Gannett Buys Belo TV Stations

[FilioScotia]

Gannett has bought 20 Belo TV stations, including four in Texas, for $1.5 billion.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/Gannett-buys-20-stations-from-Belo-4597999.php

The inevitable result of this, I predict, will be to make all the former Belo stations look and sound just alike. The same way KPRC TV looks and sounds exactly like all the other stations owned by the Post-Newsweek company. The word "mediocre" comes to mind.

 

[mmnassour]

Gannett had KVUE before, years ago. Unless someone's got other info, I don't see how this is positive for the folks there.

 

[newsmark]

They're both great companies, both in terms of journalism and community service. It seems a shame to lose one of them.

I really hope the combined company can maintain their standards.

 

[KeithE4]

They're both great companies, both in terms of journalism and community service. It seems a shame to lose one of them.

I really hope the combined company can maintain their standards.

Gannett doesn't have any standards. They're all flash and little substance.

At least you're not losing a station like Phoenix and St. Louis probably will be. KTVK Phoenix and KMOV St. Louis, among others, will be spun off into a "separate" (read: shadow) company that will own those stations and receive "support services" from Gannett. That means that their news operations and websites will likely be shut down and run from the Gannett facilities in those cities.

That doesn't affect any Texas stations, all of which will be absorbed into Gannett's broadcast group.

Link: TVSpy

 

[arnoldevns]

Terrible news that will clearly lead to lower quality and thousands of layoffs.

 

[mmnassour]

Well, it's just that I had a friend who was with KVUE the first go-around with Gannett and he was rarely complimentary toward corporate. Hopefully, that's better now.

 

[marioj]

Too bad for ABC; if they had known Belo was for sale, they would probably have gone hard after WFAA, their largest non-owned station (CBS would probably have lusted after KHOU as well).

Also, what does this mean for the future of TXCN?

 

[arnoldevns]

TXCN is the bastard stepchild of Belo...but the deal they made with Time Warner will keep it alive for a while.
Belo had hoped to turn it into another Northwest Cable News type of channel. The ratings never materialized so they cut the staff to nothing and just run repeats of newscasts from the Belo Texas stations. But when it started, Time Warner signed a long term deal that gives Belo a dime or so per subscriber per month. That amounts to several million dollars a year in revenue. As long as that deal runs Belo will keep TXCN going and make a profit on it.

 

[KTN Corp]

Too bad for ABC; if they had known Belo was for sale, they would probably have gone hard after WFAA, their largest non-owned station (CBS would probably have lusted after KHOU as well).

CBS probably will acquire KHOU.  Gannett owns stations in Washington and Atlanta, markets larger than Houston.  Houston is on the bottom of the top 10 and probably the first large DMA station to be sold to meet ownership caps.

Wouldn't be surprised if KENS is included as a package deal (channel stuffing) to CBS.

 

[Mediafrog+]

CBS probably will acquire KHOU. Gannett owns stations in Washington and Atlanta, markets larger than Houston. Houston is on the bottom of the top 10 and probably the first large DMA station to be sold to meet ownership caps.

Why do you think Gannett would turn around and sell KHOU, which is one of the jewels in Belo's crown? Yes, CBS attempted to buy KHOU years ago (back when KTXH was owned by Viacom) but was rebuffed by Belo. I don't see such a flip happening.

 

[johndavis]

At least you're not losing a station like Phoenix and St. Louis probably will be. KTVK Phoenix and KMOV St. Louis, among others, will be spun off into a "separate" (read: shadow) company that will own those stations and receive "support services" from Gannett. That means that their news operations and websites will likely be shut down and run from the Gannett facilities in those cities.

That's to appease the FCC because of the newspaper ownership rules. There's no way they'd get approval to own KPNX, KTVK, KASW, and the Republic all in the same market. Whether or not they'd keep KTVK's news operation and AZFamily.com running or whether they'd consolidate them into KPNX/AZ Central is a toss-up. Belo was already running a pretty lean operation from all accounts. The only thing missing from AZFamily is a paywall.

