Hearst acquires WVTM "Alabama's 13" from Media General

Hearst Corp. just issued a press release stating its intention to purchase WVTM-TV from Media General.

Here's the release: http://www.hearst.com/newsroom/hearst-corporation-agrees-to-acquire-wvtm-tv-nbc-in-birmingham-ala

I'm kind of surprised that MG elected to keep WIAT instead of WVTM, but then again, one wonders if Hearst said that it was WVTM or nothing.

Did Hearst own WVTM once before?

Argyle (which at one time was called Hearst-Argyle) owned WVTM, buying it from Newhouse. They, in turn, sold it to New World but in a complicated deal that you can read about on WVTM's Wikipedia site, WBRC wound up with New World and a change from ABC to Fox. NBC owned WVTM but sold it and three other NBC o&os (WNCN Raleigh/Durham; WCMH Columbus, OH; WJAR Providence) to Media General.

Ironically, Media General once again owns WIAT, which it acquired from Park Broadcasting and sold to LIN in order to get WVTM.

Birmingham television is certainly in a state of flux right now, with WABM about to become the ABC affiliate under Sinclair's ownership; and now WVTM goes to Hearst and WIAT back to Media General. I might add that I have a particular interest in all of these ownership changes because all three stations have sister stations in my neck of the woods: Sinclair owns WXLV (ABC)/WMYV (MyNetwork) Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point and Hearst owns WXII (NBC) in the same market; Sinclair also owns WLFL (CW)/WRDC (MyNetwork) Raleigh/Durham while Media General owns WNCN (NBC). In addition, in Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville Hearst owns WYFF (NBC); Media General, WSPA (CBS) and WASV (or whatever they're calling it, the CW); Sinclair, WLOS (ABC) and WMYA (MyNetwork).

Thanks for the clarification, bpatrick. I'm usually good about keeping the details of sales and changes on radio but for some reason all the ins and outs of the TV landscape leave me scratching my head.

I'm also interested in this since, like you, there are some "sister stations" in my market, Mobile-Pensacola-Fort Walton Beach.

Media General already owns WKRG (CBS) as a standalone here, and will have to divest WALA (Fox) to Meredith Corporation if allowed. WALA under LIN also operates WFNA (CW), so Media General will wind up with WKRG and WFNA. Sinclair has a huge stable in this market. They own WEAR (ABC) and WFGX (MyNetwork) outright and operate WPMI (NBC) and WJTC (Ind.) under a grandfathered marketing agreement with Deerfield Media.

Media General already owns WKRG (CBS) as a standalone here, and will have to divest WALA (Fox) to Meredith Corporation if allowed.

Click to expand...

Meredith is going to need a sister station in the Mobile DMA. WPAN is for sale I understand. This might get interesting...

bpatrick said:

Argyle (which at one time was called Hearst-Argyle) owned WVTM, buying it from Newhouse. They, in turn, sold it to New World but in a complicated deal that you can read about on WVTM's Wikipedia site, WBRC wound up with New World and a change from ABC to Fox. NBC owned WVTM but sold it and three other NBC o&os (WNCN Raleigh/Durham; WCMH Columbus, OH; WJAR Providence) to Media General.

Click to expand...

This was the deal that killed the minority tax certificate. New World wanted to buy the Times-Mirror stations, but Times-Mirror wanted the certificate to delay capital gains tax. So, New World found a Hispanic executive or board member at Argyle to buy the stations, hold them for a year and a day, and sell them. It wasn't actually Argyle that owned WVTM and the other Times-Mirror stations, but a subsidiary (I believe called Argyle II) that was minority owned.

New World actually kept ownership of WVTM while Fox acquired WBRC and flipped it from ABC to Fox. WVTM and KNSD in San Diego were the only New World stations that didn't switch networks to Fox, and it was NBC that bought both of them when New World sold to Fox. LIN actually had an option to purchase WVTM (and I believe it operated it for a few years in an LMA) as part of its deal to sell most of its stake in KXAS Dallas to NBC (and acquire a minority stake in KNSD). However, when the time to exercise its option finally came, LIN passed on grounds that the roughly $200 million price originally agreed upon was too high.

seedless said:

Meredith is going to need a sister station in the Mobile DMA. WPAN is for sale I understand. This might get interesting...

Click to expand...

Why would they need a sister station? There's an excess of free OTA programming in this market already.

tomservo said:

Why would they need a sister station? There's an excess of free OTA programming in this market already.

Click to expand...

1) Fox 10 would be the only big 4 station without a duopoly.
2) Fox 10 (on RF 9) could really use WPAN's unique tower location and the available 40-2 channel to extend Fox 10's coverage to the eastern edge of the DMA. WPAN could use 10-2 to cover Mobile.
3) What better option is there for WPAN's future? Foreign language? Not in this market! Religious? I hope not. Surrender license? Wouldn't suprise me...

tomservo said:

Thanks for the clarification, bpatrick. I'm usually good about keeping the details of sales and changes on radio but for some reason all the ins and outs of the TV landscape leave me scratching my head.

I'm also interested in this since, like you, there are some "sister stations" in my market, Mobile-Pensacola-Fort Walton Beach.

Media General already owns WKRG (CBS) as a standalone here, and will have to divest WALA (Fox) to Meredith Corporation if allowed. WALA under LIN also operates WFNA (CW), so Media General will wind up with WKRG and WFNA. Sinclair has a huge stable in this market. They own WEAR (ABC) and WFGX (MyNetwork) outright and operate WPMI (NBC) and WJTC (Ind.) under a grandfathered marketing agreement with Deerfield Media.

Click to expand...

You have another Media General station that's not in Alabama but has about half its coverage area there, and that's WRBL (CBS) Columbus, GA.