Herald: Ch 7 may buy Ch 56

[raccoonradio]

http://thetrack.bostonherald.com/moreTrack/view.bg?articleid=153367

"...word in TV land is that Channel 7 owner Ed Ansin is making a play to buy Channel 56 from the Tribune Co. Leading us to ask why, oh why, does Ed - whose main holdings are in Florida - want to add to his stable of Boston stations?
There’s a rather fascinating answer, according to our spies.
Seems Ansin is trying to do an end run around NBC because he fears that the network honchos will buy WB56 themselves and move their programming there when NBC’s deal with Channel 7 expires."

 

[raccoonradio]

...would NBC really buy Ch 56 and move their programming there...? (the Track argues that Ansin/Ch 7 wants to buy Ch 56 to prevent THAT from happening...)

"The network reportedly is not bothered by 56’s low channel position because most viewers are hooked up to cable (where it is higher on the dial). For NBC, the benefits of owning its own station in Boston outweigh the negatives. (Rival CBS currently owns Channel 4). If the network does buy 56, it is assumed that the CW programming - a combination of WB and UPN - would revert to Channel 38. That would leave Channel 7 an independent station with no network programming - and out of the lucrative ad loop. (Channel 38 will find itself in that unenviable position, come the fall.)
“Ed knows he can’t let that happen,” said Deep (Satellite) Dish."

etc

 

[MaxBTVN]

7's GM Mike Carson has apparently issued an internal e-mail denying the suppositions of the Track article in the strongest terms possible. The only thing that ever happened between them, I'm told,, was 7's offer to "be [56's] landlord" a few months ago, an offer which 56 firmly rejected. It's also worth pointing out that HDH apparently has more than two years left on its affiliation deal with NBC anyway, which renders the premise of the Herald article pretty much null and void.

 

[Garrett]

Wow,
So now, instead of "NBC buying WHDH" we've moved to a new one! This time, it's NBC buying WLVI. But the sad thing is the source. Don't you just love how the Boston Herald like to just make stuff up?

Here's the point: 7 is NBC, 56 is CW, 4 is CBS 5 is ABC and 25 is Fox, AND THAT IS THE WAY IT IS GOING TO BE.

People need to get over this...
And why mess with a good system. Think about it, why in the world would NBC want their network on a weaker UHF signal that people can't find?

 

[radiodouble]

. It's also worth pointing out that HDH apparently has more than two years left on its affiliation deal with NBC anyway, which renders the premise of the Herald article pretty much null and void.

nbc-whdh agreement is thru 2012. same expiration date is tim russert's deal.
long way to go. of course, nbc could always get out by paying out of the deal but why would they? whdh is one of their strongest non o&o' affiliates in the country and gets very
good comp from ge even if the network's ratings are in a crapper.plus 56 ain't for sale. tribune is getting hansome comp fees from cbs-time warner for cw clearance. they have a nice parachute deal with cw. herald biatches are pretty wet on this one...

 

[JustinT]

People need to get over this...
And why mess with a good system. Think about it, why in the world would NBC want their network on a weaker UHF signal that people can't find?

Because they've pretty much done it before. While the Miami situation involving WTVJ/WSVN/WCIX resulted in NBC going to an equally powerful station, several years ago we saw NBC move from a strong VHF outlet in San Francisco (KRON) to a weak VHF O&O outlet from San Jose (KNTV).

Why would NBC want the station on a weaker signal? Because they would own 100% of it. Boston is NBC's largest market without an owned and operated outlet, and it's well known that their relationship with Sunbeam is not the best. We don't have a market with a lot of VHF signals, there's no VHF independents to acquire, and Ansin is not selling, so NBC doesn't have a lot of choices if they want to own and operate a station. WLVI has one of the best UHF signals in the market, and it does have prime positioning on local cable systems (12 on most Comcast systems, 10 on RCN's systems).

One potential issue would be their ownership of WNEU-60, WWDP-46, and the partial ownership of WBPX-68 and it's two satellites, and one of those would probably have to go, but otherwise, I wouldn't be surprised... though if the affiliation runs through 2012, there's probably no chance of this happening.

 

[rch66]

. It's also worth pointing out that HDH apparently has more than two years left on its affiliation deal with NBC anyway, which renders the premise of the Herald article pretty much null and void.

nbc-whdh agreement is thru 2012. same expiration date is tim russert's deal.
long way to go. of course, nbc could always get out by paying out of the deal but why would they? whdh is one of their strongest non o&o' affiliates in the country and gets very
good comp from ge even if the network's ratings are in a crapper.plus 56 ain't for sale. tribune is getting hansome comp fees from cbs-time warner for cw clearance. they have a nice parachute deal with cw. herald biatches are pretty wet on this one...

