Cox sells majority TV interest to Apollo

[NEOMatrix 1299]

And don't forget KIRO, although one could make the argument that KIRO rose out of 3rd place thanks to Sinclair and Tegna botching KOMO and KING, respectively. Whether KIRO can maintain a competitive edge depends on Apollo's management and if Nexstar (or Fox) can finally make something useful out of KCPQ.

[TVIntheDesert 183]

5 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I can't recall the last time a station drove themselves out of last place.  If they rise, it's a direct result of their competition tanking.

 

Once the flow of money gets tightened, then come the buyouts, attrition, and layoffs.  All the while the old and highly paid get replaced with the cheap and green.  Sometimes they'll find a good one, most of the time, it's a revolving door or the good ones jump to a better opportunity.

 

If the leadership stays, hopefully little will change.   But if it changes and some "visionary" is hired, we could have the next Scripps or Tegna on our hands that sends the viewers in droves to the once-inferior competition. 

 

I would say it has happened twice in Phoenix in the past three decades. First, when KTVK brought in KTSP managers in the mid-‘80s to overtake KTSP and KPNX. The second time after the dust settled with the New World/FOX changes and KPNX became the definite leader for a decade. Maybe KNXV can be used as an example this decade. They weren’t competitive in the market until four years ago.

[Samantha 2895]

Jessell put out a column on the deal today and pointed to the same thing that was mentioned in the CNBC report earlier this month.

 

Northwest may not provide attractive stations. But its retrans agreements are best-in-show and incredibly lucrative, and they have after-acquired clauses whereby Apollo can force MVPDs to apply the Northwest rates to the ex-Cox stations and anything else it acquires.

[TheOneManHerd 553]

6 hours ago, Ramona said:

Jessell put out a column on the deal today and pointed to the same thing that was mentioned in the CNBC report earlier this month.

 

Northwest may not provide attractive stations. But its retrans agreements are best-in-show and incredibly lucrative, and they have after-acquired clauses whereby Apollo can force MVPDs to apply the Northwest rates to the ex-Cox stations and anything else it acquires.

Here's hoping their strategy for profit growth is centered more on retrans, and less on making cuts. 

[CircleSeven 1955]

The Paperwork Is Up!!! 

 

Here's the comprehensive exhibit that includes both Cox & Northwest transactions.

 

The new Apollo TV group based out of Atlanta will be named Terrier Media.

 

 

[Georgie56 3304]

1 hour ago, CircleSeven said:

The Paperwork Is Up!!! 

 

Here's the comprehensive exhibit that includes both Cox & Northwest transactions.

 

The new Apollo TV group based out of Atlanta will be named Terrier Media.

 

 

 

Nice name, Terrier Media.

[TheRolyPoly 2415]

1 hour ago, CircleSeven said:

The Paperwork Is Up!!! 

 

Here's the comprehensive exhibit that includes both Cox & Northwest transactions.

 

The new Apollo TV group based out of Atlanta will be named Terrier Media.

 

 

 

 

Oh great. What's next, Ruff Broadcasting? They're opening up the floodgates for more obscure media group names. Yes, I'm looking at you TEGNA (sounds more like Jenga blocks).

 

EDIT: Did anyone see this? Don't mean to go too off-topic but it looks like WSOC's reign as king of Charlotte news has ended, at least from reading this:

 

Quote

In the Charlotte DMA, WSOC-TV is ranked second and WAXN-TV is ranked sixth;

 

 

This must mean that WBTV is the new #1, right? Has to be if WSOC is falling apart, though still a strong second.

[scrabbleship 429]

1 hour ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Nice name, Terrier Media.

 

I wonder how many of the people behind this are alumni of Boston University. 

[Conrad 113]

4 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

Oh great. What's next, Ruff Broadcasting? They're opening up the floodgates for more obscure media group names. Yes, I'm looking at you TEGNA (sounds more like Jenga blocks).

 

EDIT: Did anyone see this? Don't mean to go too off-topic but it looks like WSOC's reign as king of Charlotte news has ended, at least from reading this:

 

 

This must mean that WBTV is the new #1, right? Has to be if WSOC is falling apart, though still a strong second.

