WKBN, WYTV owners in talks over shared-services agreement

The two stations also are talking of combining engineering and office staffs.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
The owner of WKBN-TV is proposing to take over the newscasts of WYTV and provide other services for 750,000 a year.
It's too early to say, however, how the agreement would affect news operations, said Dave Trabert, general manager of WYTV Channel 33.
There could be job reductions at WYTV, but perhaps reporters and others "could be freed up for other things," he said.
He added that he couldn't speculate on how the news anchors at the stations would be affected.
Details have not been decided because an ownership change at WYTV has not been approved by the Federal Communications Commission. That is expected by June 30.
Parkin Broadcasting of Los Angeles is in the process of buying WYTV from Chelsey Broadcasting, which is owned by New York investors.
NVT Television of Atlanta, which recently bought WKBN Channel 27, and Parkin have been negotiating a shared-services agreement, which would consolidate some operations at the two stations. NVT filed a proposed agreement Monday with the FCC.
In response, Trabert said he told his 70 employees that the agreement lists services that "may" be shared and asked them not to jump to conclusions.
He added, however, that it seems certain that some merging of operations will occur given the extent of the talks between the two companies so far.
The document says WKBN may provide live-feed, fully staffed and produced newscasts to WYTV, provided they don't make up more than 15 percent of the daily programming.
It says the newscasts would be produced exclusively for WYTV but could include shared news stories, video and graphics. WYTV personnel would determine the format of the newscasts, which would have an "on-air appearance" as if they had been originated by the station.
Other services that could be merged include engineering and information technology, administrative and accounting services, and master control facilities, which manage satellite transmissions.
If the studio locations of both stations are merged, the spaces for each station will be separate and designated with appropriate signs, the agreement says.
WYTV would retain a general manager, business manager and advertising sales staff. Trabert said FCC rules require stations with shared-services agreements to make their own programming decisions.
Trabert said shared-services agreements are becoming more common nationwide as stations try to reduce overhead costs and become more efficient.
WFMJ not interested
John Grdic, general manager of WFMJ Channel 21, said he has no interest in shared-services agreements.
"Is having one station do the news for two stations better? I don't think it's better. I think competition is better," he said.
WFMJ intends to remain independent, he said, adding that he thinks it has an advantage as a family-owned company.
"Our owners live in the community so they tend to look at things differently. They have a reason to be concerned about the community," he said. The owners of WFMJ also own The Vindicator.
David Coy, WKBN general manager, said he didn't want to comment until the shared-services agreement is finalized. He said negotiations on the deal are continuing.
FCC rules prohibit stations in smaller markets from having the same ownership but allow some parts of the operations to be merged. Stations in some large markets can have common ownership.
In case the rules governing small markets change, WKBN's owners filed an agreement with the FCC that says it would buy WYTV for 16.5 million. The sale price rises to 18.5 million if the deal is completed in 2011 or later.
shilling@vindy.com