Nexstar Acquires 75% of The CW

[ABC 7 Denver 1585]

2 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

It looks like they just lumped KQTV into the Media General divestiture package because, let's face it, it IS St. Joseph, Missouri. That small a market wouldn't give that much cap relief even though it would be... what... five or six WJMNs?

Imagine Scripps repurchasing WPIX, divesting WPXN to an unrelated third-party, and relaunching WPIX as a sports-heavy indie.

 

The way Scripps stock has tanked ($3/share), I can't see them being a buyer. They are far more in selling condition. Don't be surprised if that happens.

 

WPIX would make sense for Hearst since they don't own a station in their HQ market. Graham would be weird. They don't own many stations and their only non-big 3 station is JXT which is news heavy and is a duopoly with WCWJ.

[ABC 7 Denver 1585]

On 5/23/2024 at 2:09 PM, GraphicsMan said:

He has to own WPIX if he wants to own all CW station I haven’t heard of any network owned group that doesn’t own their own flagship NY station to complete the job he needs New York. Perhaps he’ll sell of stations where there no chance that he’ll own a CW station there are a bunch of markets where he has no chance of getting CW control most are in small markets. 

 

 

I see two additional opportunities. Sinclair is selling 60 stations as well. If a new player enters the arena, they could snap up whatever stations Sinclair wants to exit AND whatever Nexstar wants to sell to meet market cap.

 

This second idea has some caveats. We don't know what Fox's position is on their O&Os are right now. They could be a buyer or seller. That might also be the play for Nexstar. Sell Fox stations to Fox, some in duopoly markets, and sign SSAs to manage Nexstar's CW assets in these market, or completely relinquish control of KDVR, KTXL, KSWB, WXIN, WDAF, WVBT. I'm sure there's an algorithm that they could use to identify audience cap and clearance to divest of the most appropriate stations.

 

On 5/22/2024 at 4:17 PM, TVLurker said:

So Nexstar is just like Sinclair then? They're going to hold on to their stations until they're either broke or the FCC deals their hand.

 

I thought you were cool Nexstar.

 

No no. Perry Sook is a pearl clutching, technophobic square. He believes in the sunk-cost fallacy which is why he's stupidly riding the NewsNation bong rip. He is a local manager who's duped everyone into some grand unifying vision that he's pulling out of his ass. Just like David Smith, Adam Symon, Dave Lougee and Bob Iger.

 

None of these men are particularly shrewd when it comes to asset management. They fully believe in finding synergy in local news product and overleveraging their companies to expand rapidly, but the reality is that local news doesn't have any synergy. That's why it's LOCAL.

Edited May 25 by ABC 7 Denver

[mrschimpf 2090]

41 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

No no. Perry Sook is a pearl clutching, technophobic square. He believes in the sunk-cost fallacy which is why he's stupidly riding the NewsNation bong rip. He is a local manager who's duped everyone into some grand unifying vision that he's pulling out of his ass. Just like David Smith, Adam Symon, Dave Lougee and Bob Iger.

Remember just six years ago after closing on Media General, he killed Hollywood Today Live, not because of its terrible and anemic ratings, but only because of its Hollywood and Highland rent cost and talent. But NewsNation is fine because it uses existing video from affiliates, existing sets and infrastructure at PIX Plaza and the WGN bunker, and depends on talent that costs a third of the major network news divisions.

 

There are no designs on it topping FNC, nor most of its stations; if they lead, that's sadly just a bonus, and outside a few stations were local management are ensconced and still fighting, it's about getting all the RTC possible, not pulling a WCIA and pissing off their COLs by criticizing local municipalities, and just getting by with finances to the point staff doesn't start circulating union voting petitions. The only visionary thing Perry has at this point is skating by on a 2003 business model in 2024 somehow.

 

And lord, I've been taking a bunch of studio pictures to upload to Wikipedia; the most depressing and poorly-maintained facilities I've seen are universally Nexstar studios. Outside Gray's WGGB with a slightly faded front sign that I can't knock because it'll be changed and the actual building is fine, along with WFSB (their lighted '3' needs a refacing), the disappointment of seeing how much maintenance has been deferred outside the WWLP and WJET/WFXP studios was saddening on my last trip.

