Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel should be commended for the agency’s careful decision to refer the effort by hedge fund Standard General and private-equity fund Apollo Global Management to take over broadcaster Tegna to an administrative law judge (ALJ) at the regulator. There, the facts can be clearly determined around the public-interest standards at stake, including localism, consumer prices, the impact on jobs and diversity of media ownership. 

I was proud when my organization, Public Knowledge, joined with labor unions, civil rights groups, public interest nonprofits, and multiple companies to raise questions about Standard General and Apollo taking over the nation’s second-largest local broadcast TV station owner, Tegna. For years our organizations have fought to stem the tide of media consolidation that is contributing to the gutting of newsroom staffs and the reduction in truly local content to meet the needs of diverse communities across our nation. 

Hedge funds have a history of stripping their new acquisitions down for parts to cut large costs quickly, including firing workers and scaling back operations. In the case of broadcast channels, hedge funds look to cut back on local news and other diverse, targeted programming in favor of national content. FCC filings have shown that this acquisition was structured in a complicated way in order for Standard General to enter into joint retransmission consent negotiations to increase costs for cable TV subscribers. These public interest concerns are always considered in FCC license transfers and certainly warrant a hearing with the agency’s administrative law judge. 

A fact-finding hearing in front of an ALJ makes sense if FCC staff feels it does not have full, accurate information, or a clear picture of the transaction. In addition to the concerns about loss of local content and media consolidation, all parties controlling broadcast licenses in the U.S. are subject to laws about ownership or control by non-U.S. citizens. Concerns over foreign ownership from Apollo Global Management’s stake in the deal must be addressed. Normally after an FCC referral to the ALJ, the parties trying to get a deal approved would withdraw their applications and maybe try again with a different deal structure. Not this time. Instead, Standard General, with a self imposed deadline of May 22 to close the deal, has engaged in an  expensive Washington smear and influence campaign that has become all too familiar around the FCC debates lately. 

In 2022 the public saw a bad-faith smear campaign about issues outside the FCC’s jurisdiction sink a nominee to the commission. Democratic elected officials failed to be unified behind seating a strong public-interest advocate at the FCC in response to this influence campaign. Now, in 2023, we’ve seen chair Rosenworcel’s FCC criticized by Democrats like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) for simply following agency processes to get detailed answers about a major broadcast acquisition. In fact, Senator Menendez openly threatened the renomination of the only commissioner of color at the FCC, Geoffrey Starks, and by implication his own party’s ability to control the FCC agenda. Our hope is that such criticism and direct threats to the agency’s important consumer-protection work does not prevent the FCC from doing its investigation and making judgments based on the facts of the transaction. Now more than ever, Congress and the public need expert regulators protecting the public from tech and media consolidation. While we wait for Congress to create a regulator for dominant digital platforms, we already have an expert agency for media and telecommunications in the FCC. Its mandate to protect the public is clear and the debate around this transaction should focus on those protections and the transaction's details.

On this transaction, the Rosenworcel FCC has led with clear, simple process and standard questions. The timing may be difficult for Standard General, but that is their responsibility to adjust their transaction and timeline to fit the necessary review, not the other way around.

When it comes to news, we find ourselves living in a world with access to more and more information, but we are somehow less informed. Instead of being provided facts, we increasingly are told how to think about something — many times not even knowing what that something really is. On many platforms, the line between news and opinion has become so blurred.

The good news is that in the midst of all of this confusion, local television finds itself holding a unique and enviable position as the trusted source of information — one that still believes in telling the story the way I learned to tell it in journalism school many years ago: who, what, when, where, why and how.

Following Standard General’s acquisition of Tegna, it will be my privilege to serve as CEO and lead a terrific group of dedicated broadcast and digital employees. Under our leadership, Tegna will be the nation’s largest minority-owned and woman-led broadcasting group. But more than that, through continued hard-hitting, objective local journalism — done the right way — we will continue to ask the tough questions and provide the public the information they need.

