With Fox owning the MyNetwork, and CBS involved with CW, is there any new station buyouts that could follow shortly?
In Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento and San Francisco, CBS has 2 stations - a CBS station, and a CW or indy.
But in Minneapolis, they just own the CBS, but could purchase the CW affiliate from Sinclair, that's WUCW. Before it didn't make sense, as it was a WB station and CBS wanted no business in running a WB affiliate.
If Sinclair wanted even more cash, I suppose they could sell WNUV 54 to CBS as well, which would pair up WJZ (CBS affiliate owned by CBS) and WNUV(soon to be CW), although breaking it from WBFF. My later thought is Sinclair could be the conduit for getting Fox to sell WUTB (MyNetwork) to possibly them in exchange, as this is the only market where Fox owns a station but no ability for it to be the Fox station, and Fox operating the Fox affilate. It seems CBS wont buy stations from Fox, or vice-versa, possibly at the moment, but both will do business with Sinclair. Of course, Fox could sell WUTB to Scripps, or Hearst as well.
Tribune is looking to sell off some stations, particularly their non-core assets. NYC, LA and Chicago stations will be untouched, but there maybe find that selling WPMT 43 (Fox) in Harrisburg or some of the smaller or undeperforming stations they own makes sense. Gannett bought out WATL/Atlanta from Tribune, might WDCW 50 be next?
As of now, CBS ownership cap is 39% with UHF discount in place. Without the UHF discount (which will be obsoleted with the digital transition), they'll be at roughly 43%. If CBS, Fox and I'd assume Pax and Univision lobbying efforts prove successful, then ownership caps, will probably be increased again to 45%. But it doesn't make sense for CBS to own lot of independent CW stations, if they can find a buyer.
CBS has several lone CW stations, starting with Atlanta.
Possible scenarios:
CW Atlanta WUPA Sell to Meredith**
CW W.Palm Beach WTVX Sell to Freedom or Hearst
CW Norfolk WGNT Sell to Belo
CW New Orleans WUPL Sell to Belo or Hearst
CW Oklahoma City KAUT Sell to Hearst
CW Seattle KSTW Sell to Belo
CW Tampa WTOG Sell to Gannett, or Media General
CW Providence WLWC Sell to Freedom or LIN
The latter station groups are in the market, and owning a big 3 station there.
Maybe in case of Atlanta, it may work out if CBS were to buy out the CBS affiliate owned by Meredith instead, rather than Meredith buying out the CW affiliate from CBS. I wonder if talks are in place by the companies regarding Atlanta. There'd be money savings and ownership cap savings (assuming CBS sells), if the two were co-owned.
For Fox, there'd probably be some duopolies that would also benefit them.
Starting with Detroit, they could buy out WMYD from DS Audible (station sold from Granite). It would pair WJBK with WMYD. Tampa is another market, Fox would probably be fit to buy Sinclair's WTTA 38.
St. Louis has WRBU, and Memphis has WPXX - where Fox can buy these MyNetwork affiliate stations from their respective owners, to duopoly them with the Fox station.
I'd suppose if Sinclair wanted to divest some MyNetwork affiliates, they could do it to Fox, in markets Fox owns a station. These include Milwaukee, Birmingham, and Greensboro, NC.
This would assume Sinclair wants cash, and Fox has cash to spend, and such would break an existing Sinclair duopoly (of CW and My) and pair Fox with a better and stronger duopoly of Fox and My. Sinclair would remain with the CW station.
But, some of these could work in Sinclair's favor. They could sell some smaller MyNetwork stations to Fox, and buy out Fox affiliates from Tribune in possibly Harrisburg, Grand Rapids. Makes more sense owning more Fox affiliatess, than MyNetwork or CW affiliates, which will always be a distant #5 or #6, after the big 4, esp. going into the smaller markets.
I'd assume Tribune wants to keep Fox stations in Seattle, Sacramento and Indianapolis -which are top 25 markets, but Grand Rapids or Harrisburg could be let go. The standalone CW or My station in the small or underperforming markets would also be considered for divestiture - Tribune could sell KWBP(a standalone CW) in Portland to Emmis or Belo. Philly's WPHL is an underperforming station, but Tribune may find only NBC or Fox as potential buyers. I don't know if the Washington DC and Houston, TX standalone CW stations would be worth selling; on the other hand, KWGN 2 in Denver, WTTV 4 Indianapolis and other dominant VHF CW stations will likely be kept.
I think a duopoly would strengthen Fox's position in some markets. They wouldn't want to sell their VHF stations in the smaller markets (like Birmingham) to companies like Clear Channel, as Fox would fear losing dominant positions in those markets, so they'd likely need to use cash. Don't know if they are being conservative on considering station purchases at the time. It'll be hard for them to enter new markets because of the ownership caps, but duopolies would strengthen their positions in the mentioned places.
In Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento and San Francisco, CBS has 2 stations - a CBS station, and a CW or indy.
But in Minneapolis, they just own the CBS, but could purchase the CW affiliate from Sinclair, that's WUCW. Before it didn't make sense, as it was a WB station and CBS wanted no business in running a WB affiliate.
If Sinclair wanted even more cash, I suppose they could sell WNUV 54 to CBS as well, which would pair up WJZ (CBS affiliate owned by CBS) and WNUV(soon to be CW), although breaking it from WBFF. My later thought is Sinclair could be the conduit for getting Fox to sell WUTB (MyNetwork) to possibly them in exchange, as this is the only market where Fox owns a station but no ability for it to be the Fox station, and Fox operating the Fox affilate. It seems CBS wont buy stations from Fox, or vice-versa, possibly at the moment, but both will do business with Sinclair. Of course, Fox could sell WUTB to Scripps, or Hearst as well.
Tribune is looking to sell off some stations, particularly their non-core assets. NYC, LA and Chicago stations will be untouched, but there maybe find that selling WPMT 43 (Fox) in Harrisburg or some of the smaller or undeperforming stations they own makes sense. Gannett bought out WATL/Atlanta from Tribune, might WDCW 50 be next?
As of now, CBS ownership cap is 39% with UHF discount in place. Without the UHF discount (which will be obsoleted with the digital transition), they'll be at roughly 43%. If CBS, Fox and I'd assume Pax and Univision lobbying efforts prove successful, then ownership caps, will probably be increased again to 45%. But it doesn't make sense for CBS to own lot of independent CW stations, if they can find a buyer.
CBS has several lone CW stations, starting with Atlanta.
Possible scenarios:
CW Atlanta WUPA Sell to Meredith**
CW W.Palm Beach WTVX Sell to Freedom or Hearst
CW Norfolk WGNT Sell to Belo
CW New Orleans WUPL Sell to Belo or Hearst
CW Oklahoma City KAUT Sell to Hearst
CW Seattle KSTW Sell to Belo
CW Tampa WTOG Sell to Gannett, or Media General
CW Providence WLWC Sell to Freedom or LIN
The latter station groups are in the market, and owning a big 3 station there.
Maybe in case of Atlanta, it may work out if CBS were to buy out the CBS affiliate owned by Meredith instead, rather than Meredith buying out the CW affiliate from CBS. I wonder if talks are in place by the companies regarding Atlanta. There'd be money savings and ownership cap savings (assuming CBS sells), if the two were co-owned.
For Fox, there'd probably be some duopolies that would also benefit them.
Starting with Detroit, they could buy out WMYD from DS Audible (station sold from Granite). It would pair WJBK with WMYD. Tampa is another market, Fox would probably be fit to buy Sinclair's WTTA 38.
St. Louis has WRBU, and Memphis has WPXX - where Fox can buy these MyNetwork affiliate stations from their respective owners, to duopoly them with the Fox station.
I'd suppose if Sinclair wanted to divest some MyNetwork affiliates, they could do it to Fox, in markets Fox owns a station. These include Milwaukee, Birmingham, and Greensboro, NC.
This would assume Sinclair wants cash, and Fox has cash to spend, and such would break an existing Sinclair duopoly (of CW and My) and pair Fox with a better and stronger duopoly of Fox and My. Sinclair would remain with the CW station.
But, some of these could work in Sinclair's favor. They could sell some smaller MyNetwork stations to Fox, and buy out Fox affiliates from Tribune in possibly Harrisburg, Grand Rapids. Makes more sense owning more Fox affiliatess, than MyNetwork or CW affiliates, which will always be a distant #5 or #6, after the big 4, esp. going into the smaller markets.
I'd assume Tribune wants to keep Fox stations in Seattle, Sacramento and Indianapolis -which are top 25 markets, but Grand Rapids or Harrisburg could be let go. The standalone CW or My station in the small or underperforming markets would also be considered for divestiture - Tribune could sell KWBP(a standalone CW) in Portland to Emmis or Belo. Philly's WPHL is an underperforming station, but Tribune may find only NBC or Fox as potential buyers. I don't know if the Washington DC and Houston, TX standalone CW stations would be worth selling; on the other hand, KWGN 2 in Denver, WTTV 4 Indianapolis and other dominant VHF CW stations will likely be kept.
I think a duopoly would strengthen Fox's position in some markets. They wouldn't want to sell their VHF stations in the smaller markets (like Birmingham) to companies like Clear Channel, as Fox would fear losing dominant positions in those markets, so they'd likely need to use cash. Don't know if they are being conservative on considering station purchases at the time. It'll be hard for them to enter new markets because of the ownership caps, but duopolies would strengthen their positions in the mentioned places.
