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NBC finds a buyer for WTVJ Miami-Fort Lauderdale

R

Rick Rose 2.0

Guest
I just read that WPLG owner Post-Newsweek is planning on buying south Florida NBC O&O WTVJ channel 6. Since WTVJ is the 6th rated station in that market Post Newsweek can operate a duopoly. I would assume that the 6 newsroom will be cut back big time and that a combined newsroom will come out of this, similiar to the situation in Jacksonville between 12 & 25.
 
Question:

How can Post-Newsweek station purchase WTVJ? You cannot have 2 VHF duolopoly unless there are at lease 7 VHF stations in the market. Miami only has 5 VHF stations in the market. Is this legal?
 
As the originating poster implied, apparently it's all to do with how they're ranked. WTVJ, despite being a Big 3 O&O, is only the sixth highest-rated station, no doubt behind the local Fox, ABC, CBS and even Univision and Telemundo stations.
 
azumanga said:
As the originating poster implied, apparently it's all to do with how they're ranked. WTVJ, despite being a Big 3 O&O, is only the sixth highest-rated station, no doubt behind the local Fox, ABC, CBS and even Univision and Telemundo stations.
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Bingo.

Keep in mind, Fox has 2 VHF duopolies in both New York (WNYW-Fox 5/WWOR-My9) and Los Angeles (KTTV-Fox 11/KCOP-My 13)
This is only different because it's deals with ABC and NBC affiliates.

The interesting thing is that WTVJ had been a pretty solid station in the ratings before it moved from channel 4 to channel 6. The channel 6 frequency is bad in that market because the transmitter for it is much farther south of the city than the other stations. (which is why CBS wanted to do the deal to swap frequencies a few years ago) HOWEVER, the WTVJ digital signal on channel 31 is on par with all the other stations. I believe it's located at the same antenna site as all the other stations. In other words, it's poised to win back some viewers who currently struggle to get the signal when the digital transition is complete.

The great question now is what does Post-Newsweek do with two fully-staffed newsrooms? I'd love to see them leave things alone and let the two continue to compete. Maybe they could share video at common events (this is done in other markets among stations that otherwise compete tooth and nail) like news conferences, etc. The reality is that they're almost certainly going to merge the two stations into one building and cut the staffs way down.
 
THe only tv station ever that has separate news staff and studio is KGMB & KHON in Honolulu. Other duolopoly resulted in moving in competitor tv staTION. I heard from Broadcasting & Cable WTVJ will move in to WPLC Studio when WPLC finish building their new studios. I think NBC will keep their current studios for their Telemundo station.
 
TexasTom said:
It just shows what a joke the FCC's ownership regulations are that this combination is even a possibility.
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I don't think this one is so bad, the FCC needs to start ripping apart these shell comanies that allow effective duopolies in small markets like Duluth and Fort Wayne

I used to live all over South Florida and unless you spend time there it's hard to imagine just how heavily Spanish speaking it is. I found I could go block after block after block and NO ONE understood English.

I live in a Spanish neighborhood in Chicago and there are store and such that don't have English speaking people in them, but still I can go half a block and find other stores that do have English speaking people. In Miami you can literally spend an hour or more trying to find anyone that speaks English.

I say this because it's no surprise to me to see the Spanish language stations ranking so high and this would force down an NBC station especially considering how badly NBC is doing in the overall ratings last year.

As for the news I'm sure they'll combine operations, but the thing is most Miami stations, like everywhere else, cover the same old stories they only vary the order they are presented. But that is a sign of the times not a market thing
 
tested said:
Keep in mind, Fox has 2 VHF duopolies in both New York (WNYW-Fox 5/WWOR-My9) and Los Angeles (KTTV-Fox 11/KCOP-My 13)
Click to expand...

Don't forget the other VHF duopoly in Los Angeles, KCBS (CBS 2) and independent K-CAL 9; both have been owned by CBS since 2002
 
e-dawg said:
THe only tv station ever that has separate news staff and studio is KGMB & KHON in Honolulu. Other duolopoly resulted in moving in competitor tv staTION. I heard from Broadcasting & Cable WTVJ will move in to WPLC Studio when WPLC finish building their new studios. I think NBC will keep their current studios for their Telemundo station.
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Fox/News Corp's New York duopoly, WNYW and WWOR, operates seperate studios and news departments. They are seperate for legal reasons. WWOR has a provision attached to its license that it must serve New Jersey. This was put in the license when then WOR-TV's owner RKO General got a bill passed through Congress guaranteeing automatic renewal of any license of any TV station licensed to New Jersey (after the FCC was forcing RKO out of the broadcasing business). WOR-TV changed it's city of license from New York, NY to Seacaus, NJ (and then sold to MCA). Last year, when News Corp. announced plans to consolidate operations (at license renewal time - it sounded like RKO's Congressional bill had sunset), so many people complained that the FCC held hearings into the license renewal (first time ever) over this restriction. News Corp. has backed off its consolidation plans.

