Cox Media Group to Sell Television Stations in Twelve Markets to Imagicomm Communications

[sanewsguy 514]

Basically the former Northwest markets along with Memphis and Tulsa are going to the owners of the INSP TV cable network.

 

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/30/2413122/0/en/Cox-Media-Group-to-Sell-Television-Stations-in-Twelve-Markets-to-Imagicomm-Communications.html

[ScottSchell 371]

Oh good lord our station here in Tulsa can’t get a break from Clear channel to Newport to Cox now to INSP…..

[Georgie56 3333]

17 minutes ago, ScottSchell said:

Oh good lord our station here in Tulsa can’t get a break from Clear channel to Newport to Cox now to INSP…..

KOKI has had a lot of ownership turnover in the last 20 years.

[Rusty Muck 4426]

Apollo was never going to be a long-term owner. This is a breakup that will take 1–2 years to complete as Apollo cashes out.

 

Make no mistake, INSP bought these licenses solely for the 3.0 spectrum. The station operations and news departments are all either going to be shut down or sold to existing groups.

 

If I’m at ABC, I’m fucking terrified. Disney’s long-standing “we won’t buy our affiliates” strategy is going to bite them in the butt when WSOC, WSB, WFTV and WFAA are offloaded to a spectrum hog and/or a Godcaster because no other buyers exist beyond the networks.

[nathannah 2522]

I thought TVNT put up an April Fool's joke two days early...how wrong I was.

 

Get ready for the brokered model from radio to become a part of TV, where the IP of a schedule and news operation with a TBD owner has to pay INSP for their spectrum. And TBN looks a little bit hasty cashing out some mid-markets to Ion when if INSP makes this succeed, they'll be in a good place.

[tyrannical bastard 4055]

Fun fact: INSP was the remnamt of the PTL network started by Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker.

 

Most of these are smaller stations, but the thoughts of the stations in Memphis and Tulsa is a little unnerving.  This also includes the defacto monopoly they have in the Greenville, MS market.

 

It will be interesting to see if these stations live on as a subsidiary of a WBNX-like owner, or if they farm out the non-license assets to any willing party.

 

At least in Memphis, it takes care of any Tegna conflict, at least license-wise.   WHBQ is the much stronger station and it could be a roundabout way to shut down the 24/30 news operation and have WHBQ do 24's news.

 

[TheSpeedKing 269]

3 hours ago, sanewsguy said:

Basically the former Northwest markets along with Memphis and Tulsa are going to the owners of the INSP TV cable network.

 

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/30/2413122/0/en/Cox-Media-Group-to-Sell-Television-Stations-in-Twelve-Markets-to-Imagicomm-Communications.html

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
 

But, we can now say goodbye to crummy news operations like KPVI’s. Though I’m still terrified because NP&G is now getting a monopoly.

 

Here in Ohio, I think that WHIO will be one of the last stations to be cashed out.

[GoldenShine9 1514]

26 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Fun fact: INSP was the remnamt of the PTL network started by Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker.

 

Most of these are smaller stations, but the thoughts of the stations in Memphis and Tulsa is a little unnerving.  This also includes the defacto monopoly they have in the Greenville, MS market.

 

It will be interesting to see if these stations live on as a subsidiary of a WBNX-like owner, or if they farm out the non-license assets to any willing party.

 

At least in Memphis, it takes care of any Tegna conflict, at least license-wise.   WHBQ is the much stronger station and it could be a roundabout way to shut down the 24/30 news operation and have WHBQ do 24's news.

 

 

I suspect that this won't last long either. Problem is - unless Byron Allen makes a move into top 50 markets or either Nexstar (for Tulsa) or Scripps (for Memphis) gets additional cap space, who could make those acquisitions?

 

I'm a bit surprised Gray isn't going for some of those monopoly stations. They'd be a better fit for markets like Pocatello, Yuma and Greenville, especially since they can tie those stations to sister stations in surrounding markets. Maybe they will make a later deal?