I'm also looking at you, TEGNA. And Tronc.

 

If it wasn't WSOC going downhill WBTV must be getting way better. But I'm not a big fan of Gray.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

4 hours ago, Conrad said:

I'm also looking at you, TEGNA. And Tronc.

 

If it wasn't WSOC going downhill WBTV must be getting way better. But I'm not a big fan of Gray.

 

This seems like a weird merger of Cox and Northwest...reminds me of when Hearst and Argyle merged, or when AFLAC and Ellis merged into Raycom.

 

Is this a brand new company, or is this "Cox 2.0" like Tegna is still the descendant of Gannett? 

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

2 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

This seems like a weird merger of Cox and Northwest...reminds me of when Hearst and Argyle merged, or when AFLAC and Ellis merged into Raycom.

 

Is this a brand new company, or is this "Cox 2.0" like Tegna is still the descendant of Gannett? 

 

I picture it as Cox buying Northwest while being bought itself by another company since Cox will still hold the majority (from what I read) of the 23% that Apollo doesn't have and it'll be their people running the company and finally, the ATL headquarters are still going to be retained.

With the money that they get from the Northwest cable agreements being applied to the Cox stations (and potentially the Tribune/Nexstar castoffs), those will probably go towards the stations, (let's hope it does, rather than just immediately targeting the next group) which means rather than Cox's stations suffering a downgrade, the other stations could potentially be upgraded to the Cox way of doing things. 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

2 minutes ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

 

I picture it as Cox buying Northwest while being bought itself by another company since Cox will still hold the majority (from what I read) of the 23% that Apollo doesn't have and it'll be their people running the company and finally, the ATL headquarters are still going to be retained.

With the money that they get from the Northwest cable agreements being applied to the Cox stations (and potentially the Tribune/Nexstar castoffs), those will probably go towards the stations, (let's hope it does, rather than just immediately targeting the next group) which means rather than Cox's stations suffering a downgrade, the other stations could potentially be upgraded to the Cox way of doing things. 

 

That assumes they buy the castoffs, which is likely for at least many of them. That said, they can't buy WREG or WATN, so another company will need to step in, and they might want more too.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

Just now, GoldenShine9 said:

 

That assumes they buy the castoffs, which is likely for at least many of them. That said, they can't buy WREG or WATN, so another company will need to step in, and they might want more too.

 

I just assume Memphis would be a consolation prize for whoever didn't get the rest. More specifically, the one who made the second highest bid. Are there any other people they reported on that made an offer other than Apollo and Fox?

[NowBergen 681]

21 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

This seems like a weird merger of Cox and Northwest...reminds me of when Hearst and Argyle merged, or when AFLAC and Ellis merged into Raycom.

 

Is this a brand new company, or is this "Cox 2.0" like Tegna is still the descendant of Gannett? 

 

It has been widely reported that Northwest's retransmission consent agreements are the envy of the industry.  Terrier will use the Northwest approach on upcoming agreements across the whole group.

[TennTV1983 804]

16 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

 

Nice name, Terrier Media.

 

Well, that's certainly one way to distinguish your business as being a TOP DOG in the broadcast medium.

[C Block 1566]

The name "Rottweiler Management" must have been taken then.

[Weeters 1916]

7 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

This seems like a weird merger of Cox and Northwest...reminds me of when Hearst and Argyle merged, or when AFLAC and Ellis merged into Raycom.

 

Is this a brand new company, or is this "Cox 2.0" like Tegna is still the descendant of Gannett? 

This is what these companies do. They buy up a bunch of stuff in a relatively short time period, merge it together to create the economy of scale, and run it as a new company. Apollo's portfolio has quite a few companies like this.

 

7 hours ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

 

Cox will still hold the majority (from what I read) of the 23% that Apollo doesn't have

The majority of the minority is not going to get you very far. The Cox family is basically out of the picture after they become the minority partner in this deal. They're holding on to some of it, hoping that the value goes up and the dividends fund their trips to their other, other vacation home. They're not holding onto it to retain some modicum of control over the TV stations they clearly don't want. After the transaction, if Apollo wants to take half the management from Nexstar and half the management from Sinclair and put them in charge of Terrier, they have every right to do that, and there's pretty much nothing that anyone else can do about it.

