Gray Television to buy Meredith

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

13 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

I should point out that Meredith announced that the DOJ has cleared the Dotdash transaction. The waiting period (under the HSR act expired on 11/12). So that gives it the greenlight for that deal.

 

So expect both Gray & IAC to close their deals after the spin-off of the assets is completed two weeks from tonight.

 

I would like to know whether Dotdash (Meredith's NMG successor) is even going to keep the program going past this TV season. What's the point in keeping the show when you only have about less than 15% of the country is carrying it. Sell the show to the masses or get rid of it.

Should the show keep going, I wonder if Gray has any priority of securing a larger deal.  Once the companies separate, the show is probably good as gone, especially if Meredith had trouble securing clearance outside of its own group. 

 

The brand equity was one of the few bright spots of Meredith, but now Dotdash will have it and could keep it to itself or charge accordingly to someone else who wants to use it.

[CLETVFan 367]

There are now reports that the current WGCL news director is out following news of GM changes coming to the station.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

46 minutes ago, CLETVFan said:

There are now reports that the current WGCL news director is out following news of GM changes coming to the station.

 

It's clear that Gray wants a fresh start there. Basically taking the same approach they did with WOIO, realizing they may have an opening given that Apollo is doing a number to WSB and that one of their other competitors (WXIA) is in serious flux as well.

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

It's clear that Gray wants a fresh start there. Basically taking the same approach they did with WOIO, realizing they may have an opening given that Apollo is doing a number to WSB and that one of their other competitors (WXIA) is in serious flux as well.

I'd be curious to see what Gray comes up with.  It seems like everything has been done, and re-done AGAIN under Meredith as WGCL.

Could a call letter change be on the horizon, because it's all been a mess since "Clear News"....

 

As long as it's not Atlanta 46 or Atlanta News Now... 

[Megatron81 263]

Sony was going to sell People The TV Show national for fall of 2022-23 syndie season. I wonder if Gray will be the launch group will find out once they take over in Dec. As for HTL it was doomed when Nexstar didn't add it to there TV stations out of the Media General TV stations when that merger was final as they cancelled it HTL late APR of 2017 also talked to Fox to end the show as HTL was only on Fox O&O's MyNet TV station or in Houston in the overnight hours.

[CircleSeven 1955]

 This was the last thing Gray needed. And it was the approval from the Meredith shareholders.

 

Now both deals can close, after the spinoff is completed tomorrow.

[CircleSeven 1955]

And it is done.

 

Gray has completed the acquisition of Meredith's Local Media assets. And IAC's Dotdash has completed it's acquisition of Meredith's magazine & digital business.

 

Bye-Bye Meredith.

 

RIP Edwin Meredith. The founder of the company that lasted nearly 120 years.

 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Another company falls by the wayside.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Sad that Meredith couldn't achieve scale. Especially after Nexstar snatched MG away from them a few years back. 

 

Anywho, here's Gray's new footprint.

 

I'll also slip this in. News coverage from WGCL 46 on the completion.

Video courtesy of WGCL's YT page.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

24 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Sad that Meredith couldn't achieve scale. Especially after Nexstar snatched MG away from them a few years back. 

 

Anywho, here's Gray's new footprint.

It should be a warning to other companies like Graham and Hearst that they may be up next.

[dman748 1256]

56 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

It should be a warning to other companies like Graham and Hearst that they may be up next.

And Graham is a much smaller company compared to Hearst

[TheRob 938]

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

It's stories like these that make me glad Meredith is no more.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/01/meredith-accused-of-stiffing-staffers-on-ayesha-currys-mag/

 

Even though it happened on the publishing side, they've had a long and well-documented history of bad management, harassment, and discrimination against their employees.  I can only hope the broadcast employees are better off under Gray and everyone else is better off under Dotdash.

[nathannah 2445]

13 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It's stories like these that make me glad Meredith is no more.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/01/meredith-accused-of-stiffing-staffers-on-ayesha-currys-mag/

 

Even though it happened on the publishing side, they've had a long and well-documented history of bad management, harassment, and discrimination against their employees.  I can only hope the broadcast employees are better off under Gray and everyone else is better off under Dotdash.

I get the feeling here the Currys mainly have an executive role as the face of the magazine and unlike 'ego' mags like McCall's/Rosie, this one was likely a remote job most of the way through with the staff being driven by the New York group of egomaniacs. Ayesha's probably finding this all out the same way the public did or got insulated from it by yes-people at Meredith saying 'yes, people still buy magazines, I promise!'.

