Nexstar ready to hook up with TEGNA?

[TheBigA]

If they can afford it.

We already have that situation now. Everything is going behind a paywall. Especially investigative journalism.

It will be up to the journalists themselves to market what they do to reach their audience. Because the big companies won't do it for them.

They might have to become like Ken Burns, who raises his own money to pay for his movies that air on PBS.

I don't hold out hope for PBS member stations to be doing that type of journalism at the local level, either.

Once again, don't depend on companies or stations to raise money for journalists. The journalists have to raise their own money and bring their produced and sponsored work to the station. The media is that: A medium. Not an investment banker. That's mostly how PBS works.

Journalists have to be motivated by their own internal need to tell the story and help people, not by a salary with benefits.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Today, any national news they do have comes from their network affiliation. For example, Tegna's KVUE in Austin was using one or two ABC network reports every night on its 10 pm cast when I watched while in the area.

Maybe for Tegna, but most of the big broadcast groups run their own Washington newsroom. Certainly Sinclair, Nexstar and Gray do. Sinclair uses WJLA for that purpose. Tribune had a DC newsroom back in the say, which Nexstar acquired. And Nexstar bought The Hill a few years ago as part of the Newsnation buildout.

Nexstar Acquires The Hill, a Leading Independent Political Digital Media Platform, for $130 Million | Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

Nexstar Media Inc. acquired The Hill for $130 million (plus working capital adjustments), in a transaction that is expected to be immediately accretive to Nexstar’s operating results. The Hill is the nation’s leading, independent, political digital media platform.

www.nexstar.tv

Gray Media

Gray Media is a leading media company that owns and operates high-quality stations in 113 television markets that collectively reach 36 percent of US television households.

graymedia.com

That's not to say that packages from CBS Newspath and equivalents never air, because they do, especially when national news happens outside of DC.

We already have that situation now. Everything is going behind a paywall. Especially investigative journalism.

Good investigative journalism has been behind a paywall for decades. It was called newspaper. You paid 75 cents for it at 7-Eleven, or a dollar on Sunday. Television news never provided the same sort of service that most Sunday papers did.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Call me weird, but what's the point of even having rules if they can be waived just for the asking?

 

[TheBigA]

Good investigative journalism has been behind a paywall for decades. It was called newspaper. You paid 75 cents for it at 7-Eleven, or a dollar on Sunday. Television news never provided the same sort of service that most Sunday papers did.

Not at local stations because they have to cram in commercials every ten minutes. But if you watch a show like Frontline or a documentary movie on YouTube or Netflix, that's what I'm talking about. The presentation can be whatever the journalist wants if he's the one who gets the money.

All of those serious journalists who used to report for newspapers are now hosting their own podcasts.

 

[TheBigA]

Call me weird, but what's the point of even having rules if they can be waived just for the asking?

Have you ever been pulled over for speeding, and you try to talk the cop into letting you go? That's what this is.

 

[only1moore]

Guess we’ll have to see what happens next in the markets that Nexstar and TEGNA share stations now that they’re paired up together. 60% is too much for a behemoth of a company.

 

[TheBigA]

Guess we’ll have to see what happens next in the markets that Nexstar and TEGNA share stations now that they’re paired up together. 60% is too much for a behemoth of a company.

The reports say the reach is 80%. The FCC says it's only 15% of all TV stations.

In short, approving the deal—which will allow Nexstar to own less than 15% of television stations—will promote the FCC’s longstanding media policy goals of competition, localism, and diversity.

Which is more than the combined ownership of iHeart, Audacy, and Cumulus. If that's their view about TV, then it likely extends to radio.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

If they can afford it.

I shouldn't discount the efforts of local public radio stations, but not all of them have the resources to do this kind of thing. And some are more inclined to go for long features. For example, in theory, Colorado Public Radio could pick up the slack from 9News. They do have some resources. But its locally-produced news programs are like what you would have heard on NPR in the 1980s. They're very featurish and not much inclined toward the type of accountability journalism that 9News has been so expert at doing. I don't hold out hope for PBS member stations to be doing that type of journalism at the local level, either.

