Bankruptcy for WPGH, WPMY parent?
Pittsburgh, National News: Sinclair Broadcasting Group could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it can't restructure its debt, the Baltimore Sun reports.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Maryland-based owner of Pittsburgh Fox affiliate WPGH-TV ("53"/43) and MyNetwork affiliate WPMY-TV ("22"/42) says that local advertising revenue has plunged more than 18 percent, while national ad revenue dropped 31 percent.
Car dealers, movies and fast food are among the categories hardest hit, the Sun says,
Sinclair is also trying to sell "non-TV assets," according to the newspaper.
Chapter 11 protection allows a company to continue operating while it reorganizes. Besides its two local stations, Sinclair owns or operates 56 other TV outlets in the United States, including WCHS-TV and WVAH-TV in Charleston, W.Va.
Readers’ Forum
I wonder if News Corp would be interested in purchasing WPGH & WPMY if Sinclair has to sell them off. I know they just sold off some stations, but Pittsburgh would be a pretty good market. I could see them restarting the news division and forming a partnership with WPGB & Trib Total Media for a right-leaning fighter against KDKA-TV/Radio & the P-G. Just throwing it out there. And where would that leave WTAE & WPXI in all this?
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 18, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Re: Previous poster – yeah, nothing like purposely encouraging the media to make sure that today’s news is even more biased and laden with agenda than it already is. Please – we need our media to do just do its job – REPORT THE NEWS and not be an extension of some group’s political,social or ideological agenda. Faux News is already doing that fine.
Rick in DC - July 20, 2009 at 10:35 am
Hey I’m not trying to cause any problems. I myself am a Democrat that voted for Obama. I’m just saying that it’s possible that Rupert Murdoch could buy some Sinclair stations despite having just sold off a few itself (including WJW in Cleveland), and since both companies support right-wing politics, so nothing in that regard would change. Just that News Corp would be more aggressive than Sinclair. I’ve gotten to the point of ignoring the news (and when I mean news I mean CNN & Fox News, not local news) and watching SportsCenter at the end of the day. I probably rely more on Yahoo!, wkbn.com, & kdka.com for news than anything else these days.
Joe Gerard (URL) - July 20, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Fox is not in a buying mood — it laid off employees and cut back newscasts at one of its O&Os this month.
Charles - July 24, 2009 at 3:52 pm
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