 

I suspect that within the next few months, Terrier will start announcing their board members and c-level executives. THOSE will be the people to watch. 

 

Speaking of things they buy, through their "affiliated company" Apollo Investment Corporation, they own part of ChyronHego. So chances are high they'll get a good deal on Axis. 

 

 

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

1 hour ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

Well, that's certainly one way to distinguish your business as being a TOP DOG in the broadcast medium.

  They couldn't call themselves Alpha Media so I guess this was the next best thing. 

 

 

In all seriousness, this is a catchy name. It sounds better than Tegna and Tronc.

4 minutes ago, Weeters said:

After the transaction, if Apollo wants to take half the management from Nexstar and half the management from Sinclair and put them in charge of Terrier, they have every right to do that, and there's pretty much nothing that anyone else can do about it.

 

Is there any way that they can get the Media General people still with Nexstar if that happens?

 

Speaking of MG, it wouldn't shock me if Apollo chose to use the people that were to work Standard Media for positions with this company if the opportunity presented itself.

[LouGrant 14]

21 hours ago, NowBergen said:

 

It has been widely reported that Northwest's retransmission consent agreements are the envy of the industry.  Terrier will use the Northwest approach on upcoming agreements across the whole group.

 

I have heard this about Northwest as well.  Does anybody know why this is the case?  It doesn't appear to me that they are a particularly great group of stations, so why do they have so much leverage?

[Conrad 113]

On 2/19/2019 at 4:49 PM, NEOMatrix said:

And don't forget KIRO, although one could make the argument that KIRO rose out of 3rd place thanks to Sinclair and Tegna botching KOMO and KING, respectively. Whether KIRO can maintain a competitive edge depends on Apollo's management and if Nexstar (or Fox) can finally make something useful out of KCPQ.

KING contracted TEGN*itis? Really? As of the February 2019 sweeps period, KING is still #1 due to them having the best winter storm coverage.

 

But I agree that Sinclair has ruined KOMO. At least the Deathstar is still better than that evil mega group.

 

It's sad to see that so many companies have gone downhill lately. Scripps, Gannettegna, and even Sinclair (as bad as they already were); as well as companies outside the broadcasting industry like Kroger, Whole Foods, KFC, Pizza Hut, JCPenney, Target, Walgreens, Carl's Jr./Hardee's, and possibly Apple, IBM, and HP. Not to mention the Gannett newspaper operations. The CBS network has also gone downhill lately.  All of those companies both inside and outside the broadcasting industry were better in 2007 and 2008. The stations Cox owns right now will be screwed up by Terrier thanks to Apollo's plans to cut costs.

 

Has Gray seen better days? They're about as bad as Nexstar right now, yet many of their stations are strong.

 

I have an example of a station that drove themselves up in the ratings: WGCL. Lately WGCL has been getting better with their new news director, Mark Applewhite, who made WOIO better and allowed the station to be competitive from 2002-2015. TEGN*itis at WXIA also benefitted WGCL.

[d247 43]

Just caught a public notice on KOKI regarding the deal.

 

Anyone else in Cox markets seen one?

[CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI 87]

 

22 hours ago, d247 said:

Just caught a public notice on KOKI regarding the deal.

 

Anyone else in Cox markets seen one?

 

Just caught it on WSOC. All 7,000 names they read in 3 minutes! Lol 

[Superdude 108]

3 minutes ago, CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI said:

 

 

Just caught it on WSOC. All 7,000 names they read in 3 minutes! Lol 

Just caught it on WPXI, took up the whole break before Nightly News

[mvcg66b3r 100]

36 minutes ago, CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI said:

 

 

Just caught it on WSOC. All 7,000 names they read in 3 minutes! Lol 

 

YouTube link please?

[CircleSeven 1955]

The Deal is now on the Docket!

 

FCC Docket No. 19-98

 

Anyone who wants to file a Petition of Deny, you'll have until May 10 to file.

 

Oppositions of those deny petitions, those are due May 28,

 

And for replies, those are due June 4.