Will KRON be sold in the Spectrum Auction?
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It's the elephant in the room that neither Media General, nor Nexstar want to talk about.
Sources have been telling FTVLive for months that KRON in San Francisco is more than likely to be sold in the spectrum auction and the station could just end up going dark.
No one at Media General or Nextsar which is buying Media General will confirm that, but in recent presentations to investors, it seemed very clear.
In Nexstar's investor presentation to investors, the company used a map of the current Nexstar stations (in blue) and the current Media General stations (in yellow) with the overlap markets in red.
What you might notice is that 5 stations missing on the map. The stations in Indianapolis, Hawaii,
Jacksonville, Albuquerque and San Francisco.
When Nexstar was asked about the missing stations, they claimed it was just a mistake. Of course, if you buy that, we have some swampland down here in Florida you might want to take a look at.
In 2015, Media General gave their presentation to investors and it included a "sell and exit" strategy on KRON.
So, Media General knows that KRON is likely worth more at auction then it is as a TV station and so does Nexstar.
Now that Nexstar is taking over Media General, which includes KRON it sure seems like both companies think KRON could bring them some big bucks at the spectrum auction.
The problem is, that KRON is still a TV station with people working in it. It's not like they can just come out and say that they are selling KRON in the auction and everyone is going to be out of a job.
But..... Another sign that KRON is going down is a look at their General Manager, Ashley Gold Messina. Messina has been the GM of KRON since 2014, but lately she has been spending a lot of time at KOIN in Portland. KOIN is another one of the Media General properties that Nexstar will be taking over.
Sources say that Nexstar is interested in keeping Messina in the company. Sources think that she will end up at KOIN with a soft landing after KRON is sold at auction.
No one will confirm that any of this is happening and we are not saying that it will.
But, if you connect the dots and look at what was presented to investors, it sure seems like KRON is headed to the spectrum auction and the station could be going dark.
KRON would by no means be the only station that this could happen to. But, it will be one of the biggest stations in one of the biggest markets to see it happen.
Stay tuned....
