ABC Threatens to Pull Affiliation from WLNE

[bg02445]

In a new twist in the long history of bad luck for Providence's WLNE, ABC is now threatening to pull their affiliation from the station at the end of the month.

If that happens, they would not be able to use their current web domain name http://www.abc6.com or the ABC 6 News branding.

Read more: http://blogs.wpri.com/2011/03/17/abc-threatens-to-drop-ch-6-owner-fights-price-tag/

 

[taylorjsdad]

Where would ABC move the affiliation to? I can't think that LIN or Media General would want it? Media General has a huge total of 1 ABC affiliate and unless ABC really wanted to compensate LIN to take the ABC affiliation (which I doubt) why would LIN want to get rid of either CBS or FOX? The only other place would be WLWC (run by Nexstar) or a digital subchannel of WJAR, WNAC or WPRI. In a market that size I am not sure if I am a big 4 network that I would want my affiliate to be on a subchannel.

 

[arnoldevns]

After reading the story I'm baffled by ABC's stance in this situation. Either one of the owners is someone they want nothing to do with, or there's a better deal on the table for ABC in that market. Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Anyone know why they would issue such a hostile statement?

 

[azumanga]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

 

[only1moore]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

I doubt Hearst or ABC wants WLNE. BTW ABC has sold two stations so you can take them out of the picture.

 

[Garrett]

In a new twist in the long history of bad luck for Providence's WLNE, ABC is now threatening to pull their affiliation from the station at the end of the month.

If that happens, they would not be able to use their current web domain name http://www.abc6.com or the ABC 6 News branding.

Read more: http://blogs.wpri.com/2011/03/17/abc-threatens-to-drop-ch-6-owner-fights-price-tag/

Paging Scott!


I'm guessing NERW will be all over this one on Monday!!!!!
I can't wait to see how this plays out.

 

[nathannah]

After reading the story I'm baffled by ABC's stance in this situation. Either one of the owners is someone they want nothing to do with, or there's a better deal on the table for ABC in that market. Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Anyone know why they would issue such a hostile statement?

If it's the frontrunner Citadel Communications (again, the company which mainly runs stations in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, not Citadel Broadcasting which runs radio stations), it is puzzling, since Citadel is almost all ABC stations, so maybe they are pushing hard for Citadel to be the winner behind the scenes at the expense of somebody else, or the other rumored bid from Belo, which seems a long-shot since Belo is only interested in market leaders rather than fixer-uppers.

But if it's nothing else, the 7pm infomercials, "Don't Forget the Lyrics" leading into primetime and their "View" lead-in being "Steven and Chris" (a show which has no business being on a Big Four affiliate at all), they are hoping that they don't have a repeat of the WPGA situation in Macon, Georgia, where they fled that station for a subchannel of WGXA as fast as they could because of awful syndicated programming choices, bizarre infomercial slots, promotion of RTV over ABC and a hostile owner who openly criticized shows like "Grey's Anatomy" due to the Callie/Arizona romance and "Desperate Housewives"'s sexual content. It's ABC saying that if a solid owner doesn't pick it up, they'll move over to another station or depend on WCVB overflow cable coverage to get their programming in Providence.

 

[Sammi Brie]

After reading the story I'm baffled by ABC's stance in this situation. Either one of the owners is someone they want nothing to do with, or there's a better deal on the table for ABC in that market. Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Anyone know why they would issue such a hostile statement?

If it's the frontrunner Citadel Communications (again, the company which mainly runs stations in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, not Citadel Broadcasting which runs radio stations), it is puzzling, since Citadel is almost all ABC stations, so maybe they are pushing hard for Citadel to be the winner behind the scenes at the expense of somebody else, or the other rumored bid from Belo, which seems a long-shot since Belo is only interested in market leaders rather than fixer-uppers.

But if it's nothing else, the 7pm infomercials, "Don't Forget the Lyrics" leading into primetime and their "View" lead-in being "Steven and Chris" (a show which has no business being on a Big Four affiliate at all), they are hoping that they don't have a repeat of the WPGA situation in Macon, Georgia, where they fled that station for a subchannel of WGXA as fast as they could because of awful syndicated programming choices, bizarre infomercial slots, promotion of RTV over ABC and a hostile owner who openly criticized shows like "Grey's Anatomy" due to the Callie/Arizona romance and "Desperate Housewives"'s sexual content. It's ABC saying that if a solid owner doesn't pick it up, they'll move over to another station or depend on WCVB overflow cable coverage to get their programming in Providence.

Macon is not Providence. It's a far more liberal market we are dealing with.

Citadel Comm. would be a godsend for ABC, since it would basically ensure good relations with the network. Belo would too, because they own a few ABCs (WFAA, WHAS, WVEC, KVUE). We don't know all six original bidders yet. Auction should be fun!

 

[bg02445]

From what I've heard, Citadel is an extremely cheap company, and that they would basically tear WLNE apart with big cuts.

I've also heard that anyone talented in there is jumping ship before the sale.

 

[ding12]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

I doubt Hearst or ABC wants WLNE. BTW ABC has sold two stations so you can take them out of the picture.

For an ABC ownership - with Providence being on the NE Corridor though, I wonder if there could be operational synergies with WABC and WPVI. ABC would also be able to get its LiveWell HD signal into the New England region also.During Chris Craft ownershp, WUTB was once operated by WWOR. If it was Herast, Hearst would have stations nearby to enjoy the benefit.

 

[azumanga]

From what I've heard, Citadel is an extremely cheap company, and that they would basically tear WLNE apart with big cuts.

But considering that the station is already run on the cheap, how much more would they have to cut?

 

[bg02445]

Well for starters, WLNE isn't automated at all.

