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WTEN FOR SALE

B

brandy00

I understand that WTEN Albany is for sale. Does anyone have any ideas about who might be the right buyer for this station? It needs a lot of upgrading as it has not been for years. I wonder if anyone knows who is the GM there now. The previous GM left a few weeks ago.
 
WTEN is owned by Young Broadcasting, which is in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, is trying to reorganize in the face of massive debt. My guess is that ANY of its 10 stations are for sale AT THE RIGHT PRICE. The "right price" means selling it for significantly more than they owe on it so they can use the proceeds to write down debt at other properties. That's a tough sell in today's media market.

I suspect that WTEN will continue to operate on a shoestring unless Young proceeds into Chapter 7 liquidation at the insistence of their major creditors. The could happen if they decide that TV station values are going to continue to decline in the long run, and they're unlikely to get their money back from Young.
 
SirRoxalot said:
The "right price" means selling it for significantly more than they owe on it so they can use the proceeds to write down debt at other properties.
Click to expand...

Or in today's economic climate, it could depend on just how bad WTEN is doing, compared to Young's other properties. If WTEN is among the group's biggest individual losers, Young may be willing to unload it "at cost" or for little profit (or even a modest loss), just for the sake of plugging the leak.

But one must bear in mind, since this is all happening within the confines of Chapter 11, a federal bankruptcy court judge will have to approve any proposed sale, and generally, that single judge has total authority. He can deny any potential buyer for any reason.
 
Actually, the sale would likely have to be approved by a majority of the creditors committee. The committee is appointed by the U.S. trustee and ordinarily consists of unsecured creditors who hold the seven largest unsecured claims against the debtor. They oversee operation of the company, and make recommendations to the trustee and the bankruptcy judge.

If WTEN is losing money, they could, as you say, elect to "stop the leak". It's hard to believe that they're losing money IF you remove the debt service from the equation. The question is how much they can afford to pay the debtors holding the note on the station.
 
I think every station in every company is for sale...if the price is right. The real issue is not WTEN. It is with KRON in San Fran. This one property is the reason the company is where it is. Take them out of the company and things aren't so bad. WTEN and the other mid to small market stations in Young have been carrying KRON for years.
 
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