Our blog partner, Ohio Media Watch, is reporting today on a Cleveland television matter that WJW/Fox 8 has been sold to Oak Hill Capital Partners, along with seven other Fox owned and operated television stations.The expected sale should be done by fall of 2008.
Oak Hill runs Local TV, LLC, which had been headed by former Jacor radio executive Randy Michaels. Just this week, Sam Zell closed on his purchase of the Tribune Company which owns both newspaper and television stations. Michaels was quickly promoted to oversee the broadcast and interactive division of Tribune Company by Mr. Zell.
Now Local TV and Tribune will create a third-party broadcast management company which will provide shared services to ALL of the stations Local TV and Tribune own respectively. This leads us to believe WJW could ultimately be digested into the Zell Tribune media empire.
Look for more on this in the coming months. In the meantime, feel free to read more of the details on Ohio Media Watch.
1 comment:
Hmmm. Not sure what to make of this one. I hope the new "Zell Tribune" confab keeps the standard of excellence Tribune's been known for. They arguably have two of the best local TV news operations in the country with KTLA in Los Angeles and WPIX in New York.
I'm afraid, though, that this change will result in the customary "slash and burn" tactics that have happened in some other situations with buyouts by private equity groups: budgets get cut, long-time people get axed, and stations with great reputations literally become shells of what they once were.
Keeping WJW as a strong station benefits everyone: it maintains what has become a rather competitive TV market in NE Ohio, viewers benefit from quality newscasts and other programming; and the other stations are forced to stay "on their toes" to stay in the race with each other.
This development leaves me more than a little anxious.
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