 

I barely pay attention to paper magazines any longer (I get THR for free, the Costco Connection because I'm a member, and the rest I read through Apple News and my library card), and it's pointless to buy one, much less launch one. I can look at the pictures in higher detail online, what news they break is out of date by press time, and I've got an iPad which doesn't get smudged up or wrinkled over time. I'm sure a lot of ex-Meridith TV side folks will be happy to make space for Gray Washington bureau stories rather than having to keep People relevant any longer.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Back to that other deal, this is probably one of the laziest logos I've ever seen.

 

Did they use Microsoft Paint to create this? I mean, they couldn't comeup with anything better than this? Look, the "t"s don't even match. 

[Mrtraveler01 738]

8 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Sad that Meredith couldn't achieve scale. Especially after Nexstar snatched MG away from them a few years back. 

 

Anywho, here's Gray's new footprint.

 

I'll also slip this in. News coverage from WGCL 46 on the completion.

Video courtesy of WGCL's YT page.

 

Translation: Peachtree TV is getting more newscasts. 

 

Also, it seems like Grey is going to take care of WGCL a lot better than Meredith did.

[Samantha 2896]

2 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Back to that other deal, this is probably one of the laziest logos I've ever seen.

 

Did they use Microsoft Paint to create this? I mean, they couldn't comeup with anything better than this? Look, the "t"s don't even match. 

 

I mean, it's clearly provisional, but... It's amazing they mesh even passably.

[TresGriffin 139]

On 12/2/2021 at 2:09 AM, Mrtraveler01 said:

 

Translation: Peachtree TV is getting more newscasts. 

 

Also, it seems like Grey is going to take care of WGCL a lot better than Meredith did.

I've always beens saying that WGCL is about to go from being Meredith's stepchild to Gray's flagship.  This will be good for old 46.

[nathannah 2445]

6 hours ago, TresGriffin said:

I've always beens saying that WGCL is about to go from being Meredith's stepchild to Gray's flagship.  This will be good for old 46.

Gray has much less tolerance for the self-promoters and Ben Swanns of the world, and prefers team players, so it'll be nice to get a stable owner without the wacky experimenting of private equity station groups.

 

No pulling of People yet...but I would expect the Better and More advertorial shows to also change. 

[NEOMatrix 1299]

2 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

Gray has much less tolerance for the self-promoters and Ben Swanns of the world, and prefers team players, so it'll be nice to get a stable owner without the wacky experimenting of private equity station groups.

 

No pulling of People yet...but I would expect the Better and More advertorial shows to also change. 

That’s precisely why WOIO will never revive Action News. Besides the in-your-face feel, it relies too much on personality, and Gray being Gray, that’s a no-no.

 

That said, with Gray being in Atlanta, they’re going to keep a close watch on WGCL and WPCH.

[CLETVFan 367]

9 hours ago, NEOMatrix said:

That’s precisely why WOIO will never revive Action News. Besides the in-your-face feel, it relies too much on personality, and Gray being Gray, that’s a no-no.

 

That said, with Gray being in Atlanta, they’re going to keep a close watch on WGCL and WPCH.

 

At least the current version of the news on WOIO, which is a lighter version of Action News, is way better than the disastrous "Cleveland 19 News" look.  Obviously, if 19 and its newscasts are starting to do better in the ratings, then it shows how its recent GM deserved to get that gig at WGCL.

[LTSC1980 112]

Giving the facts that WPCH is still available on Canada as SuperStation, could this mean more preemptions on Canada’s version of WPCH?

[MyNewsArchive 197]

Happen to come across this... A WGCL test website with the Gray template.

 

https://gray-wgcl-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/

 

(replace "wgcl" with any former Meredith-Gray station call letters and you'll find a default Gray template for that station)

[CircleSeven 1955]

Whatever it is, can't wait to see these them finally streaming newscasts from their websites!
 

[TheSpeedKing 268]

6 hours ago, MyNewsArchive said:

Happen to come across this... A WGCL test website with the Gray template.

 

https://gray-wgcl-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/

 

(replace "wgcl" with any former Meredith-Gray station call letters and you'll find a default Gray template for that station)

The masthead, I presume is the experimental Gray masthead. Expect the WOIO masthead when it officially launches.