Portland Press Herald from Portland, Maine • 7

Portland Press Herald Wednesday October 15 1997 7A I li 1) I PA ONE amily owned TV sale signals end of era The sale of WCSH and WLBZ to Gannett Co Inc will end status as a state where most affiliates are locally owned By DIETER BRADBURY Stajf Writer or nearly half a century network television stations have been run like local variety stores with the owners behind the counters The pending arrival of Gannett Co Inc in Portland and Bangor means a Wal Mart is going up around the comer The proposed sale of WCSH TV and WLBZ TV to Gannett will end unusual status as a state where most of the affiliates of major networks are owned by local families People familiar with the television industry say the change is probably inevitable part of a national trend that is driven by the relaxation of federal limits on television market ownership think in market either a target of acquisition or looking to buy someone your said David Kaufman vice pre sident and general manager of WMTW TV in Auburn Maine Broadcasting System has agreed to sell WCSH and WLBZ both NBC affiliates to Gannett Maine Broadcasting System was founded in 1925 by Henry Rines of South Portland He began with a radio station named after his hotel the Congress Square Hotel His widow Adeline Rines founded the television station and gave it the same call letters in 1953 The company has always been owned by members of the Rines family Its president rederic Thompson is grandson Two other network affiliates in Portland are also family owned? WGME TV the CBS affiliate is the property of Guy Gannett Com munications of Portland The station has been owned by members of the Gannett family since it was founded in 1954 Guy Gannett Communications which has no family or corporate relationship to the publicly traded company buying WCSH and WLBZ also owns The Portland Newspa pers Central Maine Newspapers the New Media Development Group and six other television stations around the country WMTW in Auburn the ABC network affiliate in southern Maine is owned by Harron Communica tions of Pennsylvania also a family business fourth television sta tion WPXT TV a ox network affi liate was purchased by Pegasus Media and Communications a Pennsylvania company in January 1996 The station had been the property of Bride Communications of Portland whose principal owner was John Bride Horace Hildreth Jr of Diversi fied Communications whose family owns WABI TV in Bangor first television station said he knows of no other place in the country with such a concentration of family ownership would bet that Maine is Hildreth said I guess I would put it down to the fact that Mainers usually like to sell red Nutter director of editorials at WCSH TV one of the stations to be sold to Gannett Co said family ownership had produced a station that responded to the community and listened to its employees family was so involved with local said Nutter whose career at WCSH spans 32 years they saw a need they just quietly went out and addressed Madeleine Corson chairman of Guy Gannett Communications was not available for comment Tuesday The spokesman Ted said Corson was saddened by the sale of a family owned busi ness to an out of state corporation she wishes the family and the new owners said aunt Jean Gannett Haw ley and Mary Rines Thompson former president of Maine Broad casting Systems were contem poraries who carried on a tradition of family ownership noted They did so at a time when few women held positions of power in the communications industry from that point of view this is the end of an he said stressed that Guy Gan nett Communications intends to remain a family owned business by applying innovation in the fiercely competitive field of communications feel that as a family owned company we can perhaps take the long view and adapt to changes better than companies that might have a more bottom line orienta he said Hildreth at Diversified Communi cations said he also has no intention of selling WABI TV However industry conditions are subjecting television station owners to great pressures and temptations When Congress passed the Tele communications Act of 1996 it relaxed limits on market ownership of television stations The law allows one company to reach up to 35 percent of the televi sion households in the nation There are about 985 million of those house holds Portland is the 80th largest market The law still prohibits one com pany from owning more than one station in the same market That means the Gannett Co for example could not acquire another station here or in Bangor Since the law passed stations in larger cities have been gobbled up by the likes of Rupert Murdoch who purchased the ox network West inghouse and others Douglas Gomery a journalism professor at the University of Maiy land said Gannett is merely posi tioning itself to compete by buying stations in slightly smaller markets like Portland makes perfect he said Gannett wants to retain its power in television as a non nctwork chain owner they have to be looking to buy more stations in this size Gomery who has written nine books on the economics and histoiy of the media said he expects family owned stations will be the target of corporate buyers in all but the smallest television markets means the localism that TV was founded on in the 1950s is he said owners have tended to react to local concerns and not so much to national consultants like Gannett will not be unresponsive to local Gomery said the bottom line will come into WCSH Continued from Page 1A the sale during company meetings Tuesday morning Those meetings were described by Thompson and Alan Cartwright vice president and general manager as emotional is a bittersweet Cart wright said relationship between (red Thompson) and the employees was so close there is a sadness here certainly because it has been a great tradition and great Gannett executives including Cecil Walker president and chief executive officer of Gannett Broad casting also met with station employees Gannett Broadcasting is the corporate division responsible for operating the televi sion stations Thompson said his company sought out Gannett because he believes it will continue to provide quality broadcasting and has the resources to invest in technology The conversion from analog to digi tal television broadcasting technol ogy is expected to cost $8 million to $10 million per station according to local broadcasters Portland is the 80th lar gest media market Given size the move into such a small market surprised some local televi sion executives However the sale docs continue recent trends of acquisitions and consolidation across almost all industries is among the last to see it but mergers and consolidations have been really accelerating over the