Archive for the 'WTVJ Sale' Category

Breaking News: Post Newsweek Backs Out of WTVJ Deal

Author Alex on 12/23/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

Updated: 9:30 PM 12/23/2008

Breaking news: Announced late on the WTVJ 6PM news by Joel Connable. The sale of WTVJ, an NBC O&O station, has been called off by Post Newsweek.

In a joint statement issued today:

“The Washington Post company and NBC Local Media today announced that the intended sale of WTVJ to the Washington Post company will not move forward. Given the current economic environment, and the delay in receiving the necessary regulatory approval, the deal has been terminated. The purchase of WTVJ was scheduled to close by the end of 2008.”

This is great news for the folks against the sale of WTVJ, and it’s long history. There is no word yet if NBC will put WTVJ back up on the market, or retain it as an NBC O&O station. Tips have been coming in for about a week now, hinting that Post Newsweek would back out of the sale, thanks to a delayed FCC hearing… and today, it looks like they did. We’ll pass on the info as we receive it.

(Click Below For Updates! Last update: 9:30 PM 12/23/2008)

Continue reading ‘Breaking News: Post Newsweek Backs Out of WTVJ Deal’

63 Comments Tags: nbc6, post newsweek, WTVJ, WTVJ Sale.

DeMarco Morgan Leaving WTVJ; Tom Llamas Unconfirmed

Author Alex on 10/30/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

WTVJ anchor DeMarco Morgan was just hired at WNBC. What a small fish for such a big pool. Come December, DeMarco will work weekends anchoring the 6 & 11 P.M. news. A few weeks ago we reported that DeMarco Morgan and Tom Llamas were up in NY interviewing at WNBC. No word on if he was (or will be) hired as well. DeMarco denied that he was hired, even to fellow co-workers up to just a few days ago. This may be a smart move for both stations. With DeMarco gone, that leaves a spot open for the unused star at WTVJ – Joel Connable. According to rumors, Joel is supposed to be in a full time anchor spot by the end of this year. Now that would be a nice thing to see. Some real talent in the anchor seat. So now, it’s just a wait and see situation.

Update: According to management insiders at WTVJ, Joel Connable will be the new 7P.M. anchor, and possibly the new 6P.M. anchor.

28 Comments Tags: demarco morgan, joel connable, nbc6, Tom Llamas, wnbc, WTVJ.

Group Against WTVJ Sale Responds to Herald TV Critic Comments

Author admin on 10/21/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

The Coalition of Concerned Citizens, which is trying to stop the WTVJ merger, has responded to what Herald TV Critic Glenn Garvin had to say about WTVJ merging with WPLG.

Garvin called those opposing the sale “a ragtag collection of WTVJ employees worried about layoffs, addled anti-corporate activists and cynical political opportunists”.

In the letter the coalition points to something interesting. When NBC was buying Telemundo in 2003 they argued to the FCC that the takeover should be approved because Telemundo competes in a separate market.

You can read the whole letter here

2 Comments Tags: WTVJ, WTVJ Sale.

FTC Says Yes to WPLG-WTVJ Merger

Author admin on 10/6/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

The Federal Trade Commission has given the all clear for Post Newsweek to complete the purchase of WTVJ and merge it with WPLG.

According to Broadcasting and Cable as per antitrust requirements the merger had to be submitted to the Department of Justice and FTC for review with a set waiting period. Parties in the deal can request an early termination.

Today the FTC issued an early termination notice which signals they nor DOJ will seek to block Post-Newsweek from buying WTVJ.

That leaves the FCC as the last hurdle to overcome before the merger becomes reality.

As noted by B&C, the reason DOJ and FTC chose not to not block the deal are Spanish stations.

When Spanish stations are included WTVJ ranks 6th overall allowing for the merger to be approved since they are not in the top 4 stations.

When Spanish stations are taken out, WTVJ ranks either 3rd or 4th overall which FCC rules do not permit for one owner to own and operate two stations in a market that are in the top 4.

Overall it’s what I kind of predicted. They picked the ratings that most suited them and included Spanish stations to push down WTVJ’s ranking.

Someone clue me in. If, supposedly/maybe/perhaps/indeed, in America (we are in America right?) the airwaves are public and are for serving my/our interests how exactly does a Spanish station serve those of us who don’t speak Spanish!?

Just wondering.

16 Comments Tags: ftc, WPLG, WTVJ, wtvj sales.

Post Newsweek Execs: You Are “Ground Clutter”

Author admin on 9/29/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

Yes people. Post-Newsweek executives think you and your standing in the way of them buying WTVJ is the usual “ground clutter”.

This from an article today in the local Daily Business Review (reg. required):

Post-Newsweek executives say the petition filed this month with the FCC against its purchase of WTVJ, Channel 6, by the Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Competition and Fairness in Broadcast Journalism is nothing but the usual “ground clutter” found in such acquisitions. The executives say the sale is best for WTVJ and its viewers in what has become a saturated and rapidly changing news market.

The article also says a lot of the people involved in the opposition are WTVJ staffers! Hm, so much for yelling and threatening people with firing for talking to this blog then.

