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Gannett, Hearst, Belo, Scripps: Who taps out first?

While the Bay Area has a high Hispanic population, and Spanish channel conversions come to mind (e.g. KFTY to KEMO), I was also wondering about HSN going back on full powered stations.

HSN was on a dozen of so full powered stations for nearly 16 years, before those stations were sold to Univision. While HSN lost full power broadcast coverage, HSN kept cable by getting the national feed carried and paying the cable operator directly for carriage like QVC does now.

But an excess station in the market (like KRON) going HSN would mean HSN not having to pay the cable company for carriage in that market, but it'd get carriage via must-carry again.

In the case of SF, HSN could air on KRON if MG sold it to HSN, while HSN2 could be picked up on the Comcast systems in the market where HSN was airing.
 
I can't believe we're talking about a station that was a very strong Big Four affiliate just a decade ago being used as a stowing ground for bottom-of-the-barrel networks.
 
boiseengineer said:
How's KNTV signal in SF proper compaired to KRON nowadays?
In the analog days KNTV was bad.
Click to expand...

In my neighborhood, right by City College of San Francisco. I can pick up both KRON and KNTV. However, KNTV is very weak around the Richmond Neighborhood because of Mt. Sutro blocking San Bruno Mountain Signal. Also since KNTV is broadcasting RF-12 vs KRON 4 RF-38. KNTV is harder to pick up because of the VHF status. VHF channels are harder to pick up vs UHF channels in the DTV world.
 
Okay...back to the topic. This tv consolidation is getting out of hand, could someone summarized which companies consolidate or merge with another companies within the last couple of years?
 
Gannett and Belo is probably the best fit with the least overlaps and maximizes the acquisition of two Top 10 DMA stations, the Belo flagship station in Dallas and here in Houston.

A Gannett and Scripps merger would have significant overlaps in neighboring Detroit and Cleveland, DC and Baltimore, Tampa, Denver, and still in Phoenix and no Top 10 DMA stations.  Scripps-Hearst would have overlaps in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and West Palm Beach and acquire Boston's WCVB as the only Top 10 DMA station and the largest market.  Gannett and Hearst would overlap in Sacramento and Greensboro and WCVB would still be the only Top 10 DMA station and largest market.
 
who be left of the station groups yet to be gobbled up by the big fish
 
KTN Corp said:
Let's talk about Post-Newsweek, Cox, and any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Two good companies. Cox obviously filled the war chest recently. So anything there is possible.

Post-Newsweek needs to do something pretty quick. The print side of the company is obviously in trouble, but now the education side is weakening. They're probably waiting for the FCC to loosen the print-broadcast cross-ownership rules. The bad news is I don't expect the FCC to act on anything broadcast related for a while. Perhaps they could do what Belo did, and split the companies.
 
TheBigA said:
KTN Corp said:
Let's talk about Post-Newsweek, Cox, and any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Two good companies. Cox obviously filled the war chest recently. So anything there is possible.

Post-Newsweek needs to do something pretty quick. The print side of the company is obviously in trouble, but now the education side is weakening. They're probably waiting for the FCC to loosen the print-broadcast cross-ownership rules. The bad news is I don't expect the FCC to act on anything broadcast related for a while. Perhaps they could do what Belo did, and split the companies.
Click to expand...

What are the print-broadcast ownership rules again? It seems Hearst would be prohibited from purchasing Belo because of the Houston Chronicle; I doubt that they would sell their highest circulating newspaper just for one broadcast license in top ten Houston. I remember the talk about Tribune reconfiguring the Chicago cluster will trigger that rule.

If KXAS was still under LIN ownership, a Post-Newsweek and LIN Broadcasting merger would have rivaled Belo's coverage in Texas.

Anybody have more broadcast company merger possibilities besides the four listed above?
 
KTN Corp said:
What are the print-broadcast ownership rules again?
Click to expand...

A waiver of the rule is possible in a Top 20 market where there are at least 8 independent "voices," which would be commercial or non-commercial TV or major newspapers. So Houston might be exempt.
 
KTN Corp said:
Anybody have more broadcast company merger possibilities besides the four listed above?
Click to expand...

Just some idle speculation:

Cox/Post-Newsweek (Overlap in Orlando and Jacksonville; would create TV/radio clusters in Houston, San Antonio, and Miami).
Hearst/Post-Newsweek (Overlap in Orlando plus newspaper concerns in Houston and San Antonio).
Hearst/Allbritton (Overlap in Harrisburg, and if they changed their mind and wanted to throw WJLA in there may be concerns with WBAL).
Hearst/Meredith (Overlap in Greenville/Spartanburg and Kansas City).
Media General/Granite (Overlap in San Francisco but a KRON-KOFY duopoly would be allowed).
Hubbard/Journal (No overlap but there could be concerns with their Milwaukee holdings).
Hubbard/Citadel (No overlap)
Cox/Journal (No TV overlap but the two have radio overlap in Tulsa).
 
I would like to see and Scripps and Allbritton merge. Seems like that would work in every market except possibly Tulsa.
 
TheBigA said:
KTN Corp said:
Let's talk about Post-Newsweek, Cox, and any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

Two good companies. Cox obviously filled the war chest recently. So anything there is possible.

Post-Newsweek needs to do something pretty quick. The print side of the company is obviously in trouble, but now the education side is weakening. They're probably waiting for the FCC to loosen the print-broadcast cross-ownership rules. The bad news is I don't expect the FCC to act on anything broadcast related for a while. Perhaps they could do what Belo did, and split the companies.
Click to expand...

Cox owns mostly rimshots in Houston (with the exception of KKBQ), so owning KPRC-TV would make an interesting cluster.

Too bad Gannett didn't buy Post-Newsweek; WUSA could brag about being the Washington Post TV station again and have less stations to integrate into the company.
 
KTN Corp said:
Too bad Gannett didn't buy Post-Newsweek; WUSA could brag about being the Washington Post TV station again and have less stations to integrate into the company.
Click to expand...

You're missing the point of the Belo purchase. This deal is entirely about scale...about bulking up the TV side of Gannett for the inevitable post-print future.
 
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