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Who does Sinclair go after next?

J

jdb820

This thread really should not exist, but since Sinclair is a company possessed it is something which sadly must be done. Which company do they next go after?

  • Granite: Assuming KOFY and WMYD are separated, they'd only gain a few sub-100 markets (Binghamton, Fort Wayne, Duluth) and would gain a third station in Buffalo and a second in Peoria. Heaven help if the FCC would let them run four full-power stations out of six in Syracuse.
    Young: Assuming KRON is separated, most of the group would fit into their new smaller market Big 3 mindset. Reentering Lansing even with the #1 station in town may be awakward, a WRIC/WRLH combo seems sadly logical, but would four stations in Nashville and Albany pass muster?
    Bahakel: Even as a CW affiliate, WCCB would mean another station in a Top 25 market and the rest of the company is attractive in their warped minds. Second station in Columbia, third in Myrtle Beach, a trio in Montgomery, and Jackson.
    SJL: Four stations in Flint probably would not work, but they'd kill WNWO's basket case news department if WTVG came their way and small as they are Erie and Elmira fit their new objective.
    Stainless: This would justify hanging on to the small, isolated Medford/Klamath Falls market. Also would flesh out the Pacific Northwest and add a third Fox affiliate with Canadian carriage (KAYU) to chase the loonies. And Binghamton.
    Titan: Two in Fresno, a second station in El Paso (and as it is KFOX is stronger than KDBC), Omaha, Sioux City. They'd have to sell in Greensboro though.
    One of the smaller market groups where Sinclair doesn't have that much overlap with: Bonten, Hoak, News-Press Gazette, et. Al.
In reality, they'll probably swap a bunch of stations with Nexstar to try to look good and buy a few locally-held stations elsewhere. Laying low may be the best move as they haven't even really sorted through the Freedom stations let alone what they've bought since. When you've owned two stations in a market for a year and they haven't been merged, you have issues.
 
I don't want to give them ideas, but a few ideal station candidates would be the two Belo stations in Tucson (KMSB and KTTU). They could keep the JSA (or even rearrange it to just be a news-only agreement) with Raycom, and add a mid-market duo in a politically-conservative state (albeit Tucson is a bit "purple") they don't own stations in. Also, KUQI in Corpus Christi and its low-powered sister KTOV, both considered to be "bush-league" operations, even Sinclair would be an improvement here. Plus, they're adjacent to the Austin and San Antonio markets, creating an even larger Texas cluster for them.
 
If Sinclair went after the Young stations, then theoretically (if I'm
correct) they pick up the ABC stations in Knoxville and Green Bay.
Getting Knoxville would put three ABC stations that, if you connect
them on the map, take up a lot of geography, since Sinclair already
has WLOS Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville and WTVC Chattanooga.
Even if Sinclair were to get WKRN and WATE, it would practically
dominate ABC in Tennessee. And yet, I don't suppose people there
would mind too much.

And if anybody can do anything with the joke that is WOLO, I don't
care who buys it (Raycom's WIS and Gannett's WLTX so hopelessly
outclass it as to make it pathetic).
 
My fear is Sinclair will make a bid for Gray or Raycom. If Sinclair wants to buy some cheap stations they could look to Flinn.
 
poledo said:
My fear is Sinclair will make a bid for Gray or Raycom. If Sinclair wants to buy some cheap stations they could look to Flinn.
Click to expand...

Unless the Alabama state pension fund is looking for a new investment,raycom I would bet stay's with them as that fund makes ALOT of money for them and it helps sells the Robert Trent Jones golf trail which the fund also owns.

If money is no object, then I could see a E.W Scripts as they have many 15-35 stations and they are mostly affiliated with ABC. Scripts seems most likey for a take over by someone as they have a group of stations that could fit with any group
 
Is it the Alabama state pension fund that owns Raycom and RTJ or is it actually the AEA pension fund? I alway thought it was the teachers union.

I thought I read a few years back they were entertaining offers for the TV stations but the economy wasn't right and the only viable offers couldn't obtain funding. I could always have this confused with some other south east heavy TV operation.
 