 

I couldn't even watch WFXP in Erie because Mission is STILL in a fight with DirecTV involving RTC a year and a half later; at this point when do you just give the hell up on Mission and DT2 those affiliations a la Sinclair, because you're just pointlessly pissing off willing viewers over petty matters.

Edited May 23 by mrschimpf

[Rusty Muck 4301]

1 hour ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

The way Scripps stock has tanked ($3/share), I can't see them being a buyer. They are far more in selling condition. Don't be surprised if that happens.

That's wishful thinking given the ridiculous and unrealistic anti-Scripps sentiment that exists in this fandom, propped up by two-bit hack blogger Scott Jones and his obvious prejudice against the company. And you might be surprised to find out that even if they wanted to sell, there's no buyers available because the mass consolidation of the past decade literally wiped out whatever list of buyers existed.

1 hour ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

WPIX would make sense for Hearst since they don't own a station in their HQ market.

Absolutely not. Hearst doesn't buy stations unless they are wastes of money like WBBH in freaking Fort Myers, Florida, a totally inconsequential market of old people.

1 hour ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

Graham would be weird. They don't own many stations and their only non-big 3 station is JXT which is news heavy and is a duopoly with WCWJ.

Graham hasn't entered any new market since buying WSLS a decade ago as part of Media General's disappearing act.

 

What is it with this fandom that just keeps wishcasting for Hearst or Graham to buy stations like this when they never do and never will?

[ABC 7 Denver 1585]

17 minutes ago, mrschimpf said:

Remember just six years ago after closing on Media General, he killed Hollywood Today Live, not because of its terrible and anemic ratings, but only because of its Hollywood and Highland rent cost and talent. But NewsNation is fine because it uses existing video from affiliates, existing sets and infrastructure at PIX Plaza and the WGN bunker, and depends on talent that costs a third of the major network news divisions.

 

There are no designs on it topping FNC, nor most of its stations; if they lead, that's sadly just a bonus, and outside a few stations were local management are ensconced and still fighting, it's about getting all the RTC possible, not pulling a WCIA and pissing off their COLs by criticizing local municipalities, and just getting by with finances to the point staff doesn't start circulating union voting petitions. The only visionary thing Perry has at this point is skating by on a 2003 business model in 2024 somehow.

 

And lord, I've been taking a bunch of studio pictures to upload to Wikipedia; the most depressing and poorly-maintained facilities I've seen are universally Nexstar studios. Outside Gray's WGGB with a slightly faded front sign that I can't knock because it'll be changed and the actual building is fine, along with WFSB (their lighted '3' needs a refacing), the disappointment of seeing how much maintenance has been deferred outside the WWLP and WJET/WFXP studios was saddening on my last trip.

 

I couldn't even watch WFXP in Erie because Mission is STILL in a fight with DirecTV involving RTC a year and a half later; at this point when do you just give the hell up on Mission and DT2 those affiliations a la Sinclair, because you're just pointlessly pissing off willing viewers over petty matters.

 

I've said before that Nexstar could experiment by hubbing all 3 Colorado markets out of Denver and airing a standardized broadcast schedule with local cut-ins, while, of course, sales, ads and management were all Denver-based as well.

 

RE: NewsNation burdens under-paid local staff to develop additional packages and remotes outside of their normal workflows. Trying to do more with less and stations are already as stretched as they can be.

 

13 minutes ago, Rusty Muck said:

That's wishful thinking given the ridiculous and unrealistic anti-Scripps sentiment that exists in this fandom, propped up by two-bit hack blogger Scott Jones and his obvious prejudice against the company. And you might be surprised to find out that even if they wanted to sell, there's no buyers available because the mass consolidation of the past decade literally wiped out whatever list of buyers existed.

Absolutely not. Hearst doesn't buy stations unless they are wastes of money like WBBH in freaking Fort Myers, Florida, a totally inconsequential market of old people.

Graham hasn't entered any new market since buying WSLS a decade ago as part of Media General's disappearing act.

