Imagicomm Communications plans to sell its TV stations

[channel2 981]

I think people forget that Graham isn't exactly some mom-and-pop shop. Graham Holdings is a diversified conglomerate and their TV stations are just one of their many businesses.

 

And Graham Holdings is still headquartered in Washington.

[AmericanErrorist 151]

1 hour ago, channel2 said:

And Graham Holdings is still headquartered in Washington.

 

Actually the suburb of Arlington, VA.

[VulcanSphere 8]

17 hours ago, channel2 said:

I think people forget that Graham isn't exactly some mom-and-pop shop. Graham Holdings is a diversified conglomerate and their TV stations are just one of their many businesses.

 

And Graham Holdings is still headquartered in Washington.

Yeah, they own Slate and other diversified businesses such as Old Ebbitt Grill restaurant.

[johnintx 20]

On 1/24/2025 at 3:46 AM, Georgie56 said:

 

Griffin also has their food business keeping them afloat.

Pancake syrup!

[Georgie56 3310]

KAYU, KOKI/KMYT, KFFX, KCYU, KYMA, and WHBQ will be sold to Rincon.

Edited April 3 by Georgie56

[GoldenShine_10 97]

5 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

KAYU, KOKI/KMYT, KFFX, KCYU, KYMA, and WHBQ will be sold to Rincon.

 

That leaves the stations in Greenville and Pocatello.

[tyrannical bastard 3998]

5 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

KAYU, KOKI/KMYT, KFFX, KCYU, KYMA, and WHBQ will be sold to Rincon.

We'll see if this is a real company or just another disguise by Sinclair to own more stations. 

Rincon is the company headed by Todd Parkin that just agreed to "buy" several Sinclair stations including WICS/WICD, KTVO, KHQA and WVTV.

 

It may be a legit sale since there are strong operational ties between all of the Sinclair divestitures except WVTV.   I know KHQA's news was coming out of WICD's building and that's since shifted to KTVO.

But we'll see...

Edited April 3 by tyrannical bastard

[tyrannical bastard 3998]

31 minutes ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

That leaves the stations in Greenville and Pocatello.

and WICZ in Vestal/Binghamton as well.

 

It was an early Gannett station when they were headquartered in Rochester.  Doubt Tegna would ever go for it...especially now!

[TDNProd 5]

Remaining properties have been sold

 

Not familiar with Deltavision Media....

[TheRolyPoly 2526]

1 hour ago, TDNProd said:

Remaining properties have been sold

 

Not familiar with Deltavision Media....

 

I'm not either but the article does say and sound like WABG/WXVT/WNBD will be the flagship stations...

 

"It’s an entity owned and operated by Webb Collums, who has a strong family history in media in southwest Mississippi and is currently invested in the Mississippi Delta region."

[GoldenShine_10 97]

18 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

I'm not either but the article does say and sound like WABG/WXVT/WNBD will be the flagship stations...

 

"It’s an entity owned and operated by Webb Collums, who has a strong family history in media in southwest Mississippi and is currently invested in the Mississippi Delta region."

 

I'm surprised they are buying the others too, since they would essentially be a local owner in Greenville.

[Rusty Muck 4384]

On 4/9/2025 at 11:11 AM, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

I'm surprised they are buying the others too, since they would essentially be a local owner in Greenville.

Outside of KPVI (which is itself in a small market) those stations are super small and borderline afterthoughts. Does WICZ/WSYT have any local output to speak of?

 

The funny thing is I bet INSP didn't get anything close to a return on their investment a few years ago.

Edited April 14 by Rusty Muck

[norcalTVfan 17]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

Outside of KPVI (which is itself in a small market) those stations are super small and borderline afterthoughts. Does WICZ/WSYT have any local output to speak of?

 

The funny thing is I bet INSP didn't get anything close to a return on their investment a few years ago.

KPVI is an afterthought in a two-newsroom market. Its quality is on par with its former sister KIEM. Longtime users of this forum know that KIEM and quality typically aren’t mentioned in the same sentence. 

[mer764KCTV5 153]

11 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

Outside of KPVI (which is itself in a small market) those stations are super small and borderline afterthoughts. Does WICZ/WSYT have any local output to speak of?

 

The funny thing is I bet INSP didn't get anything close to a return on their investment a few years ago.

 

WICZ is a distant 2nd place between WBNG-TV, so yea.

[nathannah 2480]

Without the Sony game shows (there by default because Nexstar and Sinclair aren't throwing money into a perceived 'dead market' like Syracuse) WSYT would probably be a Coastal station like WYDC nearby. It really feels like an complete afterthought since Sinclair spun it off with WNYS.

Edited April 15 by nathannah

[jjj 20]

We now have the complete prices paid for the Imagicomm stations.   Imagicomm previously paid $488 million for the stations and has now sold them for $94.9 million.

