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The sports hub is being spun off!
- Thread starter blackgold
- Start date
Deleted User
Star Participant
I thought every station was going into trust nationwide and they will spin off or keep as the need arises....
I wouldn't read too much into a FCC required announcement for what essentially a license transfer for convenience
It is not "being spun" into a divestiture trust. "Being" means "now". Nothing is happening right now. Even if they file now to put the stations in a trust, it will take time for approval. Nothing changes.
Did you hear chat on one of the shows, or did you hear a legal filing notice? A filing notice is synchronized with the FCC filing seeking an authorization to move the licenses to a trust.
The station is one of many stations that Entercom put in a list presented in its FCC filings as ones they might put into a divestiture trust and sell. Same for WBZ (AM).
That means that, if at the time of closing, they will decide which, if any, of the stations will be spun off to new owners. Since there is a possibility that sub-caps may be eliminated, and a longer range possibility that ownership caps in general may be changed, all Entercom is doing is saying "Here are some stations on a list. We will put them in a blind trust and sell them if it is required at closing".
Even if the listed stations were put in a trust today, they continue to accrue revenue to the current owners. But since some are owned, legally by CBS now and some are owned by Entercom, there are not violations of the caps until such time as the closing happens. And, for the moment, there would likely be absolutely no changes in operations as that could be called an unauthorized usage of control of a station by an operator who still is not the licensee.
Under FCC rules, Entercom has to spin off 14 stations but the list is about double that.
Further, it is very unlikely any station will be sold to a local group. It is unlikely that many will be sold at all, as Entercom is looking to minimize tax liability by trading any stations they have to get rid of for "like kind" facilities in other markets where they are well under the caps.
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raccoonradio
Walk of Fame Participant
Tom Taylor was saying there's a comment period at the FCC.If anyone wants to object to the merger...
It will likely NOT be sold at all. The FCC is considering eliminating the sub-cap of 5 FM stations in a market. When that is law, which may just be several months, it won't have to be sold. -And that is exactly what CBS/Entercom is counting on with their "divestiture trust".
raccoonradio
Walk of Fame Participant
Didn't do an April Fools post this year but why not: [Written Herald "Inside Track" style]--Don't breathe a word of this to anybody else, because nobody is supposed to know, but word is that Bob Bittner will buy WBZ-FM 98.5 aka "The Sports Hub"
to run his "Easy as the Breeze" music. There will be no commercials but he will solicit donations as he has with his other stations in, uh, Vermont or wherever they are. Powerful signal! As always, DO stay tuned.
to run his "Easy as the Breeze" music. There will be no commercials but he will solicit donations as he has with his other stations in, uh, Vermont or wherever they are. Powerful signal! As always, DO stay tuned.
raccoonradio
Walk of Fame Participant
That's part of the joke..
That they get the facts wrong
That they get the facts wrong
raccoonradio
Walk of Fame Participant
Entercom has said it's received trade/swap offers for stations in divestiture markets.They may not be able to keep both sports stations/antitrust,as @bostonradio tweets..and
would Sox buy a station and run their games there? "Do stay tuned." (Yes there's the ETM contract but it's all a mess now with the merger)
Reminder how around this time in 06, with Sox contract about to end,Greater pondered getting Sox as part of a sports format for WBOS, perhaps even with Sox owning part of station.They decided against it and Entercom reupped with team.(Then it wasn't till 09 we got a sports FM outlet)
@bostonradio:Entercom is saying it has received numerous offers to trade/swap stations in divesture markets including Boston. Things will get interesting
would Sox buy a station and run their games there? "Do stay tuned." (Yes there's the ETM contract but it's all a mess now with the merger)
Reminder how around this time in 06, with Sox contract about to end,Greater pondered getting Sox as part of a sports format for WBOS, perhaps even with Sox owning part of station.They decided against it and Entercom reupped with team.(Then it wasn't till 09 we got a sports FM outlet)
@bostonradio:Entercom is saying it has received numerous offers to trade/swap stations in divesture markets including Boston. Things will get interesting
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MarcB
Walk of Fame Participant
I don't think teams owning radio stations work. Look at what's happening with Red Zebra Broadcating in DC. They've disbanded. Red Zebra is owned by Dan Snyder owner of the Redskins Football Team. Also didn't the Cardinals Baseball team own a station or partial owners of a station in St. Louis? If I'm not mistaken the station is gone and the team is back on KMOX.
