WXGZ-TV 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Liberty Media have bought WFRV as a stock exchange, WFRV is valued at $64 million. http://wfrv.com/topstories/local_story_044125915.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WXmanTim 88 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 What hell is going on over at Black Rock? Is CBS in financial trouble? First the announcement that they are selling off KUTV, KEYE and couple other of their CW stations and now the WFRV sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIliberal 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 How will this effect WFRV? any guesses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wisco TV Watcher 11 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Unfortunately, they will probably have to lose the O&O website. Maybe, CBS will let them keep it if they pay a fee. I hope they will bring back "Eyewitness News"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dylan Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 From what I've been told, CBS has been looking to spin off it's local stations since the split.. Why not start with the less important ones on its roster? (Don't start bitching at me that there are other stations more deserving to be sold, I don't care. I'm just saying, this is what they're doing. They've been looking to sell.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Former Member 207 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 Liberty has been in buying mode lately...back in December, Liberty acquired three of Fox's regional sports networks (Pittsburgh, Northwest, and Rocky Mountain) and News Corp's stake in DirecTV. Also, Time Warner finalized its deal to sell the Atlanta Braves to Liberty just a day or two ago, and now the WFRV/WJMN deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKyuubi 0 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 I hope they will bring back "Eyewitness News"! My bet: they bring back NewsChannel 5, AND get fancier graphics then WGBA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bostonmediaguy 123 Posted February 13, 2007 Share Posted February 13, 2007 What hell is going on over at Black Rock? Is CBS in financial trouble? First the announcement that they are selling off KUTV, KEYE and couple other of their CW stations and now the WFRV sale. It's part of their continuing strategy to own larger market stations. The same goes of CBS' radio stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIliberal 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Deos anybody think that this could hurt WFRV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmySand10 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 This should be interesting considering WFRV will be Liberty Media's first broadcast TV holding. I have no idea what this could lead to, either WFRV will be run as an autonomous entity like Liberty's other holdings (i.e. QVC) or they are planning on establishing a local TV division. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wisco TV Watcher 11 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Deos anybody think that this could hurt WFRV? Probably. WFRV's news department has greatly improved after being owned by CBS. Tom Zalaski, Erin Davisson, Tammy Elliott, and Kris Schuller are all paid pretty high (at least for a mid-market station). I wonder if Liberty will be as willing to shell out cash as CBS was. When CBS acquired WCCO-TV WCCO-AM, WFRV, and WJMN, they tried to sell WFRV & WJMN because they didn't want to lose highly-rated affiliate WBAY. Of course, they were never ably to sell those stations, so they were forced to give WFRV & WJMN the CBS affiliation. I wonder if CBS will be looking to affiliate with WBAY again now that they won't be owning WFRV/WJMN anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artie fufkin 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I wonder if CBS will be looking to affiliate with WBAY again now that they won't be owning WFRV/WJMN anymore. Extremely unlikely. Affiliation swaps are less likely these days because the networks don't care as much about affiliates. Unless the affiliate is doing an absolutely crappy job, it's staying where it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilium 0 Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Ever since CBS and Viacom split the o&o's have been on the chopping block. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbnews 0 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Obviously we're watching this with interest in Green Bay. So far the GM is quoted saying Liberty will have a pretty hands-off approach since they don't know how to run a TV station. It wasn't a question of whether CBS would drop WFRV; it was just part of a package deal CBS bought. But the parent was good to WFRV, as evidenced by their Green Bay Packers deal and a much-improved Viacom-powered web site. I see one of two possibilities: 1) It was no coincidence Liberty picked up WFRV at the same time it bought sports properties, given the Packers/NFL package and the drama of Brett Favre's final season(s). Liberty gets the station practically for free and cashes in, then cashes out in 3 to 5 years. 2) Liberty saw a low-cost opportunity to test the local-TV waters, dips its toes in, and decides it likes it enough to create a station group. Depending on what markets Liberty wants to focus on, WFRV becomes the little fish, the middle child, or the flagship -- but any way, this option looks good for Kidder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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