CH. 17

[rch66]

Now that Sam Zell owns all the Tribune assets, any thoughts to changes to CH.17?

It's one of the weakest top market stations which Sam Zell owns, and it just runs NBC10's news (i.e. nothing of its own), has no local pro-sports, and is affiliated with MyNetworkTV (a bleh network), one of only 2 MyNetwork TV affiliates owned by Zell. And The Tube is gone - so there is nothing in my book special about the station, except the few syndicated shows and MyTV.

I'd one if the real estate entrepreneur might sell.

The question is who'd buy it. If Fox took it, the news on 17 would be gone. If NBC - Ch.10 news remains. Though these station owners might not see any huge benefit of co-owning their main station and having 17 on the side. But consolidation is possible given that local TV rating shares always seem to fall.

It'd be interesting if a local somebody could buy it out. Besides the big corporate bodies (CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Univision, Pax/ion), the local commercial competitors include WMCN and WWSI, and WFMZ and WTVE to the PA side.

Regarding the small local competitors, I still wonder if Telemundo will ever cover the city and most of the market - and not just cable from WWSI. Certain low income HH viewers, which speak Spanish at home, aren't in the afford cable bracket range.

Perhaps Council Tree could buy out 17, and keep a secondary digital signal for Telemundo on it, while My17's could be a secondary digital signal off WWSI for the people by the Shore. With analog shutting off next year, it also gives WMCN a little bit more level playing field spot in the market (against stations like WPHL) - as a lot of the holdouts will be forced to get the digital tuners, though cable ready systems (and channel positioning) will remain unchanged.

 

[Rockin Rob]

Now that Sam Zell owns all the Tribune assets, any thoughts to changes to CH.17?

It's one of the weakest top market stations which Sam Zell owns, and it just runs NBC10's news (i.e. nothing of its own), has no local pro-sports, and is affiliated with MyNetworkTV (a bleh network), one of only 2 MyNetwork TV affiliates owned by Zell. I'd one if the real estate entrepreneur might sell.

The question is who'd buy it. If Fox took it, the news on 17 would be gone.

That would probably be the only change, as FOX owns and runs My Network TV. 17 and 29 would be sisters, no more news on 17, but that's about it.

 

[BRNout]

I tend to doubt that Zell will sell off 17. Being in a top 10 market, WPHL surely brought a lot of value to the deal. If it was to be spun off, it would have happened as part of the original deal. It did not, and I do not see how Zell would gain any advantage by trying to "flip" the station so quickly. No, there's no reason to think his organization would sell off WPHL at this point.

You're right about it being underutilized though. Most other Tribune stations seemed to have much more going for them than 17 does. Not sure why that is the case, but it is. For example, before Trib sold it off, WLVI-56 (Boston) had a one-hour local newscast at 10 and a lot more in the way of local programming than 17 ever has. And, this in a smaller market. The newscast was first rate and it was a sad day in Boston when the new owners (Sunbeam) blew it out in favor of using it's existing news staff (from WHDH-7) from across town. Hopefully the new ownership can do more with 17 than is presently true.

To be fair, they do have one local show: the mummer's parade. Whatever a "mummer" is, they're showing it on New Year's Day.