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WGN For Sale?

That would be one way to get full national distribution for ReelzChannel if true, merge SWGN with them. At this point, SWGN is running on fumes with the failure of Randy Michaels's strategy a few years back, and if not for their WGN news broadcasts and Chicago sports, it basically acts as Comedy Central 2 at this point. Merging theirs and Reelz's schedule should be no sweat at all, though keeping them as two separate networks with shared content also works.

I would think there's no way Trib lets go their crown jewels though (WGN-TV, WPIX, KTLA, KSWB and the Hartford cluster), but their smaller stations would be perfect for Hubbard, and at this point the way WGN Radio is (I'm down to Nick Digilio and that's it there; their 'perfect Chicago radio lineup...in 1988' has zero appeal outside of boomers), Hubbard can only help that operation.
 
On the Tv side, I think the most important assets would be WPIX, KTLA, WGN 9 and WGN cable. CBS might want WGN 9 for a Chicago duopoly. The local channel could get new calls like WTBS which was split from the cable counterpart.

WPIX and KTLA could be sold together to another major company, as well as WGN cable.

After these are sold, remaining stations could be sold to the same company that bought WPIX/KTLA or broadcasters of each market. Like in DC, Gannett or Allbritton might be interested in the Tribune station there. In Philly, maybe Fox would go for the duopoly.
 
DToTheJ said:
Don't forget KWGN in Denver!
Click to expand...

In the past, it would definitely be among Tribune's crown jewels. These days, it's the little brother to KDVR as part of the Local TV LMA (they still haven't recovered from The Deuce era in the Randymization of Tribune where their newsroom was merged and suffered heavy attrition on the KWGN side). It looks more likely to go to Local TV than with Hubbard, which has no history in the area.
 
ding12 said:
On the Tv side, I think the most important assets would be WPIX, KTLA, WGN 9 and WGN cable. CBS might want WGN 9 for a Chicago duopoly. The local channel could get new calls like WTBS which was split from the cable counterpart.

WPIX and KTLA could be sold together to another major company, as well as WGN cable.

After these are sold, remaining stations could be sold to the same company that bought WPIX/KTLA or broadcasters of each market. Like in DC, Gannett or Allbritton might be interested in the Tribune station there. In Philly, maybe Fox would go for the duopoly.
Click to expand...

For me living in the Chicago DMA, I hope CBS doesn't get WGN-TV. They would get rid of the news on that station to eliminate competition. Their news on their CBS O&O station (WBBM-TV) doesn't quite do well in the ratings (better than Fox O&O WFLD, who is last in the news ratings for morning, midday, & late evening). I personally don't want to see CBS or ABC/Disney acquiring WGN-TV, just because news would be eliminated, & become a dumping ground for extra programming they pick up. Getting separated from the Chicago Tribune would almost guarantee they'll lose access to the additional news the newspaper gets.

I wonder who would acquire Antenna TV if Tribune is sold off in pieces. I can't see Weigel Broadcasting acquiring it, as they already have MeTV. Say it did happen, Antenna TV would be eliminated, & the Sony library would be in Weigel's hands (they don't have national access to the Sony library, like they do for just Chicago). The other option would be if Weigel acquired Antenna TV is to turn it into a national MeToo, & make MeTV comedy only & MeToo drama only (like they did when MeTV was just in Chicago). I really don't see that happening though. Besides, if Antenna TV were eliminated by merging with MeTV, Weigel & MGM would have to deal with the affiliations as to who would keep MeTV outside of Chicago, Milwaukee, & South Bend, IN.

I just hope Tribune stays together somehow.
 
CBS buying out WGN would be bad for Chicago and reduces competition. Best case would be them not involved but Hubbard or another would buy out Tribune and keep the top3, WGN cable, stake in Antenna but probably divest any stations from DMA 4 and more to reduce the final debt.
 
