Standard General to acquire Tegna for $8.6 Billion

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

[nycnewsjunkie 1439]

22 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

More like Soo Kim trying to perform CPR on a cadaver.

[channel2 978]

Oh jesus I keep forgetting that's what Standard General's logo looks like.

[Adam MadMan 285]

I'm getting sick of posting about these feckless "activists" latching onto this deal, but here's another one...

[DirtyHarry 727]

I'd whack his transaction just because he's playing the race card. He's a bankster parasite that was pushing the limits of the law. It has nothing to do with his heritage.

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

If they all want this deal to go through so badly, they need to pool all of their money together and buy out Apollo's share.

Then again, to do that may be more than they can afford.

 

It's a systemic problem when so much of broadcasting is tied up in these equity firms and mega-companies that "new" owners can't buy their way into these companies unless they don't have ties to foreign entities or have massive overlaps with existing broadcasters (with the Apollo/Cox conflicts).

 

The only way may be to let these mega-companies fail and have the stations sold at auction to the highest bidder.  The hope is that there are enough leftovers for new companies to enter the fold and have a chance at running a station when the license can be bought for a song.

 

We're beginning to see the bubble burst with the Diamond/Sinclair fiasco, and it's having an effect on Sinclair itself with some of the recent cutbacks they've made.  Nexstar may be next when the gouging of cable viewers catches up to them.

Edited March 30, 2023 by tyrannical bastard

[mre29 1519]

It'd be hilarious if, after this mess is over, Standard General ends up bankrupt and sells off its stations...

 

 

 

 

 

 

...to Tegna.

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by mre29

[Adam MadMan 285]

Looks like Standard General's getting a sped-up appeals court proceeding. Whatever that means.

 

I'm not gonna lie, reading SG's arguments in that article gave me a migraine. The more I hear Soo Kim talk, the more I want to see him lose.

[DirtyHarry 727]

29 minutes ago, Adam MadMan said:

Looks like Standard General's getting a sped-up appeals court proceeding. Whatever that means.

 

I'm not gonna lie, reading SG's arguments in that article gave me a migraine. The more I hear Soo Kim talk, the more I want to see him lose.

 

What that means is that he's trying to bypass the FCC's method of doing things by going to the appeals court and getting them to rule one way or another about what the FCC should do. I haven't read the case, but I'm guessing he's trying to force the FCC to have a vote so that he has the right to appeal to the courts. I doubt he gets his way.

 

Just a wild guess, but the FCC is just going to take its jolly old time when it comes to having the hearing.

[DirtyHarry 727]

One of Standard General’s Appeals of FCC’s Media Bureau Action Is Dismissed

One of Standard General’s appeals to get its acquisition of Tegna approved by the Federal Communications Commission before its financing expires on May 22 was dismissed Monday by a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

 

A decision by the FCC’s Media Bureau sending the matter for a hearing by an administrative law judge will stretch out the review of the deal beyond May 22, when financing for the deal expires, effectively killing the deal, according to Standard General.

 

Standard General had asked the court to treat the Media Bureau’s hearing designation as a final order that it could rule on, but the court instead granted an order to dismiss, deciding that an appeal filed after a bureau decision but before resolution by the full commission is subject to dismissal as incurably premature. ...

 

Continued at link:

 

https://www.nexttv.com/news/one-of-standard-generals-appels-of-fccs-media-bureau-action-dismissed

Edited April 5, 2023 by DirtyHarry

[Adam MadMan 285]

NABET-CWA chief Charlie Braico wrote a guest blog for NextTV explaining why Soo Kim is full of it.

[CircleSeven 1955]

Standard General's second appeal to force the FCC to vote on the Tegna deal was denied by the DC Circuit today.

[Adam MadMan 285]

8 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

Standard General's second appeal to force the FCC to vote on the Tegna deal was denied by the DC Circuit today.

RIP Tegna/Standard General

 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

Lesson learned: you can't get sneaky around the rules. They made ZERO effort to explain why they can run two companies or mitigate it through divestments to other companies in the markets affected, instead whined about it. I think the Graham Media petition last year was the big killer. (Also, having foreign money involved in the hedge funds is a no-no as well).

 

Soo Kim needs to be banished from the industry completely.

Edited April 21, 2023 by GoldenShine9

[mre29 1519]

3 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

Soo Kim needs to be banished from the industry completely.

 

Even if doing so takes out Deb McDermott and Standard Media in the crossfire?

 

[DirtyHarry 727]

50 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

Even if doing so takes out Deb McDermott and Standard Media in the crossfire?

 

 

 

So what? What's so special about her?

4 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Standard General's second appeal to force the FCC to vote on the Tegna deal was denied by the DC Circuit today.

 

 

I was just going to post a link. The FCC has long established administrative procedures. Absent proving some kind of wrongdoing on the part of the FCC, the courts aren't going to force it to speed up.

[DENDude 217]

6 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Standard General's second appeal to force the FCC to vote on the Tegna deal was denied by the DC Circuit today.

Sooo Is this over now??    Can Tegna get back to gee I don't know, running TV stations & focus on it's news departments?? 