 

[johndavis]

CBS probably will acquire KHOU. Gannett owns stations in Washington and Atlanta, markets larger than Houston. Houston is on the bottom of the top 10 and probably the first large DMA station to be sold to meet ownership caps.

Wouldn't be surprised if KENS is included as a package deal (channel stuffing) to CBS.

While they own stations in Washington and Atlanta, Gannett also owns stations in markets as small as Portland and Bangor, ME. I think this deal is about bulking up the company, and adding Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio gives them some heft.

Also, this deal makes Gannett the biggest group owner of CBS affiliates. That gives them some leverage when those contracts come due.

I really don't see them spinning any of the stations off. From all reports so far, the only stations to be spun are ones where they would have cross-ownership issues and they'll LMA them back with "shared services" agreements.

 

[formeraa]

That's to appease the FCC because of the newspaper ownership rules. There's no way they'd get approval to own KPNX, KTVK, KASW, and the Republic all in the same market. Whether or not they'd keep KTVK's news operation and AZFamily.com running or whether they'd consolidate them into KPNX/AZ Central is a toss-up. Belo was already running a pretty lean operation from all accounts. The only thing missing from AZFamily is a paywall.

Gannett would be absolutely stupid to eliminate KTVK's news division -- at least in the mornings (powerhouse Good Morning Arizona) and in the early evenings (Good Evening Arizona).

 

[KeithE4]

At least you're not losing a station like Phoenix and St. Louis probably will be. KTVK Phoenix and KMOV St. Louis, among others, will be spun off into a "separate" (read: shadow) company that will own those stations and receive "support services" from Gannett. That means that their news operations and websites will likely be shut down and run from the Gannett facilities in those cities.

That's to appease the FCC because of the newspaper ownership rules. There's no way they'd get approval to own KPNX, KTVK, KASW, and the Republic all in the same market. Whether or not they'd keep KTVK's news operation and AZFamily.com running or whether they'd consolidate them into KPNX/AZ Central is a toss-up. Belo was already running a pretty lean operation from all accounts. The only thing missing from AZFamily is a paywall.

Since I wrote that, it's been announced that Belo's Phoenix, Tucson, St. Louis, Louisville, and Portland stations will be spun off into a separate company, and will continue as-is, not combined with the Gannett-owned facilities in those markets.

 

[michael hagerty]

CBS probably will acquire KHOU. Gannett owns stations in Washington and Atlanta, markets larger than Houston. Houston is on the bottom of the top 10 and probably the first large DMA station to be sold to meet ownership caps.

Why do you think Gannett would turn around and sell KHOU, which is one of the jewels in Belo's crown? Yes, CBS attempted to buy KHOU years ago (back when KTXH was owned by Viacom) but was rebuffed by Belo. I don't see such a flip happening.

Not gonna happen.

The ownership cap is 39% of U.S. households.

After Jack Sander buys the 7 Belo stations in Phoenix, Portland, St. Louis, Louisville and Tucson, the combined Gannett/Belo stations are at 35%.

And should Gannett find something else it wants to buy, it will have plenty of markets smaller than Houston it can sell to avoid exceeding the cap. KHOU's a keeper.

 

[arnoldevns]

At least you're not losing a station like Phoenix and St. Louis probably will be. KTVK Phoenix and KMOV St. Louis, among others, will be spun off into a "separate" (read: shadow) company that will own those stations and receive "support services" from Gannett. That means that their news operations and websites will likely be shut down and run from the Gannett facilities in those cities.

That's to appease the FCC because of the newspaper ownership rules. There's no way they'd get approval to own KPNX, KTVK, KASW, and the Republic all in the same market. Whether or not they'd keep KTVK's news operation and AZFamily.com running or whether they'd consolidate them into KPNX/AZ Central is a toss-up. Belo was already running a pretty lean operation from all accounts. The only thing missing from AZFamily is a paywall.

