams from swooping in at the last second to feast on a KPLR carcass?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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