KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

[zff]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

According to that article, so far, it's:

Diane Ako
Zahid Arab
Howard Dashefsky
Leland Kim
Sharie Shima
Kristine Uyeno

I'm really sorry to see Diane and Dash go. I liked their morning show more than any of the others. I've always found Zahid Arab oddly entertaining too. Oh well.

Does anyone have a list on the KGMB side?

[bcr1652]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

I hope those laid-off WILL land their feet at KITV and/or KHON. Keep some of those on-air! As for Howard, maybe he could go back to KITV and anchor the 10pm news with Paula Akana... I'm just saying.

[mel]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

The same link without the annoying roll down ads.

http://www.starbulletin.com/business...ml?mobile=true

[Kalihiboy]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Dash, Ako, Sharie Shima, etc. are amongst the layoffs according to Erika:

http://www.starbulletin.com/business...V_layoffs.html

A kneejerk reaction to this is what about KGMB on air staffers being let go as well. Time will tell on all these fronts soon I'm sure.

Aj

[scsdogg]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Lots of pink slips today @ KHNL...reporters & photogs.

[bcr1652]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Does anyone know of a similar arrangement between two television stations that are major affiliates to combine newscasts in another top 100 market? I can't think of any.

I'm not quite sure, but Dayton, Ohio's ABC (WKEF-TV), FOX (WRGT-TV) and MyNetwork TV (WRGT-TV sub-channel) affiliates are all under the same news operation under the partnership of Sinclair Broadcast Group and Cunningham Broadcasting. That's where Jeff Booth (former KGMB Sunrise meteorologist) is currently working right now.

[foolish heart]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

I hope those who remain in the business make it and for those who don't, maybe it will be the incentive to find greener pastures.

For those who do not get picked to stay with the company, perhaps they'll get an even better job and in a few years look back at this arrangement and say "This was the catalyst that helped me change my life for the better."

Emmis found a real sucker when they sold KGMB to MCG Capital, a company that had no business being in broadcasting. From the Emmis press release in 2007 announcing the sale:

"HITV is a wholly owned portfolio company of MCG Capital Corporation. MCG Capital Corporation is a publicly traded Business Development Company with approximately $1.3 billion in total assets. MCG Capital is a solutions-focused commercial finance company providing financing and advisory services to middle market, growth oriented companies throughout the United States. MCG's capital is generally used by its portfolio companies to finance acquisitions, recapitalizations, management buyouts, organic growth and working capital."

MCG could have been buying a hardware store for all they cared. They bought KGMB simply to drain its resources and, hopefully, sell it to another sucker at a profit.

Many years ago, that was known as "trafficking" in licenses and was frowned upon at the FCC. In a FCC decision in the 1940's regarding a license transfer it was written:

"Our opinion has remained steadfast that people who enter broadcasting must recognize their obligation to render a public service. They cannot operate a station as they would a department store or a steel mill - for purely financial benefits."

How things have changed......

[buzz1941]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

When Gannett conspired to shut down the Star-Bulletin in 1999, the paper was profitable!

[DaleP]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

The station didn't lose $6 million. MCG Capital wrote down $6 million on the value of its investment in KGMB. That combined with the sale of the station's over 40,000 square foot property and building, which was one of KGMB's most valuable assets, that devalued the station by another $12 million.

So, MCG capital saw a $18 to $20 million loss on its $40 million investment.

Emmis found a real sucker when they sold KGMB to MCG Capital, a company that had no business being in broadcasting. From the Emmis press release in 2007 announcing the sale:

"HITV is a wholly owned portfolio company of MCG Capital Corporation. MCG Capital Corporation is a publicly traded Business Development Company with approximately $1.3 billion in total assets. MCG Capital is a solutions-focused commercial finance company providing financing and advisory services to middle market, growth oriented companies throughout the United States. MCG's capital is generally used by its portfolio companies to finance acquisitions, recapitalizations, management buyouts, organic growth and working capital."

MCG could have been buying a hardware store for all they cared. They bought KGMB simply to drain its resources and, hopefully, sell it to another sucker at a profit.

Many years ago, that was known as "trafficking" in licenses and was frowned upon at the FCC. In a FCC decision in the 1940's regarding a license transfer it was written:

"Our opinion has remained steadfast that people who enter broadcasting must recognize their obligation to render a public service. They cannot operate a station as they would a department store or a steel mill - for purely financial benefits."

How things have changed......

[Media Guy]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

It's all about accounting!
In broadcasting, profit is a close relative called Broadcast Cash Flow (BCF). While the station had a positive BCF, if wasn't servicing its debt or return on investment, therefore wasn't profitable.

The station didn't lose $6 million. MCG Capital wrote down $6 million on the value of its investment in KGMB. That combined with the sale of the station's over 40,000 square foot property and building, which was one of KGMB's most valuable assets, that devalued the station by another $12 million.

So, MCG capital saw a $18 to $20 million loss on its $40 million investment. To make it simple, convert it to thousands and think of it as your house losing half the value that you paid for it, then think about the situation you'd be in. You would still owe the mortgage for that amount, but could never sell it to recoup your investment.

