Gannett’s acquisition of Belo is the latest example of consolidation by local station groups. Sinclair Broadcast Group is in the process of acquiring 38 new stations, and Media General and Young Broadcasting recently announced a merger. The New York Times‘ Brian Stelter takes a look at the motivation behind the consolidation trend:

Station owners like Gannett have several strategic reasons for wanting to grow. Along with obvious efficiencies, bigger companies tend to have more leverage when they negotiate with cable and satellite distributors over retransmission fees — the broadcast equivalent of the per-subscriber fees that cable channels receive. These fees, although a relatively new revenue source, have become vitally important to stations as they try to offset audience and advertising declines.

In many cases, Gannett’s stations earn higher fees than Belo’s, and because of contractual clauses “we will be able to move them to our rates shortly after we close the transaction,” Gracia C. Martore, Gannett’s chief executive, said in an interview.

Being bigger is also better when stations negotiate with the networks that provide them with programming. Networks like CBS have been aggressive about receiving a slice of retransmission fees, something known in the industry as reverse compensation. “Scale has become much more important” in those discussions, [SNL Kagan senior analyst Robin] Flynn said.

TVSpy has obtained a 10 point FAQ Gannett sent out to its employees talking about the company’s announced purchase of Belo Corp.

The memo covers everything from why Gannett is buying Belo to expected changes at selected stations,

As part of the deal, we are restructuring ownership of the Belo stations in 5 markets, Phoenix, St. Louis, Portland, Louisville and Tucson. We expect that the stations affected will be serviced by Gannett through shared service agreements or similar sharing arrangements.

The stations mentioned above are Belo’s KTVK in Phoenix, KMOV in St. Louis, KGW in Portland, OR, WHAS in Louisville, KY, and KMSB-KTTU in Tucson, AZ. Gannett owns KPNX in Phoenix and KSDK in St. Louis, but doesn’t own stations in Portland, OR, Louisville, KY, or Tucson, AZ.

You can read the entire memo after the jump. Read more

Gannett is acquiring Belo Corp. for approximately $1.5 billion. With Gannett’s assumption of $715 million in existing Belo debt, the deal rounds out to being worth nearly $2.2 billion. The boards of both companies approved the acquisition last night.

Gannett will now become the nation’s fourth-largest owner of major network affiliates reaching nearly a third of all U.S. households and nearly doubling Gannett TV stations from 23 to 43, including stations that are part of shared services agreements. Belo stations include affiliations with ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and the CW, stretching from Seattle to Charlotte including affiliates in the big four markets of Texas. When it’s all said and done, Gannett will become the #1 CBS affiliate group, the #4 ABC affiliate group, and will expand its already #1 NBC affiliate group position.

“We are thrilled to bring together two highly respected media companies with rich histories of award-winning journalism, operational excellence and strong brand leadership,” said Gannett CEO Gracia Martore. “We have been successfully transforming Gannett into a diversified multi-media company with broadcast, digital and publishing components across high-growth markets nationwide, and this is another important step in the process.”

The deal is 28% premium to the closing price of Belo stock yesterday.

Developing…

Media General and Young Broadcasting have announced an agreement to merge the two companies. The new company will retain the Media General name and location, based in Richmond, Va.

Media General owns 18 stations and Young owns or operates 12 stations. The combined company will have 30 stations in 27 markets, reaching 14% of U.S. television households. In a statement announcing the merger, the two companies said the merger will make Media General more “geographically diverse” and give it a presence in “more markets that generate strong political revenues.”

Media General president and CEO George L. Mahoney will remain in that role following the merger.

“I’m very excited about the wonderful opportunities that lie ahead for the new Media General. Our stations and Young’s have earned excellent reputations as leading local content providers,” Mahoney said in a statement. “In working with the Young management and owners over the past several months, it’s clear that we share strong values for customer focus and innovation and a commitment to harnessing the future in an age of rapid change.”

Read the memo to Young stations from present and CEO Deborah McDermott, as well as the official announcement, after the jump. Read more

With Fisher Communications taking over at KMTR in Eugene, Ore., “operational and staff” changes are on the way, the Register-Guard reports.

KMTR, previously owned by Newport Television, was purchased by Roberts Media, LLC and will be operated by Fisher Communications under a shared services agreement. Content sharing between KMTR and KVAL, Fisher’s CBS affiliate in Eugene, will begin next month.

KVAL-KMTR general manager Greg Raschio told the Register-Guard that management has held individual meetings with “virtually every employee.”

“Any operational and organizational changes that are made will be to gain efficiencies and eliminate (duplication),” Raschio said. “Out of respect for the individuals I’m not going to give you any numbers or names.”

Fisher Communications is in the process of being acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which Raschio said may bring more changes to the station later this year.