Don't forget that Hearst, Hubbard and Journal Communications are also in play to nab a few stations, as well as upstarts OTA and NRJ, the latter two going after stations in markets with large ethnic minorites.
 
poledo said:
My fear is Sinclair will make a bid for Gray or Raycom.
Click to expand...

Sinclair and Raycom overlap in ten markets once you count the Barrington stations and such a deal might not be worth the effort if the only real gain is adding Cleveland, Charlotte, Memphis, and for ego Hawaii.

Sinclair and Gray overlap in seven markets (counting the Barrington additions, not counting Lansing) and most of them are ones where combining operations would be frowned upon if not very hard to do.

For the curious, a Sinclair/Nexstar merger of doom would have overlap in nine markets. If that can't work, I doubt how they could swing Raycom or Gray.
 
bpatrick said:
If Sinclair went after the Young stations, then theoretically (if I'm
correct) they pick up the ABC stations in Knoxville and Green Bay.
Getting Knoxville would put three ABC stations that, if you connect
them on the map, take up a lot of geography, since Sinclair already
has WLOS Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville and WTVC Chattanooga.
Even if Sinclair were to get WKRN and WATE, it would practically
dominate ABC in Tennessee. And yet, I don't suppose people there
would mind too much.
Click to expand...

Don't expect Sinclair to go after Young, especially because they had their shot three years ago before Gray came in with their management agreement as Young crawls their way out of bankruptcy, so Gray has first dibs. Especially in Green Bay there's no way, since the only operations Sinclair has in Wisconsin, the CW/My duop in Milwaukee, and Fox in Madison, have no news operations (Madison's news operation comes from the ABC affiliate there). WBAY is a very, very strong station even under Young (with WLUK picking up in the last few years, both combined make mincemeat out of WGBA and the declining WFRV now), and are pretty much an island among Young in the autonomy they do have.

Also, no way Sinclair takes the yoke that is KRON around their necks.
 
bpatrick said:
If Sinclair went after the Young stations, then theoretically (if I'm
correct) they pick up the ABC stations in Knoxville and Green Bay.
Even if Sinclair were to get WKRN and WATE, it would practically
dominate ABC in Tennessee. And yet, I don't suppose people there
would mind too much.
Click to expand...
The problem with them obtaining the Young stations, especially WKRN in Nashville, is they would control, not only the ABC affiliate in Nashville, but also the Fox (Fox 17), the CW (WNAB 58) and My TV (30) affiliates in Nashville and all their Sub channels. Would the FCC and the FTC allow one company to control more than half the TV signals in one market?
 
If Sinclair can own ABC NBC MYNET and the market's top Indie in Mobile I don't see why they couldn't do a similar deal in Nashville.
 
Tim-In-Houston said:
I dare say both Sinclair and Nexstar will be slowing down on some of their acquisition plans in the face of renewed FCC scrutiny of their many JSA/SSA virtual duopolies.
Click to expand...

That's why small acquisitions of mom-and-pop operations (read my Corpus Christi example) will be next for them. It strategically and geographically makes sense.
 
Whatever happens in Nashville, I won't be surprised to see
Sinclair pick up the ABC affiliates in Richmond, Knoxville, and
Green Bay. I keep seeing in my head a triangle of Sinclair
ABC stations: Asheville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, not
to mention Winston-Salem (WXLV) if Sinclair doesn't sell it.
And if for some reason Sinclair buys WOLO, it begins to look
like Sinclair has the same reach among ABC stations in these
parts that Media General does with CBS (WSPA, WNCT, WBTW,
WRBL Columbus, GA, and WKRG Mobile).
 
How 'bout Sinclair does something with that awful "CW Junior" station they call KDNL? Sell it, get rid of Maury and the trash talk, and put more news on.

-crainbebo
 
crainbebo said:
How 'bout Sinclair does something with that awful "CW Junior" station they call KDNL? Sell it, get rid of Maury and the trash talk, and put more news on.

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

not at long as ABC lets them get away with it
 
Besides Panama City, what Florida markets lack Sinclair stations? Wasn't Tampa the home of their original flagship?
 
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