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Mergers Just Beginning?
- Thread starter michael hagerty
- Start date
That's nothing. Have you noticed the overtaking in the auto biz in the Phoenix metro lately? Auto Nation has a run going having absorbed Brown & Brown and Tempe Hyundai plus two others I can't remember within the last two weeks. If this continues we'll only have Tex Earnhardt's gazillion dealerships facing off against Auto Nation (new cars) and Car Max (used cars).
The radio industry will seem like a mom and pop operation.
The radio industry will seem like a mom and pop operation.
landtuna said:
AutoNation has owned Brown & Brown, Tempe Hyndai, and the all the Power dealerships for many years - since 1998, IIRC.
I bought a car at Brown & Brown Nissan in the Tempe Autoplex in 1996, when B&B actualy owned it, and had a good experience with them. When I went back in 1999 to buy another car, they were owned by AutoNation and I walked out on them when they tried to screw me on the interest rate. I have nothing good to say about AutoNation.
landtuna said:
I knew about AutoNation/Brown & Brown (happened years ago, which is why Henry opened Henry Brown).
TV ownership is regulated by the government. Apart from anti-trust and franchise regulations, there's nothing similar in car dealer ownership.
Okay. Now that we've covered cars, the upshot of the link is that all the chains apparently have the urge to merge (why wait for Dr. Akbar to say it?). Belo/Gannett we already know about, Meredith's supposedly hungry, Fox would like a do-over on some stations it let go, Meredith is supposedly hungry for the first time in a long time and while they're not mentioned specifically, Scripps' acquisition of McGraw-Hill last year doesn't give them the scale the other guys seem to be gunning for.
Could be an interesting summer.
Could be an interesting summer.
I see it as part of a long, (very long) term trend where we will change our system from that of affiliates to networks. I can see having one network station like WCBS and instead of affiliates just repeaters across the nation.
Perhaps one or two local stations in the big markets will survive, but OTA will be network driven and repeaters will become the norm. This is very long term, but it makes economic sense.
I am not saying it's a good thing in terms of local populations or creativity but just to maximize profit.
Perhaps one or two local stations in the big markets will survive, but OTA will be network driven and repeaters will become the norm. This is very long term, but it makes economic sense.
I am not saying it's a good thing in terms of local populations or creativity but just to maximize profit.
KeithE4 said:
I bought a Hyundai from Tempe Hyundai 18 months ago and they were not AN then. And according to recent (this week) TV ads AN has been saying they just acquired B&B and Power.
Funny thing though.....when I bought my Santa Fe at Tempe I was negotiating for a better price and the sales guy (who turned out to be very honest) told me "it doesn't matter because all these dealerships are owned by the same company" - even though each had a different name. It wasn't AN then though.
Mark said:
Except for local news (which in itself isn't a huge differential) isn't that pretty much what we've got already? My network affiliates follow the network in lock step aside from the news shows and some non-network stuff on the weekend.
To me it wouldn't be a big change. Let the indies provide the localism.
Mark said:
Except that apart from Fox, none of the nets seem to be shopping...and the 39% of American households limit would keep that vision from happening.
No, I think ABC, CBS and NBC are looking to other platforms and the non-network groups are looking to make as much money via scale as possible while they can.
Prices are certainly low enough. KTVK/KASW sold for $310 million 14 years ago. Sander's getting those two, plus at least 2 Top 25 network affiliates for $100 million.
It's much harder to concentrate media ownership in the US than it is in Australia or Canada (arguably the two most similar situations) because of the size of the US. Australia has maybe 10-15 distinct markets as it lays (probably 50-some in the US system, but aggregation really condensed things). Canada has about 20 markets on a more American-style format.
American television is different, and here lies the other core of why we won't see that future. It's a system in which stations build around a few blocks of network programming using syndicated and local programming. In Australia and Canada networks program nearly 24/7 with opt-outs for local news and programs—there is no such thing as a syndicated show.
There is no dark future where in 2035 we'll be watching "NBC Phoenix" or "CBS Mid-Missouri" or "ABC Cincinnati". There are too many middlemen, station group owners and sheer stations. Large station groups own too many affiliates of multiple networks.
American television is different, and here lies the other core of why we won't see that future. It's a system in which stations build around a few blocks of network programming using syndicated and local programming. In Australia and Canada networks program nearly 24/7 with opt-outs for local news and programs—there is no such thing as a syndicated show.
There is no dark future where in 2035 we'll be watching "NBC Phoenix" or "CBS Mid-Missouri" or "ABC Cincinnati". There are too many middlemen, station group owners and sheer stations. Large station groups own too many affiliates of multiple networks.
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