Last month, it was Brian Brady's acquisition of KYMA that made headlines.
Now, the former head of the Fox affiliate board has gone even bigger. From the carcass of Pappas, he wants to snatch one of its three remaining prizes: KSWT. And he'll do it with a failing station waiver, proposing to create the third real duopoly of Big Four affiliates in the country (Fresno, Jacksonville).
Here is the application from the FCC. Among the points outlined in the application:
-Both KYMA and KSWT have had negative cash flow for the past three years.
-Pappas is controlled by a trustee, Lee W. Shubert, as a result of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
-Blackhawk sees itself as "the only reasonable candidate willing and able to acquire and operate KSWT.
-KSWT's all-day audience share is a meager 3.7%. And that's as a CBS affiliate. The threshold to qualify for a failing station waiver is 4%.
-Pappas has been shopping KSWT to buyers since June 2012. (!)
-The unemployment rate in Yuma as of May was over 30%. (YIKES!)
-15% of Yuma viewers are OTA, 35% choose cable and almost 49% are satellite customers.
-KYMA plus KSWT air five hours of local news per weekday. The two stations go head to head for 90 minutes a day.
-The combined operation proposes to use Syncbak to stream news to phones and tablets.
Nobody has this story yet except the one person who found the FCC posting (not me). Not even the Yuma Sun.
Now, the former head of the Fox affiliate board has gone even bigger. From the carcass of Pappas, he wants to snatch one of its three remaining prizes: KSWT. And he'll do it with a failing station waiver, proposing to create the third real duopoly of Big Four affiliates in the country (Fresno, Jacksonville).
Here is the application from the FCC. Among the points outlined in the application:
-Both KYMA and KSWT have had negative cash flow for the past three years.
-Pappas is controlled by a trustee, Lee W. Shubert, as a result of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
-Blackhawk sees itself as "the only reasonable candidate willing and able to acquire and operate KSWT.
-KSWT's all-day audience share is a meager 3.7%. And that's as a CBS affiliate. The threshold to qualify for a failing station waiver is 4%.
-Pappas has been shopping KSWT to buyers since June 2012. (!)
-The unemployment rate in Yuma as of May was over 30%. (YIKES!)
-15% of Yuma viewers are OTA, 35% choose cable and almost 49% are satellite customers.
-KYMA plus KSWT air five hours of local news per weekday. The two stations go head to head for 90 minutes a day.
-The combined operation proposes to use Syncbak to stream news to phones and tablets.
Nobody has this story yet except the one person who found the FCC posting (not me). Not even the Yuma Sun.