/via Save WTVJ/

9 Comments Tags: WTVJ, WTVJ Sale.

DOJ Kills Richmond, VA CBS-FOX Duopoly

Author admin on 9/13/2008 in Local Media, Media Headlines and WTVJ Sale.

In light of the DOJ involvment into the WTVJ-WPLG merger I thought this was interesting.

Sinclair Broadcasting made a move to buy WTVR, the CBS affiliate in Richmond, VA, from Raycom Communications while still owning WRLH, the FOX affiliate in the same market.

All was said and done until the DOJ rejected the deal last month. Sinclair says they were going to sell WRLH to Carma Broadcasting LLC to avoid owning two stations in the same market but DOJ still rejected them. I’m guessing here that WRLH and WTVR are in the top 4?

DOJ didn’t specify why they rejected the acquisition leaving Sinclair to guess that it might have something to do with their duopoly. Apparently DOJ can nix any deal without giving a reason.

found via Save WTVJ blog

1 Comment Tags: doj, sinclair, wtjv, WTVJ Sale.

WTVJ Sale Deal in Trouble

Author Alex on 9/12/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

This article appeared on FTVLive today. It is true according to people involved and NBC executives have confirmed it.

NBC 6 Sale hits a snag:

“It appears that the WTVJ (NBC O&O Miami) sale maybe in trouble.

Insiders tell FTVLive that the Department of Justice has been in Miami and looked at the client lists for the two stations and there’s concern that Post Newsweek may have too much of the market and the deal could be in trouble.

If so, this is a big issue for the NBC-Local Media Group. They needed the money from the WTVJ sale to cover budget misses. If the sale doesn’t go through, you could be looking at some more very deep cuts at the O&O’s”

The one bad side of it is that Dave Boyland told several people that the sale will still go through. It just may be delayed until February.

19 Comments Tags: nbc6, post newsweek, WTVJ, WTVJ Sale.

Formal Petition Against WTVJ Sale Filed

Author admin on 8/24/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

This from the Save WTVJ Blog

Miami attorney JB Harris announced today that he would file a formal petition with the FCC to stop the proposed sale of Miami television station WTVJ (NBC6) by owner NBC Universal to rival Post-Newsweek Stations, which owns and operates Miami’s WPLG (Channel 10).

The petition is being filed on behalf of a Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Competition and Fairness in Broadcast Journalism, headed by William McCormick, former President of the Fort Lauderdale NAACP.

The petition is 14 pages long!

I guess when someone said there was a grassroots effort to stop the merger they were not kidding.

We wish them success.

Press release for petition filing

4 Comments Tags: petition, WTVJ, WTVJ Sale.

Dan Gelber’s letter to the FCC

Author Alex on 8/8/2008 in Local Media and WTVJ Sale.

Rep. Dan Gelber, of Miami is on WTVJ’s side! He recently posted on his blog, a copy of the letter he wrote to the FCC, regarding the NBC6/PostNewsweek buy. You can read the full letter, here.

“Today, I forwarded my concerns to the FCC regarding the proposed purchase by WPLG Channel 10 of their rival WTVJ-NBC 6. While I appreciate that Florida’s tanking economy can impact all businesses –including media – the public’s interest in a vital and diverse press must be taken into account. As newspapers downsize, and television stations merge, the losers will be our citizens who will be shortchanged the critical information that informs and empowers them. Jefferson was right, “Information is the currency of Democracy.”

3 Comments Tags: Dan, fcc, Gelber, letter.

CBS4 Evening Executive Producer Resigns

Author admin on 8/8/2008 in Local Media, WTVJ Sale and departures.

Ozzie Martinez, the evening executive producer at CBS4, is resigning. He has been with WFOR for 5 years, and previously worked as an executive producer at WSVN. His last day is today, August 8th. No word if executive producer Stephanie Linton, will move up from the AM slot to the PM producing slot.

/Thank you, to all the people who left tips!/

update 3:25pm: A tipster says this story has two legs. They claim CBS4 was trying to hunt down the person who emailed Herald columnist Joan Fleischman about Ted Scouten’s phony homeless guy story in which a guy pretended to be homeless and got help from CBS4 Neighbors4Neighbors and a radio station before bing found out (see:CBS4 Dupe By Fake Homeless Man) And that management suspected Ozzie Martinez was the one who leaked it so they let him go telling employees he left to “travel”.

Update: This story doesn’t really add up since according to the official story the radio station were the ones who originally found out the guy was faking being homeless after a police officer and family called them. Then HOT105 called WFOR. It appears it wasn’t a super duper secret that no body was aware of so anyone at the radio station, CBS4 or elsewhere could have sent the info to the Herald.

If you know this to be false, i ask you kindly to e-mail me. Thank you!

update: the last part of this story about Ozzie being fired appears to be false. I’d like to apologize to Ozzie for the mishap it wasn’t intentional. No harm meant.

It appears my update yesterday is what actually happened and makes the most sense and I realised it better once I paid better attention to the facts.

17 Comments Tags: cbs4, Ozzie Martinez, Producer, Resigns, WFOR.