The sale of the seven-station group is one option the privately held company says it's exploring.
Allbritton Puts Itself On The Block
Allbritton Communications, owner of seven full-power ABC affiliates including WJLA Washington, said today that its considering selling the group, among other “strategic alternatives.”
“There can be no assurance that the exploration of strategic alternates will result in the consummation of any transaction,” the family-owned company said in a statement, noting that there is no timetable for action.
Based in Arlington, Va., Allbritton also owns NewsChannel 8, a 24-hour, local news cable channel in Washington.
Allbritton was founded by Joe Allbritton, who died last December. His son, Robert, now runs the company as chairman. Fred Ryan, a one-time aide to President Ronald Reagan, is president.
For the review, Allbritton said, it has retained Moelis & Co. as its financial adviser and Paul Hastings and Dow Lohnes as its legal counsel.
The Allbritton group:
BRAND CONNECTIONS
WJLA Washington (DMA 8)
WCFT Birmingham, Ala. (DMA 42)
WHTM Harrisburg, Pa. (DMA 43)
KATV Little Rock, Ark. (DMA 56)
KTUL Tulsa, Okla. (DMA 59)
WSET Lynchburg, Va. (DMA 68)
WCIV Charleston, S.C. (DMA 98)
Comments (15)
jennifer handshew says:
May 1, 2013 at 9:21 am
Who wants it the most? Sinclair or Nexstar????
Christina Perez says:
May 1, 2013 at 10:03 am
Local b’cast TV is the most efficient means of delivering digital video content to end users. Albritton is making a huge mistake and some other broadcast group stands to make big gains as a result of their shortsightedness, IMO.
Liz Sidoti and Bob Lewis says:
May 1, 2013 at 9:29 am
Sinclair
Lynn Hazen says:
May 1, 2013 at 9:31 am
Raycom?? They would have to spin one of the Charleston stations but the rest would fit well into their existing station group.
Maria Black says:
May 1, 2013 at 9:47 am
Those DMAs are too good for Sinclair or Nexstar. I’d say LIN.
Brad Dann says:
May 1, 2013 at 9:54 am
anyone who knows anything about Raycom should know they’ll be aggressive in this case, fits their footprint and Dr Bronner would relish having a DC station.
Joe Belisle says:
May 1, 2013 at 11:17 am
Raycom could take them, but there would be a HUGE conflict in Birmingham. They already own WBRC, the Fox station there. Their biggest competition in news & ratings is the Albritton owned ABC station there. Would they dump on big Bham station for another? Sinclair isn’t that crazy of an option. DC is the only DMA that’s higher than their MO. Sinclair has the CW & MyNet affiliates in Bham. LIN also just acquired the CBS station in Birmingham. Birmingham already has Raycom, Media General, LIN, and Sinclair. Having one of those 4 buy would cause a buy & dump to happen. Other markets may have issues too, but I’m only familiar with lol.
alicia farmer says:
May 1, 2013 at 12:19 pm
How about Washington Post (Post-Newsweek)? They made a huge mistake 35 years ago selling WTOP and buying WWL – now WDIV in Detroit – and not applying for a FCC cross-ownership waiver. I highly doubt the Commission would block such a move in today’s more fractionalized environment. Buying the Allbritton group would be a bold move for PNS.
Albert Pica says:
May 1, 2013 at 1:36 pm
I’m with you. I’m sure PNS will make an offer.
Brad Dann says:
May 1, 2013 at 1:38 pm
That was a trade by Post Newsweek and Evening News of WWJ-TV and WTOP. It happened when many in the industry believed the FCC was not going to grandfather cross-ownership where it existed.
alicia farmer says:
May 1, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Correction: – WTOP traded with WWJ in 1978. Many believe it was a huge mistake and that the FCC would have granted Washington Post permission to retain the TV station.
Andrea Rader says:
May 2, 2013 at 12:26 am
I suspect that if anything P-N is a seller. Their flagship paper is losing staggering amounts of money and their for-profit college operation is taking it from all sides. Selling their TV stations might buy them some time to focus on turning around the rest of their operations.
Linda Leavell says:
May 1, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Maybe ABC Buys WJLA and Make ABC O&O in DC.
Andrea Rader says:
May 1, 2013 at 7:45 pm
ABC would dearly love to have an O&O in the nation’s capital, but the synergies for Sinclair’s Baltimore cluster would be very attractive as well.
Joanne McDonald says:
May 1, 2013 at 10:38 pm
WRC, WTTG, WJLA, WUSA, WDCA, WDCW and educational WETA in Washington and WMAR, WBAL, WJZ, WUTB, WBFF, WNUV, and Maryland Public Broadcasting stations WMPB in Baltimore and WMPT in Annapolis predicted over the air signals overlap in each other TV DMA’s. Walt Disney/ ABC buying WJLA would be terrific since ABC already operates a news bureau in Washington, DC and for competitive reasons for both the Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland TV DMA.. No to Scripps due to owning ABC station WMAR, no to Hearst due to owning NBC station WBAL, and a big no no for Sinclair (Sincrap) due to owning FOX station WBFF, and controlling and managing CW station WNUV under Cunningham, and NYNET station WUTB under Deerfield and all of them with CBS O&O WJZ can be reachable over the air in Washington, DC at times. I would consider WBFF moving to channel 13 as it’s virtual and RF channel with WJZ moving to channel 45 as it’s virtual channel and channel 46 as it’s RF channel. I would be okay with Hearst getting KATV, KTUL, WSET, and WCIV, with Nexstar getting WHTM and combined the operations with WLYH, and with Sinclair getting the combined WBMA LD/WJSU/WCFT with the intent of using the the combined WBMA LD/WJSU/WCFT to program FOX on it’s DT1 channel and MYNET on it’s DT2 channel while WABM continues to program MYNET on it’s DT 1 channel and add FOX on it’s DT2 channel. Sinclair keeps the CW affiliation on WTTO and WDBB. Sinclair could transfer the license of WTTO and WDBB to Cunningham and WABM to Deerfield while Sinclair fully owns the combined WBMA LD/WJSU/WCFT combo. Raycom picks up the ABC affiliation and airs it on WBRC again since Fall of 1996.