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Gray and Channel 2

S

secondchoice

The AJC had a story today June 4th" about Gray buying WSBTV. The quotes were "PRed' up so nothing specific was mentioned. Basically it was nothing that hasn't been posted on this site before*, but the AJC has a small percentage of Cox media so their could be something brewing.

* The article covered the national cap and issues with ownership of major signals in a market. Of course the big 4 OTA network issue goes away in August. If such a move happens, does one of the newsrooms go away or they merge both? 46 will need a lot of content and Channel 2 still has a large amount of "news revenue". The article didn't mention 95.5 WSB radio's news or the radio stations. The "Digital White Columns'" land could be valuable.
 
With Gray having its headquarters in Atlanta, and the synergies that would come from combining their news resources with those of WSB, this would be a major coup for Gray. It could also rescue WANF by making them a subsidiary channel to WSB, similar to KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles.
 
I don't think Gray is losing money on the Atlanta news operation. They do more stations newscasts from Atlanta and just have a local stringer in the small towns. Meaning they are running several news operations and all of the digital from the Atlanta operation. Their digital is better than any station in the market. I am assuming that is the same for the small markets they are in.
 
BarryATL said:
I don't think Gray is losing money on the Atlanta news operation. They do more stations newscasts from Atlanta and just have a local stringer in the small towns. Meaning they are running several news operations and all of the digital from the Atlanta operation. Their digital is better than any station in the market. I am assuming that is the same for the small markets they are in.
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They do a statewide newscast for Telemundo Carolina del Sur (South Carolina), don't know if they actually have reporters in any of the cities served (Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach), but they use news footage from them, and the product is localized to South Carolina in such a way that it is not readily apparent that it originates in Atlanta. They do a nice job.
 
BarryATL said:
I don't think Gray is losing money on the Atlanta news operation. They do more stations newscasts from Atlanta and just have a local stringer in the small towns. Meaning they are running several news operations and all of the digital from the Atlanta operation. Their digital is better than any station in the market. I am assuming that is the same for the small markets they are in.
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www.investigatetv.com

About Us

Contact Gray Investigations
www.investigatetv.com www.investigatetv.com

I see what you mean like Gray has digital operations there’s Investigate TV a Gray News outlet where the hosts are based in Atlanta but the people doing the reports are from various Gray owned stations around the country.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Perhaps Gray is hoping for an ownership cap relaxation that would allow for a triopoly in the market.
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If Gray is going after all of the Cox TV stations, either Fox or CBS could pick up WPCH/17 as a duopoly for their respective Atlanta stations. Charlotte may be a bit trickier with WBTV (NBC), WSOC (ABC), and WAXN (Ind). Other than Atlanta and Charlotte, Gray and Cox do not appear to compete in the other markets.

Radio is probably sold off separately, either as a package or per market.
 
Gray at least can take in WSB 750/99.5 as it is so deeply integrated into channel 2. (Similar to when they took in WGEM AM/FM radio as part of buying Quincy.)

Inasmuch as Nexstar is "interested" in WSB-TV, they only have one radio station: WGN 720, a Tribune tagalong.
 
Firebird61 said:
If Gray is going after all of the Cox TV stations, either Fox or CBS could pick up WPCH/17 as a duopoly for their respective Atlanta stations.
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Fox has no need to buy. CBS via Paramount is a basketcase right now and wouldn't be able to buy anything, regardless of who was running the FCC.

Honestly, Gray probably could simply "merge" ANF into channel 2 and have it as an all-news diginet subchannel. Retain WPCH and the LPTVs and cast off 46 to a Weigel as a diginet coatrack. Should be simple enough.
 
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Here are some clips back in the 1990's when WAGA Switched to Fox and WVEU/WUPA was originally announced as the CBS affiliate in 1995 until WGNX/WGCL/WANF got the CBS affiliation and WVEU/WUPA became the UPN/CW affiliate in Atlanta.
 
secondchoice said:
Wasn't the a bankruptcy (Storer?) involved in Fox getting Channel 5 in Atlanta. Sorry to ask but I lost my notes a decade or to ago.
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Fox didn’t purchase WAGA (and the other former Storer stations) from Storer. They acquired it from New World Communications, which had bought it from Gillett (SCI).

When Fox won the NFL (NFC) contract in 1994, New World Communications agreed to switch their (the former Storer) stations to Fox, setting off affiliate changes in markets across the country. Subsequently, Fox acquired a 20% share of New World. That led to Fox purchasing all of New World.
 
secondchoice said:
It was Gillet that went Bankrupt. They bought Storer.
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George Gillett used junk bonds to fund his purchase of Storer Communications, which immediately wenf south when Black Monday hit a few months later. At one point the entire chain was in a 10:1 debt-to-profit ratio. He was deeply in debt and lost control of the company outright during several reorganizations.

Technically Gillett Communications went bankrupt twice: the first in 1991, and the second when Ronald Pereleman bought into it and promptly absorbed it into New World.
 
Nathan Obral said:
George Gillett used junk bonds to fund his purchase of Storer Communications, which immediately wenf south when Black Monday hit a few months later. At one point the entire chain was in a 10:1 debt-to-profit ratio. He was deeply in debt and lost control of the company outright during several reorganizations.

Technically Gillett Communications went bankrupt twice: the first in 1991, and the second when Ronald Pereleman bought into it and promptly absorbed it into New World.
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Sounds like Gillett was not the best a man could get.
 
When WAGA got FOX did they get rid of Eyewitness News branding? That would be a huge get if Gray bought WSB and sold WCPH as someone else said WSB/WANF could be KCBS/KCAL.
 
secondchoice said:
Signal wise 17 is not a dog.

IMHO: Gray could have put their extended news and sports on 17 and kept CBS on 46 or visa versa.
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Going to predominantly UHF in the digital era has put stations on a more or less equal footing. I know everyone here knows this, but VHF channel numbers appear on PSIP mainly for continuity of marketing. I can't imagine WSB would want to market themselves as channel 32 instead of the iconic channel 2.
 


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