miketheradioguy
Leading Participant
I highly doubt that Entercom will be allowed to keep the rights to ALL five sports teams in Boston. Even if the FCC lifts the sub-caps some time in the future, Entercom will still have to shed stations, and the WBZ stations will be very likely among those stations. Boston is the market where the biggest Department of Justice concerns are happening. Entercom already had a similar issue with the Department of Justice in Denver when they were buying Lincoln Financial's radio stations, which ultimately lead to Entercom shedding four stations to Bonneville for 100.3 in Los Angeles, which will possibly get divested again with this merger.
mysticnitekatt
Frequent Participant
I agree, there's no way the feds will let Ent keep all 5 teams.
The problem with the rights to the Patriots is Kraft will (or does he already?) want to bundle them with The Revolution so whatever station gets the high billing Pats games will be stuck with the low-billing Revolution games.
The question should be how much local talent will be left, not how many teams will be left.
CBS SPORTS RADIO is part of the deal and I can't honestly see them NOT continuing to clear Farrell and Amy Lawrence in the market regardless of the remaining station. Why should Entercom pay for local talent (Such as a long 5-hour Adam Jones Show or WEEI Late Night) or feeds from services like NBC Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and Westwood One when they just bought into a national sports talk network with 300+ affiliates?
We'll get one sports channel, mostly CBS Sports Radio with at least 3 Sports teams and a minimum of local talent.
The problem with the rights to the Patriots is Kraft will (or does he already?) want to bundle them with The Revolution so whatever station gets the high billing Pats games will be stuck with the low-billing Revolution games.
The question should be how much local talent will be left, not how many teams will be left.
CBS SPORTS RADIO is part of the deal and I can't honestly see them NOT continuing to clear Farrell and Amy Lawrence in the market regardless of the remaining station. Why should Entercom pay for local talent (Such as a long 5-hour Adam Jones Show or WEEI Late Night) or feeds from services like NBC Sports Radio, ESPN Radio and Westwood One when they just bought into a national sports talk network with 300+ affiliates?
We'll get one sports channel, mostly CBS Sports Radio with at least 3 Sports teams and a minimum of local talent.
The Feds have no jurisdiction in the matter. It's between the team owners and the broadcasting companies.
For example, in Phoenix, Bonneville (KTAR 620, KTAR-FM 92.3, KMVP-FM 98.7) owns the rights to every team in Phoenix, and has for years, save for Arizona State baseball and women's basketball. That's the Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Suns, and Coyotes, plus ASU football and men's basketball -- 6 teams that can be put on up to three stations. They just sold off one station (KMVP 860, now KNAI) that had been an overflow station for the Coyotes and ASU basketball mostly, but that makes no difference whatsoever as far as who continues to own the rights. All six teams still belong to Bonneville, even with one less station to air them.
Why would Entercom in Boston be any different, as long as the teams are happy with the arrangement? I don't know who airs what in Boston, but I would think that Entercom would automatically inherit any teams that are currently on CBS-owned stations, regardless of which stations get spun off.
However, the DoJ could claim concentration of control of the sports ad market and require divestiture. This type of "control of a specific programming genre" has precedent, and can be enforced.
In both cases, the stations the teams bought were inadequate facilities with poor total market coverage.
I would think that if they were so inclined, they would have broken up Bonneville's monopoly of major sports in Phoenix a long time ago. CBS in Chicago, at least until the White Sox went to WLS last season, was close, with the Cubs, Sox, Bears, and a couple of colleges all under contract.
CTListener
Walk of Fame Participant
CBS has Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Revolution. Entercom has Red Sox.
College rights don't matter because Boston might be the worst college football and basketball town in the country, outside of maybe New York City. Actually, I remember St. John's basketball being a pretty big deal on WFAN during the Big East's golden age, while radio rights to Boston College have always been an afterthought on Boston radio, even during good years for that school's football and basketball programs. The problem is that Bostonians who stay close to home for college end up at schools where education is top priority, not big-time athletics. That's why UMass can't draw flies when it tries to grow its "brand" by playing in Foxborough.
The critical moment for DoJ action is at the time of a sale. Existing situations can be "rectified" at that time.
There is also the issue of sports revenue. It is much smaller as a percentage of total market revenue in PHX than in Boston. The two main sports stations in Boston have a bit over 24% of market revenue, while Bonneville's single station has under 7% of revenue.
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