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Could Sinclair or Tribune be forced to sell in Seattle?

A couple things to consider:

1. As the story points out, if the FCC adjusts the ownership caps then it wouldn't be a problem.
2. Sinclair could sell KUNS and be under the TV cap right now with potentially an ABC and FOX affiliate in Seattle. That could be a market game-changer.
3. Side note: The radio stations have no influence in the deal.
 
So what would happen to 13 if the buyout goes through? Bought by FOX and become an O&O? Go out of business? Become a independent station?
 
Answers: 1. A waiver would be granted to Sinclair (or whoever was involved with the merger, assuming they exceeded the ownership cap). The new owner would have a year to come into compliance or time it so the cap is updated around that time.
2. No
3. Definitely no.
4. No
 
I'm not so sure about that prediction. FOX is distracted by their cable news channel and other matters of PR right now. I don't think they're interested in growing their O&O stables. That, and I don't see FOX being interested in making a move to acquire a #3-news stand-alone TV station in market 13.

Sinclair on the other hand, has been working (aka borrowing money) to build a TV empire within the top 20 TV markets. The lifting of ownership caps and Tribune deal officially moves them into that world. They don't need the cash through spinning properties right now, so there is no hurry to liquidate anything. Give them a couple years of operations, and to mold their stations into their model. At that point they will look at what's working, and what isn't. Think Clear Channel in 1998.
 
Kelly A said:
I'm not so sure about that prediction. FOX is distracted by their cable news channel and other matters of PR right now. I don't think they're interested in growing their O&O stables. That, and I don't see FOX being interested in making a move to acquire a #3-news stand-alone TV station in market 13.

Sinclair on the other hand, has been working (aka borrowing money) to build a TV empire within the top 20 TV markets. The lifting of ownership caps and Tribune deal officially moves them into that world. They don't need the cash through spinning properties right now, so there is no hurry to liquidate anything. Give them a couple years of operations, and to mold their stations into their model. At that point they will look at what's working, and what isn't. Think Clear Channel in 1998.
Click to expand...

Kelly, do you think that they will combine the KOMO and Q13 news operations?
 
formeraa said:
Kelly, do you think that they will combine the KOMO and Q13 news operations?
Click to expand...

If I were calling the shots, I would definitely physically combine all the stations into one building, (economies of scale) which would at least allow for potential collaboration, at a minimum, with news resources.

That said, the other Sinclair FOX affiliated stations generally run much more editorially conservative leaning. How that translates to shared news resources between KOMO and KCPQ, remains to be seen. Ultimately they may choose to keep a certain level of editorial isolation. From an ad perspective, it gives Sinclair a much broader news reach and market advantage.
 
Kelly A said:
If I were calling the shots, I would definitely physically combine all the stations into one building, (economies of scale) which would at least allow for potential collaboration, at a minimum, with news resources.

That said, the other Sinclair FOX affiliated stations generally run much more editorially conservative leaning. How that translates to shared news resources between KOMO and KCPQ, remains to be seen. Ultimately they may choose to keep a certain level of editorial isolation. From an ad perspective, it gives Sinclair a much broader news reach and market advantage.
Click to expand...

Meredith has physically combined resources in Phoenix with KTVK and KPHO and the reporters and sports personnel are shared between the two stations. So far, they have at least on weekdays completely separate branding, while weekends have a confusing simulcasts of 3tv on cbs5 or cbs5 on 3tv depending on the timeslot. And they just combined the website/online presence/app into one, branded "The Power of Two -- CBS5 and 3tv".

Honestly, I like a more professional branding distinction myself. Don't care if staff is co-mingled or not, but prefer one newscast at a time. Hopefully, Sinclair does a bit better in this regard in Seattle.
 
Besides the scale, a big advantage for Sinclair involves their news footprint. They will own a huge swath of news by adding the KCPQ 10PM newscast, and continuous news blocks that run 4PM till 11:35PM, six nights a week. That's a lot of news.

In order not to step on KOMO's 11PM, they could do what other duopolies have done, and lean the 11PM on KCPQ to more local sports coverage, which would align nicely with the FOX NFL coverage in the fall.
 
swhyde1980 said:
Update on this whole situation:

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fcc-sinclair-tribune-uhf-discount-appeals-court-1202467351/

So with the UHF discount rule in play again, does this mean Sinclair would still have to let go of KCPQ, but have the option of keeping KZJO?
Click to expand...

Shed the market FOX affiliate in the market to keep JoeTV? No.

I'm betting between the number of stations in a market 13/14, Sinclair will get a waiver to either hang onto KZJO for a period of time, or spin it to a straw man licensee, then continue running it under an LMA. Either way, Sinclair could end up operating four stations in Seattle.
 
Tribune and Sinclair

Granted this is for radio
, Q13 and Joe T.V. sold to Sinclair? Did anyone see this coming?
 
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