Phase 1 of Emmis Television sale-off announced.

[RickRose]

The future owners of 9 of Emmis' 16 TV properties were announced this morning and the winners were LIN,Journal and Gray.

LIN TV Corp picks up of 260 million
Mobile's duopoly Fox 10 & WB 55
WTHI TV 10 in Terre Haute Indiana
WLUK Fox 11 in Green Bay
KRQE TV 13 Albuquerque CBS (includes 2 regional satellite signals)

Journal Communications gainsfor 235 million
WFTX TV 36 Fort Myers better known as Fox 4
KMTV TV 3 Omaha CBS
KGUN TV 9 Tucson ABC

Gray TV will get WSAZ TV3 in HUntington/Charleston WV for 186 million.

details are from Emmis' press release which also says buyers are still being sought for the other 7 stations.

Still Available:
WVEU Fox 8 New Orleans
WKCF WB 18 Orlando
KOIN CBS 6 Portland
KSNT NBC 27 Topeka
KSNW NBC 3 Wichita
Honolulu duopoly KHON FOX 2 and KGMB CBS 9
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by RickRose on 08/22/05 03:58 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[rugrats1]

> LIN TV Corp picks up of 260 million
> WTHI TV 10 in Terre Haute Indiana

Which gives LIN 4 CBS stations in the Hoosier state, in addition in Indianapolis (WISH ch.8), Ft. Wayne (WANE ch.15) and Lafayette (WLFI ch.18). Not counting out-of-state markets, only South Bend (WSBT ch.22) and Evansville (WEVV ch.44) have CBS stations untouched by LIN.

All things considered, the master control operators at WTHI probably don't feel very good today, since WISH controls the masters for WLFI and WANE.

 

[DrBear]

LIN is making its first move into Wisconsin with WLUK.

Which is interesting because Journal, which bought 3 Emmis stations, might have gone after WLUK had it not already bought WGBA (NBC) in the GB market.

 

[RobertMoore]

If thats the case maybe LIN can start a satellite network.

Well at least they won't have to flip WLUK, since WBAY and WGBA already have long term contracts with ABC and NBC respectively and WFRV is a Viacom O&O.

 

[RobertMoore]

> LIN is making its first move into Wisconsin with WLUK.
>
> Which is interesting because Journal, which bought 3 Emmis
> stations, might have gone after WLUK had it not already
> bought WGBA (NBC) in the GB market.

That one is interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if other well known names show up grab the remaining seven.

 

[bpatrick]

> > LIN is making its first move into Wisconsin with WLUK.
> >
> > Which is interesting because Journal, which bought 3 Emmis
>
> > stations, might have gone after WLUK had it not already
> > bought WGBA (NBC) in the GB market.
>
> That one is interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if other
> well known names show up grab the remaining seven.
>
What's the scoop on WALA? Will it stay with Fox or go
back to NBC?

 

[JayR]

> Journal Communications gains for 235 million
> WFTX TV 36 Fort Myers better known as "FOX 4"

What info do you have on Journal?

 

[effseesee]

> > > LIN is making its first move into Wisconsin with WLUK.
> > >
> > > Which is interesting because Journal, which bought 3
> Emmis
> >
> > > stations, might have gone after WLUK had it not already
> > > bought WGBA (NBC) in the GB market.
> >
> > That one is interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if other
> > well known names show up grab the remaining seven.
> >
> What's the scoop on WALA? Will it stay with Fox or go
> back to NBC?
>


That was my thought as well. It seems strange that LIN would buy a FOX/WB combo in Mobile. Yeah they have FOX in other places, but it's always paired with a "Big 3" network.

It's almost as if Gray bid a huge amount of money to take a station that seems to be a better fit for LIN and LIN took a station that seems to be better suited for Gray.

 

[DrBear]

> > Journal Communications gains for 235 million
> > WFTX TV 36 Fort Myers better known as "FOX 4"
>
> What info do you have on Journal?
>
It's the broadcast arm of the ownership of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It's a good fit for the Ft. Myers market - WTMJ in Milwaukee is its flagship but most of the stations (except for Las Vegas) are in medium markets such as Green Bay. They will spend on news, definitely. They have worked at improving WGBA which had basically been a family owned station that had been an independent and didn't have news until after it joined NBC. It's a small chain that has been looking to expand.

