WLNE-TV Providence to be sold

alg2468 · May 16, 2019

Citadel Communications agrees to sell WLNE-TV Providence (ABC6) and KLKN-TV 8 to Standard Media Group for $83 Million.:

https://www.abc6.com/story/40488429...s-agrees-to-sell-abc6-to-standard-media-group

Channel 83 · May 17, 2019

alg2468 said:
Citadel Communications agrees to sell WLNE-TV Providence (ABC6) and KLKN-TV 8 to Standard Media Group for $83 Million.:

https://www.abc6.com/story/40488429...s-agrees-to-sell-abc6-to-standard-media-group

So...What else is new? The sun rises in the east, the sun sets in the west, and WLNE gets sold periodically.

I gave up hope many years ago that WLNE could ever be more than what it already is...a consistent also-ran of mediocre quality at best.

Someone on these boards said long ago that Channel 6 was the 3rd. station in a 2-station market.
I have no hope of that ever changing.

channel99 · May 18, 2019

Channel 83 said:
So...What else is new? The sun rises in the east, the sun sets in the west, and WLNE gets sold periodically.

I gave up hope many years ago that WLNE could ever be more than what it already is...a consistent also-ran of mediocre quality at best.

Someone on these boards said long ago that Channel 6 was the 3rd. station in a 2-station market.
I have no hope of that ever changing.

Sad to say, they probably could have gotten much more than that in the spectrum auction...

Channel 83 · May 22, 2019

channel99 said:
Sad to say, they probably could have gotten much more than that in the spectrum auction...

You're a couple of steps ahead of me. I was thinking about that myself. Makes me wonder if Citadel sold for reasons other than getting the very last dollar.

I've done some poking around online, but have not been able to come up with much on Standard Media Group. Perhaps someone(s) out there might have better access to information than I would as someone not in the business.

channel99 · May 23, 2019

Channel 83 said:
You're a couple of steps ahead of me. I was thinking about that myself. Makes me wonder if Citadel sold for reasons other than getting the very last dollar.

I've done some poking around online, but have not been able to come up with much on Standard Media Group. Perhaps someone(s) out there might have better access to information than I would as someone not in the business.

There may well be a factor not listed officially as part of the sale. Leaving out the value of KLKN, WLNE sold at less than half the $125 million selling price of WLWC in the auction.

tripinva · May 23, 2019

channel99 said:
Sad to say, they probably could have gotten much more than that in the spectrum auction...

You can look up the last price WLNE was willing to accept on the FCC website.

- Trip

channel99 · May 25, 2019

tripinva said:
You can look up the last price WLNE was willing to accept on the FCC website.

- Trip

WLNE on ch 49 was willing to accept as low as $56 million, and did not get it, while WLWC on ch 22 got $125 million to go off air, and WSBE on ch 21 got $95 million to move to VHF low. Why was there such a large difference?

tripinva · May 28, 2019

It's all about what fits and what doesn't fit. This explanation is overly simplistic, but look at the constraints for WJAR:

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...ay=&ch1=50&ch2=&ch3=&ch4=&ch5=&ch6=&ch7=&ch8=

As you can see, WLNE fits on channel 24 next to WJAR on 25. WSBE and WLWC are not permitted to be adjacent to WJAR. Looking further, here are the constraints for WLWC:

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...=15&ch3=19&ch4=23&ch5=27&ch6=31&ch7=35&ch8=36

Look at how it can't be adjacent to most of the Boston and Providence area stations, since it's not co-located. This means you'd basically have to chew up three channels to find a home for WLWC. WSBE is similar, though not as severe, which is why it was ultimately less expensive.

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...=15&ch3=19&ch4=23&ch5=27&ch6=31&ch7=35&ch8=36

- Trip

channel99 · May 29, 2019

tripinva said:
It's all about what fits and what doesn't fit. This explanation is overly simplistic, but look at the constraints for WJAR:

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...ay=&ch1=50&ch2=&ch3=&ch4=&ch5=&ch6=&ch7=&ch8=

As you can see, WLNE fits on channel 24 next to WJAR on 25. WSBE and WLWC are not permitted to be adjacent to WJAR. Looking further, here are the constraints for WLWC:

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...=15&ch3=19&ch4=23&ch5=27&ch6=31&ch7=35&ch8=36

Look at how it can't be adjacent to most of the Boston and Providence area stations, since it's not co-located. This means you'd basically have to chew up three channels to find a home for WLWC. WSBE is similar, though not as severe, which is why it was ultimately less expensive.

https://www.rabbitears.info/repackc...=15&ch3=19&ch4=23&ch5=27&ch6=31&ch7=35&ch8=36

- Trip

So stations co-located on a tower with several other stations would likely have less value since those stations would be simpler to repack, because the new channels assigned could all be adjacent. But a station on its own tower could not be adjacent to anything within the designated distance and therefore there would be far fewer channels to choose from, increasing the value of getting it off the air - have I got that right?

tripinva · May 29, 2019

That's certainly the part I highlighted, yes. You've got it. There's more to it than that, but if you understand that piece of it, most of them should make some amount of sense.

- Trip

alg2468 · Jun 1, 2019

I sent an email to WLNE regarding their channel change to RF 24 due to the spectrum reallocation and they kindly said that the changes to their channel and transmitting antenna (power, height, and signal pattern change) would take place after October 19th.