The channel 6 frequency is bad in that market because the transmitter for it is much farther south of the city than the other stations.
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WTVJ is short-spaced to WKMG Orlando (a sister Post-Newsweek station - it is a coincidence that the company will have two Channel 6's so close to each other). I remember seeing YouTube clips of the WCIX/WFOR/WTVJ changeover, and that NBC was scrambling to get translators on the air in time for the changeover. I don't know the status of those translators.
 
According to the Distance Finder web site, Miami and Orlando are 201 miles apart, as the crow flies. They are
plenty far enough apart to have Ch. 6 in both Miami(WTVJ) and Orlando(WKMG).
 
RyanHoward said:
According to the Distance Finder web site, Miami and Orlando are 201 miles apart, as the crow flies. They are
plenty far enough apart to have Ch. 6 in both Miami(WTVJ) and Orlando(WKMG).
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Yes...but the cochannel spacing requirement for analog TV stations on the same channel in zone 3 was 219.5 miles (past tense, because that requirement will be history once the full power analog stations disappear next year). So the distance between Miami & Orlando wouldn't be a problem in most of the US, but is an issue in Florida.
 
I haven't watched WWOR 9 news in a long time. Is there more NJ coverage and stories and less NY general coverage on the 10PM news than what would be seen on FOX 5 or CW 11? Either way, I'd think NewsCorp would get most viewers in sum running both newscasts against each other, over running just one newscast on FOX 5 at that time, and anything else on WWOR.
 
Looks like the Department of Justice approves the merger of WTVJ to Post-Week on 10/6. Is there any way to stop the sale of WTVJ to WPLG. I'm afraid WTVJ is going to be like Jacksonville FL with WJXX and WTLV.
 
nbc9houston said:
tested said:
Keep in mind, Fox has 2 VHF duopolies in both New York (WNYW-Fox 5/WWOR-My9) and Los Angeles (KTTV-Fox 11/KCOP-My 13)
Click to expand...

Don't forget the other VHF duopoly in Los Angeles, KCBS (CBS 2) and independent K-CAL 9; both have been owned by CBS since 2002
Click to expand...
And also don't forget the Local Media acquisitions of several now former FOX O&Os that have their own competing news divisions too (Which includes KWGN 2/KDVR 31 here in Denver).

Cheers :)
 
The Local Media purchase of KTVI St. Louis created a VHF duoply with FOX 2 KTVI, and KPLR 11 - not sure how that was able to happen, except that in a few months, both will be UHF only after the DTV conversion...Soon, almost all stations will be UHF, so I guess it doesn't really make much of a difference anymore.
 
Hi everyone:

Me thinks the Post Newsweek deal will probably (If not likely) fall apart (Knowing the FCC, they'll make up something) and NBC will wind up selling WTVJ to Gannett instead.

Once this happens, CBS would probably either sell the MyNetwork affiliate to Gannett or dump MyNetwork onto them in lieu of The CW on Channel 33 ((Sorry I forget the calls) - A network it partially owns (MyNetwork TV can be run on a start up station if need be with WTVJ producing newscasts in English for it as well as the Spanish/Latin newscasts they currently produce for Miami's Telemundo affiliate).

Thoughts?

Cheers :)

Pat
 
Pat, as for thoughts, I would say it's not likely that the FCC will make up something to stop the Post-Newsweek deal for WTVJ. This FCC especially has been focused on dereg, dereg and more dereg. If it falls apart for any reason, it would probably be due to the general state of economy and the difficulty obtaining credit, and I really don't look for the deal to fall through.

As for the KTVI/KPLR duopoly, I had read somewhere that it was going to be a "management agreement" rather than an outright duopoly. I don't know if that's still the case, but that was what it was originally to be. Also, the FCC doesn't prohibit VHF/VHF duopolies. It simply prohibits the top-4 stations in the market from merging. In the case of St. Louis, KPLR has dropped dramatically since (1) The CW and (2) losing the Cardinals.
 
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