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Apollo, Standard General make $8 billion bid for Tegna

Mediafrog+ said:
This will be messy, due to Apollo’s ownership stakes in CMG and the TEGNA acquisition. FCC and DOJ might put up more than a few roadblocks requiring a restructure of the deal. Multiple market conflicts.
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From what I've seen so far, Apollo will own securities but no actual voting shares in the new TEGNA. I don't know if that will be enough to avoid FCC and DOJ issues, but it seems to be structured similarly to Clear Channel's stake in the former Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation in the late-90's. The FCC and DOJ generally let them operate independently of one another with the exception of not allowing one to acquire the other's DOJ mandated spinoffs.

As we're discussing on the Houston board, the current administration's FCC and DOJ haven't seen anything like this until now. So, we can't completely guess what either will do.
 
Kent said:
From what I've seen so far, Apollo will own securities but no actual voting shares in the new TEGNA.
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Exactly, so Apollo is acting as the bank, not the owner.

www.yahoo.com

Big Broadcaster Tegna Sold To Standard General, Apollo Global

Big publicly-traded broadcaster Tegna, which has been in play for months, agreed to sell itself to Standard General and investors led by Apollo Global Management and its Cox Media Group. It’s a cash deal for $24 a share. That comes to an equity value of $5.4 billion, or $8.6 billion including...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com


Following the close of the transaction, Cox will acquire Tegna stations in Austin (KVUE), Dallas (WFAA and KMPX) and Houston (KHOU and KTBU) from Standard General. Tegna owns 64 stations in 51 markets, including top-4 network affiliates in the top 25 markets. It owns multicast networks True Crime, Twist and Quest.
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In addition to Cox getting the 3 of the major former Belo/current TEGNA stations in TX, they also get 4 smaller stations & give up WFXT in Boston that'll become the anchor station for a new station group that'll make up of the current remaining TEGNA stations...
024A8B95-D463-4C9E-BE2A-179545E3C8DD.thumb.jpeg.3eb7283eb389a70d892dde839aa87fa2.jpeg
 
wonder if Cox would bring back the iconic "The Spirit of Texas" theme (at least a 2022 version of it) for WFAA under their ownership and WFAA just got their new studios at Young Street, unless Cox wants to buy the building where the old Victory Park Studios were to bring that back.
 

Here is a new one Cox has been named to get KLSR and KEVU in Eugene, Oregon if that deal is approved. This comes as Cox has been named to take over KHOU-TV and WFAA-TV.

California Oregon Broadcasting Inc. (COBI) said Thursday that it selling its Eugene, Ore., duopoly of KLSR (Fox) and KEVU-CD (MNT) to Cox Media Group. The purchase price was not disclosed.

COBI has owned KLSR TV since 1993 when the company purchased it from Arctic Slope Regional Corp. Patricia C. “Patsy” Smullin, COBI’s president, said: “It’s been an honor to work with the staff, clients and viewers of KLSR for 28 years. I will very much miss my company being part of this wonderful region and want to thank our Eugene VP and GM Mark Metzger and his staff for decades of wonderful service. Metzger added, “It’s been a privilege to work with the dedicated team at COBI and at these great stations.”
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Will_H_69_9 said:
who ever buys TEGNA out, they should offer Disney WFAA so that way, Disney can have a O&O in the Dallas Market as ABC is the only big 4 network that don't have a O&O station in the DFW market while NBC, CBS and Fox owns 2 stations in the market.
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Acquiring WJLA-TV in Washington D.C. is a bigger priority for ABC (than WFAA) to complete the East Coast chain of stations. I could see them completing a complex trade-off to Sinclair for WTVD and KFSN (the two stations in non-Top 10 markets) along with some cash.

Meanwhile CBS and NBC don't have O&Os in Houston either. CBS O&Os are more numerous like legacy Westinghouse markets in now Non-Top 10 markets like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and now Boston. They even have a non-performer in Detroit! Maybe KHOU could be acquired from TEGNA (pre-sale) or Cox (post-sale) and become a CBS O&O through trades or acquired after divestitures in medium (Top 50) markets.

