Jul 18, 2008 12:24 pm US/Eastern
Channel 10 Owner Post Newsweek to Buy WTVJ
Florida's First TV Station To Remain NBC Affiliate
No Details Offered On How WTVJ, WPLG Might Combine Operations
MIRAMAR (CBS4) ―
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WTVJ, Florida's first television station, will be owned by Post Newsweek corporation, owner of rival WPLG-10, if the deal passes regulatory approval.,
CBS
The face of South Florida television is about to change with Friday's confirmation that WTVJ-NBC6, Florida's first television station, will be sold by owner NBC Universal to Post Newsweek Corporation, owners of competitor WPLG, Channel 10. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The announcement was made jointly Friday morning by NBC and Post Newsweek, three days after CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald reported a sale was imminent.
"We are pleased to be able to reach an agreement to purchase such a historic station as WTVJ, the first TV station to broadcast in Florida," said
Alan Frank, president and chief executive officer of Post–Newsweek Stations, in a statement released Friday morning. "We look forward to both WPLG and WTVJ continuing to serve the South Florida community."
The purchase means Post-Newsweek will operate both stations in what the television industry refers to as a "duopoly", where one company owns more than one television station in a community.
CBS has a similar arrangement, operating both WFOR and WBFS. Univision also has a duopoly, operating WLTV and WAMI.
"Post -Newsweek is a respected broadcasting company that currently owns six local television stations, two of which are already NBC affiliates," John Wallace, head of NBC's local media division, said in a memo to WTVJ employees confirming the sale.
"They are seasoned broadcasters, who have a solid reputation in the industry and a long-standing commitment to meeting the needs of the South Florida community. We look forward to working with Post-Newsweek as affiliate owners for many years to come."
While the announcement is official, there is no guarantee the sale will be finalized. The deal is subject to approval by the FCC, and the details of the sale may give some on the commission pause.
Usually FCC rules would prevent one major network affiliate from purchasing another, because such a sale can take place only when one of the stations is not among the top 4 rated stations in a community. However, recent ratings declines have placed NBC6 6th in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale ratings, behind the major English-language stations and the two major Spanish-language channels.
While the deal may meet basic requirements, the FCC is allowed to consider public comments, and the loss of historic WTVJ as an independent voice might draw criticism.
However, Wallace in his memo to WTVJ employees downplayed any potential issues.
"The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, but at this time we don't anticipate any issues that would affect the closing. We expect the deal to close by the end of the year," he said.
Absent in either announcement was much information on what Post Newsweek plans to do with WTVJ, and the future of the hundreds of people who work at the station.
Wallace said NBC Benefits experts will be visiting the station in the near future to explain how the sale will affect employee benefits, but the Post Newsweek announcement said only that the company will continue to operate WTVJ as an NBC affiliate.
Nothing was said about the future of the NBC6 News department, which currently produces newscasts at times which compete with WPLG. If WTVJ continues as an NBC affiliate and continues to offer news programming, that could have two co-owned television stations in direct competition at 6 and 11. Also not mentioned was the future of WTVJ's reporters and anchors and how they might be included in Post Newsweek's overall news operation in South Florida.
Both companies said they expect the change to be finalized by the end of 2008, subject to FCC approval.
WTVJ is Florida's first television station, signing on from a converted theater in downtown Miami on March 21, 1949, at noon. At first, the station operated 2 hours a day, but grew into a full-time powerhouse and later one of the first affiliates of the CBS television network.
It's first news broadcasts were anchored by Ralph Renick, who spent more than 30 years in the anchor chair and became a South Florida TV legend.
From WTVJ's website, these are among the South Florida broadcasting first the station claims:
• Using the first mobile TV truck
• First underwater remote on Jan. 20, 1957: For "Odyssey," underwater cameras televised live a sunken Spanish galleon and reconstructed a treasure hunt. The WTVJ mobile unit, the worlds largest at that time, was taken out to sea 3 miles from Plantation Key on a barge for the program.
• First to report on state government in Tallahassee
• The first undercover report (on an illegal gambling den)
• The nation's first achievement award from the News Directors Association for reporting on the Senate Crime hearings in Miami
• In 1957, Ralph Renick went on the air with the first daily television editorial in the nation.
• In 1967, Jane Chastain became the first woman sportscaster on television in the country.
• In 1968, C.T. Taylor was the first African American journalist on South Florida airwaves.
• The first Orange Bowl game broadcast live. It was also the first ever network broadcast from the Goodyear blimp.
The station's sale to NBC prompted a wholesale reorganization of the South Florida TV dial in 1989, with WTVJ switching from CBS to NBC, WCIX switching from FOX to CBS, and WSVN switching from NBC to Fox.
6 years later, another major switch involved WTVJ, which traded positions on the Tv dial with WCIX. WTVJ became NBC6, and WCIX switced call letters to WFOR and became known as CBS4.
Post Newsweek said NBC fans would continue to find their favorite shows on WTVJ.
NBC Universal put both WTVJ and WVIT in Hartford, Connecticut up for sale earlier this year as part of an effort to raise money to fund other projects. It recently spent billions of dollars to purchase The Weather Channel.
Post–Newsweek Stations is owned by The Washington Post Company, and its television stations division owns and operates six television stations: WDIV Detroit; KPRC Houston; WKMG Orlando; KSAT San Antonio; WJXT Jacksonville, as well as WPLG.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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