Equity Stations Auctioned

[tripinva]

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2009/04/17/daily.11/
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/209435-Equity_Stations_Get_21_Million_in_Auction.php

Daystar gets:

KWBM
KQUP
WNGS
WNYI
KCBU
WBIF
And the article says "KNBX" but I think they mean "KBNY."

Then Max Media, owner of several ABC stations in Montana, got:

KBTZ
KLMN
KMMF

Valley Bank got:

KQCK
KTUW (I suspect; I'm told they're based in Scottsbluff, so it would make sense)

All of this, of course, depends on approval of the judge and all that.

I'm itching to find out what else was bought and by who. Anyone see anything I missed?

- Trip

 

[stationi]

I'm itching to find out what else was bought and by who.

That makes two of us.

Anyone see anything I missed?

Better Life Television has bid to purchased KTVC & KAMK-LP from Equity for $975,000.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Getting three full power TV stations for $1 million and change, or seven full-powers and a host of Class A/LPTV stations for $7 million...I know these aren't all in very large markets but they're still fire-sale prices.

 

[e-dawg]

Is there anything to watch better than Daystar Television?

Also, I think KQCK should be sold to the same owners of KTWo. What do you think?

 

[tripinva]

http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/14101.html

I hope KUTF is a typo, I don't see the value of buying two stations in the same market like that. If it had been KBNY, then at least it'd be must-carry in Vegas I think.

- Trip

 

[w9wi]

http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/14101.html

I hope KUTF is a typo, I don't see the value of buying two stations in the same market like that. If it had been KBNY, then at least it'd be must-carry in Vegas I think.

- Trip

If it had gone to any other buyer I'd say they wanted two must-carry slots. But I don't see Daystar making use of that.

Note that most other cases, stations in a given geographic area sold together. I might guess the Utah stations were auctioned as a group, and Daystar had to buy both if they wanted either. Could be they plan to spin one off to someone else, maybe in exchange for something in another market.

 

[dhett]

http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/14101.html

I hope KUTF is a typo, I don't see the value of buying two stations in the same market like that. If it had been KBNY, then at least it'd be must-carry in Vegas I think.

- Trip

KUTF is licensed to Logan; its DTV signal is estimated to reach the northern suburbs of SLC. KCBU is licensed to Price; its post-transition DTV signal is estimated to reach the southern suburbs of SLC. Reminds me of WCBT/WJSU and Birmingham, however, due to mountainous terrain around SLC, I'm not sure how well the signals will reach, especially KCBU. It should give them a good shot at must-carry.

I doubt KBNY would get anyone must-carry status in Las Vegas; just being in the market isn't enough to guarantee must-carry.

 

[tripinva]

If it had gone to any other buyer I'd say they wanted two must-carry slots. But I don't see Daystar making use of that.

Note that most other cases, stations in a given geographic area sold together. I might guess the Utah stations were auctioned as a group, and Daystar had to buy both if they wanted either. Could be they plan to spin one off to someone else, maybe in exchange for something in another market.

KCBU has applied to move into Provo, basically, and there's now a CP for a non-comm in Price, so once the FCC allows it, they could even change the city of license to Provo or some nearby community. Then it's simple to co-locate with the other Salt Lake City stations. No secondary station needed for full market coverage at that point.

KUTF makes less sense unless, as you suggest, they were sold in a group. I can see KUTH wanting to get KUTF. They almost bought it from Equity before the auction. Based on the auction prices, KUTH would have been ripped off.

I was under the impression that any full-service station just had to ask for must-carry and they got it. What are the actual requirements, then?

- Trip

 

[kenglish]

KCBU-TV (03) in Price has SLC coverage on translator KUBX-LP (58), with whatever replaced RTN...I have not seen an official "name" yet.

KUTF-TV (12) in Logan has a SLC translator on 45 (K45GX), and currently carries TeleFutura. Their offices in SLC are vacant, and they shut down local news at the same time.

