What Happens if No One Buys Channel 6?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
According to Dictionary.com---the word re'ceiv'er'ship means "the position or function of being a receiver in charge of administrating the property of others".
For Channel 6, who is now in receivership, it means 5-words. Not enough people are watching. Combine low ratings, a recession and downward spiral in ad revenue--and there you have it. Many media insiders and people who actually work at Channel 6 wonder out loud why it even took this long given how the ABC affiliate has struggled year after year for respect and ratings. For years the station fought a signal problem because of the location of its tower. It also fought an identity problem--were they a Providence station or a New Bedford station. And they also fought and are still fighting a perception problem as always 3rd in a 3-way ratings race.
WLNE, which back in the day had a catchy slogan on air campaign for its station call letters known as "We Love New England", is in trouble. Big trouble. For full disclosure--I spent part of my TV career there with some talented people and I can tell you being 3rd place in the ratings all the time made you work harder. But no matter how hard anyone worked, station owners had no choice but to go this route because of mounting debt. Receivership is a form of bankruptcy in which a company or even a television station can avoid liquidation by trying to reorganize with the help of a court appointed trustee.
But the real story here is the current owners are trying to dump Channel 6 and sell it. Word is the selling price could be far less - millions less - than what is owed to creditors. The responsibility of the receiver is to now try and recoup as much as possible related to unpaid loans.
A lot of Interest
GoLocalProv spoke with WLNE Vice President and General Manager, Stephen Doerr who says he is very bullish on the station being sold and that it is only a matter of time. "I would characterize the marketplace as very active. We’ve talked to – literally - dozens of interested parties and are in serious discussions with multiple qualified and highly interested potential buyers. I don’t want to get into specific numbers, but a lot of people want the station. Doerr said
Doerr was asked when a sale might be happening. He said it's hard to say but that he expects to know what direction the station is heading in by the end of this year.
Station Could Go Dark
Well, what happens if no one wants to buy Channel 6? It can stay in its receivership status for quite a long time. The dooms day scenario is that all of the assets have to be liquidated to pay creditors or debts. If that happens, the station could "go dark" meaning off the air which effectively puts the station out of business. The likelihood of that is not very high. At a certain price, there will be a buyer who will see the station's license as something of value.
Doerr says he is convinced the station will be sold. "The station will absolutely be sold, and I believe sooner rather than later. From a macro view, there haven’t been many stations sold in the past couple of years, and there seems to be a lot of pent-up demand among buyers, particularly since the television business has recovered so strongly in 2010. WLNE is a very attractive property and the level of interest we’ve received reflects that."
Some would definitely disagree that the television business has "recovered so strongly in 2010" as Doerr says. All 23 stations continue to struggle to pull in ad dollars and viewers. Lots of cash was pumped in to TV pre-election, but, that period has come and gone now.
Meantime, Channel 6 employees are left waiting trying to gather facts--not about a story in Providence or Portsmouth---but instead about their own fate. It's not a fun place to be these days as I am told. The new reality means a new owner or something far worse as the dire situation weighs on people who are hired to look good and sound good on the outside--but who may panicking on the inside.
Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]
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