Meredith-Media Full General Merger Shows Pressures On The Local Idiot Box Business

The $2.4 billion merger of Media General in addition to Meredith Corp. local boob tube stations is beingness lauded past times the companies every bit delivering shareholder value in addition to past times media critics every bit a sign of unsafe media concentration.
 
What the merger actually reveals is the weakening of local boob tube marketplace profits in addition to increasing efforts past times station owners to seek terms efficiencies in addition to scale advantages inwards operations in addition to local advertising sales--a mutual strategy inwards mature in addition to declining businesses.

The merger volition pose the novel firm, Meredith Media General, into tertiary house inwards local boob tube station ownership. It volition convey 88 stations inwards 54 markets, including xl of the large network affiliates inwards the exceed 25 markets.

The firms are expecting the merger to create $80 billion inwards savings inwards the origin ii years.

Because of the fiscal pressures on local stations, large media owners such every bit Tribune, Sinclair, in addition to directly Media General in addition to Meredith are trying to purchase marketplace portion through mergers in addition to acquisitions in addition to multi-channel video operations. These increase revenue in addition to profits that they uncovering hard to obtain through growth of electrical current local boob tube operations.

Local boob tube revenues are beingness hitting past times shifts of audience consumption to programming offered past times cable in addition to satellite operators in addition to downloadable video from NetFlix, Hulu, in addition to other connected TV operators.

The novel theatre volition ask to divest to a greater extent than or less stations inwards half-dozen mid-sized markets to run into FCC ownership limitations in addition to have regulatory approval.