They could also scale back on newscasts more - they are producing the most news in the Providence market on weekdays.

News per week:

WJAR/WJAR DT2 - 34.5 hours
Weekdays: 25 hours on WJAR, 2.5 hours on DT2
Weekends: 7 hours on WJAR

WPRI/WNAC - 40.5 hours
Weekdays: 22.5 hours on WPRI, 10 hours on WNAC
Weekends: 7 hours on WPRI, 1 hour on WNAC

WLNE/Cable 5 - 39.5
Weekdays: 30 hours on WLNE, 5 hours on Cable 5 (may be more if they choose to air 10 PM news)
Weekends: 2.5 hours on WLNE, 2 hours on Cable 5

I'm sure that they could also use more one man bands.

 

[SteveRichards]

Unless Citadel just wants another station and they think they can get WLNE for a steal of a price, I would think they wouldn't be that interested. WLNE is quite a ways from Citadel's present general territory (mainly Iowa and Nebraska). Citadel does seem to be run on the cheap (their stations all sign-off at night, even the one in Des Moines), and I think their stations pretty well rank last in their respective markets, at least compared to the other Big 3 affiliates in said markets.

 

[PDXREXX]

After reading the story I'm baffled by ABC's stance in this situation. Either one of the owners is someone they want nothing to do with, or there's a better deal on the table for ABC in that market. Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Anyone know why they would issue such a hostile statement?

You can cross Belo off the list as they
own the the Providence Journal

If it's the frontrunner Citadel Communications (again, the company which mainly runs stations in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota, not Citadel Broadcasting which runs radio stations), it is puzzling, since Citadel is almost all ABC stations, so maybe they are pushing hard for Citadel to be the winner behind the scenes at the expense of somebody else, or the other rumored bid from Belo, which seems a long-shot since Belo is only interested in market leaders rather than fixer-uppers.

But if it's nothing else, the 7pm infomercials, "Don't Forget the Lyrics" leading into primetime and their "View" lead-in being "Steven and Chris" (a show which has no business being on a Big Four affiliate at all), they are hoping that they don't have a repeat of the WPGA situation in Macon, Georgia, where they fled that station for a subchannel of WGXA as fast as they could because of awful syndicated programming choices, bizarre infomercial slots, promotion of RTV over ABC and a hostile owner who openly criticized shows like "Grey's Anatomy" due to the Callie/Arizona romance and "Desperate Housewives"'s sexual content. It's ABC saying that if a solid owner doesn't pick it up, they'll move over to another station or depend on WCVB overflow cable coverage to get their programming in Providence.

Macon is not Providence. It's a far more liberal market we are dealing with.

Citadel Comm. would be a godsend for ABC, since it would basically ensure good relations with the network. Belo would too, because they own a few ABCs (WFAA, WHAS, WVEC, KVUE). We don't know all six original bidders yet. Auction should be fun!

 

[arnoldevns]

If Belo is interested, ABC would be happy.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Unless Citadel just wants another station and they think they can get WLNE for a steal of a price, I would think they wouldn't be that interested. WLNE is quite a ways from Citadel's present general territory (mainly Iowa and Nebraska). Citadel does seem to be run on the cheap (their stations all sign-off at night, even the one in Des Moines), and I think their stations pretty well rank last in their respective markets, at least compared to the other Big 3 affiliates in said markets.

Actually, Citadel Comm's head office is in Bronxville, New York. And for just under $150,000 recently, Citadel Comm picked up a TBN repeater in Sarasota, Florida from the MMTC people that were donated several repeaters.

 

[azumanga]

for just under $150,000 recently, Citadel Comm picked up a TBN repeater in Sarasota, Florida from the MMTC people that were donated several repeaters.

What could Citadel do with a repeater in Sarasota, in a state where they own no full-powered stations?

 

[taylorjsdad]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

Hearst would be an excellent fit.... buy the station on the cheap... have the master control in either Boston or Manchester (I am surprised Hearst does not run a regional Master Control in New England outside of having WNNE's in Plattsburgh) and use their leverage to get some better syndicated programming.

 

[ding12]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

Hearst would be an excellent fit.... buy the station on the cheap... have the master control in either Boston or Manchester (I am surprised Hearst does not run a regional Master Control in New England outside of having WNNE's in Plattsburgh) and use their leverage to get some better syndicated programming.

The big station groups (Hearst, ABC, Fox, CBS) could work together to in essence merge the Providence DMA into Boston's DMA by stripping the network affiliations off the Providence stations, or maybe only leaving 1 or 2 network stations there (I'm not sure if Nielsen would say 1 network affiliate could co-exist but not two or more for it to be part of Bos DMA). Providence is within Boston's CSA, and getting the Bos DMA the size of the CSA will be good news for all the Bos stations.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Could also be that ABC wants to buy the station and is trying to drive the price down.

Could Hearst also be a potential buyer, as they already own ABC stations in Boston, Manchester and Portland?

Hearst would be an excellent fit.... buy the station on the cheap... have the master control in either Boston or Manchester (I am surprised Hearst does not run a regional Master Control in New England outside of having WNNE's in Plattsburgh) and use their leverage to get some better syndicated programming.

The big station groups (Hearst, ABC, Fox, CBS) could work together to in essence merge the Providence DMA into Boston's DMA by stripping the network affiliations off the Providence stations, or maybe only leaving 1 or 2 network stations there (I'm not sure if Nielsen would say 1 network affiliate could co-exist but not two or more for it to be part of Bos DMA). Providence is within Boston's CSA, and getting the Bos DMA the size of the CSA will be good news for all the Bos stations.

One power station was enough to keep Anniston and Tuscaloosa separate markets. When those power stations turned to B'ham, it was curtains for those markets.