[nathannah 2428]

The last thing the industry needs is yet another 'token' company operating a few do-nothing TV stations for another broadcaster which is being operated just to round clear caps and otherwise owns perennial cellar dwellers (somehow they've managed the impossible and made WLNE much worse). More Center Citys fighting against RTC laws for good and positive Black management are needed, and many fewer White Knights, Vaughns and Deerfields should exist, whose minority ownership's biggest role is to sign FCC statements and nothing else, outside having to convince providers that the $4/month for a low-power Baton Rouge indie Nexstar wants is a proper rate.

 

Glad this deal is dying.

Edited April 22, 2023 by mrschimpf

[CircleSeven 1955]

1 hour ago, DENDude said:

Sooo Is this over now??    Can Tegna get back to gee I don't know, running TV stations & focus on it's news departments?? 

I'm not going to say its officially over. But any chances of Standard General getting the deal done at this point is pretty much moot.

 

We're exactly one month away from the outside date (May 22nd). That day in which [the current owners of] Tegna can walk away from the deal without paying the breakup fee.   Also the financial obligations from the banks would run out on that date as well. That's why Soo went on and filed those two suits to the DC court. And let's not forget the FCC Hearing with that ALJ likely won't happen until after that May 22nd date.

 

But given how desperate Soo's been throughout this whole process, why am I'm thinking he could attempt to appeal to highest court of the land?!! There's no way he would win, but could he be that gutsy to go all the way?......

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by CircleSeven

[nycnewsjunkie 1439]

4 hours ago, mre29 said:

Even if doing so takes out Deb McDermott and Standard Media in the crossfire?

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t understand this elevated perception of Deb McDermott. She runs just four godawful stations, yet I get the impression that people view her as some sort of broadcasting royalty.
 

The only thing she’s known for is turning Young/Media General into a massive behemoth that got sold off to Nexstar; that does not count as a positive contribution to journalism or the industry in my book. I don’t really give a pig’s fart if she’s collateral damage of Soo Kim’s irresponsible greed.

Edited April 22, 2023 by nycnewsjunkie

[channel2 978]

7 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t understand this elevated perception of Deb McDermott. She runs just four godawful stations, yet I get the impression that people view her as some sort of broadcasting royalty.
 

The only thing she’s known for is turning Young/Media General into a massive behemoth that got sold off to Nexstar; that does not count as a positive contribution to journalism or the industry in my book. I don’t really give a pig’s fart if she’s collateral damage of Soo Kim’s irresponsible greed.

 

Oh she was at Young well before that, when Vincent still ran it.

[mre29 1519]

4 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t understand this elevated perception of Deb McDermott. She runs just four godawful stations, yet I get the impression that people view her as some sort of broadcasting royalty.
 

The only thing she’s known for is turning Young/Media General into a massive behemoth that got sold off to Nexstar; that does not count as a positive contribution to journalism or the industry in my book. I don’t really give a pig’s fart if she’s collateral damage of Soo Kim’s irresponsible greed.

 

For the record, I have no opinion about her. I was just wondering if GoldenShine9 wanted to see her and the rest of Standard Media's staff banished, too.

 

[GoldenShine9 1513]

7 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

For the record, I have no opinion about her. I was just wondering if GoldenShine9 wanted to see her and the rest of Standard Media's staff banished, too.

 

 

Although I never said that, they need to make sure they have zero ties to Soo Kim.

[Rusty Muck 4368]

7 hours ago, mre29 said:

For the record, I have no opinion about her. I was just wondering if GoldenShine9 wanted to see her and the rest of Standard Media's staff banished, too.

She presided over the full-on erasure of Young Broadcasting, LIN and MediaGeneral as Soo’s hatchet person. She played a role in the depletion of many independent, unique voices in the “M&A rolling thunder”.

On 3/30/2023 at 12:34 AM, mre29 said:

It'd be hilarious if, after this mess is over, Standard General ends up bankrupt and sells off its stations...

 

 

 

 

 

 

...to Tegna.

 

They may not go bankrupt but Soo may just have no choice but to unload those four stations and the licenses for WQHT—WBLS to Tegna when they sue his sorry butt for breach of contract.

 

Remember that Sinclair had to cough up several stations to Nexstar (vis-a-vis Tribune) after Tribune sued Sinclair when their merger imploded.

[MidwestTV 1232]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:23 AM, Rusty Muck said:

She presided over the full-on erasure of Young Broadcasting, LIN and MediaGeneral as Soo’s hatchet person. She played a role in the depletion of many independent, unique voices in the “M&A rolling thunder”.

They may not go bankrupt but Soo may just have no choice but to unload those four stations and the licenses for WQHT—WBLS to Tegna when they sue his sorry butt for breach of contract.

 

Remember that Sinclair had to cough up several stations to Nexstar (vis-a-vis Tribune) after Tribune sued Sinclair when their merger imploded.

It would be quite the calamity if, in the end, Tegna ended up buying the Standard General shops for cheap. Just a fun thought - not trying to dive into Speclatron.