 

$2.9 million:

KIEM / KVIQ (Eureka, CA)

 

$1 million:

KMVU / KFBI (Medford, OR)

 

$63 million:

KOKI / KMYT (Tulsa, OK)

WHBQ (Memphis, TN)

KAYU (Spokane, WA)

KFFX / KCYU (Yakima, WA)

KYMA (Yuma, AZ)

 

$28 million:

WSYT (Syracuse, NY)

WICZ (Binghamton, NY)

WNYS-CD (Ithaca, NY)

KLAX (Alexandria, LA)

KPVI (Pocatello, ID)

WABG / WNBD / WXVT (Greenville, MS)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16 by jjj

[channel2 981]

On 4/14/2025 at 6:39 PM, norcalTVfan said:

KPVI is an afterthought in a two-newsroom market. Its quality is on par with its former sister KIEM. Longtime users of this forum know that KIEM and quality typically aren’t mentioned in the same sentence. 

 

Isn't KIFI itself kinda lousy?

[nathannah 2480]

7 hours ago, channel2 said:

 

Isn't KIFI itself kinda lousy?

I imagine in that market most of the viewers (if they are) mainly hate-watch for certain political reasons and posting said hate-watching on the station's socials, so neither news org needs to put their best foot forward in the first place and the out-of-state staff is doing their 2-3 and fleeing.

[Rusty Muck 4384]

13 hours ago, jjj said:

We now have the complete prices paid for the Imagicomm stations.   Imagicomm previously paid $488 million for the stations and has now sold them for $94.9 million.

What in the hell possessed INSP to incinerate $393M like that in less than three years? That's Enron levels of fraud.

 

Did Marc Rowan (Apollo's CEO) have incriminating evidence against INSP CEO David Cerullo and threatened to release it if INSP didn't blow all that money on KOKI, WHBQ and a bunch of spare parts and scrap? Cause there's no other way to explain why they would engage in such a horrible transaction.

Edited April 16 by Rusty Muck

[Joseph04 1]

As a longtime resident of Greenville and the Mississippi Delta, I can't help but feel a sense of disappointment over the frequent changes in ownership and the glaring lack of investment in our local television stations. Cox and even Imagicomm, as current owners, have not lived up to their responsibilities. It’s disheartening to think that an area struggling with economic challenges—one of the poorest in the nation—is served by station owners who seem indifferent to the needs of the community. The dedicated viewers and hardworking staff at these stations unquestionably deserve far better than what they currently receive.

 

This mounting situation underscores the urgent need for a collaborative effort to rejuvenate our local media landscape. Our station, WABG, has the potential to shine; it simply requires modernization and owners who genuinely care about nurturing this small television market. Historically, the Delta's stations have lagged, often equipped with outdated technology that places them years behind other television markets across the state. If WABG could attain even half the production quality demonstrated by WLBT or KTVE,  our community would feel far more satisfied and engaged with the local news coverage.

 

It genuinely pains me to hear fellow community members express their disillusionment, many stating they no longer tune into our local news broadcasts and instead turn to sources from Jackson or Little Rock. The disconnect is palpable, and we must take steps to rekindle pride in our local news.

Edited 16 hours ago by Joseph04

[tyrannical bastard 3998]

7 hours ago, Joseph04 said:

As a longtime resident of Greenville and the Mississippi Delta, I can't help but feel a sense of disappointment over the frequent changes in ownership and the glaring lack of investment in our local television stations. Cox and even Imagicomm, as current owners, have not lived up to their responsibilities. It’s disheartening to think that an area struggling with economic challenges—one of the poorest in the nation—is served by station owners who seem indifferent to the needs of the community. The dedicated viewers and hardworking staff at these stations unquestionably deserve far better than what they currently receive.

 

This mounting situation underscores the urgent need for a collaborative effort to rejuvenate our local media landscape. Our station, WABG, has the potential to shine; it simply requires modernization and owners who genuinely care about nurturing this small television market. Historically, the Delta's stations have lagged, often equipped with outdated technology that places them years behind other television markets across the state. If WABG could attain even half the production quality demonstrated by WLBT or KTVE,  our community would feel far more satisfied and engaged with the local news coverage.

 

It genuinely pains me to hear fellow community members express their disillusionment, many stating they no longer tune into our local news broadcasts and instead turn to sources from Jackson or Little Rock. The disconnect is palpable, and we must take steps to rekindle pride in our local news.

You bring up some very valid points with the way ownership has transpired over the years there.  

Making matters worse is the consolidation that brought in WXVT and allowed the creation of WNBD-LD, bringing all locally owned television under one roof.
Would you agree that it would have made more sense to pipe in distant affiliates of networks not already there?  This would have preserved more diversity in voices, and has been an issue in smaller markets that have had the ability to bring in local affiliates, at the expense of out-of-town stations that the local viewers have relied on for years, if not decades.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 715]

3 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

You bring up some very valid points with the way ownership has transpired over the years there.  

Making matters worse is the consolidation that brought in WXVT and allowed the creation of WNBD-LD, bringing all locally owned television under one roof.
Would you agree that it would have made more sense to pipe in distant affiliates of networks not already there?  This would have preserved more diversity in voices, and has been an issue in smaller markets that have had the ability to bring in local affiliates, at the expense of out-of-town stations that the local viewers have relied on for years, if not decades.

I knew someone who moved all the way from Shreveport to work at WABG and was back within two years.