The Takeover of WPRI’s Parent Company is Approved by Feds and Shifting Political Spending

The Takeover of WPRI’s Parent Company is Approved by Feds and Shifting Political Spending

WPRI-12 is bracing for the impact of their third owner in just over two years. With the final Federal Communication Commission approval of Nexstar’s acquisition of Media General announced this past week, look for the previously announced “synergies” to hit the company over the next few weeks.

As GoLocal has previously reported, when Nexstar acquires assets, they have a strong track record of making very significant cuts to staffing, or in Nexstar vernacular, a predicted “$76 million in synergies" coming in year one.

WRPI-12 was for years the favorite child of TV group LIN Media, but LIN sold to Media General and they got gobbled up by mega-TV group Nexstar. Now, WPRI is a small outlier in the Northeast in the very aggressive cost conscious Nexstar conglomerate.

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“Over the last two decades we have grown Nexstar based on our commitment to deliver exceptional service to the local communities where we operate, expansion through accretive acquisitions, enhanced operating results of acquired stations and digital media properties, and an overarching focus on localism,” said Perry Sook, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nexstar in announcing the federal approval of the deal.

Nexstar only owns three other stations in New England - Springfield, MA, Hartford, CT, and Burlington, VT.

Nexstar’s focus is building its impact in bigger markets — the television group owns stations in many of America’s top media markets, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Washington, DC, Portland, Oregon, and Tampa.  

Big Worry Locally

The post-merger WPRI is likely to see significant cuts and some staff have already started to leave of their own volition. Historically, WJAR-10 has dominated the ratings for decades and WPRI has worked to close the ratings gap. 

Time will tell how deep the cuts will be by Nexstar in Providence — in other markets acquired by Nexstar, such as Las Vegas, the company cut 18 from the newsroom alone. Las Vegas is the 40th ranked TV market and Providence is 52nd. According to sources at the station and former employees, some of WPRI’s top talent have been without a contract as local management has been instructed not to extend contracts until the merger was completed. 

Nexstar’s acquisition strategy and cost cutting has made it a darling of Wall Street. The stock closed on Friday at $63.55 a share and just under its 52-week high of $67.65. Nexstar’s 52-week low was $34.65 a share.

Political Spend in 2016 - Big Hit to Radio and Print, Big Win for Digital

A recent report from Borrell Associates reports that political spend in 2016 was up slightly, but where political campaigns spent shifted dramatically.

According to research, “Combining local, state, and nationwide election spending, 2016 elections spent $9.8 billion on advertising media, but broadcast TV lost ground, from a 57.9% share of all political advertising in 2012, to a 44.7% share in 2016. Digital media spending, though, increased nearly eight-fold, going from a 1.7% share in 2012 to a 14.4% share in 2016.”