Graham could also be gobbled up in the consolidation race. KPRC-TV is de facto the flagship station because of the Top 10 status. It might end up somehow becoming an NBC O&O.

NBC has been trying to get rid of WRC-TV for at least a dozen years now and made some questionable acquisitions in Miami, Connecticut, and San Diego.

mnradiofan said:
I don't see Disney interested in more TV stations for the following reasons:

1. They are focused, and heavily investing in, streaming. If anything they may become a seller of some assets to boost the streaming aspect and they don't NEED to own an affiliate for it to be an effective vehicle to push people to streaming.

2. The largest money maker for Terrestrial by far at this stage is cable retransmission fees, which will continue to shrink as the vast majority make the transition to streaming.

3. While paid streaming has a viable financial model going forward (subscriptions) they have yet to come up with a viable streaming model for local stations, and really local stations only draw is news

Of course, I could be wrong. Everyone could be wrong. But if all this holds I just don't see OTA being the draw it once was. Even if making the argument that advertising is a big draw, increasingly advertisers are spending in streaming which allows them to target advertising to the demos and locations they want with greater precision than even cable once could. And Hulu makes MORE than ABC (Ad revenue is almost 50/50, but subscription fees definitely push it over the top).
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ABC/Disney is the exception as the network with the least amount (in the single digits) of O&Os--eight! They want to provide business opportunities for affiliates by owning the least amount of O&Os out of the major networks, which also makes Disney a leaner operation by focusing on the theme park and streaming cash cows.
 
KTN Corp said:
Acquiring WJLA-TV in Washington D.C. is a bigger priority for ABC (than WFAA) to complete the East Coast chain of stations. I could see them completing a complex trade-off to Sinclair for WTVD and KFSN (the two stations in non-Top 10 markets) along with some cash.

Meanwhile CBS and NBC don't have O&Os in Houston either. CBS O&Os are more numerous like legacy Westinghouse markets in now Non-Top 10 markets like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and now Boston. They even have a non-performer in Detroit! Maybe KHOU could be acquired from TEGNA (pre-sale) or Cox (post-sale) and become a CBS O&O through trades or acquired after divestitures in medium (Top 50) markets.

Graham could also be gobbled up in the consolidation race. KPRC-TV is de facto the flagship station because of the Top 10 status. It might end up somehow becoming an NBC O&O.

NBC has been trying to get rid of WRC-TV for at least a dozen years now and made some questionable acquisitions in Miami, Connecticut, and San Diego.


ABC/Disney is the exception as the network with the least amount (in the single digits) of O&Os--eight! They want to provide business opportunities for affiliates by owning the least amount of O&Os out of the major networks, which also makes Disney a leaner operation by focusing on the theme park and streaming cash cows.
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Disney/ABC has a better chance of landing WMAR in Baltimore than it does WJLA in Washington as Sinclair will NEVER give that one up

However, CBS could part ways with WJZ in Baltimore exchange for WUSA in Washington though

Besides, if Disney/ABC really wanted to part ways with KFSN & WTVD, it could've done so YEARS ago
 
Disney has said is has no intention of selling WTVD; the Raleigh/Durham market is still very much a growth area.

But why do the broadcast networks cling to o&os in markets like Detroit and Hartford, to use a couple, and pass on the chance to get into the growth markets like Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Tampa, Houston, and San Antonio?
 
In Atlanta, WSB (ABC) is Cox's flagship, and there's no way Cox will part with it if even to Disney. CBS (Paramount Global) owns WUPA (CW), Fox owns WAGA, and CBS affiliate WGCL is locked in with Gray.
 
You don't mention the WXIA/WATL duopoly, which is Tegna-owned. 11 Alive is one I wish would become an NBC o&o, and I wouldn't lose sleep if Tegna and NBC made a trade: WXIA becomes an NBC o&o and Tegna gets WTVJ.
 