Nobody's mentioned WGNO (ABC) New Orleans; how
would that fit Hubbard? And does anybody in the Big
Easy want to see WVUE return to ABC?
 
Zell has said he has no interest in selling Tribune off piece by piece, though he might consider TV stations as a unit, newspapers as a unit and so forth.

I could see FOX wanting WGN, it would be an easy thing to dump WPWR on say Weigel and buy WGN. That could put FOX on virtual VHF.

Of course CBS might want WGN and swap frequencies so that they get RF 19 and put WGN onto RF 12. The virtual numbers could stay the same.

It remains to be seen what station owners would do to get a virtual or real frequency or how much they'd pay for it.

ABC wanted to buy Channel 60 a long time ago as part of a package and ABC doesn't seem interested in this, as they are in fact running a full power and LP in Chicago now.

Weigel and WGN would be perfect but the cost might be much.

The big loser in this could be the CW? Or it could be a winner if the Tribune doesn't want to renew it's CW affiliates.
 
The reason why the local signal of WGN-9 and the cable "superstation" version share so little programming is syndicated exclusivity, in which local TV stations can black out syndicated shows on distant stations if those stations requesting the blackout are running them locally.

Not even all of WGN's sports coverage is "on the bird".

While they broadcast a number of Chicago Blackhawks' games, the NHL's national TV deals with NBC/Universal preclude WGN America from carrying any 'Hawks games outside of the Chicago market (or maybe the 'Hawks "territory").

Under NBA rules, only some of WGN's Chicago Bulls games are broadcast on WGN America.

And it's possible that when new national TV deals for Major League Baseball take effect in 2013 or 2014, those deals might preclude WGN America from broadcasting any Cubs or White Sox games, or at the very least, forcing a blackout of all of WGN's Cubs/White Sox games within 35-50 miles of an MLB team's home city.

Should MLB bar WGN America from nationally televising Cubs/White Sox games in the next couple of years, it would be tough for WGN America to survive. The remaining programming wouldn't have too much appeal.

I'm not sure how much of WGN America is owned by Tribune, but if "the writing is on the wall" (see last two paragraphs), then Tribune might sell it's stake to someone who would replace basically buy the "slots" WGN America has on cable and satellite services and replace it with a new network with some guaranteed distribution.
 
EJM said:
Troy Goodwin said:
I was wondering if The ABC St. Louis Affiliate (KPLR) is also affected in this deal?
Click to expand...

ABC's St. Louis affiliate is Sinclair-owned KDNL; KPLR is still a CW affiliate. Other than the aforementioned WGNO, I don't think Tribune has any Big Three affiliates.

On a related note, I might as well ask: Are there too few TV stations in the St. Louis DMA to support an official duopoly? Off-hand, the Local TV/Tribune operation in Denver (KDVR and KWGN) might be able to be made into one (although KDVR's satellite station [KFCT] might have to be left out), but I don't think the similar operation in St. Louis (KTVI and KPLR) could.
Click to expand...

Will the Philly MyTV station, WPHL/17, be in the deal as well?
 
I like the idea of Hubbard which owns Reelz, possibly owning WGN cable. Reelz has sitcoms and movies that can transfer over to WGN and vice-versa. Even if WGN were to lose sports, WGN could be programmed with what it has and maybe get the addition of a 8pm movie. WGN still has the 'Matlock' and 'In the Heat of the Night' in the daytime, so is somewhat still programmed like a channel of the past.

There maybe risk replacing WGN cable with a new concept or branding.

The cable providers might balk at keeping that channel in the same packages (say the entry level packages). Thus, the new owner could end up buying a channel and attempting to replace it with something else, only for the channel to lose exposure.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
I'm not sure how much of WGN America is owned by Tribune, but if "the writing is on the wall" (see last two paragraphs), then Tribune might sell it's stake to someone who would replace basically buy the "slots" WGN America has on cable and satellite services and replace it with a new network with some guaranteed distribution.
Click to expand...

no WGN America in HD on Time Warner
 
bpatrick said:
Nobody's mentioned WGNO (ABC) New Orleans; how
would that fit Hubbard? And does anybody in the Big
Easy want to see WVUE return to ABC?
Click to expand...