Tribune would consider selling any station outside the top 3 markets (NYC, LA and Chicago). Maybe not KWGN or their stronger VHF performers, but any of the weaker stations. Tribune already sold their Albany, NY station, of The WB/CW affiliation. If Ansin bought WLVI, they'd inherit a contract with The CW that would be for 10 years as well - CBS couldn't pull it to WSBK, unless consideration for WSBK to pick The CW, before 10 yrs., while WLVI goes independent is discounted off the station value. If NBC bought WLVI, they could pay out of the WHDH contract (depending if there is a clause out) and move NBC programming to WLVI, while paying out of The CW contract as well. Maybe TW would want The CW would go to WHDH, a stronger station and a better clearance than WSBK.

I also doubt CBS/TW is compensating Tribune in markets like Boston, where CBS could have put The CW on its own station WSBK. At most, Tribune is getting compensated for NY, LA and Chicago market coverage, while the other markets, they get just affiliation as a conciliation for the loss of WB and even at that, they didn't get affiliation for Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Seattle. Note: other broadcasters are paying for affiliation - thus, Sinclair chose MyNetworkTV as more favorable a network to be affiliated with at first, including coverage for Cincinnati, where The CW is going to digital subchannel.

 

[Markxxx]

Perhaps it has to do with digital broadcasting. In about 2 1/2 years the country will "supposedly" go digital. A UHF will be strong and though the FCC has PSIP rules for mapping virtual channels, nothing is so set in stone. Perhaps they could map the UHF to a lower channel number on the OTA dial.

Already some like TBN want to reserve certain channels so that all their stations map to one channel, so conceivable we could see stations map to their own channel and then to an additional channel which would represent the newtork affiliate nationwide, with the new tuners it is quite possible to get two channel 2 mapped quite easily

 

[chitchatjf]

Why not have NBC BUY 38?

WSBK-DT will become practically worthless after UPN goes belly up. (unless Jep and Wheel air in HD,Personally I would move those to 4)

 

[radiodouble]

. It's also worth pointing out that HDH apparently has more than two years left on its affiliation deal with NBC anyway, which renders the premise of the Herald article pretty much null and void.

nbc-whdh agreement is thru 2012. same expiration date is tim russert's deal.
long way to go. of course, nbc could always get out by paying out of the deal but why would they? whdh is one of their strongest non o&o' affiliates in the country and gets very
good comp from ge even if the network's ratings are in a crapper.plus 56 ain't for sale. tribune is getting hansome comp fees from cbs-time warner for cw clearance. they have a nice parachute deal with cw. herald biatches are pretty wet on this one...

Tribune would consider selling any station outside the top 3 markets (NYC, LA and Chicago). Maybe not KWGN or their stronger VHF performers, but any of the weaker stations. Tribune already sold their Albany, NY station, of The WB/CW affiliation.

they also sold one in atlanta because trb has an internal dispute with one of their major
shareholders and needs to raise cash to buy them. they'll never sell boston, though.

If NBC bought WLVI, they could pay out of the WHDH contract (depending if there is a clause out) and move NBC programming to WLVI, while paying out of The CW contract as well.

every contract has a clause.

Maybe TW would want The CW would go to WHDH, a stronger station and a better clearance than WSBK.

I also doubt CBS/TW is compensating Tribune in markets like Boston, where CBS could have put The CW on its own station WSBK. At most, Tribune is getting compensated for NY, LA and Chicago market coverage, while the other markets, they get just affiliation as a conciliation for the loss of WB and even at that, they didn't get affiliation for Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Seattle. Note: other broadcasters are paying for affiliation - thus, Sinclair chose MyNetworkTV as more favorable a network to be affiliated with at first, including coverage for Cincinnati, where The CW is going to digital subchannel.

 

[Garrett]

Contracts are made to be renegotiated, changed, altered, traded for, etc. Anything and everything could be in play, and perhaps the changes with the 4th and 5th networks changes the terms, I don't know.

But I could see a scenerio where:
CBS sells off 4, NBC buys it, makes it "WNBZ," or something like that, WHDH get's CBS. Or, CBS sells 38 to NBC, and WHDH becomes independent, or MyNetwork TV. Don't forget that MyNetowrk TV might still be in play.

IMO, all bets are off right now. Put it this way:
What would you have said in 1987 if someone had predicted that WBZ TV would be owned by CBS, and that 7 would be an NBC affiliate with the WHDH calls?

EXACTLY!
The only thing constant in TV is change! And everything is in play.

. It's also worth pointing out that HDH apparently has more than two years left on its affiliation deal with NBC anyway, which renders the premise of the Herald article pretty much null and void.

nbc-whdh agreement is thru 2012. same expiration date is tim russert's deal.
long way to go. of course, nbc could always get out by paying out of the deal but why would they? whdh is one of their strongest non o&o' affiliates in the country and gets very
good comp from ge even if the network's ratings are in a crapper.plus 56 ain't for sale. tribune is getting hansome comp fees from cbs-time warner for cw clearance. they have a nice parachute deal with cw. herald biatches are pretty wet on this one...