 

What is it with this fandom that just keeps wishcasting for Hearst or Graham to buy stations like this when they never do and never will?

 

I wasn't thinking about Scott Jones at all. I was thinking about their stock price, their green-screen sets, their lowball offers, cost-cutting into irrelevance. For example, the Creative Services Director for KMGH/KCDO is now responsible for KOAA and is being paid the same rate as he did when he managed two stations. He's also using the same budget for the one station (before KCDO was purchased). KOAA has seen a ton of reductions, as KMGH picks up the slack without any additional cost overhead.

 

WPIX is only valuable to Nexstar both because of it's affiliation and because of it's footprint for NewsNation. It's a waste of money to anyone else.

 

As I said, Graham isn't reasonable, and honestly, I don't think Scripps or Hearst is either. I was throwing ideas. TBH, Cox wants to milk everything for profit and I think they'd put up the money if they could absolutely destroy the station.

[Rusty Muck 4301]

18 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

I wasn't thinking about Scott Jones at all. I was thinking about their stock price, their green-screen sets, their lowball offers, cost-cutting into irrelevance. For example, the Creative Services Director for KMGH/KCDO is now responsible for KOAA and is being paid the same rate as he did when he managed two stations. He's also using the same budget for the one station (before KCDO was purchased). KOAA has seen a ton of reductions, as KMGH picks up the slack without any additional cost overhead.

Scripps is only guilty of doing something the industry will emulate sooner than later. The current mode of newscast production in the industry is wholly unsustainable and due for a nasty reckoning.

22 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

WPIX is only valuable to Nexstar both because of it's affiliation and because of it's footprint for NewsNation. It's a waste of money to anyone else.

Which is why they got caught red-headed blatantly violating the rules in creating an LMA that wasn't needed so they have over 70% national coverage without the UHF Discount sham.

 

Nexstar will not sell any stations because they refuse to do that, and they will lose control of WPIX outright. Simple as that.

26 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

As I said, Graham isn't reasonable, and honestly, I don't think Scripps or Hearst is either. I was throwing ideas. TBH, Cox wants to milk everything for profit and I think they'd put up the money if they could absolutely destroy the station.

The only reason Scripps has a good likelihood to get WPIX is because they already own WPXN channel 31. They are already in the market, they've owned WPIX before as a caretaker, and they would spend the money to buy it.

 

And Scripps is the only likely buyer because, again, there are no other options to speak of whatsoever. None.

[channel2 891]

WPIX is a V. They own a ton of Ion stations that take up a lot of cap space for them. Though they might not have to unload too many stations given that all WPIX would do would double WPXN's cap hit.

[Rusty Muck 4301]

3 minutes ago, channel2 said:

WPIX is a V. They own a ton of Ion stations that take up a lot of cap space for them. Though they might not have to unload too many stations given that all WPIX would do would double WPXN's cap hit.

Scripps took WPPX, KPXM and KKPX off the market after they sold WPIX. Given the very soft national ad market right now, it might be a blessing in disguise to offload those three.

[mer764KCTV5 97]

Okay, everyone, I'm sorry for the semi-all-caps rant but if Scripps DOES get WPIX, WHO WOULD EVEN GET THE CW?? WPXN IS NOT AN GOOD CHOICE, I don't even think it has even has a programing schedule for the CW if they have that.

 

Like, I'm actually sick of this udder stupidity of this whole situation about WPIX and stuff. It feels like, if Nexstar shuts down WPIX, then it might be good for y'all at this point because Nexstar isn't controlling it. 

 

Please, all I just want is to give me an example on how Nexstar messed UP WDAF-TV, then maybe I'll change my example. Otherwise, please don't respond to me over this comment. Just don't. 

[TVLurker 168]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

And you might be surprised to find out that even if they wanted to sell, there's no buyers available because the mass consolidation of the past decade literally wiped out whatever list of buyers existed.

You know I'm waiting on the Nexstar and Sinclair stocks to go down right?

[channel2 891]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

Scripps took WPPX, KPXM and KKPX off the market after they sold WPIX. Given the very soft national ad market right now, it might be a blessing in disguise to offload those three.

