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Channel 7 owner to buy WLVI-TV 56
Stations' newscasts will be consolidated

By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | September 15, 2006

Miami media mogul Ed Ansin , who owns WHDH-TV (Channel 7) in Boston, said yesterday that he plans to buy WLVI-TV (Channel 56) for $113.7 million and make over its 10 p.m. newscast to appeal to a younger demographic.
The station purchase will give NBC affiliate WHDH ownership over two local news broadcasts, which will be consolidated at WHDH's Boston headquarters. The 10 p.m. broadcast will be called the 7 News at 10 on Channel 56 and is expected to begin airing by the end of the year.

Ansin is only buying WLVI's assets from the Tribune Co., such as the broadcasting license and equipment. The deal does not include the 150 employees currently working at Channel 56, most of whom will lose their jobs.

Ansin said he expects to hire about 30 people as part of the takeover, with some coming from different departments at Channel 56. But he declined to identify specific individuals.

``The 56 News at 10 has seen its audience greatly diminished. Being a stand-alone station and only doing one newscast a day makes it extremely difficult for them to compete," said Ansin, who yesterday visited Channel 7. ``Our new broadcast will be a significantly different newscast that's designed to be more contemporary and appeal to a younger market."

Ansin said the product -- from story selection to graphics to music -- will attempt to attract a younger demographic and go head-to-head with rival WFXT (Channel 25). The revamped Channel 56 newscast will be ``somewhat similar" to Channel 7's 11 p.m. broadcast, Ansin said, as ``the top news doesn't change."

WLVI was the first in the market to launch a 10 p.m. newscast in 1984, but in recent years the newscast has struggled to maintain viewers, losing out to Fox's WFXT. Tribune, which also owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times newspapers, acquired WLVI in 1994 from Gannett Co. for about $25 million.

The deal comes just days before Channel 56 launches the new CW programming, a network that resulted from this year's merger of struggling youth-oriented networks UPN and WB. The CW will carry many programs now popular on the WB and UPN, including ``America's Next Top Model," ``7th Heaven," and ``Smallville." The WB and UPN television networks will both cease independent operations on Sept. 18 .

``People are generally feeling sad but relieved after weeks of speculation and rumor in the building. It was very difficult," said Karen Marinella , anchor of Channel 56's current 10 p.m. newscast. ``We were the first 10 p.m. news in the market, and I'm gratified that Ansin will continue that tradition. This market needs and deserves another 10 p.m. newscast."

The deal with Ansin's Sunbeam Television Corp. still requires approval from Tribune's board of directors and the sale is expected to close by December, pending regulatory approval.

The sale of Channel 56 is part of a Tribune ``performance improvement plan," laid out earlier this year, that involves at least $500 million in asset sales. About $420 million have been identified so far. Last month, Tribune completed the sale of WATL-TV in Atlanta for $180 million, and it disclosed the sale of WCWN-TV Albany for $17 million in June.

Across the media industry, a number of companies are selling off their television properties as a way to garner cash to invest in new platforms and technologies for their newspaper groups, said Jim Thistle, director of the broadcast journalism program at Boston University. Earlier this week, The New York Times Co., which owns The Boston Globe, disclosed plans to sell its broadcast media group of nine network-affiliated television stations.

For companies like Sunbeam, owning more than one station in a market allows businesses to produce more news at a lower cost and capture viewers on two networks without having two fleets of live trucks, two weather labs, and two assignment desks

``There's a desperate search for maintaining viewers in an era of declining shares for the regular big four newscasts," said Thistle, who formerly served as the news director at Channels 4, 5, and 7. ``And everybody's looking for the elusive 18-34 younger audience. It makes sense that Ansin would look to capitalize and go after the young people who have expendable income."

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