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Gray Television - General Thread


The Frog

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24 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

That was first announced a few days back. And as you see, Diamond has clapped back and filed that lawsuit yesterday, to block that new TV deal.

 

They won't get anywhere as it is my understanding that their deal expired. Unless Diamond Sports has any options to renew the deal in their current contract, they're screwed. Bankruptcy courts will protect your position in current contracts that are in force, but they can't protect you in contracts that have expired.

Edited by DirtyHarry
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4 hours ago, DirtyHarry said:

 

They won't get anywhere as it is my understanding that their deal expired. Unless Diamond Sports has any options to renew the deal in their current contract, they're screwed. Bankruptcy courts will protect your position in current contracts that are in force, but they can't protect you in contracts that have expired.

They say they have a contractual right of first refusal so they may have some standing.

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4 hours ago, Manny NYC said:

They say they have a contractual right of first refusal so they may have some standing.

 

What good is that if you were the first to break the contract?

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Small M&A. More LPs are coming their way....

 

Gray is getting three more LPs from Lowcountry Media for $600k.

  • W16EL-D - Augusta, GA

  • W35DV-D - Augusta, GA

  • W18FC-D - Florence, SC

Of that $600k, Gray is giving Lowcountry two real estate properties, valued at $450k.

  • The old WRDW studio building in North Augusta ($250k).
  • The tower facility of WSJV ($200k).

Here's what it says on the asset purchase agreement :

Quote
  • (iii) at Closing, Buyer [Gray] shall convey to Seller [Lowcountry] (WITHOUT WARRANTY, ON AN AS-IS, WHERE-IS BASIS FOR THE BUILDING AND TOWER, BUT CONVEYS THE LAND BY SPECIAL WARRANTY DEED), Buyer’s land, tower, and building located at 1301 Georgia Avenue, North Augusta, South Carolina, property ID 007-07-04-001, GIS #007-07-04-001 (the “Old WRDW Studio”), valued at Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000);
  • (iv) at Closing, Buyer shall convey to Seller (WITHOUT WARRANTY, ON AN AS-IS, WHERE-IS BASIS FOR THE BUILDING AND TOWER, BUT CONVEYS THE LAND BY SPECIAL WARRANTY DEED), Buyer’s land, tower, and building located at 16751 Johnson Road, South Bend, Indiana 46614 (the “WSJV Tower”), valued at Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000);

Don't understand why Lowcountry is getting the latter, unless there going to acquire an LP in the Bend in the future.........

Edited by CircleSeven
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/13/2023 at 9:21 PM, CircleSeven said:
  • The tower facility of WSJV ($200k).

Here's what it says on the asset purchase agreement :

Don't understand why Lowcountry is getting the latter, unless there going to acquire an LP in the Bend in the future.........

WSJV's transmitter was relocated to the WSBT tower several years ago (and will serve as an upcoming 3.0 lighthouse), so it's been extraneous real estate for Gray for that long outside lease money they get from WBYT (WSJV's former FM sister).

Edited by mrschimpf
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5 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Y'all don't have to worry about a switch in Atlanta. WANF will stay as a CBS affiliate.

 

Gray has renewed its CBS deal in all of its 54 markets.

Good. CBS doesn't need to build a new local news department from scratch. It's genetic format wouldn't hold up againt WSB, AGA, or XIA, (not that WANF does well).

 

 

Edited by MediaZone4K
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4 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Good. CBS doesn't need to build a new local news department from scratch. It's genetic format wouldn't hold up againt WSB, AGA, or XIA, (not that WANF does well).

 

 

 

It does better than WXIA in most timeslots.

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On 6/22/2023 at 12:37 PM, GoldenShine9 said:

 

Just as I expected. The best move for CBS would be to sell WUPA.

 

I'm sure they'd be all too happy to give up a guaranteed outlet for CBS Media Ventures fare, and a threat they can use against Meredith/Gray when they balk at CBS's terms for WGCL/WANF.

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29 minutes ago, channel2 said:

I'm sure they'd be all too happy to give up a guaranteed outlet for CBS Media Ventures fare, and a threat they can use against Meredith/Gray when they balk at CBS's terms for WGCL/WANF.