Didn't mention WXIA/WATL since the Standard General deal is still pending. Making WXIA an NBC O&O could happen after the dust settles, but then I'm a lousy armchair quarterback.
 
www.fiercevideo.com

FCC asks more questions about the sale of Tegna

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking more questions about Standard General’s purchase of Tegna. | Among its new questions, the FCC is asking how Standard General would negotiate retransmission agreements with cable providers for rights to carry TV station signals.
www.fiercevideo.com www.fiercevideo.com

Here is more this time the FCC is asking questions over the process that Standard General is handling the deal with Tegna.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking more questions about Standard General’s purchase of Tegna. The private equity company Standard General is trying to buy Tegna — one of the U.S.’s largest broadcast television station groups — with plans to take it private.


Tegna’s shareholders recently voted to approve the acquisition by Standard General. And the deal is still expected to close on schedule sometime in the second half of this year.

​


But the transaction must still get regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.



Among its new questions, the FCC is asking how Standard General would negotiate retransmission agreements with cable providers for rights to carry TV station signals. It also asked about possible layoffs. And it asked for a detailed explanation with supporting data describing how the transaction would serve the public interest.

The FCC set a June 13 deadline for responses.
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I could see the FCC telling Standard General that they'll need to sell one of the TV stations in Jacksonville in my opinion. Graham has a point haven't seen many complaints like this since the failed Sinclair Tribune merger in 2017.
 
KTN Corp said:
Acquiring WJLA-TV in Washington D.C. is a bigger priority for ABC (than WFAA) to complete the East Coast chain of stations. I could see them completing a complex trade-off to Sinclair for WTVD and KFSN (the two stations in non-Top 10 markets) along with some cash.

Meanwhile CBS and NBC don't have O&Os in Houston either. CBS O&Os are more numerous like legacy Westinghouse markets in now Non-Top 10 markets like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and now Boston. They even have a non-performer in Detroit! Maybe KHOU could be acquired from TEGNA (pre-sale) or Cox (post-sale) and become a CBS O&O through trades or acquired after divestitures in medium (Top 50) markets.

Graham could also be gobbled up in the consolidation race. KPRC-TV is de facto the flagship station because of the Top 10 status. It might end up somehow becoming an NBC O&O.

NBC has been trying to get rid of WRC-TV for at least a dozen years now and made some questionable acquisitions in Miami, Connecticut, and San Diego.


ABC/Disney is the exception as the network with the least amount (in the single digits) of O&Os--eight! They want to provide business opportunities for affiliates by owning the least amount of O&Os out of the major networks, which also makes Disney a leaner operation by focusing on the theme park and streaming cash cows.
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1). About Graham & KPRC 2 - WTF are you talking about??

2). As for WTVJ 6 & WVIT 30 - Comcast/NBC OWNS them (It's been this way since 1995). And WHEN gave they EVER tried to get rid of WRC 4?? (Moreover - WHY ON EARTH would they want to do THAT?? :eek: )

Somehow I don't think you know WTF you're talking about
 
Yeah, I have no clue what he's talking about.

First, Graham's flagship is WDIV Detroit because that's where their headquarters are. Even after moving to Chicago, WDIV was still their flagship, since they've been the headquarters for the company (again, outside of moving it to Chicago) since 1997.

Also, NO WAY IN HELL that Comcast/NBC will ever sell WRC-TV. That is one of their strongest O&Os (they win every newscast they're on) and their crown jewel for national NBC News broadcasts, especially since its in D.C., always a hotbed for news and politics meshing together.

His post is just a mess.
 

ATLANTA & CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Cox Media Group (CMG) and INSP, LLC, announced today that they have closed the transaction regarding CMG’s sale of TV stations in 12 markets to Imagicomm Communications.

Imagicomm is an affiliate of INSP responsible for the ownership and management of broadcast-related functions for the organization, including content distribution in the broadcast environment, station ownership, oversight and development.

The deal, which marks INSP’s expansion into the broadcasting industry, was originally announced in March, 2022.
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