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CBS And/Or ABC For Sale?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

With NBC in the process of being sold off to Comcast by General Electric, there are rumblings that the other two major broadcast networks, CBS and ABC, may also eventually be on the block in the near future.

"[CBS honcho Sumner] Redstone these days isn't dismissing out of hand the notion of selling CBS," writes The New York Post:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/on_air_market_iTnfqw46osyjmsJwvbmg6H

And even Robert Iger has gone on record as saying there are "no guarantees" that ABC will remain under Disney ownership.

More coverage:
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2...l-abc-and-cbs-be-next-on-the-block/?src=busln
 
Would potentially make sense for Disney to sell off ABC, since they now have so many alternate distribution methods for Disney product (don't need to rely on Sunday night showings of The Wonderful World of Disney anymore). They are largely now just a secondary disribution method for ESPN.

Not so sure about CBS. Since they dumped their historical Westinghouse roots, and sailed off into their future as a broadcast company, hard to see what their alternate raison d'etre would be. They no longer make vacuum cleaners, or locomotive brakes, or refrigerators...

(I would love however to see someone like Rupert Murdoch make a bid for them, if only to observe all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the News Division. Would be great popcorn theater).
 
But are CBS and ABC actually losing money? It seems hard to find a reason to sell unless you have an offer that is "too good to resist." And it seems in this economy, the only real potential buyers would be looking to pick up ABC or CBS for a bargain.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Not so sure about CBS. Since they dumped their historical Westinghouse roots, and sailed off into their future as a broadcast company, hard to see what their alternate raison d'etre would be. They no longer make vacuum cleaners, or locomotive brakes, or refrigerators...
Click to expand...

Huh? "Historical Westinghouse roots"?? I did a little Googling to refresh my memory. Westinghouse acquired CBS in August 1995, and Viacom acquired the Westinghouse broadcast properties in September 1999. That's almost exactly 4 years. If you consider the many years of ownership under the William Paley regime, and the 10 years of Viacom ownership, the Westinghouse years were a little blip - hardly historical.
 
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network. ;)

Anyway, do you think that the next owner should take either CBS or ABC private? More corporate ownership is pretty boring. Maybe someone much more entrepreneurial could take a stab at the network business. The same could be said for NBC, as well.

How would network television work from here on? Here's how they can do it:

- Finally give up the ghost on sports programming, slowly but surely. Other than the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the Olympics, sports no longer make as much sense for the networks. Sooner or later, even the World Series would be on cable. The BCS is already going to cable as well as NCAA basketball. With the audacity of what the sports leagues want to charge, they might as well put it on their own channels.

- End the practice of sweeps. A show should be judged on whether it can be good for an entire season, not just in the periods where they say it most matter. I hate sweeps because we get the asinine "Special Episode" treatment, with "special" plots and guest stars.

- Related to #1, become a destination for people who don't like sports programming. If there's a market to be tapped it would be this. There are such people out there and they can be money for the network, if they can implement the right strategy to get them. Yes, that would mean less golf and women's tennis, too. That would probably mean that the nets would skew even more female, but that's the direction they're heading in, anyway.

- The nightly news programs may have to be phased out at some point. The audience skews old and news can be found with other sources. Replace them with 30-second or 1-minute news breaks at certain times of the day. They could have them right before network programming starts. The extra half-hour goes back to the affiliate stations.

- Something has to be done about Fridays. My suggestion would to use that night for game shows and miniseries. Saturdays are even tougher to solve. My inclination is to give those hours back to the affiliates. Or movie nights. So network TV would be from Sunday-Friday.

I think ABC will be sold first. Disney thinks that ESPN is all they need and I'm fine with that. I say take all sports from ABC and ABC would then become a destination for non-sports fans. Stuff like NASCAR and the World Cup would go to either ESPN fully or FOX.
 
stationless listener said:
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own Fox? If so, he couldn't buy ABC or CBS because the FCC & the DOJ won't allow the 4 largest networks to merge (nor own both major networks & run them separately). They would rather see one network go out of business rather than merge. So it would have to be someone that doesn't already own CBS, ABC, NBC, & Fox.
 
Westinghouse Electric never made railroad brakes. Westinghouse Air Brake Company-WABCO, was a totally different company with no connections whatsoever to the "other" Westinghouse.
 
"Surely, You can't be serious!" Even if one and/or the other was for sale (which I doubt), who would buy the two networks?

Wouldn't that affect production and distribution in both cases?

Who would distribute certain programming (like shows Entertainment Tonight or Legend Of the Seeker)? Disney-ABC Domestic Television couldn't exist anymore!
 
Dave said:
stationless listener said:
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own Fox? If so, he couldn't buy ABC or CBS because the FCC & the DOJ won't allow the 4 largest networks to merge (nor own both major networks & run them separately). They would rather see one network go out of business rather than merge. So it would have to be someone that doesn't already own CBS, ABC, NBC, & Fox.
Click to expand...
...you mean the 1940s Federal Communications Commission wouldn't allow such. That's why they had NBC sell off its Blue Network which eventually became ABC, and its Red Network became just plain NBC. The current-day Federal Communications Corruption, on the other hand, has bent over willingly and repeatedly for Murdoch (which is why he's able to own Fox in the first place, using an Australian corporation as its holding company)...
 
I could see Time-Warner acquiring CBS. They've already partnered for The CW and have been in talks to merge CNN's & CBS's news operations. Seems like a natural fit.

As for ABC, that seems to be a tough call. I think it would be silly for Disney to let them go. ABC provides them a perfect platform to cross promote their movies & theme parks. I'd think the only sensible suitor to pick up ABC if Disney was to sell would be a station group like Hearst.
 
