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If/When The Nexstar/Tegna Merger Happens In CLE...

T

thenetwork

Who will likely be the "casualties" at Channels 3 and 8?

Will 3 and 8 consolidate into one building (I would place my bets on the newer Lakeside studios)?

Might Gray Media be holding back on their original plans to move 19 and 43 from their current "rat trap" facilities downtown to Independence to see if one of the Nexstar/Tegna station buildings becomes vacant after consolidation? (I could see them grabbing the S. Marginal building for cheap if Fox 8 moves to Lakeside).

I wish the best for all parties and especially for the tenured air talent at both 3 and 8.
 
Regardless of market, studio facilities will be combined, and there will be a lot of layoffs. This merger is all about slashing expenses. The broadcast TV business is in survival mode.
 
The merger has been approved by the FCC and the DOJ. Certain states have filed suit to stop it but they're spitting in the wind.
No statements yet as to what stations may have to be divested and where.
Expect consolidations, many staff cuts and lower quality local newscasts. Cleveland TV will be radically different.
It's survival mode for TV now.
 
Santa fe said:
No statements yet as to what stations may have to be divested and where.
Click to expand...
KTVD Denver, WTHR Indianapolis, WCTX New Haven, WAVY Portsmouth, VA, WUPL Slidell (New Orleans) LA, and KNWA Rogers, AR are being divested.

The Denver and New Orleans divestitures prevent quadropolies in those markets.
 
 
Mediafrog+ said:
KTVD Denver, WTHR Indianapolis, WCTX New Haven, WAVY Portsmouth, VA, WUPL Slidell (New Orleans) LA, and KNWA Rogers, AR are being divested.

The Denver and New Orleans divestitures prevent quadropolies in those markets.
Click to expand...
We have some facts now.
Let's open the speculation doors. If the buzz that the TV networks are thinking about buying more stations is true, might that have a further impact in Cleveland? Scripps appears to be selling off one by one and that could hit here, with the intriguing idea Disney could buy 5.
Not leaving Gray out, they've been pretty quiet here but a nice bid from Fox or Paramount or NBC could sway them to leave Leaky Arms and possibly start another network affiliation round robin.
 
fybush said:
None of the networks are adding owned stations to their portfolios.
Click to expand...
Are there any other groups looking to expand into a medium market like Cleveland, such as Sinclair, or has this Nexta/tegnar merger sucked the life out of the merger/acquisition market for everybody else?
And BTW, is channel 23 part of the merger? I recall there is/was some connection with 3 in the past.
And is their any likelihood that some local investors would come forward if something was available?
 
Santa fe said:
Are there any other groups looking to expand into a medium market like Cleveland, such as Sinclair, or has this Nexta/tegnar merger sucked the life out of the merger/acquisition market for everybody else?
And BTW, is channel 23 part of the merger? I recall there is/was some connection with 3 in the past.
And is their any likelihood that some local investors would come forward if something was available?
Click to expand...
WVPX Ion 23 is owned by Inyo, which is (if we're being honest) a shell company where Scripps stashed a few stations to "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" stay under the allotment of stations the could own.

For all intents and purposes, Scripps has a triopoly with WEWS, WVPX, and WDLI 17, which (checking to make sure) currently airs Bounce TV.
 
Breaking it down further, we now basically have 3 TV triopolies in Cleveland.

Nexstar - WKYC NBC 3, WJW Fox 8, WBNX CW 55
Scripps (Inyo) - WEWS ABC 5, WDLI Bounce 17, WVPX Ion 23
Gray - WOIO CBS 19, WUAB My 43, and the cobbled together LPs of WTCL/WOHZ/W28FG 6/22 (Telemundo/RESN)
 
vjm said:
WVPX Ion 23 is owned by Inyo, which is (if we're being honest) a shell company where Scripps stashed a few stations to "nudge-nudge-wink-wink" stay under the allotment of stations the could own.

For all intents and purposes, Scripps has a triopoly with WEWS, WVPX, and WDLI 17, which (checking to make sure) currently airs Bounce TV.
Click to expand...
Inyo was able to get away with this because neither WVPX or WDLI is affiliated with a major network. Gray (going all the way back to Raycom) was able to acquire WUAB because they were affiliated with UPN at the time, and were able to keep WOIO with CBS. Their low power stations don't count towards the ownership cap.

Technically, Nexstar would have to divest either WJW or WKYC since both are affiliated with a major network, but the FCC is sadly not following their own rules and is allowing this. This is what annoys me, along with Nexstar consolidating and cutting jobs. Nexstar has turned into a mega owner of TV stations with no quality control, and with all their stations being hubbed out of one building, so of course things like this are going happen.
 
MediaLover said:
Now I wonder if...

WKYC will move to South Marginal to join WJW and WBNX.

Or...

WJW and WBNX will move to Lakeside to join WKYC.

That will be interesting.
Click to expand...


WJW will likely move to Lakeside with WKYC. Why would Channel 3 leave one of the newest, state of the art TV stations in Cleveland to move into a building that is pushing 50 years old (Fox 8)?

My money is that Gray's 19/43 station will move into the building on Dick Goddard Way once Fox 8 moves downtown. For Gray, the old FOX 8 building will be a major improvement from the building they currently reside in on E. 12th, which has every problem imaginable -- including foreclosure.
 
vjm said:
Breaking it down further, we now basically have 3 TV triopolies in Cleveland.

Nexstar - WKYC NBC 3, WJW Fox 8, WBNX CW 55
Scripps (Inyo) - WEWS ABC 5, WDLI Bounce 17, WVPX Ion 23
Gray - WOIO CBS 19, WUAB My 43, and the cobbled together LPs of WTCL/WOHZ/W28FG 6/22 (Telemundo/RESN)
Click to expand...
So WQHS is the outlier. I wonder when they will join the party?
 
skiwest said:
So WQHS is the outlier. I wonder when they will join the party?
Click to expand...
They won't. Channel 61 hasn't been significant since it returned to the airwaves 45 years ago. Unless Weigel can acquire the station, which is highly unlikely, no other operator will be interested in a stand alone station in Cleveland.
 


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