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FOX Post Disney Deal?

C

Channel 83

I was reading some remarks made by Rupert Murdoch this morning following the announcement of the massive sell-off of FOX assets to the Disney Company.

He said, in essence, that with the business pared down and a lot of money freed up.....that now FOX has the opportunity to purchase more TV stations, thereby expanding FOX's national footprint.

Does anyone here think that FOX would like the idea of having an O&O again in the Boston / Manchester market? And if so.....who might be the most likely acquisition targets?
 
Uncle Kaimbridge said:
Has Sunbeam or Hearst given any indication theyʼre looking/willing to sell? :confused:
Click to expand...

Hearst has a close business relationship with ABC. Plus the WMUR signal only covers a small part of the market, which doesn't matter now as a near-duplicate of WCVB. But as a new Fox station, they would have a signal mess much like NBCBoston. Ansin (Sunbeam) could possibly sell WLVI, soon to be shared on WHDH, if this theoretical Fox station was willing to share.

Buying a sharing station is probably the only way Fox (or anyone) could get a good signal on the air in Boston, since the full coverage stations that did not sell their licenses in the auctions, probably would not be interested in selling now.

Cox could, of course, sell WFXT back to Fox.
 
channel99 said:
Cox could, of course, sell WFXT back to Fox.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea. Boston stands out as Cox's only northeast station, but also it's largest market (bigger than home base Atlanta).

Now that Cox is re-combining its media assets into one company, That might be worth investigating.
 
I think Sunbeam is very committed to WHDH, which remains successful despite losing the NBC affiliation. Not only that, Sunbeam would have no interest in selling WHDH but hanging on to WLVI. I think WMUR is very successful as the only TV news station dedicated to the state of NH, plus as another poster mentioned, WMUR would present major signal issues for the majority of the market. However, Cox has really failed in Boston, so I think they would be more likely to sell back to Fox than either Sunbeam or Hearst would be to sell to Fox. What about CBS? Would they consider selling WSBK?
 
If NRJ Television was willing to sell the spectrum of WMFP......I suppose it's possible that....if the price were right, they might be willing to sell WMFP's spectrumless license too. The only hitch would be that FOX would need to find a much more desirable channel-sharing partner than the signal-challenged WWDP.
 
But wait isn't Fox original intent prior to the Disney deal was to cut affiliation deals with Sinclair and move the Fox affiliation to Ion owned stations.

The real reason that Fox was selling some of its Divisions to Disney was intended to go after the contracts of Tribune/Sinclair stations. I say Boston is off the list because it has no Sinclair/Tribune station in the market. But Seattle, Sacramento, Baltimore, San Diego, El Paso are some of the markets Tribune and Sinclair currently have affiliations in. Fox wanted to cut the affiliation contract in these markets. For Example KTXL Sacramento the Fox Affiliate in the area is currently owned by Tribune(soon to Sinclair) Fox Wanted KSPX the Ion Station in Sacramento to get the Fox affiliation as part of the deal.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/ne...ry-talks-ion-operate-fox-affils-report/167652

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14325671/1/ion-media-sweetens-fox-offer.html

https://www.radiodiscussions.com/sh...h-Ion-Media-Networks-for-Fox-Affiliation-deal
 
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KCPQ Seattle the current Fox Affiliate affected by the Sinclair Tribune Deal. There was talks that Fox wanted Q13 as part of the divestment requirement that Sinclair has to do Divest some of the stations to get Tribune. KCPQ is the home to the Seahawks and Fox wanted that because its in a NFC TV market. I do not see Fox specifically going after Boston for now.
 
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