staff at THE MEDIA REPORT
stays home with a quart of
Jägermeister, their new
Michael Phelps Bong and
watches TV Land.
Days like this the
accounting department
often feels it is their duty to
turn out a post.
Their topic....
Could Knoxville become a ONE (local news)
TV Station market?
Here are their thoughts and
as always, no matter how ugly
or off the wall..YOUR thoughts are welcome!
To really understand more
about the situation the three
local TV stations (that offer news) are
in you kinda need to know something
about the companies that own them and
if they have the proverbial pot to
make water in?
Gannett Co., Inc Is the
parent company of WBIR TV.
One year ago Gannett Co was
finding buyers for their
stock at over thirty dollars a share.
Today GCI was trading
at a touch under five dollars.
Latest news on the Gannett stock is not good at all.
(Reuters) - "Moody's Investors Service on Monday cut its ratings on Gannett Co (GCI.N) to the cusp of junk territory and said it may cut them into junk, citing the company's ongoing and deepening revenue declines."
The upside is unlike most companies
Gannett has been steadily paying a nice
dividend since it went public many years ago.
The last they paid was over .40 a share.
The downside is...Gannett executives said last week the company's board would meet in February to evaluate its dividend.
WVLT is owned by Gray and
five years ago their stock was selling
for over 14 dollars a share. Today
try less than a half a dollar.
Locally WVLT has moved past WATE for the
number two ranking in the local news race and
WVLT is also the station for UT sports.
Can they beat WBIR in the local news
race? The answer is,can they afford
to invest the money to do it?
Rumor has it WVLT and WBIR
are sharing news video. For oldtimers the very thought of
competitors doing something like that makes eyes brows rise
and hackles dance. Still these are
not the old times these
are the SCARY times and
if the purpose is both
to save money and to continue to
push WATE further down the
local news ratings ladder
then there could be merit in the move.
Before you pass a second
collection basket at Prayer Meeting to
help the "From The Heart" staff
or those at WVLT, consider their former
competitor, WATE
For years Channel 6 was
always "this close" to making a
move on WBIR in the local
TV news race. NEXT BOOK
they were going to tie
and then it was just a matter of time
before they could raise
rates and raise the big
WE ARE NUMBER ONE
banner over Graystone.
Well that next book never
happened and today their parent company
Young Broadcasting is
in what Eddy
referred to as being fullin the movie, CHRISTMAS VACATION!
Young Broadcasting was finding
buyers for their
stock in the beginning
of 2005 at TEN DOLLARS
a share!
By mid 2005 the stock
was under FIVE and it
finished out the 2007
year at less than THREE dollars.
Sound bad? Hey, those were the good years.
Today the
stock is between 1 and three CENTS a share.
It gets worse, MUCH worse....
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Young Broadcasting Inc. (NASDAQ:YBTVA) announced today that it received a notification from the NASDAQ Hearings Panel that the Company’s common stock will be delisted from The NASDAQ Stock Market since the Company failed to meet certain of the NASDAQ requirements for continued listing. Trading will be suspended effective at the open of business on Tuesday, January 27, 2009.
So what happens now?
Normally when a company gets in this shape
another company will gobble them up
at a bargain price.
The problem Young will
have is there just
isn't that many out there
gobbling small television chains,
fact is
there isn't that
many gobbling large television
chains.
If you still wanta do the love offering
best do it for WATE.
Bottom line is the bottom line is causing all of
the local radio and TV stations to slowly bleed out.
Some much slower than others but all are feeling it.
It is sad to think of what is happening to 401Ks, raises,
and even the ability to hire when needed. Could
Knoxville become a one or two TV news market?
Before you answer remember when you never dreamed it
would become a ONE newspaper market.
5 comments:
Duh, up cheer in the headwatters of Calderwood Dam, fishin is slow, so I drugg out some old WS Journals, an I just viewed a November news artickle. Do not this bunch have some ownership in a Knockvull televison?
--- report starts cheer ------
Gray Television Inc.
ATLANTA, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gray Television, Inc. ("Gray," "we" or "us") (NYSE: GTN; GTNA) today announced that, on November 4, 2008, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) notified us that Gray did not satisfy one of the NYSE's standards for continued listing applicable to Gray's common stock. The NYSE noted specifically that Gray was "below criteria" for the NYSE's price criteria for Gray's common stock because the average closing price per share, over a consecutive 30-trading-day period, was less than $1.00 per share as of November 3, 2008.
Under NYSE policy, in order to cure the deficiency for this continued listing standard, Gray's common stock share price and the average share price over a consecutive 30-trading-day period must both exceed $1.00 by six months following receipt of the non-compliance notice.
Gray's common stock and Class A common stock will remain listed on the NYSE under the symbols "GTN" and "GTNA," respectively, during the six month cure period subject to our compliance with other NYSE continued listing requirements.
Within 10 business days of receipt of the non-compliance notice, Gray will notify the NYSE that it intends to cure this price deficiency.
--end of report---------------
Well, jest bak to puttin another log on da fire.
Cuzin Jethro in Calderwood
I would rather the paper go under than any of the three TV stations. At least they try to report some news without making it a political statement.
Who buys the most local TV advertising and are they still buying or has this mess hit them also?
Sounds like WATE is in the most trouble of the three. I like Gene and I also like the woman on in the morning. Lori is someone we all grew up with and she does a great job.
If that is true about the WATE stock then that company looks like it is going to go under.
Would someone else buy the station or would they have to buy the company.
What is a TV station like that worth in Knoxville and does that big house come in the deal?
Is anyone advertising now? How can either radio or TV stay on the air without selling ads?
I listen to HHH and his talk show is full of sponsors, so is Rush and Phil in the afternoon. Over on B 97 I never hear ads?
A radio station that serves the local community well will survive. A jukebox will not.
By the way, on the TV thing, how come WATE's reporters continue to mispronounce Letalvis Cobbins' name? It's Letalvis, not Letavius.
Post a Comment