 

I don't think they were ever on the market per se, but their inclusion in the Inyo deal was conditioned on the WPIX deal closing before the Ion deal.

 

I don't know if another sale to Inyo would pass muster right now. The FCC of 2020 was much more permissive than the FCC is now.

[DENDude 191]

On 5/22/2024 at 1:44 PM, channel2 said:

 

Can't Nexstar just buy WPIX and unload whatever stations they need to unload in order to make room for it? Because selling WPIX off to somebody else just smacks of Fox buying WWOR and KCOP in the Chris-Craft deal and thus having their hand on UPN's throat.

They could unload some stations to do it sure, but I don't think they WANT to, to much ad $ to be lost by Uncle Perry.  IMO Nexstar should have been forced to unload more stations when they purchased Tribune but here we are.

[Rusty Muck 4301]

3 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

Okay, everyone, I'm sorry for the semi-all-caps rant but if Scripps DOES get WPIX, WHO WOULD EVEN GET THE CW?? WPXN IS NOT AN GOOD CHOICE, I don't even think it has even has a programing schedule for the CW if they have that.

There is a very good chance that, because Nexstar is not interested in selling any stations because of simple greed and hubris, WPIX is ordered by the FCC to be sold to a chain hostile to the CW.

 

Should that happen, the CW will be totally without a flagship station, and Nexstar will have only themselves to blame.

 

3 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

Like, I'm actually sick of this udder stupidity of this whole situation about WPIX and stuff. It feels like, if Nexstar shuts down WPIX, then it might be good for y'all at this point because Nexstar isn't controlling it. 

Nexstar will not be shutting down WPIX. They will only lose control of it, and Uncle Perry's nepo baby who plays make-believe sportscaster will need to update his resume.

Edited May 24 by Rusty Muck

[Rusty Muck 4301]

3 hours ago, TVLurker said:

You know I'm waiting on the Nexstar and Sinclair stocks to go down right?

So they can spiral into total oblivion, fire everyone and get bailed out by the federal government because literally no one wants to buy a chain of television stations in 2024?

[mer764KCTV5 97]

9 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

So they can spiral into total oblivion, fire everyone and get bailed out by the federal government because literally no one wants to buy a chain of television stations in 2024?

The government has more important problems to worry avout right now, than on the situation on Television stations. Not even the FCC could save them.

Edited May 24 by mer764KCTV5
Ouch, an typo.

[mre29 1356]

5 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

Absolutely not. Hearst doesn't buy stations unless they are wastes of money like WBBH in freaking Fort Myers, Florida, a totally inconsequential market of old people.

 

So, were WVTM and WJCL were wastes of money, too? How about (checks notes) WMTW in 2004? I'm pretty sure there were old people in southern Maine back then...

 

 

[jjj 2]

On 5/22/2024 at 12:44 PM, channel2 said:

 

Can't Nexstar just buy WPIX and unload whatever stations they need to unload in order to make room for it? Because selling WPIX off to somebody else just smacks of Fox buying WWOR and KCOP in the Chris-Craft deal and thus having their hand on UPN's throat.

 

I just did a calculation and Nexstar could unload 21 smaller market VHF stations/clusters to Mission in exchange for WPIX and be under the cap.  These are all markets without a Mission sister station.  Out of the 21 stations the largest markets would be #32 New Haven–Hartford, CT #42 Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York, PA and #43 Grand Rapids, MI. 

 

The other markets would be Huntsville–Decatur, AL, Panama City, FL, Honolulu, HI, Champaign–Urbana–Springfield–Decatur, IL, Des Moines, IA, Sioux City, IA, Baton Rouge, LA, Lafayette, LA, Springfield, MA, Jackson, MS, Greenville–New Bern–Washington, NC, Bismarck, ND, Florence–Myrtle Beach, SC, Greenville–Spartanburg–Anderson, SC–Asheville, NC, Sioux Falls, SD, Johnson City–Kingsport, TN–Bristol, VA, Huntington–Charleston, WV, Wheeling, WV–Steubenville, OH.

