New York Firm to Buy KCAL-TV for $385 Million

KCAL-TV (Channel 9), the award-winning news and sports station that has struggled with low ratings and low profit margins, will be acquired by a New York-based television group for $385 million.

Young Broadcasting Inc., an ambitious owner of television stations in 10 mid-size markets, agreed Monday to buy the station from Walt Disney Co.

Burbank-based Disney, which has owned KCAL since 1988, had been ordered by federal regulators to shed the station after Disney picked up KABC-TV in its $19-billion acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., completed in February. Federal regulation forbids the ownership of more than one television station in a single market.

For KCAL, the deal would mean a top-to-bottom review of costs as the new owner tries to boost the station’s profit margins. That is likely to include some layoffs, although KCAL employees were said to be happy Monday that a buyer had been announced, ending months of speculation.

The format at KCAL, the only VHF station in Los Angeles not affiliated with a network, is not expected to change, Young Broadcasting officials said.

The sale of KCAL is the latest in a series of television and radio station deals stemming in part from media mega-mergers, which were spawned by new telecommunications law reforms that allow for greater concentration of media ownership.

With KCAL, Young Broadcasting would more than double the size of its viewing audience, from 4.1% of U.S. households to 9.3%. The company expects its revenue to increase 40% to about $170 million.

Young Broadcasting owns 10 stations in markets including Nashville, Tenn.; Albany, N.Y.; Richmond, Va.; and Lansing, Mich. It will also acquire a station in Sioux Falls, S.D., in a deal expected to be completed by the end of the month. Cap Cities/ABC currently owns a 14% nonvoting interest in the company.

Vincent Young, chairman and chief executive of Young Broadcasting, called the purchase a “great opportunity.” He said he plans to go through KCAL with a fine-toothed comb in search of savings to justify the sale price, which was higher than what some observers expected.

Young Broadcasting is well regarded in the broadcasting industry for boosting profit margins while maintaining high-quality news operations, analysts said.

“Young is a company whose signature products are high margins with top-flight news products,” said Drew Marcus, managing director and broadcast analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons in New York.

“These guys run very, very lean stations in their markets,” said Mark McFadden, a managing director with Bankers Trust in New York. “This company has a long track record of buying stations that are operating at low margins and bringing it up to the 40% range.

“The only difference is size,” McFadden said. “But I believe their strategy will work in a market like this. The basic skills that are required to be successful in running a TV station are the same in large markets and small markets.”

But some broadcasters were stunned at the price and the relatively unknown buyer. Some television executives had previously said they doubted KCAL would fetch more than $300 million.

“This isn’t a major station group,” said one television executive. “It’s going to be tough to make the economics work.” He said the station’s current profit would just about cover the interest costs of financing the purchase if the new owners put up roughly a third of the price.

Young did not want to speculate on the number of jobs that might be cut from the Los Angeles station, which now employs approximately 350 people. He did not rule out the possibility of layoffs, but Chief Financial Officer Jim Morgan emphasized that most of the savings will come from other areas, such as reducing outside services.

“We will be developing a very specific game plan in the next few months,” Young said. “If there are any personnel changes, that will be determined by what the head count is when we buy the station. But we could see an awful lot of attrition before then,” which would keep the number of layoffs low, he said.

“The savings come from a tightening up all throughout the station,” Young said. “We go through line by line, department by department, and it adds up.”

At other Young-owned stations, “we have found a tremendous amount of savings in things like contracting for outside services,” he said. “A lot of big stations feel they have to have a lot of outside consultants to do things. But we have very good management that is well equipped to do the job and we give them a lot of authority.”

Viewers should not notice any difference as a result of the cost-cutting measures, Morgan said. In fact, coverage of local news and sports may even expand, he said.

Industry sources say the station will also have difficulty buying strong programming without sisters in other major markets to use as leverage. But if the new owners continue KCAL’s emphasis on news and sports, they may not need to buy as many syndicated shows.

Worries about layoffs seemed to be below the surface at the station Monday, said Stacy Okonowsky, KCAL’s vice president of media marketing.

“I think the mood of the station right now is very good,” she said. “Everyone was well aware that the station sale was impending, but everyone has been very upbeat during this transition.”

Young Broadcasting entered the auction for KCAL in mid-April, a little bit later than some of the other bidders. Disney called the company Wednesday evening to work out a deal and a contract was hammered out by Friday, Young said.

“We’re very happy with the price and we’re very happy with the buyer,” said Tom Deegan, a Disney spokesman. “The biggest hurdle was organizing a sale in six months so that it wasn’t a fire sale.” Disney expects the sale to be finalized within five days of receiving regulatory approval, a process which Young expects to take three to four months.

Wall Street seemed to approve of the deal. Investors pushed the price of Young Broadcasting shares up $3.375 to $33.125. Disney stock rose $1.50 to close at $60.75.

KCAL-TV won more than 50 broadcasting awards last year and offers more sports in its lineup than any other local station, including the Los Angeles Lakers, the Disney-owned Anaheim Mighty Ducks, the California Angels and college football for the PAC 10 conference. Okonowsky said the sports contracts are long-term and are expected to remain intact.

Times staff writer Sallie Hofmeister contributed to this report.

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The Local Lineup

KCAL-TV was second-to-last among Los Angeles’ seven VHF stations in audience share for February. Average percentage of TV audience.

KNBC (Channel 4): 15%

KABC (Channel 7): 15%

KCBS (Channel 2): 10%

KTTV (Channel 11): 10%

KTLA (Channel 5): 9%

KCAL (Channel 9): 7%

KCOP (Channel 13): 6%

Other: 28%

Note: The share is an average of how many viewers watch from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Sunday.

Source: KNBC

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Station Owners

The pending sale of KCAL-TV by the Walt Disney Co. to Young Broadcasting would leave Disney with ownership of one of the seven VHF stations in the Los Angeles market. Who owns what:

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Station Owner KNBC NBC/General Electric KABC ABC/Walt Disney KCBS CBS/Westinghouse KTTV Fox/News Corp KTLA Tribune Broadcasting KCAL Young Broadcasting KCOP Chris-Craft Industries

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Source: Times reports