Bob & Jades opinions while perfectly valid from a journalists point of view, don't get people regular paychecks in this day and age of the "media business"

Emmy awards and Peabody's are a great statement on the quality of journalism, but it doesn't keep the lights on or even pay for an inexperienced producer. Money does, and KGMB's owners were bleeding it.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Wow! I can't believe that lil ole me set off this firestorm, with what was strictly my own personal opinion. Certainly, I respect other personal opinions that differ from my own. Those I take no issue with. But I will reply to some responses that have either distorted what I said,... or responses that contain inaccuracies of their own.

I dunno. They have as much right to voice their opinion as much as we have a right to voice our opinion when the government raise our taxes, even though it is our duty to pay taxes.

Who said anything about Bob and Jade not having "as much right to voice their opinion as much as we have a right to voice our opinion...." I just said that they had to get real. I didn't tell them to shut up.

I think Bob got it right. Deregulatory decisions allowed stations to reduce and/or eliminate news programming. As a result of deregulation, financial considerations became more important than serving the public. What many have forgotten is that the broadcast license is not owned by the broadcaster. It is a public trust and the beneficiaries are the viewers and the listeners.

Obviously, that's correct. But many of the journalistic standards that Bob Jones talks about in his column goes way beyond anything that is regulated by the FCC or any other governmental authority in this country. Reporter-videographer hirings, the qualifications of producers, the structuring of a newscast..... Sorry Dale, but you're conflating the "public trust" with Bob Jones' TV News 101.

As far as "tradition", I side with Jade on this one...emotionally as well as from a business person's point of view. Tradition is part of the "good will" in a sale...that certain hard-to-define something extra that adds value to a property. KGMB has a rich history and tradition that, to me, makes it more the most valuable property in this entire "arrangement."

In the 1980's GE took over RCA and promptly put a major competitor out of business when it dismantled RCA and sold off most of its assets. While I don't think Raycom's intent is to take KGMB off the air, much of what it appears to be doing will diminish KGMB's presence. Killing traditions will help to speed up that process.

If you can't beat 'em...take 'em over.

Welcome to the world of free enterprise. Nothing much else to say here, except beware of what you wish for. What may be viewed as the comforting cocoon of more heavy-handed govt. regulation carries its own set of problems and perils to maintaining a truly "free" media.

As Random, Dale and Foolish Heart have illustrated, you’ve misinterpreted Bob and Jade’s point. Most working in the industry (and those retired from it) are well aware that ad revenue sustains t.v. news departments. What you seemingly fail to acknowledge, is that even though there was less of it made this past year, KGMB still made a profit.

Thought I read somewhere KGMB was $6 million in debt and this sale wiped that debt from the books.

Well Tunnl, it's hard for me to take any of your points seriously when the very foundation of your arguments is one that is open to question and doubt.

[genepark]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Here is a good piece from the New Republic on the phenomena on what is being called "the anchorman in winter."

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.ht...2-4d22e18420d3

[Kalihiboy]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

As for Bob and Jade's comments, I would have been dissappointed if Bob had not wrote something, I almost expected it of him.

What Jade wrote came from the heart and probably is shared with many of her former Channel 9 colleagues.

Aj

[Kalihiboy]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Thought I read somewhere KGMB was $6 million in debt and this sale wiped that debt from the books. I have no experience in tv or radio sales, is that a ton of money or just peanuts in the business.

Aj

[TuNnL]

Re: KGMB - KHNL - KFVE "shared services agreement"

Bob Jones, who bemoans the fact it is ad revenues (not journalistic standards) that sustains TV news departments ... Jade Moon, who's upset at the situation because of a loss of "tradition." (There's that word again. As if tradition ever helped any failing business when it came to meeting the payroll ... Bob and Jade: The soapbox upon which both of you stand (Midweek magazine) is itself a business enterprise. Midweek does not exist as a public service. And it is not carried on out of some sense of nostalgia. Get real, you two!

As Random, Dale and Foolish Heart have illustrated, you’ve misinterpreted Bob and Jade’s point. Most working in the industry (and those retired from it) are well aware that ad revenue sustains t.v. news departments. What you seemingly fail to acknowledge, is that even though there was less of it made this past year, KGMB still made a profit. The problem is, that profit, including the sale of the station’s Kapi‘olani Boulevard property, was apparently still not enough to recoup MCG Capital’s purchase price of KGMB and other liabilities on the firm’s balance sheet. They were looking to make a quick substantial buck, plain and simple.

What goes to the heart of this matter (and I suspect Bob and Jade didn’t have the gravitas to squeeze into a MidWeek column) is that what business does an investment firm have in purchasing a t.v. news station in the first place? If a seasoned broadcast operator like Emmis Communications couldn’t make it work, why wouldn’t MCG executives expect their investment to only end in disaster? I’ll tell you why: dishonest intentions. They saw the potential in a duopoly, and probably spent a pretty penny having their lawyers research ways in which they could skirt FCC law.

First and foremost, a t.v. news department isn’t being asked to “be the most profitable in the world.” It’s main job (in today’s market) is to be #1 in the ratings. The focus of the actual journalists (i.e. reporters) in that newsroom is even narrower: their job is to give the viewer the best news story, with the most pertinent, up-to-date facts in a way that’s informative, entertaining and easy to understand by the viewer.

I think deep down, Frankie, that you get this. And that, I think, is what Bob and Jade were driving at. Above all, they wish to point out the tragedy of the loss of journalism in a journalistic endeavor. Because journalism is a public service. And that is the entire reason why it is a business (the only one) expressly protected under the first amendment of our U.S. Constitution.