Stations’ Key Advantages

Through my leadership of Media General and Young Broadcasting, I have 30-plus years of experience working with newsrooms in all types of markets, both large and small. Regardless of the size of the market, each of these local broadcast stations have possessed a number of key advantages.

First, they were transparent and accountable to the communities they served. Local broadcasters build trust with viewers through consistent, dependable information and honest and direct reporting. This stands in stark contrast to the behavior of anonymous purveyors of “news” information on the internet.

Second, they were responsive to the old maxim that “all news is local” — that it must relate to the daily needs of viewers, who care not only about hometown sports and weather but also about their schools, the accountability of government officials and the safety of their neighborhoods.

Third, their viewers still inherently trust local journalists. This is not to ever be taken for granted, however, as a station’s reputation is tested each day, and we are only as good as our last story.

Fourth, broadcasters have worked hard to protect the distribution of their valuable content, which is essential to funding strong local newsrooms. This is in sharp contrast to the reality of regional newspapers, which were late to the table in protecting the distribution of their content.  As a result of this and other missed opportunities, many newspapers find themselves in a tragic cycle of cuts to news operations as they continue to shrink in size, substance and circulation – in large part due to cuts to news operations.  Our world is very different from that of newspapers.

Now is the time to take advantage of our unique position and run with it. To be successful, we need to deliver our local content to viewers and users on their terms. This requires us to be where they are. Modern newsrooms need to be nimble, and outdated divisions (broadcast vs. digital) in the newsroom will not work. Each station needs its newsroom personnel to work together as one newsroom to push its content on multiple platforms.

This approach allows us to reach and serve all of our community, including those who may only access content on a phone. Expanded distribution also supports an inclusive environment that welcomes a diversity of voices.

Keeping Watch on Local Government

We as broadcasters also need to invest in efforts to protect journalism and access to information. Newspapers once led this charge, but the responsibility has increasingly fallen on local broadcasters and other media to support access cases and reporters’ rights. In an age of virtual meetings and electronic communication, we know less and less about what is happening with our local governments. We need to protect our journalists’ rights to access.

Standard General and I are ready to build on the successes at Tegna through prioritizing needed investments in news and, most importantly, people. We believe this is essential to expanding local news content and safeguarding our communities’ access to objective and reliable news.

All broadcasters should see these efforts as being as essential as paying the power bill. If we as broadcasters fail, then our viewers will be left in the dark. ■

Standard General continues to collect anecdotal backing for its proposed merger with Tegna, which the FCC is still vetting on day 221 of its unofficial 180-day shot clock for reviewing such deals.

One of the recent submissions to the FCC docket is from Marcia Green, who identifies herself as the former director of programming for a medium-sized ABC affiliate.

Green is a fan of Deb McDermott, currently Standard General's CEO.

Also: Tech Women's Group Backs McDermott

"Placing one of the most respected women in our industry in charge of the largest broadcast company in the U.S. is a big step forward for women all across our industry," Green wrote the FCC. "She has a long record of leading with purpose, treating people with respect, and investing in people."

Tegna, which owns 64 TV stations in 51 U.S. markets, agreed to be acquired by Standard General back in February for $8.6 billion including debt. It also owns multicast networks True Crime Network, Twist and Quest, as well as advanced advertising company Premion.

The FCC, told by critics that the deal would not be good for local journalism and could lead to job losses, both disputed by Stanard General and Tegna, has been seeking more information on its potential impact on both. ■

Paducah Television Operations, a subsidiary of Standard General, said its four stations have been blacked out to Dish Network subscribers in a dispute over retransmission consent fees.

Paducah Television, based in Providence, operates stations, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cape Girardeau, Missouri and Providence, Rhode Island and does business as Standard Media, said Dish refused offers from Standard Media and was insisting on significant rate reductions.

Standard General has agreed to buy Tegna, but the deal is in the middle of a lengthy review by the FCC. Among the deal's opponents are cable operators concerned that Standard General will try to raise retransmission fees.

The Walt Disney Co.’s stations and cable networks were briefly backed out by Dish, but the two companies quickly came to a settlement last month. Dish is among the distributors most likely to be involved in a fee dispute when distribution deals expire.

