Raycom, CNHI announce merger

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Raycom Media, CNHI announce merger

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Raycom Media Inc. and Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. announced today they have agreed to merge, forming one of the nation’s largest privately owned media groups.
Raycom Media owns or operates 65 television and two radio stations covering 44 markets in 20 states. CNHI owns more than 110 newspapers, including the Times West Virginian, websites and niche publications in 22 states.
Under the merger agreement, CNHI will operate as a Raycom Media subsidiary.

 

[Batman]

Isn't this a bit like the time Hitler and Mussolini teamed up?

 

[LanceyHoward]

The two companies are both owned by the Alabama retirement fund and headquartered in the same building. I think the idea the article expressed that this is to combine administrative overhead is true. Evidently Raycom has a centralized vido production facility and they will will try to push video through the newspaper websites. I think this is basically no big deal.

 

[exmediahack]

Raycom is a so-so company in the TV world. Not the gold standard - that's Hearst. Not the worst - that's Sinclair and Nexstar.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

So that didn’t last long, seems like horrible news for the CNHI properties

CNHI explores sale of newspaper company

GateHouse and Digital First may slug it out for papers north of Boston - The Boston Globe

 

[LanceyHoward]

How centralized are the CNHI? It seems to becoming problematic to sell newspapers individually anymore because operations have been merged. The difficulties of separating operations was reported to be a reason the sale of the LA Times took so long. I also read that Austin and Palm Beach were sold to the same buyer rather because of the problems in separating the operations.

I wonder how many of the operations of the mostly small CNHI papers can be separated or if the chain will have to be sold as a unit. If they have to be sold en mass then advantage Gatehouse.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Frim what I’ve heard of CNHI over the years, GateHouse might actually be a step up.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

I think cnhi has regionalized deisgn now so in theory you could sell those in clusters to different groups....if there are enough takers.

I wonder what chance if any they could spin off and self sustain like pre-Raycom or if subsiding to a Gatehouse or someone else is inevitable

 

[wicked]

The Mass. AG should take a nice, hard look if GateHouse wants to buy those Boston area papers.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

The Mass. AG should take a nice, hard look if GateHouse wants to buy those Boston area papers.

For over saturating or am I missing something else obvious? Drawing a blank

 

[justgladtobehere]

What the f@@@ happened? Raycom and CNHI are going to have spent more on attorneys, bankers, etc. than Raycom paid

The Mass. AG should take a nice, hard look if GateHouse wants to buy those Boston area papers.

Unless the NY AG does something first or the Cambridge liberal set starts throwing a fit, the Mass AG won't do ****.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Gatehouse has several small papers in WVa and so does CNHI, I can see it working there, but probably resulting in an even more centralized desk and reduction of positions.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Has any progress been made on the sale of the CNHI chain? Have any papers been sold to neighboring chains? Has CNHI closed any more papers beyond the two they closed in downstate Illinois?

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Roll Tide, I guess

CNHI sold to Alabama Retirement Systems

 

[LanceyHoward]

Roll Tide, I guess

CNHI sold to Alabama Retirement Systems

I am reading this in the European Union and hence the link is blocked due to idiotic EU data protection laws.

But I thought CNHI was already controlled by the Alabama Retirement System (ARS). ARS was trying to get out of the media business and had sold their Raycom chain of television stations and was trying to sell the newspapers. So I guess they could not find a buyer. I would have thought this chain would been something Gatehouse would have snapped up. Who knows?

I do wonder if CNNHI, which closed two dailies n Illinois alst year, will clsoe any more papers now, given that ad revenues continue to tank.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

Alabama sold the newspapers to Raycom, but Raycoms pending merger with Gray required them to get rid of the papers.

Whats not clear, and I cant find any reporting on, was if there were other bids for CNHI besides Bama, if they may have been deemed too low, or if Raycom facilitated a sale back to Bama in order to be quick and get the Gray deal back on track, which I believe was in a holding pattern until CNHIs papers had new owners.

I dont imagine its a significant enough deal that any financial pubs will be digging in and shedding light

 

[Kato]

I believe the ARS financed CNHI (and Raycom, too, I think ... hence the merger) but didn't own the chain. Now, apparently, ARS will actually own CNHI. Not sure what that means for the business model going forward.