9 Fox O&Os to be sold

[DToTheJ]

Believe it or not, the Texans aren't a big TV draw in Houston; the games that air at 3:15 on Fox (often involving the Cowboys) usually get higher ratings than the Texans' games at noon on CBS.

Were there any blackouts in Houston last year?

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

That idea of selling KTVI, WBRC and WGHP is one that may have many roadblocks. ABC is locked into long term deals with Albritton for Birmingham and Sinclair for St. Louis and Greensboro. It would take a miracle to get out of them since Disney has opted not to buy any stations right now and if that were to happen Albritton and Sinclair will want something in return.

Agreed. As strong as WBRC is (under Fox) and was (under ABC), the twin-signals of WCFT-33(Tuscaloosa) and WJSU-40(Anniston) (hence ABC 33/40) along with its related repeater in Birmingham proper (WBMA-LP 58) are one of the (few, very few) success stories to emerge after the Fox/New World deal. Literally coming from nothing (two seperate signals aimed at their respective COL's in Anniston and Tuscaloosa pre-1995), their newscasts regularly beat the competition (NBC on 13 and CBS on 42 and Fox on 6), especially with severe weather coverage. During the severe storm outbreak in March '07 (resulting in the Enterprise, AL tornado), ABC 33/40 beat the competition almost 2-to-1.

ABC would gain almost nothing by trying to go after WBRC again and would like lose more by p***ing Albritton off.

 

[TroyG]

Were there any blackouts in Houston last year?

In regards to the Texans, No. But the biggest draw last season was when Former Madison HS & UT grad Vince Young and The Titans came to Reliant and shocked the Texans in a miraculous overtime victory in front of more fans who wore his #10 jersey. Most of the Texans game were played indoors @12 Noon as opposed to the Cowboys playing out inside the heat-filled Texas Stadium @ 3:00 or 3:20 P.M. Real soon, the Cowboys will be next to take the same comforts The Texans & the Astros are enjoying NOW.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

As for KTVI, ABC tried to unload that
one for years and affiliate with KPLR/11,
but KPLR opted for the WB (now the CW).

But you have to wonder that now that FOX is selling it, would ABC try to swap it for one of their O&Os ala CBS did with NBC did back in '95.

If so, I'm thinking WTVD 11 would be ABC's "sacrificial lamb" as it were.

As for where FOX would go should this become a reality, I'm sure Sinclair would LOVE to have FOX on KDNL 30.

Just my opinion though....

Cheers

 

[snoman]

I am pretty sure WFXT 25 in Boston is also a Fox O & O.
So are they not sure if they are keeping them?

Boston is a major market and I am sure that Fox will keep WFXT-TV. I am surprise that Fox is not selling their O&O station in Austin, TX. However, Austin is one of the fastest-growing television markets in the nation!

I forgot, but Austin is a duopoly, too. KTBC FOX 7 and KVC Channel 13. I'm not sure if they are a "MY TV Network" station or an independent.

 

[arnoldevns]

I forgot, but Austin is a duopoly, too. KTBC FOX 7 and KVC Channel 13. I'm not sure if they are a "MY TV Network" station or an independent.

Nope. KVC does not exist anymore. It went away when KAKW moved to the market and took over the channel 13 signal for its digital station.

 

[jojo_collins]

One of the talks in KC is that if someone buys WDAF (Channel 4), there is a possibility that it will go back to an NBC affiliate and the FOX will go back to KSHB (Channel 41, the original FOX affiliate, now NBC). Any thoughts there?

 

[Kent]

I left Kansas City in 2001, and, right about the time I was leaving, there was talk of a minority owned group getting WDAF, WGHP, WBRC and WHBQ. The deal obviously never happened, but the worst kept secret of the deal was that NBC was willing to help bankroll the group if the new owner would agree to switch WDAF back to NBC.

As for whether or not that would happen today, it's hard to say. While KSHB is far from the model NBC affiliate, WDAF performs even worse than KSHB in a few timeslots, and WDAF's news product does best in the morning. That top-rated morning news would get scaled back, and WDAF would likely perform far worse running NBC's Today Show. I'm also not sure Fox will let these stations go without long term affiliation deals.

 

[Garrett]

Not to throw a glitch into this thread, but I find it interesting how a topic labed "9 Fox O&Os to be sold" has only sparse discussion about who is going to buy them?

So lets talk about it, just for fun....

Hey, what if Fox were to do a bunch of station trades with CBS? Maybe they could trade WSBK in Boston for one of the other properties over to CBS. Maybe in Detroit, CBS can get a lower frequency back?

Just a thought? Imagine, there's plenty of potential, and CBS has done this before (think NBC 4 and WCIX in Miami, for example).

 

[wncc]

If so, I'm thinking WTVD 11 would be ABC's "sacrificial lamb" as it were.

Not going to Happen. WGHP in Greensboro is going to remain Fox. Though ABC would love to have WGHP back, I don't consider them sacrificing a station in Raleigh Durham for a station in Greensboro. There is too much overlap between the two markets.

 

[Nate Wesley]

That idea of selling KTVI, WBRC and WGHP is one that may have many roadblocks. ABC is locked into long term deals with Albritton for Birmingham and Sinclair for St. Louis and Greensboro. It would take a miracle to get out of them since Disney has opted not to buy any stations right now and if that were to happen Albritton and Sinclair will want something in return.