In a statement, Standard Media said it has tried to reach a deal with Dish. 

“Throughout this period, the parties have agreed to multiple extensions to permit negotiations to continue without an impact on viewers. Even though the parties continue to negotiate, Dish has taken the inexplicable position that it will no longer carry the stations during the negotiations. Our stations therefore will no longer be accessible through Dish. This is Dish's choice, and not what we prefer,” the company said.

“With just four local stations, Standard Media is a small station owner. We take seriously our responsibility in providing critical and current news to local communities. While Dish is willing to resell our valuable content that drives their viewership, they do not want to pay for it,” Standard Media said.

Standard Media said it will continue to negotiate in good faith and hopes Dish will enter into a “reasonable” agreement.  ■

Standard Media CEO Deb McDermott says she has a track record running TV stations. So does Soo Kim, founder and managing partner of Standard General, which agreed to acquire Tegna for $5.4 billion.

While the deal is being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission, objections have been raised by Graham Media, unions and other groups concerned that newsroom jobs will be lost and about the influence of Apollo Global Management, which owns stations through Cox Media Group and is involved in the financing of Standard General’s bid.

Also: NCTA Seeks FCC Retrans Conditions on Standard General-Tegna

Standard General responded to the FCC about those concerns, saying there are no plans to coordinate with Apollo. 

McDermott has taken a more personal approach, writing a letter to employees assuring them that layoffs are not coming and pointing to investments Standard General has made to bolster the stations it has acquired in the past.

In an interview with Broadcasting+Cable, McDermott said she’s been through a number of station transactions before and that she wanted to reassure the people who work at the stations.

“I’m always about the employees and making sure they feel comfortable,” said McDermott, a member of the Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame. “My first reaction was we need to tell our employees what our plans are. So that’s what we did. There’s no reason not to.”

An example of the commitment to employees was not cutting pay during the pandemic. 

“We’re committed to local news,“ she said. ”I have a journalism background. Soo Kim has strong feelings about journalism and our commitment to it and investing in it.”

Standard General pointed to its leadership as a key reason why the deal is in the public interest. “This is going to be a really special transaction because it creates by far the largest minority-owned and female-led TV broadcast company in the U.S., '' McDermott said. “This is really furthering the commission’s goals of increasing diversity in broadcast stations ownership and management.”

Also: Standard General Says Change Will Be Good for Tegna

A majority of the Standard Media board will be women and half of the board will be minorities. “Soo Kim and I are committed to increase diversity, equity and inclusion across the business and we want to ensure that we reflect the communities we serve.”

The company will be better able to make long-term investments in the stations because it will be privately held and not bound by the pressure of making quarterly reports for Wall Street, she said.

Decentralized Approach

McDermott said Standard Media takes a decentralized approach to managing stations. “The people at the television stations know what they need. If you hire good people, they’re going to do a good job,” she said. Rather than dictating from corporate, “we come in and we work with the people at the station to say, ‘What can we do to grow? Tell us what you think.’ Sometimes we bring in consultants to help, but they are a critical part of that growth.”

At KLKN, the company’s station in Lincoln, Nebraska, Standard General hired Kern Dant as general manager. He hadn’t been a GM before (his dad Steve ran the station in the ’90s and worked for McDermott at Media General).  “We coached him and once he got his wings, I mean, he just flew. He is doing an amazing job for us during the pandemic.”

Early in the pandemic, Dant found out local schools couldn’t manage remote learning. He arranged to clear out the programming on one of KLKN’s digital channels and had lessons running every hour for three or four months. In the fall, when parents couldn’t attend their kids’ sports games, he put them on the digital channel as well/ 

“We’re not being paid for any of this,“ McDermott said. ”This is just the right thing to do. He’s serving his community.” 

Soo and McDermott began working together when Soo invested in the bankrupt Young Broadcasting and merged it with Media General and LIN Media. They eventually sold Media General to Nexstar Media Group.