Since I wrote that, it's been announced that Belo's Phoenix, Tucson, St. Louis, Louisville, and Portland stations will be spun off into a separate company, and will continue as-is, not combined with the Gannett-owned facilities in those markets.

That company is also doing a joint services agreement with Gannett. It's similar to the jsa's Sinclair has done in many markets. What it means is that while Gannett won't own the stations it will have a significant role with them. You can bet that the news departments at all of those Belo stations will be folded into the news departments at the Gannett stations and one newsroom will produce news for both stations. They will lay off most of the Belo employees at those stations, but not all. Bottom line: if you work at a Belo station in any of those markets, get your resume up to date.

 

[michael hagerty]

At least you're not losing a station like Phoenix and St. Louis probably will be. KTVK Phoenix and KMOV St. Louis, among others, will be spun off into a "separate" (read: shadow) company that will own those stations and receive "support services" from Gannett. That means that their news operations and websites will likely be shut down and run from the Gannett facilities in those cities.

That's to appease the FCC because of the newspaper ownership rules. There's no way they'd get approval to own KPNX, KTVK, KASW, and the Republic all in the same market. Whether or not they'd keep KTVK's news operation and AZFamily.com running or whether they'd consolidate them into KPNX/AZ Central is a toss-up. Belo was already running a pretty lean operation from all accounts. The only thing missing from AZFamily is a paywall.

Since I wrote that, it's been announced that Belo's Phoenix, Tucson, St. Louis, Louisville, and Portland stations will be spun off into a separate company, and will continue as-is, not combined with the Gannett-owned facilities in those markets.

That company is also doing a joint services agreement with Gannett. It's similar to the jsa's Sinclair has done in many markets. What it means is that while Gannett won't own the stations it will have a significant role with them. You can bet that the news departments at all of those Belo stations will be folded into the news departments at the Gannett stations and one newsroom will produce news for both stations. They will lay off most of the Belo employees at those stations, but not all. Bottom line: if you work at a Belo station in any of those markets, get your resume up to date.

They've already pledged full independence in Phoenix (KTVK/KASW) and St. Louis (KMOV). Anything less would probably kill the deal with the FCC.

Tucson is already under a shared services agreement with Raycom's KOLD (since 2011), and the only Belo employees are sales staff, so there likely won't be any change at those two stations (KMSB and KTTU) other than it being Gannett rather than Raycom providing the services.

That leaves KGW, Portland and WHAS, Louisville. Even under a full JSA, Gannett doesn't have operations in either city, so there isn't a Gannett newsroom to fold them into, and given that ratings equal revenue, putting a good product on the air in those markets still matters.

Doesn't really leave a lot to push the panic button over.

 

[arnoldevns]

There won't be much independence. Gannett makes that pretty clear:
http://mobile.broadcastingcable.com/article/494112-Sen_Cantwell_Criticizes_Gannett_Belo_Deal.php

I don't know of a person in this business that sees this deal as good for the stations Sander will "own."

 

[michael hagerty]

There won't be much independence. Gannett makes that pretty clear:
http://mobile.broadcastingcable.com/article/494112-Sen_Cantwell_Criticizes_Gannett_Belo_Deal.php

I don't know of a person in this business that sees this deal as good for the stations Sander will "own."

I think the B&C article could have been written more clearly. Unless Gannett has become wildly inconsistent (not likely approaching a deal of this magnitude), the plan is hands off Phoenix and St. Louis:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/gannett-promises-to-keep-same-market-stations-separate-in-belo-acquisition_b94125

 

[FilioScotia]

If I learned anything from my 45 years in broadcast news, I learned nothing good happens when new owners come in saying "oh we love what you guys are doing. You're doing a great job and we want you to keep up your good work." Uh-huh.

It only took one experience like that to teach me to ALWAYS keep my resume and audition tape up to date and handy.

Word to the wise to my friends at Houston Belo station KHOU. Brace yourselves and get ready to assume the position.