Both translators are on Little Farnsworth Peak, in the same general location as the DTVs. That's gonna leave KUTH-DT (32) alone (as a full-power) in Provo, at Lake Mountain. If KCBU moves to Payson Peak, east of Provo (on DTV channel 11), it's going to make for some fun antenna installs.

 

[PDXREXX]

Max Media Did Advertising for the FOX stations here in Montana
I also recall seeing ads a couple years ago stating that they were
part of the max media family which makes me think that it was a LMA

 

[dhett]

I was under the impression that any full-service station just had to ask for must-carry and they got it. What are the actual requirements, then?

I suppose in the East, where markets are geographically compact, very few full-service stations requesting must-carry are denied unless they are brand-new, and miss the start of the three-year must-carry period. However, a station's ability to be seen OTA in a community is a factor in must-carry decisions and when a market is so vast, as with Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Phoenix, that comes into play. In 2005, the FCC gave Cox Communications the right to exclude carriage of KMOH-TV 6 Kingman in the communities it serves in the Phoenix area. Kingman is about 200 miles from Phoenix, but because it is in the Phoenix market, KMOH objected. The FCC ruled in Cox's favor. Here is the decision, based on the Cable Act of 1992, which also lays out the other factors that influence must-carry decisions.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-2248A1.pdf

Although KMOH now has a local presence in KEJR-LP 43, Cox carries the national feed of MTV Tr3s, not KMOH/KEJR, which has, I believe, the minimum 3 hours a week of local programming.

Cox also does not carry the local feed of Daystar station KDTP 11 Holbrook; it carries the national feed. Cox doesn't carry KCFG 9 Flagstaff or America One at all. Both stations are also in the Phoenix market.

 

[DToTheJ]

Max Media, owner of several ABC stations in Montana, got:

KBTZ
KLMN
KMMF

Catchy set of call letters. I never knew it was an actual station. Although I do remember seeing them represented by a fictitious TV station on an old episode of "Scooby Doo"...

 

[JeffSteele]

For $75,000, Rainey Radio acquired WJMF and WJXF: two long-silent Equity stations in Jackson, Mississippi.

 

[JeeperOne]

I doubt KBNY would get anyone must-carry status in Las Vegas; just being in the market isn't enough to guarantee must-carry.

I wouldn't be so quick to say that. KCDO 3 (The new America One affiliate) snuck its way onto DirecTV.

Info on KCDO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCDO (Page still refers to as NewsWeb as owner though)

Cheers

 

[dhett]

I doubt KBNY would get anyone must-carry status in Las Vegas; just being in the market isn't enough to guarantee must-carry.

I wouldn't be so quick to say that. KCDO 3 (The new America One affiliate) snuck its way onto DirecTV.

Info on KCDO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCDO (Page still refers to as NewsWeb as owner though)

Cheers

Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions. DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well. It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.

 

[w9wi]

Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions. DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well. It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.

Don't outlying stations like KCDO generally get better must-carry coverage on satellite for strictly practical reasons?

(considering KCDO, located in Sterling about 100 miles northeast of Denver, and must-carry eligible in Sterling. It's possible for Comcast to only deliver KCDO to their Logan Co. subscribers on, say, channel 3, and use that channel for something else for their Jefferson Co. subscribers, to whom they aren't required to deliver the station. DirecTV, on the other hand, can't spot-beam tightly enough to deliver KCDO to Logan Co. but not Jefferson. They can't reuse KCDO's "slot" on the satellite for something else.)

I don't know that to be the case but am just speculating.

 

[dhett]

Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions. DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well. It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.

Don't outlying stations like KCDO generally get better must-carry coverage on satellite for strictly practical reasons?

(considering KCDO, located in Sterling about 100 miles northeast of Denver, and must-carry eligible in Sterling. It's possible for Comcast to only deliver KCDO to their Logan Co. subscribers on, say, channel 3, and use that channel for something else for their Jefferson Co. subscribers, to whom they aren't required to deliver the station. DirecTV, on the other hand, can't spot-beam tightly enough to deliver KCDO to Logan Co. but not Jefferson. They can't reuse KCDO's "slot" on the satellite for something else.)