[TheSpeedKing 269]

3 minutes ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I'm a bit surprised Gray isn't going for some of those monopoly stations. They'd be a better fit for markets like Pocatello, Yuma and Greenville, especially since they can tie those stations to sister stations in surrounding markets. Maybe they will make a later deal?

Don’t expect Gray to make blockbusters or anything of that sort again unless they cash out of a few markets. They simply don’t have the cap space anymore to buy full-power. (36%, for reference)

[GoldenShine9 1514]

1 minute ago, TheSpeedKing said:

Don’t expect Gray to make blockbusters or anything of that sort again unless they cash out of a few markets. They simply don’t have the cap space anymore to buy full-power. (36%, for reference)

 

Those three markets would add maybe 0.3% to their reach.

[TheSpeedKing 269]

1 minute ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

Those three markets would add maybe 0.3% to their reach.

Fair enough. About Nexstar, I personally don’t want them to be buying stations since they’re wrecking WCMH and vicinity (aka the entire country), and they won’t be buying unless they sell. Scripps can buy, they just have to unload the Ion O&Os.

[mre29 1571]

Huh. I've been wondering if Sinclair would do something like this to alleviate their debt situation. I didn't expect it from Coxpollo.

 

[TheSpeedKing 269]

1 minute ago, mre29 said:

Huh. I've been wondering if Sinclair would do something like this to alleviate their debt situation. I didn't expect it from Coxpollo.

 

I expected it though. As a private equity firm, they only care about the monetary value of their properties; for them, everything’s an investment. Sinclair will offload their networks and maybe their flagship stations if they were to divest. There is a thread in Speculatron if you want to talk more about this in detail.

[ScottSchell 371]

3 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

KOKI has had a lot of ownership turnover in the last 20 years.

Yep sadly.

1 hour ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

I suspect that this won't last long either. Problem is - unless Byron Allen makes a move into top 50 markets or either Nexstar (for Tulsa) or Scripps (for Memphis) gets additional cap space, who could make those acquisitions?

 

I'm a bit surprised Gray isn't going for some of those monopoly stations. They'd be a better fit for markets like Pocatello, Yuma and Greenville, especially since they can tie those stations to sister stations in surrounding markets. Maybe they will make a later deal?

I’d be okay with Nexstar getting KOKI but last time before COXMedia got them and Newport was selling them Nexstar said they didn’t want to buy FOX23.

[WAVY 10 Fan 233]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Fun fact: INSP was the remnamt of the PTL network started by Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker.

 

Regarding the current programming, since about 2010 INSP effectively is pretty much 90% Westerns, thus while nominally a Christian network at this point it's probably closer to Western-heavy digital network GRIT in terms of programming 

[TresGriffin 144]

3 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

If I’m at ABC, I’m fucking terrified. Disney’s long-standing “we won’t buy our affiliates” strategy is going to bite them in the butt when WSOC, WSB, WFTV and WFAA are offloaded to a spectrum hog and/or a Godcaster because no other buyers exist beyond the networks.

This is why I wish Disney would just go ahead and buy Cox's "big" ABC stations, but with Bob Chapek in charge, that seems to be even more of a remote possibility.  It'd be a win for them in all 4 markets.

WSB: Top station in the Atlanta/North Georgia Market and Cox's flagship. Isn't this ABC's #1 top-rated affiliate in the country?

WSOC: Once the top station in Charlotte, now a respectable 2nd.  Could form synergy with WTVD in Raleigh.

WFTV: They'll own a station in the area that serves Walt Disney World's location, further boosting their investment in Central Florida.

WFAA: Every other network station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market is an O&O, so ABC might as well join the party and also form synergy with KTRK down in Houston.

[channel2 982]

2 hours ago, TheSpeedKing said:

Fair enough. About Nexstar, I personally don’t want them to be buying stations since they’re wrecking WCMH and vicinity (aka the entire country), and they won’t be buying unless they sell. Scripps can buy, they just have to unload the Ion O&Os.

 

Why would they do that? ION is the straw that stirs the drink at Scripps, not traditional network affiliates.

