With Standard General‘s proposed privatization takeover of broadcast TV station owner TEGNA not expected to occur until at least February 2023, as the FCC now seeks public comment on new concessions offered by Standard General to get the deal done, the investment house led by Soohyung Kim has made good on its word not to hike retransmission consent rates of TEGNA stations to those negotiated for Cox Media Group properties.
In a brief statement obtained by RBR+TVBR on Thursday, Standard General confirmed that it and TEGNA’s largest MVPD, Comcast, on Tuesday (12/27) entered into an agreement confirming the application of the TEGNA retransmission consent agreement upon closing of the transaction.
Translation: there will likely be neither a retrans impasse, nor a “black out” of TEGNA stations, on Xfinity lineups once the TEGNA purchase by Standard General closes.
The accord fortifies a December 16 disclosure, submitted with the FCC for its review as part of the regulatory approval process required to get the TEGNA deal cleared, in which Standard General unilaterally waived certain retransmission consent rights applicable to the TEGNA stations that Standard General will control post-closing, giving certain MVPDs the ability to accept or decline the waiver. This ensured that TEGNA’s retransmission consent agreements (RCA) will apply to those stations.
TEGNA owns 64 television stations and two radio stations — WBNS-AM & FM in Columbus, Ohio. Each are Sports Talkers.
Whether or not that deal will close is now on the minds of many. With TEGNA stock trading at $21.08, the company has not seen its share value wither across the fourth quarter of 2022, as has been the case of its broadcast media peers. Furthermore, TGNA went ex-dividend on December 8, making investment in TEGNA perhaps more rewarding than other broadcast companies that had suspended their dividend in Q2 2020 and have yet to restart it.
What makes the Standard General acquisition of TEGNA complex is the involvement of Apollo Global Management, which is the majority stakeholder in Cox Media Group. Apollo will hold a significant minority stake in TEGNA, and has pledged to have a non-controlling interest in TEGNA. Still, some view the resulting TEGNA, which would assumably absorb the Standard Media stations already under incoming CEO Deb McDermott‘s purview, as inclusive of CMG — even though divestments have already been made that would keep each entity separate.
Whether or not the FCC believes this to be the case is still up for discussion, and public comments on the TEGNA takeover are being accepted by the Media Bureau.
Comments are due January 13, 2023. Reply comments are due January 20, 2023.
This comment docket is listed as “MB Docket No. 22-162.”
