KHON and KGMB Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp. has picked up another television duopoly, or ownership of two stations in a single market, as it has in Honolulu.
owner Emmis gets
another TV duopoly
Its acquisitions in the
Mobile/Pensacola market area
may not raise the same concerns
that have been expressed hereBy Erika Engle
eengle@starbulletin.com
The company Wednesday announced an agreement for the $11.5 million purchase of WBPG-TV, the WB affiliate in Mobile/Pensacola, from Pegasus Communications Corp., based in Pennsylvania.
STAR-BULLETIN / 2002 Emmis already owns FOX-affiliate WALA-TV in the market, the No. 63 "designated market area" according to Nielsen Media Research, the TV ratings service.
"The addition of a second station in Mobile/Pensacola will allow us to leverage all the advantages of a duopoly, from providing competitive programming to area viewers, to enhancing sales efforts, to getting discounts through economies of scale," said Randall Bongarten, President of Emmis Television in a statement.
Emmis' other duopoly is in Honolulu, where it owns both FOX-affiliate KHON-TV and CBS-affiliate KGMB-TV. Honolulu is the No. 71 DMA.
Its continued ownership of two of the top-rated stations in the Honolulu market has been contested by one other television licensee. It has also been questioned by groups concerned over diversity of editorial voice in the stations' news offerings.
However, because WBPG is not a top-four station in the Mobile/Pensacola market, "none of the same Honolulu issues apply," according to Kate Healey, Emmis director of media and investor relations.
Emmis' newest acquisition has been on the air one year. It operates out of another Pegasus-owned station in Jackson, Miss. under the supervision of a general manager who will stay with Pegasus. WBPG has fewer than a dozen employees, Healey said, including a sales team in Pensacola, Fla.
Emmis will not take over operations of WPBG until the deal's expected closing in late March 2003. At that time the station's operations are expected to move to sister-station WALA in Mobile, Ala., said Healey.
The WPBG transaction requires FCC approval but is not likely to face the same challenges as the Honolulu duopoly.
The Federal Communications Commission is accepting public comment about its exhaustive review of media ownership rules. Among many other restrictions, the law currently prohibits one company from owning two top-rated television stations in a single market.
Meanwhile back in the home of Emmis' first duopoly, questions and speculation swirl over plans for KHON and KGMB which the company owns under repeated waivers of ownership rules.
Rick Blangiardi, Emmis' Hawaii market senior vice president and general manager of both stations, will address concerns which have been raised by the Hawaii Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Honolulu Community-Media Council at a luncheon Tuesday.
On both primary and general election nights, KHON offered live coverage and analysis while KGMB ran other programming, beginning its election coverage with its late newscasts.
