Disney’s ABC Stations Could Be Bought By Nexstar With “Little Friction” If They Are Sold Off, Company Advisor Tom Carter Says

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Not saying it’s going to be a rip-roaring success, but at the very least, Disney sits on a better overall stable of IP, and has a less tumultuous recent history than Paramount and Warner, all things considered. Again, not saying sunshine and unicorns, but there are some meaningful differences.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

With ABC's fall 2024 schedule being released this week, it is worth pointing out that there are 0 sitcoms and only 6 scripted shows altogether. Only three nights have scripted shows: Tues., Wed. & Thurs.

So that cost cutting Iger mentions appears to be in swing.

ABC Announces Fall 2024-2025 Primetime TV Schedule: "The Golden Bachelorette," "High Potential," "Doctor Odyssey" & More! | ABC Updates

New seasons of fan favorites and new series coming this fall to ABC!

abc.com

 

[Kelly A]

With ABC's fall 2024 schedule being released this week, it is worth pointing out that there are 0 sitcoms and only 6 scripted shows altogether. Only three nights have scripted shows: Tues., Wed. & Thurs.

So that cost cutting Iger mentions appears to be in swing.

ABC Announces Fall 2024-2025 Primetime TV Schedule: "The Golden Bachelorette," "High Potential," "Doctor Odyssey" & More! | ABC Updates

New seasons of fan favorites and new series coming this fall to ABC!

abc.com

I hear most of that is leftover from the strike(s). The networks and streamers needed to scramble once the strike ended and even then, production didn't wrap up in time to roll out many new shows for 2024 or 2025.

 

[vchimpanzee]

And to think that if Westinghouse had kept that train wreck in Charlotte, WPCQ, it would be the CBS station and WBTV
would probably be with NBC. I don't think that would fly in the Queen City.

I remember talk of WBTV moving to NBC. I guess that has been at least 30 years ago.

WBTV is the only commercial station in the market never to have changed networks.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Looks like Iger is keeping Disney intact

Disney CEO Bob Iger Says Linear TV Can Be Managed In Decline With “Dramatically” Lower Content Spend

Bob Iger said he didn't sell Disney's linear TV assets since they can work with the right cost structure and smart content management with streaming.

deadline.com

This is more reflective of Bob Iger realizing that he can't sell ABC in anything close to a clean transaction. Disney is stuck with ABC and the owned-stations and likely will have to sell them at a substantial loss by the next decade.

The audience for linear television is vanishing.

 

[Mgomrjsurf]

With ABC's fall 2024 schedule being released this week, it is worth pointing out that there are 0 sitcoms and only 6 scripted shows altogether. Only three nights have scripted shows: Tues., Wed. & Thurs.

So that cost cutting Iger mentions appears to be in swing.

ABC Announces Fall 2024-2025 Primetime TV Schedule: "The Golden Bachelorette," "High Potential," "Doctor Odyssey" & More! | ABC Updates

New seasons of fan favorites and new series coming this fall to ABC!

abc.com

Wednesday a Comedy at 10:30pm.

 

[TheBigA]

This is more reflective of Bob Iger realizing that he can't sell ABC in anything close to a clean transaction.

The same thing is true down the street at Paramount/CBS.

 

[Rusty Muck]

The same thing is true down the street at Paramount/CBS.

...and to a smaller extent with Sinclair Broadcast Group. They have a bunch of laggard stations that will probably be a much more difficult task to sell because they can't do a clean transaction.

This is an industry crisis that no amount of deregulation can remedy.

 

[Mark Roberts]

This New York Times article today about the end of Young Sheldon's run (gift link) has an interesting data point, based on Warner Brothers' decision to license the first five seasons of the show to Netflix - with a contrast to the previous median viewing age of the show, which ranged from 57 to 65, according to the article.

The show also struck a chord with viewers under the age of 34, according to Nielsen. Mr. Molaro, the show’s co-creator, said the Netflix bump became apparent to him when the crew was shooting a scene recently near a church in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. “Young Sheldon” had filmed in that location dozens of times without incident. But this time, roughly five months after the show began streaming on Netflix, it was a vastly different situation.

“There were hundreds of kids at the fence screaming for Wallace Shawn,” he said, referring to the 80-year-old cast member. “We were like, ‘What is happening?’”

(Never watched the show myself.)

How ‘Young Sheldon’ Successfully Rode the Turmoil in TV

The seven-year run of the hit series, which ends on Thursday, mirrors the story of the television business during that time.

www.nytimes.com

 

[DarrenVision]

Sounds familiar:



We first heard that strategy when AT&T bought Warner Media. It didn't work. It's also how Paramount is managing Paramount +.

Consumers expect content companies to invest billions and give it away for free. This strategy won't work without cutting the price.

Remember this was the same ceo calling the writers and actors "unrealistic" last year and both The Nanny and Walter White themselves Fran Drescher and Bryan Cranston punched him to the gut. Added to the Bob Chapek fiasco and massive losses in streaming, I rather have him resigned and same thing goes to David Zaslav.

BTW Its Big Tech's fault and incompitence isn't alone in Hollywood.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

I don't know when that was. KDKA and KPIX were CBS affiliates; WJZ was with ABC. That was long before Westinghouse merged with CBS, at which time KYW and WBZ switched from NBC, and WJZ switched from ABC. That's also when NBC put WBTS on the air in Boston, and ABC took a big hit in Baltimore; it switched to third-place WMAR (part of Scripps' deal to keep WEWS and WXYZ with ABC and a factor in the Westinghouse-CBS deal that switched WJZ.)