Kurt Toy said:
Westinghouse Electric never made railroad brakes. Westinghouse Air Brake Company-WABCO, was a totally different company with no connections whatsoever to the "other" Westinghouse.
Click to expand...

And remember: Worldvision Enterprises is not affiliated with the charitable organization "World Vision." ;)
 
Ultimajock said:
Dave said:
stationless listener said:
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own Fox? If so, he couldn't buy ABC or CBS because the FCC & the DOJ won't allow the 4 largest networks to merge (nor own both major networks & run them separately). They would rather see one network go out of business rather than merge. So it would have to be someone that doesn't already own CBS, ABC, NBC, & Fox.
Click to expand...
...you mean the 1940s Federal Communications Commission wouldn't allow such. That's why they had NBC sell off its Blue Network which eventually became ABC, and its Red Network became just plain NBC. The current-day Federal Communications Corruption, on the other hand, has bent over willingly and repeatedly for Murdoch (which is why he's able to own Fox in the first place, using an Australian corporation as its holding company)...
Click to expand...

Under todays rules, the 4 biggest networks still can't merge with each other (even if they operated separately). It would give the controlling interest too much media ownership (not sure I used the right words to describe it). The rules were relaxed a bit back in the 90's which allowed Viacom to own both CBS & UPN, or UPN or CBS would have had to be sold. But the FCC didn't see a threat of dual ownership of a big 4 network with a much smaller network. The same can be said for CBS's partial ownership in CW, & with Fox owning My Network TV. But a merger of any combination between Fox, CBS, NBC, & ABC is still not allowed.
 
Dave said:
Under todays rules, the 4 biggest networks still can't merge with each other (even if they operated separately). It would give the controlling interest too much media ownership (not sure I used the right words to describe it). The rules were relaxed a bit back in the 90's which allowed Viacom to own both CBS & UPN, or UPN or CBS would have had to be sold. But the FCC didn't see a threat of dual ownership of a big 4 network with a much smaller network. The same can be said for CBS's partial ownership in CW, & with Fox owning My Network TV. But a merger of any combination between Fox, CBS, NBC, & ABC is still not allowed.
Click to expand...

It definitely does not apply to FOX/MNTV now because MNTV is a syndication service.
 
Dave said:
Ultimajock said:
Dave said:
stationless listener said:
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own Fox? If so, he couldn't buy ABC or CBS because the FCC & the DOJ won't allow the 4 largest networks to merge (nor own both major networks & run them separately). They would rather see one network go out of business rather than merge. So it would have to be someone that doesn't already own CBS, ABC, NBC, & Fox.
Click to expand...
...you mean the 1940s Federal Communications Commission wouldn't allow such. That's why they had NBC sell off its Blue Network which eventually became ABC, and its Red Network became just plain NBC. The current-day Federal Communications Corruption, on the other hand, has bent over willingly and repeatedly for Murdoch (which is why he's able to own Fox in the first place, using an Australian corporation as its holding company)...
Click to expand...

Under todays rules, the 4 biggest networks still can't merge with each other (even if they operated separately). It would give the controlling interest too much media ownership (not sure I used the right words to describe it). The rules were relaxed a bit back in the 90's which allowed Viacom to own both CBS & UPN, or UPN or CBS would have had to be sold. But the FCC didn't see a threat of dual ownership of a big 4 network with a much smaller network. The same can be said for CBS's partial ownership in CW, & with Fox owning My Network TV. But a merger of any combination between Fox, CBS, NBC, & ABC is still not allowed.
Click to expand...

Which is why a top-four local station seeking a duopoly has to pick a station below the top four (such as WXIA/11 and WATL/36
in Atlanta).
 
Does FOX qualify for a network? I thought this was one of the reasons FOX only programs two hours per night and three on Sunday
 
If a ABC sale included the cable properties, which I assume it would, then what a shame for comcast. A few years ago they wanted Disney just to get their hands on ESPN. Now that they are on the verge to take over NBC, to see ABC & ESPN up for sale must stink.
 
stationless listener said:
Well, there has to be someone other than Rupert Murdoch who should buy a network. ;)

Anyway, do you think that the next owner should take either CBS or ABC private? More corporate ownership is pretty boring. Maybe someone much more entrepreneurial could take a stab at the network business. The same could be said for NBC, as well.

How would network television work from here on? Here's how they can do it:

- Finally give up the ghost on sports programming, slowly but surely. Other than the Super Bowl, the Final Four and the Olympics, sports no longer make as much sense for the networks. Sooner or later, even the World Series would be on cable. The BCS is already going to cable as well as NCAA basketball. With the audacity of what the sports leagues want to charge, they might as well put it on their own channels.

I think ABC will be sold first. Disney thinks that ESPN is all they need and I'm fine with that. I say take all sports from ABC and ABC would then become a destination for non-sports fans. Stuff like NASCAR and the World Cup would go to either ESPN fully or FOX.
Click to expand...
So their affiliates can show more infomercials on Saturday and Sunday? Thanks but no thanks.
 
Wasn't there talk about Hearst being a possible buyer should ABC ever be for sale?

Of course, Hearst owns a number of NBC affiliates, as well as two CBS affiliates and a smattering of other stations, but that can be dealt with...
 
mescutia said:
Wasn't there talk about Hearst being a possible buyer should ABC ever be for sale?

Of course, Hearst owns a number of NBC affiliates, as well as two CBS affiliates and a smattering of other stations, but that can be dealt with...
Click to expand...

They also own about 20% of ESPN.
 
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