 

[TVLurker 168]

5 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

So they can spiral into total oblivion, fire everyone and get bailed out by the federal government because literally no one wants to buy a chain of television stations in 2024?

*hint* *hint*

You can do a hostile takeover you know. 

[channel2 891]

Given how Sinclair's stock is structured that would be difficult at best...

[tyrannical bastard 3534]

7 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

So, were WVTM and WJCL were wastes of money, too? How about (checks notes) WMTW in 2004? I'm pretty sure there were old people in southern Maine back then...

 

 

WVTM was an easy fixer upper that Media General squandered.  As soon as Media General saw the opportunity to get WIAT back (which had been fixed by others), they jumped at the chance to sell off WVTM.  Hearst immediately turned the station around.

 

Not entirely sure about WJCL but I'm pretty sure there was an upside after Hearst took over.  The only downside is They couldn't take on WTGS which became another half-station Sinclair runs in the market with news piped in from elsewhere.

 

Bottom line, if Hearst can easily make a station work, then they'll buy when the opportunity arises.

[mer764KCTV5 97]

14 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

Absolutely not. Hearst doesn't buy stations unless they are wastes of money like WBBH in freaking Fort Myers, Florida, a totally inconsequential market of old people.

How in the Florida was WBBH an 'waste of money' for Hearst? Hearst acquired it and WZVN because Waterman Broadcasting wanted to sell the stations off before Edith Waterman turned 100. 

 

And plus, it isn't an 'waste of money'. it's in 2nd place behind WINK-TV (Channel 11), ONWED by the family of the founder of the ORIGINAL CLEVELAND BROWNS, Mickey McBride.

 

Also, I like how no-one even notices that WZVN, albeit owned by Montclair Communications, is operated by Hearst.

[mrschimpf 2090]

29 minutes ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

How in the Florida was WBBH an 'waste of money' for Hearst? Hearst acquired it and WZVN because Waterman Broadcasting wanted to sell the stations off before Edith Waterman turned 100. 

It should also be pointed out that Hearst is a private company, so if it was a waste of money, we'll never know or need to care and obviously the Watermans wanted a steward, not a repeat of Jim Rogers's wishes being completely disregarded by his family for some quick Sinclair cash. I tend to put Hearst in a completely different container than most of the public broadcast groups simply because they do quality things that would be shot down by shareholders and seem to still think of the public as their actual customers as far as television and print, along with online.

[tyrannical bastard 3534]

Back to Nexstar.....

 

Basically, this is Perry Sook's show.  He made 29.2 MILLION DOLLARS in 2023.

https://www1.salary.com/Perry-A-Sook-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-NEXSTAR-MEDIA-GROUP.html

 

All while his stations are stuck in a 2000s mindset of "pay TV first" and the employees are making scrappy wages and being nickled and dimed on top of that.

 

Even if Nexstar goes under, he'll be fine. 

By comparison, Chris Ripley of Sinclair made a fraction of that....a paltry 9.6 million in 2022.

[Rusty Muck 4301]

17 hours ago, mre29 said:

So, were WVTM and WJCL were wastes of money, too? How about (checks notes) WMTW in 2004? I'm pretty sure there were old people in southern Maine back then...

All small market stations and the first two were simple divestitures from larger M&As. Try harder than that if you want to convince me that they should be anything more than a silly MacGuffin in this fandom.

 

Hearst doesn't buy anything you want them to buy. End of story.

[Rusty Muck 4301]

9 hours ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

How in the Florida was WBBH an 'waste of money' for Hearst? Hearst acquired it and WZVN because Waterman Broadcasting wanted to sell the stations off before Edith Waterman turned 100. 

 

 

It's in a deep red market in a permanently uncompetitive state politically that almost got wiped off the face of the earth by a devastating hurricane. There is no way that it was worth $200 million, or even $100 million. It should have been $75 million, and I'm being awfully generous here.

 

Yes, it absolutely was a waste of money. Yes, they foolishly overpaid for an asset that can only decline with time.

 

And I have no problem saying any of this because I don't have this weird romanticized vision of Hearst the fandom inexplicably has.