I don't know that to be the case but am just speculating.

They have to be able to cut a signal off somewhere. Colorado Springs is closer to Denver than Sterling, but Castle Rock, about 20 mi. south of Denver, gets KCDO, but none of the Colorado Springs stations.

Still, point taken on satellite vs. cable. It appears that the satellite companies have a policy to deliver stations market-wide vs. community-by-community, as cable does. I don't believe it has anything to do with "spot-beaming"; they seem to use the ZIP code of the subscriber to determine who gets what, so I don't see any reason why they couldn't offer a different locals package to Logan County than they do to Jefferson. But, that's just my fact-free speculation.

FWIW, Ely NV, home of future station KBNY, is in the Salt Lake City market, so they would never get must-carry in Las Vegas anyway. And KMOH in Kingman AZ, denied must-carry on Cox cable systems in Phoenix, has coverage there on both satellite systems.

 

[dhett]

Update on DirecTV: they can cut off coverage with precision. Doing some queries of their local channels, I entered the ZIP code of my old home town, Avon NY. It asked me to choose a county: Livingston or Monroe. The town is in Livingston County, but its ZIP code extends into Monroe County. The locals lineup for both was the same. So I entered Le Roy NY, which is in Genesee County, but its ZIP extends into Livingston and Monroe Counties. Genesee County is in the Buffalo market and will get different locals than Livingston or Monroe Counties, which are in the Rochester market, even though it's the same ZIP code.

 

[JeeperOne]

I doubt KBNY would get anyone must-carry status in Las Vegas; just being in the market isn't enough to guarantee must-carry.

I wouldn't be so quick to say that. KCDO 3 (The new America One affiliate) snuck its way onto DirecTV.

Info on KCDO - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCDO (Page still refers to as NewsWeb as owner though)

Cheers

Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions.

I meant that figuratively. You're taking it far too seriously.

DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well.

It's not on Comcast (My mom has Comcast & they are the only game in town when it comes to cable TV).

It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.

Or there's a lot of demand for it amongst local DirecTV subscribers. Remember we are talking about an America One affiliate ya know & America One affiliates don't exactly turn heads at cable and/or satellite carriers as easily as CW or MyNetwork affiliates do (Regardless of how much they meet the FCC's criteria). One needn't look any further than ION, Daystar & TBN as examples of this.

Cheers

 

[JeeperOne]

Meaning what? Read the link in my last post; that sets forth the criteria for must-carry. Plus, you don't even know that KCDO "snuck" its way onto DirecTV due to must-carry provisions. DirecTV can carry whatever station they wish, so long as they have agreement with that station. But if KCDO's presence on DirecTV is due to must-carry, then it should be on Dish Network, and on the local cable television providers as well. It would also mean that KCDO met one of the criteria the FCC uses.

Don't outlying stations like KCDO generally get better must-carry coverage on satellite for strictly practical reasons?

Not neccessarily.

(considering KCDO, located in Sterling about 100 miles northeast of Denver, and must-carry eligible in Sterling. It's possible for Comcast to only deliver KCDO to their Logan Co. subscribers on, say, channel 3, and use that channel for something else for their Jefferson Co. subscribers, to whom they aren't required to deliver the station.

Comcast has Gannett owned KTVD 20 (MyNetwork TV) on channel 3 in the Denver Area (And I think in most outlying areas too). If Comcast was to add KCDO, they would have to either dump CET on channel 5 & put KCDO on there (Yeah like they're really dump THEIR OWN version of DirecTV's The 101 network - Even though CET is A JOKE compared The 101 & even Altitude does better with its offseason sports programming than CET does with its programming ALL YEAR LONG??) or put it on a vacant channel higher than 14 (Not a popular place to be. Even the Latin channels moved from that portion of the dial).

Mind you, that's just to be added to channel lineups to ANY part of the Denver Metro Area.

Cheers