So you’re still arguing that Gray is going to balk over the terms of affiliation when they already renewed with CBS?

 

Given that Paramount is dealing with more important issues, like cutting content on their streaming service, I seriously doubt that pissing off Gray over one Atlanta TV station is a high priority. Hell, TV stations in general are not their priority. Why are they going to pour money into starting a local news operation from scratch on a channel few watch when their affiliate is not only doing the job, but also showing ratings improvement?
 

And it’s not as though CBSMV fare can’t air elsewhere; the only CBSMV show on WUPA is Drew Barrymore. That’s it.

 

At the end of the day, CBS renewed with Gray, and they’re not going anywhere in Atlanta.

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16 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

So you’re still arguing that Gray is going to balk over the terms of affiliation when they already renewed with CBS?

 

Given that Paramount is dealing with more important issues, like cutting content on their streaming service, I seriously doubt that pissing off Gray over one Atlanta TV station is a high priority. Hell, TV stations in general are not their priority. Why are they going to pour money into starting a local news operation from scratch on a channel few watch when their affiliate is not only doing the job, but also showing ratings improvement?
 

And it’s not as though CBSMV fare can’t air elsewhere; the only CBSMV show on WUPA is Drew Barrymore. That’s it.

 

At the end of the day, CBS renewed with Gray, and they’re not going anywhere in Atlanta.

 

Balking when it's time to renew.

 

Also, Atlanta is a huge market. A top ten market. CMV fare can air elsewhere, but if it can't get a clearance in the market otherwise, that's what WUPA's for.

 

It might look like a useless hunk of junk on the outside, but there's probably plenty of reasons we don't see for them to keep it. And if they gave it up, there would be no easy way back into Atlanta for them.

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9 minutes ago, channel2 said:

Balking when it's time to renew.

 

Also, Atlanta is a huge market. A top ten market. CMV fare can air elsewhere, but if it can't get a clearance in the market otherwise, that's what WUPA's for.

 

It might look like a useless hunk of junk on the outside, but there's probably plenty of reasons we don't see for them to keep it. And if they gave it up, there would be no easy way back into Atlanta for them.

They just renewed yesterday. They renewed after the whole argument was made here that CBS was itching to move their affiliation to WUPA. Now we’re speculating that they’re going to move again after they just renewed?

 

I’m sure you’re right that CBS sees some value in WUPA. Maybe they generate enough revenue from the station that they don’t feel the need to sell. Perhaps they’re looking to pursue local sports rights. Maybe they can’t find a buyer even if they wanted one. None of that means that CBS is guaranteed to make such egregious terms for WANF in future negotiations to the point that they’ll force the affiliation to WUPA.

 

Furthermore, if I’m Gray, and CBS forces my hand in Atlanta, what’s to stop me from switching the rest of my 80+ CBS affiliates to other networks as well? Maybe we disagree, but I really don’t think CBS is in a rush to piss off “the largest independent owner of CBS affiliates in the country,” as the TVNewsCheck article notes.

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It would have made natural sense if WANF let CBS go because of the SEC...but really, that was the only reason I could've seen them bailing. CBS's other event programming, the Masters across the state in Augusta, and the Falcons no longer stuck to WAGA most of the season because of the end of 'conference exclusivity' deals? That easily sweetened the pot for Gray to pull the trigger on renewal.

 

The big Atlanta unknown now is where the CW goes, but I don't see it going on a prime station without compromising on NXT's end or time-buying being the result; it isn't going to be on WPCH though just because of Gray's current overall Atlanta blueprint.

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On 10/1/2022 at 8:16 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

Curious to see what Gray's plans for the station [WBQC-LD] are.... Could Telemundo Cincinnati be in the future?   Maybe even something related to 3.0.  it's basically been a subchannel repository for the last decade or so after losing out on the CW to WKRC 12.2.

 

Actually, I just caught a promo for Telemundo Cincinnati which is, indeed, on WBQC 25.1. https://www.telemundocincinnati.com/

 

According to Wikipedia, they made the switch two weeks ago on July 27.

 

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