 

[james32746]

Still Available:
WVEU Fox 8 New Orleans
WKCF WB 18 Orlando
KOIN CBS 6 Portland
KSNT NBC 27 Topeka
KSNW NBC 3 Wichita
Honolulu duopoly KHON FOX 2 and KGMB CBS 9

I wonder if the rest of the stations could go like this. This will probably be a dream in my mind though as some other group or (possibly even local entities go get these stations). Or worse get sold to Sinclair.

Gannett: KGMB (and satellites), KOIN, KSNW (and satellites), KSNT

Tribune: KHON (and satellites), WKCF, and WVUE

<P ID="signature">______________
James Westerfield</P>

 

[rugrats1]

> I wonder if the rest of the stations could go like this.
>
> Gannett: KGMB (and satellites), KOIN, KSNW (and satellites),
> KSNT

Does Gannett own one (or both) of the Honolulu papers? If so, Gannett can't buy KGMB under current regulations.

 

[jjkktj]

> > I wonder if the rest of the stations could go like this.
> >
> > Gannett: KGMB (and satellites), KOIN, KSNW (and
> satellites),
> > KSNT
>
> Does Gannett own one (or both) of the Honolulu papers? If
> so, Gannett can't buy KGMB under current regulations.
>

According to Gannett's web site, they own the Honolulu Advertiser.

 

[ShawnHill]

> Tribune: KHON (and satellites), WKCF, and WVUE
>
Tribune couldn't get WVUE, since they already own WGNO (ABC) and WNOL (WB), unless the Trib plans to sell one or the other of its New Orleans stations.

 

[JayR]

> > > Journal Communications gains for 235 million
> > > WFTX TV 36 Fort Myers better known as "FOX 4"
> >
> > What info do you have on Journal?
>
> It's the broadcast arm of the ownership of the Milwaukee
> Journal Sentinel. It's a good fit for the Ft. Myers market -
> WTMJ in Milwaukee is its flagship but most of the stations
> (except for Las Vegas) are in medium markets such as Green
> Bay. They will spend on news, definitely. They have worked
> at improving WGBA which had basically been a family owned
> station that had been an independent and didn't have news
> until after it joined NBC. It's a small chain that has been
> looking to expand.

Thanks for the response. I hope they improve the station overall.

 

[RobertMoore]

> According to Gannett's web site, they own the Honolulu
> Advertiser.

Plus they have to get waivers if they are going to buy a station in the same market as their newspapers. Chances of that are 50/50.

 

[jjkktj]

> > According to Gannett's web site, they own the Honolulu
> > Advertiser.
>
> Plus they have to get waivers if they are going to buy a
> station in the same market as their newspapers. Chances of
> that are 50/50.
>


I was not aware of that. Is that how Media General can own WFLA-TV and the Tampa Tribune or were they grandfathered?

 

[james32746]

> Still Available:
> WVEU Fox 8 New Orleans
> WKCF WB 18 Orlando
> KOIN CBS 6 Portland
> KSNT NBC 27 Topeka
> KSNW NBC 3 Wichita
> Honolulu duopoly KHON FOX 2 and KGMB CBS 9
>
Alright there always could be this for WKCF:

Acme Communications (because of The Daily Buzz morning program produced by them and Emmis). Though they have mainly medium and small market stations.<P ID="signature">______________
James Westerfield</P>

 

[RobertMoore]

> I was not aware of that. Is that how Media General can
> own WFLA-TV and the Tampa Tribune or were they
> grandfathered?

That question varies by market. Unless you live in Atlanta (Where Cox added 3 FMs to its flagship roster of "The Atlanta Journal/Constitution" and WSB-TV/AM &FM) and Los Angeles (Where Tribune had to get waivers to keep KTLA-5 while acquiring Times Mirror and its flagship paper, "The Los Angeles Times").