So it shook out like this:

Baltimore: WJZ to CBS; WMAR from NBC to ABC; WBAL returns to its original network, NBC
Boston: WBZ to CBS; WHDH from NBC to independent; WBTS goes on the air as an NBC o&o
Philadelphia: KYW from NBC to CBS; WCAU from CBS to NBC
Pittsburgh: no changes
San Francisco: KPIX stays with CBS, but KRON goes from NBC to MyNetwork (and now the CW) and KNTV becomes
an NBC o&o

Your timelines are off.

The Group W affiliation switches happened in 1995–Baltimore and Boston in January, and Philadelphia in September.

The move of NBC in the SF Bay Area, from KRON-TV to KNTV, happened as 2001 turned into 2002.

The second move of NBC in Boston, from WHDH to WBTS, was in 2017.

 

[bpatrick]

Actually, I didn't intend to do this chronologically, just show what happened in the markets where Group W had a station. But thanks for the additional information.

Also, re WBTV: I seem to recall it was 1988 that NBC was wooing Channel 3. They even sent Tom Brokaw to try to convince them to switch. We know how it turned out.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Also, re WBTV: I seem to recall it was 1988 that NBC was wooing Channel 3. They even sent Tom Brokaw to try to convince them to switch. We know how it turned out.

I recall reading about that in TV Guide, around the summer of 1987. The same article mentioned NBC attempting to get WRAL-TV in Raleigh to jump networks, when 'RAL had moved to CBS only two years earlier. It eventually happened, albeit 29 years later.

 

[nelsonincharlotte]

I recall reading about that in TV Guide, around the summer of 1987. The same article mentioned NBC attempting to get WRAL-TV in Raleigh to jump networks, when 'RAL had moved to CBS only two years earlier. It eventually happened, albeit 29 years later.

NBC also tried to get WBTV in 1978 when ABC moved to WSOC. The newly built WJZY actually also made a bid in 1988 when WBTV and WSOC turned them down.

 

[bpatrick]

NBC also tried to get WBTV in 1978 when ABC moved to WSOC. The newly built WJZY actually also made a bid in 1988 when WBTV and WSOC turned them down.

While WRAL did switch from CBS to NBC in 2016, there is no chance that the Fletcher family will ever sell the station. They have made it an innovative model for other stations, and it has the same kind of dominance in Raleigh/Durham that, for example, WSB has in Atlanta. WRAL prides itself, too, on the fact that it is one of the few stations left that is not owned by a major station group (we have an ABC o&o and a CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar, but WRAL is--and always has been--owned by Capitol Broadcasting, a local company). I could see WBTV as a CBS o&o (CBS owned its radio counterpart, WBT, in the 1930s), but I don't see Gray Television selling it.

 

[nelsonincharlotte]

While WRAL did switch from CBS to NBC in 2016, there is no chance that the Fletcher family will ever sell the station. They have made it an innovative model for other stations, and it has the same kind of dominance in Raleigh/Durham that, for example, WSB has in Atlanta. WRAL prides itself, too, on the fact that it is one of the few stations left that is not owned by a major station group (we have an ABC o&o and a CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar, but WRAL is--and always has been--owned by Capitol Broadcasting, a local company). I could see WBTV as a CBS o&o (CBS owned its radio counterpart, WBT, in the 1930s), but I don't see Gray Television selling it.

I meant NBC tried to get the affiliation. Not that they tried to buy the station.

 

[Kelly A]

Remember this was the same ceo calling the writers and actors "unrealistic" last year and both The Nanny and Walter White themselves Fran Drescher and Bryan Cranston punched him to the gut. Added to the Bob Chapek fiasco and massive losses in streaming, I rather have him resigned and same thing goes to David Zaslav.

What does any of this have to do with whether anyone would be in the position to purchase ABC and their stations?

BTW Its Big Tech's fault and incompitence isn't alone in Hollywood.

Also makes no sense.

 

[Kelly A]

This is more reflective of Bob Iger realizing that he can't sell ABC in anything close to a clean transaction. Disney is stuck with ABC and the owned-stations and likely will have to sell them at a substantial loss by the next decade.

The audience for linear television is vanishing.

I don't think the audience is vanishing, but diminished advertising revenue is the real concern.
Was listening to a media podcast the other day where one of the pundits rightfully made the comment that anyone trying to sell stations these days are running into a; 'that ship has sailed' scenario. In particular, they were commenting on Sinclair announcing they would be (trying) to sell 30% of their poor performing stations. Now, ABC stations wouldn't be considered poor performing like small to mid market stations would be, but funding and investment for linear TV is not a thing these day, nor is it likely going to be in the future.

 

[JeeperOne]

If Nexstar really gets the Disney owned ABC affiliates then Fresno would have to be one of the places where stations need to be divested to unrelated parties like KFSN given that Nexstar already runs a duopoly in the area KGPE and KSEE.

They also own the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, NC. If Nexstar bought WTVD 11, they'd have to spin off one or the other. Same (But with MUCH BIGGER problems) with Los Angeles (ABC owns KABC 7 while Nexstar owns KTLA 5), New York (ABC owns WABC 7 while Nexstar owns WPIX 11) & San Francisco (ABC owns KGO 7 while Nexstar owns KRON 4)

For these reasons alone, it's safe to say this is DOA at the FCC

 

[DarrenVision]

Also makes no sense.

Big tech invented streaming, no regulations, blamed for double Hollywood strikes; you have to connect the dots. Compare that to the struggling newspaper and music industries.