Not going to happen, not when the owner of the Saints also owns WVUE, and especially because for the first time in years and years WVUE is second in the market with their news (first has and always will be WWL-TV). ABC would have to get NFC rights to get them to jump, and that's a long time in the future.
 
Mark said:
Zell has said he has no interest in selling Tribune off piece by piece, though he might consider TV stations as a unit, newspapers as a unit and so forth.

I could see FOX wanting WGN, it would be an easy thing to dump WPWR on say Weigel and buy WGN. That could put FOX on virtual VHF.

Of course CBS might want WGN and swap frequencies so that they get RF 19 and put WGN onto RF 12. The virtual numbers could stay the same.

It remains to be seen what station owners would do to get a virtual or real frequency or how much they'd pay for it.

ABC wanted to buy Channel 60 a long time ago as part of a package and ABC doesn't seem interested in this, as they are in fact running a full power and LP in Chicago now.

Weigel and WGN would be perfect but the cost might be much.

The big loser in this could be the CW? Or it could be a winner if the Tribune doesn't want to renew it's CW affiliates.
Click to expand...

I doubt Fox would buy WGN-TV, then dump WPWR-TV. Selling one to get another would simply move the dumping ground to the other station. Even if your suggestion of Weigel acquiring WPWR-TV, or WGN-TV were to happen, Weigel would use the full power signal to move MeTV, MeToo, Bounce, & possibly This TV to that station, & increasing the bandwidth on WCIU to make the picture look better. This suggestion would likely happen if Fox swapped WPWR-TV for WGN-TV. I don't see Fox acquiring WGN-TV, as it would force them to affiliate with CW until 2016, or if the network goes off the air before then. I also thought about this, & I don't see Weigel wanting WGN-TV at this time, as it would force them to affiliate with Antenna TV (not sure how long the affiliation would last as a condition to sell). I could see them retaining the CW affiliation, as they affiliate with CW in South Bend. If they keep the news, then they might share resources with WDJT Milwaukee in order to make it work.

ABC's WLS-TV hasn't been able to fully transition to UHF, since they already have to replace the antenna they bought, but doesn't reach those within 10 miles of the Sears Tower. I believe they'll keep extending the STA (Special Temporary Authority) to broadcast on RF 7, alongside RF 44 into at least next year. So unless corporate wants to come up with the money to buy WGN-TV, then I don't see them buying WGN-TV.

It's possible CBS might look at WGN-TV. They would definitely keep the CW, but news would be eliminated, & essentially be a Fox clone at being a dumping ground for the programming they wouldn't otherwise carry on WBBM-TV. I never thought about them wanting to move WBBM-TV to UHF & WGN-TV back to VHF. That is a definite possibility too. CBS in the digital era prefers UHF while ABC overall still prefers VHF (KFSN being the only pre-transitional VHF to return to UHF for post-transitional digital, while WLS-TV originally opted for VHF, but now wants back on the UHF, but they're having too much trouble right now making UHF work). WGN-TV on RF 19 reaches the market better on most indoor antennas while WBBM-TV on RF 12 works best with an outdoor antenna optimized for VHF (at least with VHF-Hi).
 
I can understand WGN-A having to drop baseball, but imagine life outside Chicagoland without the 9 O'Clock News (10 O'Clock to this east coaster) or pitches for latimes.com. :'( :-[ Guess I'll have to wait till wintertime when I can get 780 on my evening commutes...

ixnay
 
Affiliation agreements are fairly easy to get around. Unless it's a condition of the sale, there isn't any. Plus the fact the company is coming out of bankruptcy, it makes it even easier to dump them.

For the Tribune it seems anyone wanting to buy a station would really depend on how much they value their OTA signal and virtual channel.
 
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