Scripps + Hearst-Argyle

[Rollo-Smokes]

Also, unless there's seriously bad blood somewhere, no chain "prefers" having their stations aligned with a single network. Scripps has more ABC stations than others, but a lot of that was the way dominoes fell in the mid-90s shuffle. Scripps had FOX affiliations in Tampa and Phoenix, and pitched CBS before doing deals with ABC in those markets. Hearst has nine NBC affils.

The last time I looked at Wikipedia, it claimed that Scripps used the possibility of WEWS and possibly other strong stations flipping to CBS to intimidate ABC into flipping all Scripps' stations to ABC.

Wikipedia, while better than it once was, can be edited by anyone. As a result, wrong stuff pops up there.

The real story is that Scripps had the FOX affiliations on UHF stations (channels 15 and 28) in Phoenix and Tampa. The FOX/New World deal ripped those away. It also ripped a rather large hole in CBS's affiliate roster since most of the New World stations were CBS affiliates.

CBS approached Scripps about flipping WEWS, Cleveland and WXYZ, Detroit to CBS, filling the holes in those markets. Scripps said yes, as long as CBS would give the UHFs in Phoenix and Tampa affiliations as well. CBS asked for some time to think about that (they'd been hoping to fill the holes in those markets with full-power VHFs). Meantime, word got to ABC about the Scripps/CBS conversation. ABC (which once owned WXYZ and still felt parental) asked Scripps to stop talking to CBS. Scripps told ABC it would have to do what they'd asked CBS to do...award the affiliations in Phoenix and Tampa to Scripps' UHFs.

ABC felt like it had a gun to its head. It was prepared to do Tampa, but KTVK was, at the time, the #1 ABC affiliate in the southwest. So the network called the sole owner, Del Lewis, and asked if they could buy some or all of KTVK, giving it the ability to tell Scripps with a straight face they had a legal reason they couldn't do Phoenix, but that they'd accomodate the Tampa request.

Del said no. It was a family station and it was going to stay that way. ABC told Del it might cost him the affiliation. Del said after 40 years of a partnership, he expected ABC to behave honorably. Del needed to look up the phrase "New York Television Network Executive". ABC did the Scripps deal.

Again, that's two markets where they had stations that were going to be UHF indies if they didn't do something. It didn't affect their other properties, which include 3 NBC affiliates.

And, of course, the irony of the story is that three years later, Del Lewis sold KTVK to Belo. And Belo's sale to Gannett (with the sale of KTVK to former Belo exec Jack Sander) is what's started this whole conversation.

So, mostly true? I was going off of memory and I'm not sure anything you said actually contradicted anything on there.

Here's the quote:

The last time I looked at Wikipedia, it claimed that Scripps used the possibility of WEWS and possibly other strong stations flipping to CBS to intimidate ABC into flipping all Scripps' stations to ABC.


Not all of Scripps' stations...just two of them.

And when I was a Wikipedia editor (before ridiculous squabbles over style, grammar, and content led to me getting unfairly banned) I did the research and always thought it was exactly that. It's the stuff behind the scenes that you can't find in the pages of Broadcasting & Cable and local papers that make the story even more juicy.

Just out of curiosity, did CBS ever approach KTVK after ABC went forward with Scripps?

 

[michael hagerty]

Just out of curiosity, did CBS ever approach KTVK after ABC went forward with Scripps?

I don't know who approached who, but KTVK's top management (who had run the Channel 10 news division when it was CBS 10 years earlier) flew to New York and made a pitch for the affiliation. KPHO had the edge, though, because Meredith could solve holes in multiple markets (Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix) for CBS while KTVK would have been a one-shot.

 

[Kent]

Meredith also threatened to take KCTV to NBC if they didn't get Phoenix and Atlanta. It was apparently a big enough threat that CBS sold WATL, which it had bought to cover the loss of WAGA, so Meredith could put CBS on WGNX.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Meredith also threatened to take KCTV to NBC if they didn't get Phoenix and Atlanta. It was apparently a big enough threat that CBS sold WATL, which it had bought to cover the loss of WAGA, so Meredith could put CBS on WGNX.

Arrgghh...does anyone even do the research before they post?

From my understanding (and, as Michael Hagerty was alluding to) CBS had more to gain by taking on KPHO-TV in Phoenix: namely, keeping KCTV in Kansas City and swiping WNEM-TV in Flint/Tri-Cities from NBC.