About the time LIN deal was closing, WISH Indianapolis was losing its CBS affiliation. “We went in with our SWAT team approach and found out they really hadn’t been preparing very well for being an independent,” McDermott recalled. About half the station’s journalists and photographers had left.

“We basically said that on Day One of being an independent, you’re going to be fully staffed,” she said. “We will take people from every television station we have and we’ll keep them here as long as you need them until you fill up the staff.” 

As an independent, WISH added hours of news programming and grew its news staff. As a CBS affiliate, it was the No. 2 station in the market. As an independent, it was No. 3, which McDermott considers a success. 

McDermott also recalled that when her management team got control of the Media General stations they pumped money into WFLA Tampa, investing in a multimillion-dollar weather system to do a better job monitoring hurricanes and covering storms. 

“We do it over and over again so we can grow the company, but it’s the support we give the employees that is so important,” he said.

McDermott expects to find similar opportunities to help the Tegna stations. “We’ll analyze and look for opportunities,” she said. “We’ve never not found opportunities. There’s always opportunities to do things better, that can help grow the bottom line or grow audience. If we can’t invest money because it’s not the right time, then we figure out another way to grow it.”

While McDermott is aware of the headlines created by the objections to the deal, she said the process has been about the same as the ones she went through while doing mergers with Media General and LIN. “We’ve been through this a number of times.”

Changing Business

McDermott and Standard General also believe the broadcast business is changing.

“A lot of us have been doing the same thing for a long time,” she said. “We understand that this is a new world and we have to think differently. We have to understand our audiences like we’ve never done before. It’s becoming very fragmented and interests are very different and how do we manage that?”

New businesses will emerge, including some derived from the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast format. “That’s going to be a big opportunity for us down the road. We’re still working through all of that,” McDermott said. “It’s an exciting time and a challenging time but I’m looking forward to it. It’s what keeps the business alive. We have to look at how we can drive success from the future of how people watch television, and what other ways can we provide information and content to them.”

If the transaction goes through, McDermott’s work life will change. For the past three years, she’s mostly worked from home in Nashville with a 10-person corporate staff in temporary offices.

She’s planning to work out of Tegna’s suburban Washington headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, but keep her Nashville home.

“We really haven’t gotten together on details about how we’re going to run corporate,“ she said ”They have a full corporate team over there. We’ll figure out how all that works.

“Washington is so beautiful,“ she added. ”I’ll enjoy spending some time there.” ■

Standard Media Group said it has purchased nine television stations in six markets from Waypoint Media and Vision Communications for $59.2 million.

The stations include affiliates of the Big Four networks and MyNetwork TV and include: WGBC-TV (Fox and NBC) in Meridian, Mississippi; WHPM-LD (Fox) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; WNBJ-LD (NBC) in Jackson, Tennessee; KJNB-LD and KJNE-LD (Fox and CBS) in Jonesboro, Arkansas; WPBI-LD (Fox and NBC) and WPBY-LD (ABC) in Lafayette, Indiana; and WYDC-TV (Fox) and WJKP (MyNetwork TV) in Elmira/Corning, New York.

Also as part of the transaction, Standard Media is purchasing Waypoint’s news production operations located in Little Rock, Arkansas, as well as a combination of 15 FM and AM radio stations in three markets owned by Star City Broadcasting in Lafayette, Indiana, and Sound Communications, LLC in Olean and Elmira/Corning, New York.

“This is the second acquisition Standard Media has announced in 2019, and we are looking forward to adding these stations to our expanding broadcast group,” Standard Media CEO Deb McDermott said in a press release. “We are also excited to begin working with the talented teams in each of these markets. Waypoint and Vision have been successful in building these station groups, and our focus will be on continued growth with a focus on quality news.”

The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in Q1 next year.

“We are thrilled to hand off our station group to Standard Media. We see them as very similar career broadcasters and operators that understand the future of our business. This bodes well for our employees, our advertisers and the communities we serve,” Waypoint Media founder Mike Reed in a press release.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP acted as legal advisor to Standard Media. Kalil & Co., Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Waypoint and Vision.