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fisher

As one of the Dukes says in "Trading Places," Heaven Help Us.

TV Newscheck is reporting it's just about a done deal.

At least Nexstar wasn't interested, but one pig is looking to get fatter. I expect a formal announcement very soon
 
Radio appears to be part of the deal...but it's sure to be spun off.
 
I've certainly never been involved in such a deal, but does 370 million seem a little light or is that what the market is for an old powerhouse like Fisher..? Was there a bargain price paid here or does that number surprise no one..?
 
Looks like KOMO is going down the toilet, as is KIMA, KATU and KVAL! I sure hope they don't lay off everyone and replace it with "NewsCentral" like what they did a few years back - or even worse, broadcast Maury in the daytime like KDNL, also ABC and Sinclair...

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
Looks like KOMO is going down the toilet, as is KIMA, KATU and KVAL! I sure hope they don't lay off everyone and replace it with "NewsCentral" like what they did a few years back - or even worse, broadcast Maury in the daytime like KDNL, also ABC and Sinclair...
Click to expand...

Good grief the news is less than 24 hours old, and you're already filling out the death certificate?
 
Sinclair is known for that horrible news...plus all the cuts, etc...

-crainbebo
 
My KATU rep sent me the press release. Interesting to note that Sinclair owns a station in Klamath Falls Oregon so they are already here in the NW albeit in a small way. From their portfolio, it appears that they own mostly smaller and medium market stations I don't think they have anything as big as Seattle. Accordingly to the wikipedia entry, they have been on a pretty consistent buying spree so this could potentially be their crown jewel. I'm sure there will be lots of predictions from people way smarter than me or who are more in the know (we miss the professor on this board, don't we) but I think the thing that MAY save the radio is that fact that the radio and tv are integrated together for news. There are certainly owners in both markets that could take more stations.
 
nickp said:
What's unknown is if SINCLAIR will retain these SEATTLE radio stations and build a radio portfolio
Click to expand...

I've got a feeling that Larry Wilson will make a play for the radio stations so Alpha could be dominant in both major PacNW markets.
 
AQH said:
crainbebo said:
Looks like KOMO is going down the toilet, as is KIMA, KATU and KVAL! I sure hope they don't lay off everyone and replace it with "NewsCentral" like what they did a few years back - or even worse, broadcast Maury in the daytime like KDNL, also ABC and Sinclair...
Click to expand...

Good grief the news is less than 24 hours old, and you're already filling out the death certificate?
Click to expand...

I'm not ready to throw Sinclair under the bus quite yet.

What do we know about them? Their politics lean conservative, they have been involved in some controversy over this, including refusing to air a paid half hour Obama infomercial. However, if they have smart people running their stations, they will atleast understand the politics of where they are.

We also know they are a relatively large operator of tv stations, though many are CW affiliated. Of the few traditional networks stations they own, a couple of handfuls of them, they are mostly Fox affiliates. We also know they got out of radio in the past couple of decades. I have nothing to base this on, but I seriously doubt they are looking to rebuild their radio brand.

And Steen is correct, Seattle will be their largest TV market yet. Which may, in the end, be a good thing, offering up KOMO as their flagship, the same as KOMO did on a smaller scale.
 
Correction: The Obama infomercial mentioned in the above post was actually an anti-Obama infomercial that was aired on some Sinclair stations. I apologize for the error.
 
crainbebo said:
Sinclair is known for that horrible news...plus all the cuts, etc...

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

I'm actually concerned about the job cuts for all their west coast stations. KTVL in Medford and others might get integrated into the hub at Fisher Plaza.
 
Sinclair once had a radio division comprised of the merged River City and Keymarket radio stations in the east and midwest, including Buffalo. Sinclair spun those stations to Entercom in 1999 because the company "does television." It's speculative, but don't see radio being part of Sinclair's plans.
 
Sinclair has indicated they'll keep the radio stations, at least for the short-term. They've basically said they hear the radio properties are so integrated into KOMO-TV's operation that they can't easily separate them.

Now, whether that means they won't try in the future is a separate issue. I suspect they will eventually. Also, the message from Sinclair seems to indicate they'll get rid of the radio properties fairly quickly if they got the wrong impression about them being so heavily integrated into the TV side of things.
 
If I were new to the situation and analyzing it...I'd keep KOMO-A because of the integration issue. Then it needs an FM, so do you go through the step of buying KOMO-FM for a South Sound signal, or take the major signal FM you already own (KPLZ) and convert it to KOMO-FM and let the KOMO-FM South Sound LMA expire? Other than the value of having like-minded political viewpoint, I'm not sure KVI is all that valuable to a new owner ... so maybe it gets shopped. In my fantasy world, someone picks up KVI and rebrands it as a replacement for KPTK (since it seems to have had a larger following than KVI does as an also-ran in a very crowded format). For example, while it would never come to pass, it would make sense for Bonneville to pick up KVI in a sale to protect the format exclusivity of KTTH and flip KVI progressive. Then they have all kinds of sales options depending on advertiser targeted demographic. If STAR ends up converted to KOMO-Fm, then the next likely step would be KRWM to lean into HotAC.

All that is PURE speculation, of course. Too early to tell...I don't think a radio play will happen until end of Q3 or Q4 **AT THE EARLIEST**.
 
If they spin off any radio stations, my guess is it will be just KPLZ and KVI, KOMO is too integrated with the TV station to be spun off. Who would buy those radio stations though, I'm not sure. It looks like Entercom has been trying to expand lately, but they sold 4 of their stations here several years ago, so I'm not sure how willing they would be to expand their cluster of 4 fm stations in this market. Alpha Broadcasting is another possibility, although come to think of it, if they were interested in making an entry into Seattle, why haven't they made a run for KMCQ?
 
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