As for the ATL...Meredith did not own WGNX (WGCL-TV) in '94, it was a Tribune property. Fox affiliated with WAGA-TV and sold WATL. Tribune getting the CBS affiliation for WGNX was a very last-minute deal, because they had planned to buy WVEU (WUPA today) and that deal fell through (unless I'm wrong about that). WGNX wasn't sold to Meredith until about '99.

 

[michael hagerty]

Meredith also threatened to take KCTV to NBC if they didn't get Phoenix and Atlanta. It was apparently a big enough threat that CBS sold WATL, which it had bought to cover the loss of WAGA, so Meredith could put CBS on WGNX.

Arrgghh...does anyone even do the research before they post?

From my understanding (unless Michael Hagerty could correct me) CBS taking on KPHO-TV in Phoenix came with keeping KCTV in Kansas City and swiping WNEM-TV in Flint/Tri-Cities from NBC.

As for the ATL...Meredith did not own WGNX (WGCL-TV) in '94, it was a Tribune property. Fox affiliated with WAGA-TV and sold WATL. Tribune getting the CBS affiliation for WGNX was a very last-minute deal, because they had planned to buy WVEU (WUPA today) and that deal fell through (unless I'm wrong about that). WGNX wasn't sold to Meredith until about '99.

I was wrong about Atlanta. Meredith bought it after it became CBS.

I never heard that Meredith was threatening CBS. Everything we heard at KTVK at the time was that the deal was about how Meredith could help CBS, not how it was threatening to hurt it.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

I never heard that Meredith was threatening CBS. Everything we heard at KTVK at the time was that the deal was about how Meredith could help CBS, not how it was threatening to hurt it.

I don't think Meredith would have threatened CBS either. But I'm sure they had been getting feelers from NBC for KCTV so they did what they felt was in their best interest. CBS did what they needed to do, lest they would have been forced to align with another U in a major market.

 

[michael hagerty]

So, mostly true? I was going off of memory and I'm not sure anything you said actually contradicted anything on there.

Here's the quote:

The last time I looked at Wikipedia, it claimed that Scripps used the possibility of WEWS and possibly other strong stations flipping to CBS to intimidate ABC into flipping all Scripps' stations to ABC.


Not all of Scripps' stations...just two of them.

Michael's telling the truth here. Remember, Scripps owned (and still owns) KSHB in Kansas City, which lost its Fox affiliation in the New World shakeup. There was no talk of flipping that station to ABC (or CBS for that matter), they cut a deal to pick up the NBC affiliation instead.

Right. And KJRH Tulsa has been NBC since 1954 and Scripps since 1971....and WPTV, West Palm Beach has been NBC since 1954 and Scripps since 1961.

But, what about Baltimore? It's been my understanding that ABC pulled the affiliation from WJZ (in favor of the much-weaker WMAR) as part of a larger deal with Scripps--which prompted Group W to hook up with CBS. Apparently, though, B&C reported at the time that ABC wasn't that thrilled about WJZ's preemptions; so, was it a case where the network was looking for a reason to ditch Group W anyway?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMAR-TV#Switch_to_ABC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westinghouse_Broadcasting#Merger_with_CBS

It sounds like it.

There were a lot of moving parts to the 1995 deals. Just remember, it was 18 years ago. Most of the people involved have moved on. Today's priorities are very different.

 

[bpatrick]

And while we're talking about that....


Also, unless there's seriously bad blood somewhere, no chain "prefers" having their stations aligned with a single network. Scripps has more ABC stations than others, but a lot of that was the way dominoes fell in the mid-90s shuffle. Scripps had FOX affiliations in Tampa and Phoenix, and pitched CBS before doing deals with ABC in those markets. Hearst has nine NBC affils.

Unless it's Allbritton, and I don't know exactly why they affiliated all their stations with ABC.

In a Hearst/Scripps merger, does anyone think WXII Winston-Salem, NC; WYFF Greenville, SC; WGAL Lancaster, PA; and/or WLKY Louisville get sold? None of those are in top-15 markets.

 

[michael hagerty]

And while we're talking about that....


Also, unless there's seriously bad blood somewhere, no chain "prefers" having their stations aligned with a single network. Scripps has more ABC stations than others, but a lot of that was the way dominoes fell in the mid-90s shuffle. Scripps had FOX affiliations in Tampa and Phoenix, and pitched CBS before doing deals with ABC in those markets. Hearst has nine NBC affils.