Agreed. As strong as WBRC is (under Fox) and was (under ABC), the twin-signals of WCFT-33(Tuscaloosa) and WJSU-40(Anniston) (hence ABC 33/40) along with its related repeater in Birmingham proper (WBMA-LP 58) are one of the (few, very few) success stories to emerge after the Fox/New World deal. Literally coming from nothing (two seperate signals aimed at their respective COL's in Anniston and Tuscaloosa pre-1995), their newscasts regularly beat the competition (NBC on 13 and CBS on 42 and Fox on 6), especially with severe weather coverage. During the severe storm outbreak in March '07 (resulting in the Enterprise, AL tornado), ABC 33/40 beat the competition almost 2-to-1.

ABC would gain almost nothing by trying to go after WBRC again and would like lose more by p***ing Albritton off.

Wasn't ABC 33/40's creation pretty much the reason Nielsen collapsed Anniston and Tuscaloosa into the Birmingham market? I'm sure being market #40 (#39 for a while) made stations more money than what they could've billed in separate markets.

 

[bpatrick]

I don't think we should read into the
WGHP/WTVD postings that ABC would
buy WGHP, and I don't know why they'd
sell WTVD. ABC might like to be back on
Channel 8 but they've got too many shows
(sports, especially) that score big in the
Triad.

 

[TheRob]

The money generated by the morning show is one reason why WDAF should, and will, remain a FOX affiliate. At night (where I produce), we stay level with KSHB, but both remain far behind KMBC and KCTV most nights. Returning to NBC, I might add, would cost me my job as 9:00 producer. :'( WDAF outperforms KSHB at 5pm and 6pm too.

I can't forsee any circumstance where any of those nine stations will swap affiliations. The most recent buyers have been private equity groups looking to improve station profits and, likely, sell the stations if market conditions improve. FOX wants $1.2 billion for the lot, which eliminates a lot of potential customers.

 

[JayR]

Hey, what if FOX were to do a bunch of station trades with CBS? Maybe they could trade WSBK in Boston for one of the other properties over to CBS. Maybe in Detroit, CBS can get a lower frequency back?

What would FOX do with WSBK? Flip it to MY? Would they add a real newscast?

Just a thought? Imagine, there's plenty of potential, and CBS has done this before (think NBC 4 and WCIX in Miami, for example).

Ahh, the famous license swap...I remember that. "CBS is moving 4ward."

 

[mbatchelor]

KTVI is a lot like WDAF in that both stations have immensely popular morning shows, but don't fare quite as well the rest of the day, even though, IMHO, they probably have the best news product and anchors in town. I really doubt much of anything will change at KTVI. I thought I remembered hearing somewhere that Sinclair's affiliate agreement is up in a couple of years, and even if it wasn't that it could be easily terminated due to their failure to live up to news and ratings commitments.

Looks like St. Louis' last full powered underutilized commercial signal, KNLC 24 could be going on the block soon - Larry Rice has already sold off KNLJ in Jefferson City/Columbia, and his ministry is hurting very badly for money right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone pick up the KNLC license to create a new ABC affiliate for St.Louis, if whomever the new owner of KPLR winds up being after Tribune sells, decides not to keep the CW.

 

[JayR]

Hey, what if Fox were to do a bunch of station trades with CBS? Maybe they could trade WSBK in Boston for one of the other properties over to CBS. Maybe in Detroit, CBS can get a lower frequency back?

What would FOX do with WSBK? Flip it to MY? Would they add a real newscast?

Just a thought? Imagine, there's plenty of potential, and CBS has done this before (think NBC 4 and WCIX in Miami, for example).

Ahh, the famous license swap...I remember that. "CBS is moving 4ward."

 

[jojo_collins]

Looks like St. Louis' last full powered underutilized commercial signal, KNLC 24 could be going on the block soon - Larry Rice has already sold off KNLJ in Jefferson City/Columbia, and his ministry is hurting very badly for money right now. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone pick up the KNLC license to create a new ABC affiliate for St.Louis, if whomever the new owner of KPLR winds up being after Tribune sells, decides not to keep the CW.


The new owner will be Sam Zell and I think there is a clause that since Tribune has partial stock with the CW, they will still be CW affiliates.

 

[KML0224]

Channel 24 huh? Has that station ever been a network affiliate of any kind? Also, does the station reach the entire market? Lastly, was KPLR-TV channel 11 ever an affiliate of ABC, CBS or NBC? Forgive my ignorance, but I'm in Connecticut. I have picked up FOX channel 2 and CBS channel 4 as "skip" signals once. I even picked up 97.1 FM Talk once. Does that count?

 

[jojo_collins]

No. KPLR has always been an indy, until they were a WB affiliate in 1995 and a secondary UPN affiliate in 1999 (When St. Louis was the only major market without a UPN affiliate until 2002 when Roberts Communications signed on with WRBU-Channel 46).

 

[bpatrick]

That idea of selling KTVI, WBRC and WGHP is one that may have many roadblocks. ABC is locked into long term deals with Albritton for Birmingham and Sinclair for St. Louis and Greensboro. It would take a miracle to get out of them since Disney has opted not to buy any stations right now and if that were to happen Albritton and Sinclair will want something in return.

First, to correct someone else: WXII/12 Winston-Salem is
owned by Hearst-Argyle, last time I looked. So let's suppose
a company that's tight with ABC (McGraw-Hill, Scripps-Howard,
or Allbritton) wants to buy WGHP. Would that be enough to
turn FOX8 back into ABC8? (Any one of the three could buy
KTVI; all but Allbritton could buy WBRC, so the same question
applies, just substitute 2 or 6, as in ABC2 and ABC6.)