We have learned, thanks to a tip off from our partners at Ohio Media Watch and various friends at Channel 8...that WJW is being sold by Fox's parent company News Corp. This will create an interesting situation...will the station remain a Fox affiliate? will an existing market owner pick up the station as a duopoly? will the new company spend less money on the high tech gadgets? and why is Fox spending money revamping their news set currently under construction?
This will be an interesting story to follow. However, it does seem like Rupert Murdoch is looking to free up some money to buy the Wall Street Journal's Dow Jones assets, leading to his startup of the Fox Business Channel sometime this year to compete with Bloomberg and CNBC.
NEW INFORMATION: It is also interesting to note that after looking through the list of 35 O&O's, the only ones whose on air look were NOT converted to the new "FOX" look are the stations being sold. So it appears that this has been the plan for a while, since WJW has kept the old Fox look since day one of News Corporation ownership. It is also interesting to note that 4 of these markets are where Gannett (WKYC's parent company) & FOX have O&O's in the same market (Cleveland, Denver, St. Louis & Greensboro) - not that this necessarily means anything at the moment - but it's something to keep in the back of your mind as this unfolds.
Here is the partial press release from News Corp:
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News Corporation Announces Plan to Sell Nine Television Stations
NEW YORK, NY, June 13, 2007 - News Corporation announced today that it plans to sell nine of its FOX network affiliated television stations. News Corporation has retained Allen & Company to advise it on potential transactions.
The stations include:
- WJW in Cleveland, OH
- KDVR in Denver, CO
- KTVI in St. Louis, MO
- WDAF in Kansas City, KS
- WITI in Milwaukee, WI
- KSTU in Salt Lake City, UT
- WBRC in Birmingham, AL
- WHBQ in Memphis, TN
- WGHP in Greensboro, NC
News Corporation has 35 owned-and-operated stations in the United States, making the Fox Television Stations (FTS) group among the largest in the nation. Following the planned sale of the nine stations, FTS will remain one of the nation's strongest and most successful station groups, with nine duopolies in major markets as well as single stations in eight mid to large sized markets.
Read more: http://www.newscorp.com