Unless it's Allbritton, and I don't know exactly why they affiliated all their stations with ABC.

In a Hearst/Scripps merger, does anyone think WXII Winston-Salem, NC; WYFF Greenville, SC; WGAL Lancaster, PA; and/or WLKY Louisville get sold? None of those are in top-15 markets.

Apart from Phoenix, Denver, Detroit, Cleveland and Tampa, Scripps' stations are below the Top 15 as well. Boston and Tampa are Hearst's only Top 15 markets.

Anyone wanting majors in any quantity needs to look at merging with Tribune. Past that, it's groups like Scripps, Hearst & Cox...some large stations, some medium and a small or two.

 

[ding12]

Another possibility is Sinclair using another company like Deerfield or Cunningham Media to acquire WMAR and then Sinclair operates it as LMA. It could operate WMAR, WUTB, WBFF and WNUV.

 

[JeeperOne]

Apart from Phoenix, Denver, Detroit, Cleveland and Tampa, Scripps' stations are below the Top 15 as well. Boston and Tampa are Hearst's only Top 15 markets.

Anyone wanting majors in any quantity needs to look at merging with Tribune. Past that, it's groups like Scripps, Hearst & Cox...some large stations, some medium and a small or two.

And Post-Newsweek would be the one looking to hitch with Tribune (With P-N buying all of Tribune's broadcast arm like Gannett did with Belo)

Local TV would follow Tribune too. You can quote me on that ;D

Cheers & 73 ;D

 

[Kent]

Arrgghh...does anyone even do the research before they post?

Going on memory. I guess it's not what it used to be. Sorry. When I lived in KC, I did hear those at KCTV thought there was a realistic possibility they would end up an NBC affiliate. Plus, they never really gave CBS much of an emphasis in their non-network programming until 2000 or '01. Don't know if that was a cause or an effect, but it lasted long after the switch.

 

[newsmark]

Going on memory. I guess it's not what it used to be. Sorry. When I lived in KC, I did hear those at KCTV thought there was a realistic possibility they would end up an NBC affiliate. Plus, they never really gave CBS much of an emphasis in their non-network programming until 2000 or '01. Don't know if that was a cause or an effect, but it lasted long after the switch.

I worked at KCTV at the time of the switch. Not that I was involved in any of the high level discussions. There was very little talk about us switching networks. The deal to switch KPHO to CBS was in the works very soon after the Fox switch was announced.

While the CBS emphasis may not have been evident to you, it was on the inside. The station's image and marketing were all created with the older CBS audience in mind.

After the switch, KCTV had promos with Wendall Anshutz and Stan "Call for Action" Cramer standing next to a river talking about how so many things in television were changing, but we were staying the same with all the familiar programming.

 

[Mediafrog+]

And Post-Newsweek would be the one looking to hitch with Tribune (With P-N buying all of Tribune's broadcast arm like Gannett did with Belo)

That would give Post-Newsweek duopolies in Houston and Miami, FYI.

 

[Sammi Brie]

Going on memory. I guess it's not what it used to be. Sorry. When I lived in KC, I did hear those at KCTV thought there was a realistic possibility they would end up an NBC affiliate. Plus, they never really gave CBS much of an emphasis in their non-network programming until 2000 or '01. Don't know if that was a cause or an effect, but it lasted long after the switch.

I worked at KCTV at the time of the switch. Not that I was involved in any of the high level discussions. There was very little talk about us switching networks. The deal to switch KPHO to CBS was in the works very soon after the Fox switch was announced.

While the CBS emphasis may not have been evident to you, it was on the inside. The station's image and marketing were all created with the older CBS audience in mind.

After the switch, KCTV had promos with Wendall Anshutz and Stan "Call for Action" Cramer standing next to a river talking about how so many things in television were changing, but we were staying the same with all the familiar programming.

That KPHO deal was announced on June 30, one month and one week after the New World deal on May 23.

It should be noted that the KPHO deal really was the start of a pattern: smaller stations and station groups, no matter their market clout (KTVK), were being boxed out by the big guns with valuable assets to the networks and multiple stations to affiliate.

 

[michael hagerty]

Tribune yes (see a few posts back), Post-Newsweek no:

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=236747.0