last decade said Mike McCauley assistant professor of communica tions at the University of Maine is good for business but I am not certain it is good for journalism by any means to have all this concen tration of a It is unclear what effect such deep pocketed corporate ownership will have on local television WCSH an NBC affiliate already leads the Portland market in both prime time and local news shows WLBZ TV in Bangor is typically second in local news to WABI TV a CBS affiliate owned by Diversified Communica tions of Portland you have a big company like Gannett they will bring big city broadcasting techniques and sys tems down to this said Doug inck general manager of WPXT RENO Continued from Page IA officials emphasized that it does not indicate investigators have found evidence of wrongdoing or that Reno is now more likely to seek an inde pendent counsel Vice President Gore is the subject of a similar investigation regarding his fund raising telephone calls from the White House Reno must report back to the panel of judges on both inquiries by Dec 2 At that under the law she can either recom mend that the judges appoint an independent counsel seek a 60 day extension to continue the investiga tion or announce that there are no reasonable to continue the inquiry into the Clinton and Gore phone calls The president's involvement in controversial fund raising practices during last campaign has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks with the inquiry into his phone calls the release of pre viously undisclosed videotapes of his appearances at White House politi cal events with Democratic contri butors and negotiations between the White House and the Justice Department to arrange for Clinton to be interviewed by investigators The scope of a potential interview and the circumstances under which it would be conducted are still being discussed but it will not necessarily be limited to fund raising phone calls officials said Clinton who is on a week long trip to South America that began Sun day said Tuesday in response to decision to order a prelimin ary investigation is a law and a fcict finding process and going to cooperate with Responding to questions at a news conference in Brasilia Clinton repeated a complaint he has raised several times in recent days as Republican leaders have escalated their criticism of Reno lor rejecting their demands to appoint an inde pendent counsel don't feel good about the explicit overbearing attempt to politicize this Clinton said lawyer David Kendall said in a statement "In view of the many issues the Department of Justice must resolve announcement is hardly Kendall said he was confident that at the end of a thorough investigation will be clear that there are no grounds for the appointment of an independent Although Reno is now moving forward with investigations of both Clinton and Gore under the indepen dent counsel process she continues to reject demands by Republicans and public interest groups that she step aside and seek an independent counsel immediately to ensure a more objective investigation 7 pm Weeknights A frot W1SME ORTL Aji'Pj hKbB' rederic Thompson Sale best option forjamify ami employees TV and WPME TV in Portland suspect they will run it the way they run their other properties: profes sionally competitively and Bill Stough president and general manager of WGME said are big players and will bring a lot of professionalism to the marketplace not that the station already excelled at that but Gannett will bring a different brand It will be a challenge for John Morton a media analyst with Morton Research and Cathy Per ron a communications professor at Boston University said Gannett runs high quality television news operations They do not expect the company will take steps that jeop ardize leading position broadcasting com panies are Perron said run a strong news depart ment and they have a reputation as good local Morton said lavish money on the news operations but they don't scrimp either They will try to remain Thompson highlighted reputation as an important factor when choosing a buyer However deciding to sell the station was still difficult But Thompson said the company realized it needed to make changes several months ago and began to seek out acquirers He said he did not try to set off a bidding war for the company After preliminary discus sions with several companies the company negotiated exclusively with Gannett for the past three to four TWO DIERENT GANNETTS Gannett Co Inc based in Arlington Va is one of the largest media companies It publishes 89 newspapers including USA Today It also publishes USA Weekend and owns 18 televisions stations five radio stations and cable television systems Guy Gannett Communications based in Portland owns WGME TV and The Portland Newspapers which publishes the Portland Press Herald and the Maine Sunday Telegram It also owns Central Maine Newspapers publisher of theKcnnebec Journal tn Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville and six network all iliated television stations outside Maine The operations also include the New Media Development Group Letterworks International and Voice Information Services (PhoneME) Although the companies spell their names the same they are pronounced differently Gannett Co is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable as in while Guy Gannett is pronounced wmh the accent on the first syllable as in months "Obviously I felt pretty good once I could comprehend and understand the inevitability of he said Gannett buying this company they (the stations) are in good hands now and that is what the family While Thompson is stepping away from local broadcasting he will remain with Maine Broadcasting Co which still owns an Iowa televi sion station CSP Mobile Television Productions and other media related businesses The Iowa TV station is for sale OR MORE on television in Maine and beyond see the Press Herald's World Wide Web site: wwwportlandcom lu season is right around the corner So is flu prevention RITE AID Get your vaccination at your neighborhood Rite Aid As a caring member of your community your local Rite Aid will be offering flu vaccinations for just $10 People at high risk for the flu who should seriously consider getting the vaccine: diabetic patients heart condition patients lung condition patients college dorm residents apartment complex residents people ith high contact with the public people over the age of 65 healthcare professionals No appointment is necessary To find the Rite Aid lu Clinic nearest you call 1 800 Rite Aid Monday through riday 8:30 am 9:00 pm Eastern Standard Time Saturday 9:30 am 6:00 pm Eastern Standard Time or visit our websiteatwwwritealdcom recipients 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