Tribune is considering to sell some or all of their properties by year's end. Portland's KWBP-TV is Tribune owned and operated. Could Belo or even SJL Broadcasting acquire KWBP?

Belo owns Channels 3 and 61 in Phoenix, so sure, they could! (They do a great job here, too...good company!)

Or KRCW even.

I assume, then, that Tribune is also considering selling Channel 13 in Seattle?

Aren't KRCW and KWBP the one and same station?

KWBP no longer exists (in Portland at least) and has been succeeded by KRCW. So they really aren't one and the same.

S&P Puts Belo Corp.'s Debt Ratings On CreditWatch

CHICAGO Standard & Poor's Ratings Services (S&P) said Wednesday it placed Belo Corp.'s corporate credit and senior unsecured debt on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The CreditWatch listing, S&P said in a statement, "reflects Belo's continued soft newspaper results at a time when the company's financial profile is weak for the ratings."

S&P rates Belo's corporate credit and senior unsecured debt at "BBB." The company had $1.3 billion of debt outstanding at June 2006, the ratings agency said.

Debt levels rose in the six months ended June 2006 because of stock repurchases, the agency noted.

It said it would review its ratings after Belo releases its 2006 third-quarter results.

"If Standard & Poor's lowers the company's ratings, it is expected to be limited to one notch," the agency said.




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Sorry, since the CW is here, KWBP is now KRCW. That is interesting the KCPQ-TV and KMYQ-TV could go on the selling block. I think News Corporation, which owns the Fox Network, the new MyNetworkTV and dozen of television stations could buy the Seattle stations. I think Fox want to owned a station or stations in the 14th largest television market in the country. Meredith briefly once own KCPQ-TV before selling the station to Tribune.

Also, if Tribune sells KRCW-TV in Portland, I think Belo would be the likely owner to acquire the station. In recent Tribune deals, their have sold stations in markets to in-town rivals. For example, Tribune sold WATL-TV to Gannett, who owns WXIA-TV in Atlanta. Similar Tribune station deals occurred in Albany and Boston.

I'm guessing due to the credit rating of Belo that this will actually go to an outside buyer this time.

Just a curious insight, but do you think Newhouse/Advance has any chance to buy KRCW? Or, would they even want to? Ramping up costs to create a news department would be pretty extreme, but with a potential partnership with the Oregonian we could see something unparalleled since the Oregonian had ownership in KOIN way back in the day. Of course the CW programming is a far cry from anything to bring in viewers, but if they can make a 5 year plan to acquire the rights to some better programs such as they did with Seinfeld and maybe Dr. Phil or a Rachel Ray they might make some inroads....

Thoughts?