True I can see why given the defunding of CPB on how journalism is affected by this. When there were protests against Defunding NPR and PBS affiliates we feared escalation of disinformation not just on the national levels but on the state levels too.

 

[Loverofradio]

Have you ever been pulled over for speeding, and you try to talk the cop into letting you go? That's what this is.

Call me naive and crazy but I still am in the minority who thinks this is all going to fall apart. A judge, somewhere, is going to put a stop to this.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Call me naive and crazy but I still am in the minority who thinks this is all going to fall apart. A judge, somewhere, is going to put a stop to this.

That seems very unlikely.

 

[KML0224]

This move will impact Hartford/New Haven. Nexstar will have to divest WCTX-TV (MY) channel 59, the sister station of WTNH-TV (ABC) channel 8 New Haven.

Until now, Tegna owns WTIC-TV (FOX) channel 61 Hartford. Not sure what happens to sister station WCCT-TV (CW) channel 20 Waterbury.

 

[Loverofradio]

That seems very unlikely.

Who has the power to lift that 39 percent cap? Congress or the FCC? As a matter of fact, was the cap lifted for this deal?

 

[TheBigA]

As a matter of fact, was the cap lifted for this deal?

Apparently yes, since they're above it.

Congress has the power to reverse the FCC's decision. But they don't have the votes.

 

[Loverofradio]

Apparently yes, since they're above it.

Congress has the power to reverse the FCC's decision. But they don't have the votes.

Call me insane. But I just see this deal dying in court. Like I said in a previous post, Gray backed out of deals to acquire several stations, for a reason. Either way, I’ll be watching to see how this plays out. What I see happening is the courts forcing Nexstar to immediately sell the stations, even though the Tegna name technically no longer exists

 

[Mark Roberts]

Corey Hutchins' Inside the News in Colorado, naturally, focuses on the effects of the merger in Denver: Colorado's A.G. sues to block a TV merger in Denver between FOX31 and 9NEWS, but...

A few notable items:
Phil Weiser, the Colorado attorney general, once was a telecommunications lawyer.
Weiser and the other attorneys general who filed the suit to block the merger will continue to pursue it.

Hutchins also reports local reaction:

"Some of Colorado’s top Democratic leaders, from Gov. Jared Polis to U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, Congressman Joe Neguse, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, have condemned the takeover of 9NEWS.

On the right, Jon Caldara, who runs the libertarian-leaning nonprofit Independence Institute and plays an outsized role in conservative politics, policy, and media in Colorado, has criticized the deal from a conservative point of view."

 

[only1moore]

Meanwhile, one could see Nexstar looking at stations being taken off the air and move the programming and branding to the DTs.

 

[K.M. Richards]

DTs?

 

[K.M. Richards]

RBR-TVBR reports that California Attorney General, acting for his state and seven others, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on the consummation:

Eight State AGs Seek TRO To Stop Nexstar-TEGNA | Radio & Television Business Report

Could Nexstar Media Group's now completed merger with TEGNA somehow be unwound? The latter is what California Attorney General Bonta and seven other state Attorneys General seek, as Rob Bonta filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Friday in an effort to reverse what's already...

rbr.com

(NOT paywalled... surprise!)

 

[PTBoardOp93]

Meanwhile, one could see Nexstar looking at stations being taken off the air and move the programming and branding to the DTs.

Absolutely.

DTs?

Digital subchannels. Gray and Sinclair do this quite a bit. I think Gray has all the English language networks except ABC on their duopoly in Duluth.

 

[K.M. Richards]

DTs?

Digital subchannels.

Ah. I was confused because technically the primary is called KXXX-DT. (At least on my TiVo.) If the OP had been more specific, as you were , I wouldn't have asked.