Standard General to acquire Tegna for $8.6 Billion

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

1 hour ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

I forgot about that. I fixed it with Nexstar. 

I had ONE misstep and you want to jump down my throat on it. 

 

Hearst's graphics hub can be moved to another station if needed. I'm sure WBAL-TV would want it. 

 

Nexstar can't take it either. They hit their cap. Orlando is too big. Either TEGNA or Scripps.

 

Also, no. It's not leaving Florida.

[Kenneth Kissel 281]

15 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

Nexstar can't take it either. They hit their cap. Orlando is too big. Either TEGNA or Scripps.

 

Also, no. It's not leaving Florida.

Nexstar could buy them as Mission Broadcasting stations. Scripps is also against the cap.  My point was that if TEGNA became Standard, Cox merged with Standard, and then Hearst merged with Cox. Orlando (and many other places) will have new owners with an O&O or someone like Allen or someone else expanding their reach to fill in the gaps. 

[newsteam13 394]

What's gonna happen in Denver with KUSA NBC9 and KTVD MyDenver20?

[ABC 7 Denver 1714]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:05 AM, newsteam13 said:

What's gonna happen in Denver with KUSA NBC9 and KTVD MyDenver20?

 

1. We don't call it NBC9 or MyDenver20... We call it 9News and Channel 20. Also, who cares? All speculation at this point and you nor I have any control over these assets.

Edited July 21, 2022 by ABC 7 Denver

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Staying out of the speculation in this thread.

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

The simple solution is that Imagicomm (INSP) takes on any more Cox stations in markets where Tegna already has a presence.  Although there would be places like Atlanta and Charlotte where the Tegna station(s) would be more likely to be cut loose....

Edited July 19, 2022 by tyrannical bastard
Typo

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Reading some of the petitions to deny and other details, it appears the deal may be illegal on foreign ownership rules, as the hedge funds are largely based in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

1 hour ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Reading some of the petitions to deny and other details, it appears the deal may be illegal on foreign ownership rules, as the hedge funds are largely based in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.

I just hope the FCC gives the big fat "NO!" to Tegna on the deal.

[dman748 1256]

3 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Reading some of the petitions to deny and other details, it appears the deal may be illegal on foreign ownership rules, as the hedge funds are largely based in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands.

Which means that there is a distinct possibility that both Standard General and Apollo gets nailed by the FCC for lack of candor. I know for certain looking at previous documents both with this deal and when Apollo acquired Cox a few years back there was no mention of them doing business in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands or Bermuda.

[Yankees4life 558]

On 8/5/2022 at 11:18 PM, dman748 said:

Which means that there is a distinct possibility that both Standard General and Apollo gets nailed by the FCC for lack of candor. I know for certain looking at previous documents both with this deal and when Apollo acquired Cox a few years back there was no mention of them doing business in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands or Bermuda.

Big fine incoming (we hope)

 

COX and Tegna are in the deep.

[Sendir 194]

Hearst is almost debt free for not going on a huge M&A frenzy as the rest of the groups. This means free cash flow. While other groups are in debt in the BILLIONS, Hearst sits back with only MILLIONS in debt and are able to do so much more being a private company. 

[Kenneth Kissel 281]

43 minutes ago, Sendir said:

Hearst is almost debt free for not going on a huge M&A frenzy as the rest of the groups. This means free cash flow. While other groups are in debt in the BILLIONS, Hearst sits back with only MILLIONS in debt and are able to do so much more being a private company. 

This is why Hearst is my favorite owner of all the TV News Companies. I'm also glad to have a local Hearst station in my area as well (WTAE). 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Here was the line, on page 22 of one of the responses to deny the deal:

 

As TNG-CWA has pointed out in letters to President Biden, involvement of large hedge funds headquartered in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, thus necessitating a waiver of the Commission’s foreign ownership limits, are flashing red lights that cry out for further inquiry. Standard General and its financiers have failed to produce the documents detailing whose money they invest and whether they agreed to cut costs at the expense of hardworking Americans in order to pay the interest on.

[Adam MadMan 285]

Remember when I mentioned that one Civil Rights organization that backed the deal?

 

Well, a bunch of state Black Caucus leaders are pushing for this deal under the same grounds.

[Bananaman 14]

I wonder how much Standard General must have lined the pockets of the Black Caucus to receive their blessing.

[MidwestTV 1232]

There's been news flying under the radar here on this sale. Nothing really earth-shattering.

 

Sept. 13: Tegna stock whips around on report about Sohn being seated at FCC

Sept. 24: This article *speculates* whether economic conditions make the deal worthwhile

Sept. 30: Regulator seeks more documents in Standard General's $5.4 billion Tegna deal

Oct. 3 (yesterday): Tegna gains amid report FCC review of sale said to be going 'smoothly'

Edited October 5, 2022 by MidwestTV

[PTVNews 194]

Oct. 6: Nancy Pelosi sends letter to FCC starting concerns about the deal..... Standard General responds

[bpatrick 73]

OK.  I remember when this topic first came up, Standard General was saying it was keeping the Cox stations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Seattle, all markets where Tegna also has stations.  So are they still planning to sell WXIA/WATL, WCNC, WATN, WTLV/WJXX, and KING/KONG?  If Hearst is capped out, I wouldn't mind if Scripps picked up some of these stations.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

It seems the foreign money may be what kills the deal thanks to the ownership being hedge funds based in the BVI and Caymans.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

Oct. 10: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/10/9/the-tegna-sale-hits-another-stumbling-block

 

[Newsjunkie24 506]

44 minutes ago, TexasTVNews said:

Oct. 10: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/10/9/the-tegna-sale-hits-another-stumbling-block

 

 

Since as someone as high-profile as Pelosi is involved, I wonder what this means for the deal?

[GoldenShine9 1513]

15 minutes ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

 

Since as someone as high-profile as Pelosi is involved, I wonder what this means for the deal?

 

It could be heading for rejection. Tegna's best play right now might be to walk away. 

[nycnewsjunkie 1439]

2 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

It could be heading for rejection. Tegna's best play right now might be to walk away. 

Tegna’s best play might be to do nothing and let the deal get rejected. IIRC, wouldn’t Tegna have to pay a termination fee if they call the deal off?

Edited October 10, 2022 by nycnewsjunkie

[SS8609 59]

Well if this deal is headed for a fall, Pelosi has until the new year since it's very likely that the Congress (or at least the House) is going to flip to the Republicans. In other words, expect an M&A scenario similar to what existed in the Trump era where you had Sinclair, Nexstar, etc. going on a buying binge, and perhaps not unlike during most of the Obama years where Sinclair began to mushroom.

 

Rather interesting that Black and women advocacy groups have had some tacit interest in this merger considering the opposition from the CWA and especially over the Cayman Islands shenanigans...

 

Prediction: If this merger fails, I see Cox likely being sold off to allegedly "more American" broadcast interests such as Hearst or Graham, though I am surprised the latter still chugs along knowing that the current MO for broadcast TV revolves around big broadcasting companies with more leverage in cable retrans negotiations.

[Adam MadMan 285]

And another one: Frank Washington of Crossings TV claims that the merger would "help change the mostly white face of content distribution", and also contends that the other two big buyouts in the past couple of years, Gray/Meredith and Scripps/Ion, went through in far less time.