[T.L. Hughes 906]

5 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Apollo was never going to be a long-term owner. This is a breakup that will take 1–2 years to complete as Apollo cashes out.

 

Make no mistake, INSP bought these licenses solely for the 3.0 spectrum. The station operations and news departments are all either going to be shut down or sold to existing groups.

 

If I’m at ABC, I’m fucking terrified. Disney’s long-standing “we won’t buy our affiliates” strategy is going to bite them in the butt when WSOC, WSB, WFTV and WFAA are offloaded to a spectrum hog and/or a Godcaster because no other buyers exist beyond the networks.

 

5 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

I thought TVNT put up an April Fool's joke two days early...how wrong I was.

 

Get ready for the brokered model from radio to become a part of TV, where the IP of a schedule and news operation with a TBD owner has to pay INSP for their spectrum. And TBN looks a little bit hasty cashing out some mid-markets to Ion when if INSP makes this succeed, they'll be in a good place.

 

5 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Apollo was never going to be a long-term owner. This is a breakup that will take 1–2 years to complete as Apollo cashes out.

 

Make no mistake, INSP bought these licenses solely for the 3.0 spectrum. The station operations and news departments are all either going to be shut down or sold to existing groups.

 

If I’m at ABC, I’m fucking terrified. Disney’s long-standing “we won’t buy our affiliates” strategy is going to bite them in the butt when WSOC, WSB, WFTV and WFAA are offloaded to a spectrum hog and/or a Godcaster because no other buyers exist beyond the networks.

None of us know how Imagicomm is going to run the stations, so these wild speculations of IP asset transfers, using the stations as spectrum farms and news operation shutdowns are just that… speculatory. I’ll grant you, though, that an affiliate of INSP buying these stations is extremely unusual… then again, the LDS Church does own KSL and runs it as an NBC affiliate.

[TheSpeedKing 269]

48 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

 

 

None of us know how Imagicomm is going to run the stations, so these wild speculations of IP asset transfers, using the stations as spectrum farms and news operation shutdowns are just that… speculatory. I’ll grant you, though, that an affiliate of INSP buying these stations is extremely unusual… then again, the LDS Church does own KSL and runs it as an NBC affiliate.

That doesn't mean every station will be like that; we're talking about a 12-market chain, not two stations (KSL-FM-TV) in one market where a Godcaster can afford to run a traditional network affiliate. 

[ColtFromGulfcoast 738]

This is a good one, y'all!!! . 

 

I'll be waiting on tomorrow's announcement that TBN has purchased Graham and Hearst. 

Although if this is gonna be the case, then I would expect them to eventually purchase WLNE, KLKN and KBSI. 

[Big Rollo Smokes 266]

17 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

That doesn't mean every station will be like that; we're talking about a 12-market chain, not two stations (KSL-FM-TV) in one market where a Godcaster can afford to run a traditional network affiliate. 

You mean FIVE stations: KSL (AM), KSL-FM and KSL-TV, along with two other FMs in SLC.

[DirtyHarry 745]

Could the deal between Tegna and Cox have changed? Maybe the FCC already gave them an informal thumbs down? Maybe instead of that convoluted setup they had before, Both Tegna and Cox get rid of all their dog stations to get under the cap and then merge Cox into Tegna?

[appleachian 135]

A family member of mine frequently watches INSP.  If there is any religious content whatsoever I haven’t seen it.  It is just a male Lifetime now.  If they aren’t airing a western, they’re airing a rerun of something male/macho focused.  I’ve even seen what I can only describe as male Lifetime movies. 

[ColtFromGulfcoast 738]

11 minutes ago, appleachian said:

A family member of mine frequently watches INSP.  If there is any religious content whatsoever I haven’t seen it.  It is just a male Lifetime now.  If they aren’t airing a western, they’re airing a rerun of something male/macho focused.  I’ve even seen what I can only describe as male Lifetime movies. 

 

It basically runs whatever Westerns Grit doesn't run. 

[TexasTVNews 1379]

IMO, I wished that Cox would've kept KOKI/KMYT and WHBQ.