Allbritton Communications Company, the parent company of Politico and several ABC affiliates around the country, is considering a sale of its television stations, Politico’s Dylan Byers reports. In a memo to Politico staffers, chairman and CEO Robert Allbritton said the  potential sale comes with the desire to “stay on the leading edge” of the rapidly changing media business:

As excited as I am about my future and the company’s, it is not an easy decision to contemplate a break from something that is such an important part of our history. I love the television business, and am deeply appreciative of the success I have had in it. I have treasured working with the media professionals at all of our stations, and in recent years, I have especially enjoyed watching the collaboration here in Washington between POLITICO and WJLA / NewsChannel 8. I have always respected the deep connections with communities that our stations have, and am always humbled by the responsibilities—to citizens, to our employees, and to the next generation—that come with ownership. Those responsibilities are what led me to consider a sale now. This industry is in the midst of rapid consolidation and there are some clear advantages that come with increased scale. I want to ensure that our stations are well-positioned to continue their extraordinary success and participate in all of the new prospects for broadcasting going forward.

Allbritton writes he will look to “invest in or launch media companies that follow the POLITICO model of dominating targeted coverage.” Read his full memo here.

Allbritton owns seven stations: WJLA in Washington, D.C.; WHTM in Harrisburg, Pa.; WBMA in Birmingham, Ala.; KATV in Little Rock, Ark.; KTUL in Tulsa; WSET in Roanoke, Va.; and WCIV in Charleston, S.C. The company also owns NewsChannel8, a 24-hour local cable channel in Washington, D.C.

As expected, Nexstar Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting have announced an agreement to acquire Communications Corporation of America’s station group. Nexstar and Mission will pay will pay $270 million for CCA’s 19 stations and seven associated digital subchannels in 10 markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nexstar will acquire 11 of the CCA stations and Mission will acquire eight. Nexstar and Mission will enter into shared service agreements, according to a statement. The transaction is pending FCC approval and expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

“Nexstar is a premier TV broadcasting company that has grown in a disciplined fashion. We are pleased that the CCA stations will become part of Nexstar’s expanded footprint giving them the benefits of increased scale to build on the momentum we have created over the past several years,” CCA chairman Peter Markham said.

A full list of CCA’s stations are after the jump. Read more

As we told you yesterday, Sinclair Broadcast Group is paying $373 million for Fisher Communications, the Seattle-based owner of 20 television stations and 3 radio stations. The Seattle Times notes “local media ownership takes a hit” with the merger:

When KOMO-TV owner Fisher Communications becomes part of the much larger Sinclair Broadcast Group of Baltimore this fall, Seattle will lose its last locally owned network television station. It also will lose a corporate name that played a prominent part in the region’s economy for just over a century.

[...] Fisher has about 775 employees nationally and does not disclose how many are at its Seattle headquarters. Asked whether those core employees will keep their jobs, a Fisher spokesman said, “It is premature to speculate about integration planning.”

Sinclair’s hometown newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, reports the company — which will reach 34 percent of the airwaves after the FCC’s approval of the sale — has no plans to stop expanding:

But during a conference call with analysts, [Wells Fargo senior analyst Marci] Ryvicker questioned whether Sinclair’s acquisitions would soon be limited by Federal Communications Commission rules saying a single owner’s group of stations cannot reach more than 39 percent of all TV households.

“Now that [stations] cover 34 percent of the country, how much more can you do?” she asked.

“We can do a lot more,” responded [Sinclair CEO David] Smith, explaining that the percentage of household coverage, as calculated by the FCC, would be far below 34 percent because the FCC counts UHF stations, or Ultra High Frequency, as half of a non-UHF station. Read more

Sinclair Broadcast Group is buying Fisher Communications for $373.3 million, the two companies announced Thursday.

Fisher owns 20 television stations in eight markets, reaching 3.9% of U.S. TV households (full list is after the jump). The transaction also includes three radio stations in Seattle. As part of the terms of the agreement, Fisher will provide “certain operating services” for three TV stations in Eugene, Ore. –  KMTR, KMCB and KTCW — after the transaction is approved by the FCC.

TVNewsCheck reports Sinclair won a bidding war with LIN Media for the station group “in a deal finalized in the wee hours of Tuesday night.”

“Sinclair is the largest independent TV broadcaster in the country, and we believe its commitment to the industry — along with its greater scale and sizable resources — will provide our stations, team members and business partners with new opportunities to flourish,” Fisher president and CEO Colleen B. Brown said in a statement. Read more

Lockwood Broadcast Group is acquiring WCWG, the CW affiliate in Greensboro, N.C., from Titan Broadcasting.

“We are excited to own a station in the Greensboro DMA, and feel WCWG is a perfect fit for Lockwood Broadcasting,” president Dave Hanna said in a statement. “Growth is our mode — we’ve now doubled in size since 2011 — and we will continue to seek out and acquire television properties that complement our business.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is pending FCC approval and is expected to close later this year.