 

[raccoonradio]

Now the Globe has the story, too. Time for the Herald to run another one of their "we had it first" ads...
Will we see "7 News at 10 On CW-56"?

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/06/miami_owner_of_whdh_in_talks_to_acquire_wlvi/

Miami media mogul Ed Ansin , who owns WHDH-TV (Channel 7) in Boston, is in negotiations to buy WLVI-TV (Channel 56), according to an executive involved in the deal.

The station purchase is expected to be disclosed in the coming weeks and will give NBC affiliate WHDH control over two local news broadcasts, which will be consolidated at WHDH's Boston headquarters, the executive said.

 

[radiodouble]

Now the Globe has the story, too. Time for the Herald to run another one of their "we had it first" ads...
Will we see "7 News at 10 On CW-56"?

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/06/miami_owner_of_whdh_in_talks_to_acquire_wlvi/

Miami media mogul Ed Ansin , who owns WHDH-TV (Channel 7) in Boston, is in negotiations to buy WLVI-TV (Channel 56), according to an executive involved in the deal.

The station purchase is expected to be disclosed in the coming weeks and will give NBC affiliate WHDH control over two local news broadcasts, which will be consolidated at WHDH's Boston headquarters, the executive said.

hopefully this will put an end to all dumb talk about ansin selling ch.7. at least for a few months.

tribune is in internal turmoil. chandler trusts want to break up the company while tribune wants to raise its stock value by selling off $500 mill in assets. neither scenario looks good for company's any kind of longterm presence in boston where 56's news operation is having its lunch delivered by fox25. i think they're done but i don't think ansin is doing this deal to prevent nbc's entry. sunbeam and ge have a solid deal thru 2012 and 7 is one of nbc's strongest affils in the country.

it's pretty obvious ansin wants to have control of the news market's revenue - 25 has been putting pressure on the 11o'clock numbers for 4,5 and 7 and making good $$$. this is a perefect opportunity to clip 25's wings by rolling 7's product at 10pm. both 7 and 25 have similar products and appeal to the younger viewers. 7's brand is probably closer to the taste of 25's audience than 56's sleepy presentation as ratings prove. in any case, ansin will probably get the deal done. then will see a news war like never before. i feel bad for the new 9:30 cast on 38. it has no chance.

 

[Skynet74]

9:30 News. That has to be one of the dumbest time slots for News that I've ever heard. I agree. No chance for Channel 38 with that move.

 

[Garrett]

9:30 News. That has to be one of the dumbest time slots for News that I've ever heard. I agree. No chance for Channel 38 with that move.

Ah... But you fail to realize...
If this happens, CW could move to TV38!


...If the Globe story is correct, which, since it's now in two Boston Papers, probably is.

Hmmm...
NBC 56, MyTV38, WBZ 4, and.... ?
Interesting stuff!

 

[Skynet74]

Any Network changes are years down the Road. Let's discuss it in 5 years.

 

[Garrett]

Any Network changes are years down the Road. Let's discuss it in 5 years.

Again, contracts are made to renegotiated, and if WHDH buys WLVI, the contract for CW is in jeopardy, becuase the contract is with Tribune, not Ansin.

 

[chitchatjf]

The reason the folks who CURRENTLY own 7 may want 56 is to clear the way for 7 to become an NBC OnO.

NBC wants an OnO in Boston BAD!

 

[rch66]

Any Network changes are years down the Road. Let's discuss it in 5 years.

Again, contracts are made to renegotiated, and if WHDH buys WLVI, the contract for CW is in jeopardy, becuase the contract is with Tribune, not Ansin.

Instead of network affiliations changing, a better idea maybe if CBS and Sunbeam swapped liceneses for 38 and 56. This way, Sunbeam would own an independent super-station WSBK, in exchange - CBS co-owning WBZ4 and WLVI 56. It'd save on the rebranding expense (and eliminate confusion) - now that 56 is already marketed to be The CW, while giving CBS ownership of the CBS/CW affiliates. Tribune's affiliation with the CW is for 10 years; Sunbeam purchased WLVI on its station and affiliation, so I don't see the affiliation being in jeopardy. However, since CW charges affiliates for carrying the network, Sunbeam and CBS might renegotiate out of this situation anyways [Sunbeam might not care for CW programming] - giving CBS back the afffiliation rights.

As for WSBK, it'd be nice to see this FCC classified superstation owned by an independent owner. Dr.Phil could move to WLVI (at 10pm), while WHDH does the local 10pm newscast on WSBK. Just a thought...

 

[Garrett]

Far fetched, if they wanted to do that, they could have just bought 38 from CBS. And anyway, the stations have about the same signal, so why would WHDH swap a network station for a non network station?
Sorry, your scenario doesn't make any sense, imho.

Anyway, does anyone know when Tribune is expected to hand control of the station over to Sunbeam, or do they take over immediately?