All About Allen...

[mre29 1563]

3 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

Think about it. Who else would want KVOA or any of the other Allen stations? Coastal? Marquee? NP&G? Gray is IMO the prohibitive favorite and the only buyer who would continue to operate the stations with any semblance of locality.

 

Looking at the list of stations, I'm pretty certain they'd be a clean purchase for Hearst or Graham...but most of them are small-market, so outside of maybe WAAY, KVOA, WREX, KWWL, and WKOW, I don't think Hearst would be all that interested (and Graham even less so). Also, the work that would be involved in making the stations decent again.... It'd probably be Hearst's last significant purchase of the 2020s and 2030s.

 

[TheRolyPoly 2587]

2 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

Looking at the list of stations, I'm pretty certain they'd be a clean purchase for Hearst or Graham...but most of them are small-market, so outside of maybe WAAY, KVOA, WREX, KWWL, and WKOW, I don't think Hearst would be all that interested (and Graham even less so). Also, the work that would be involved in making the stations decent again.... It'd probably be Hearst's last significant purchase of the 2020s and 2030s.

 

 

I can only see Hearst buying WKOW and the Wisconsin stations to bolster WISN plus WAAY to bolster WVTM. The rest would be difficult for Hearst to imagine buying. I don't see them going back to Hawaii (for KITV).

[Howard Beale 83]

8 hours ago, Action Newsroom said:

The AMG TV stations may be up for grabs.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/byron-allen-selling-local-tv-stations-up-1236235004/

https://deadline.com/2025/06/allen-media-group-hires-investment-bank-to-sell-tv-stations-1236420381/

It's a little too late for Byron Allen to recoup what he spent for those stations.  Even if the FCC totally deregulates TV broadcasting, Allen's stations are about as appealing to purchase as a rusted-out Ford Pinto.  Plus, Allen Media gutted its stations to absolute bare minimums, and in some cases, the company doesn't even own the physical property.  Anyone who's crazy enough to buy an Allen Media station will have to effectively un-Allen the stations by undoing the damages caused by hubbing master control, weather, etc.  Kind of like what Gray had to do when it bought the Meredith stations and had to undo Meredith's dumb decisions.

[mre29 1563]

18 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

I can only see Hearst buying WKOW and the Wisconsin stations to bolster WISN plus WAAY to bolster WVTM. The rest would be difficult for Hearst to imagine buying. I don't see them going back to Hawaii (for KITV).

 

Yeah. IIRC, KSBW is their smallest station right now in terms of market size, and its DMA was ranked around 100.

 

(Also, I included KWWL as it'd give KCCI an in-state sister station.)

 

[TheRolyPoly 2587]

I can tell you this, it won't be clean for Gray if they even wanted to buy more stations. The only markets Gray doesn't have a presence in with Allen stations are Chico-Redding, Terre Haute, Lafayette (both in Indiana and Louisiana, Gray's last market where it doesn't own a station in that state), Tupelo/Columbus, Eugene, and Medford.

[Rusty Muck 4403]

On 6/2/2025 at 1:35 PM, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

For that matter, is there an off chance of Weigel buying the chain in general. 

So they can all run MeTV off the bird?

On 6/2/2025 at 6:14 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

 

I can only see Hearst buying WKOW and the Wisconsin stations to bolster WISN plus WAAY to bolster WVTM. The rest would be difficult for Hearst to imagine buying. I don't see them going back to Hawaii (for KITV).

Why would Hearst waste their time with the beyond-broken OW stations? They don't need full-power satellites for WISN, which is all they would be.

[TheRolyPoly 2587]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

Why would Hearst waste their time with the beyond-broken OW stations? They don't need full-power satellites for WISN, which is all they would be.

 

No they wouldn't be satellites, they would help WISN bolster Wisconsin coverage. Plus, Hearst would be smart to bring them all back to their own independence (that's IF Hearst were to acquire them, not saying it WILL acquire them).

[Rusty Muck 4403]

7 minutes ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

No they wouldn't be satellites, they would help WISN bolster Wisconsin coverage. Plus, Hearst would be smart to bring them all back to their own independence (that's IF Hearst were to acquire them, not saying it WILL acquire them).

Why would Hearst—or any group not named Gray—waste money like that? Allen destroyed those stations to the point where any buyer is going to have to burn money just to get them back up to par. Talk about a money pit.

 

The only obvious outcome is Gray buying the OW stations (along with the rest of the Allen stations) and they become shells of WSAW and WMTV. They all qualify for failed station waivers.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 728]

6 minutes ago, Rusty Muck said:

 

 

The only obvious outcome is Gray buying the OW stations (along with the rest of the Allen stations) and they become shells of WSAW and WMTV. They all qualify for failed station waivers.

Are you sure it's gotten that bad?

[Rusty Muck 4403]

2 hours ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

Are you sure it's gotten that bad?

It absolutely has. Those stations are permabroken and destined to be rumps of their former Gray competition. No one else is going to waste their money on properties Byron Allen squandered.

[mer764KCTV5 156]

My 2 cents on the issue about Allen Media....

 

I don't think Gray Media is going to aquire them. Gray already had other things to do, like make WANF independent, for them to care about what Allen Media is doing. And with the current FCC rules in place, they can't own some of the stations, and they definitely can't place the Allen stations programming on a Gray Media station and sell them.

 

Plus, Allen has yet to find a buyer for their stations. Saying Gray Media will just buy Allen Media sounds a little childish in my opinion.

[Rusty Muck 4403]

4 minutes ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

My 2 cents on the issue about Allen Media....

 

I don't think Gray Media is going to aquire them. Gray already had other things to do, like make WANF independent, for them to care about what Allen Media is doing. And with the current FCC rules in place, they can't own some of the stations, and they definitely can't place the Allen stations programming on a Gray Media station and sell them.

 

Plus, Allen has yet to find a buyer for their stations. Saying Gray Media will just buy Allen Media sounds a little childish in my opinion.

Better Gray buys them than Coastal, who is the only other plausible buyer. Not even Marquee would waste money on these clunkers.

[LOWERCASE GUY 282]

11 minutes ago, Rusty Muck said:

Better Gray buys them than Coastal, who is the only other plausible buyer. Not even Marquee would waste money on these clunkers.

Oof. I'd rather see anyone else buy them as opposed to Coastal (former Coastal Employee. I can make a primetime special on how big of a jerk the owner is.) Anyone else would be an upgrade (Including Scripps, Sinclair, and TEGNA)

[mer764KCTV5 156]

1 hour ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

Oof. I'd rather see anyone else buy them as opposed to Coastal (former Coastal Employee. I can make a primetime special on how big of a jerk the owner is.) Anyone else would be an upgrade (Including Scripps, Sinclair, and TEGNA)

Yes, I agree.

Everyone else other than Coastal is better in this case. Even Sinclair could be a better choice. 

[TheRolyPoly 2587]

1 hour ago, mer764KCTV5 said:

Yes, I agree.

Everyone else other than Coastal is better in this case. Even Sinclair could be a better choice. 

 

And I don't think Sinclair can buy anyway because of the troubles Sinclair had with the FCC regarding the Tribune deal.

Speaking of wish, I wish Tribune was still around.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 728]

As I understand it, a local firm is interested in WSIL. 

 

Might they pull a Deltavision (or whoever the company is that bought WABG and others) and buy a bit more as well?? Indiana comes to mind.  And possibly Wisconsin and WJRT.