Rumors continue to fly abut who will end up owning KUTV-Ch. 2 - and at what price.
Forget about reports that the station will be sold for about $70 million. And, apparently, reports that Paul Hughes - who runs the investment group that currently controls the station - will come out the winner in the bidding war.Reportedly, there's been a great deal of interest from a number of potential buyers. And the price KUTV (and production company TeleScene) is expected to bring is now in excess of $100 million. Maybe in excess of $110 million.
(The station's original owners, the Hatch family, stand to make a bundle on their minority interest in KUTV and its sister station in Rochester, N.Y. - which may go for about $70 million.)
The source of all this interest can be traced to Fox's pirating of a dozen affiliates (owned by New World Communications) from the three major networks. Suddenly, local stations are a hot commodity, and prices have soared.
Some major station groups are reported to be interested in purchasing KUTV. Groups like Hearst and Scripps-Howard.
Which has the possibility of making things rather interesting around here. Scripps-Howard recently signed a long-term agreement to affiliate five of its stations with ABC - including one that had been an NBC affiliate.
If Scripps did buy Ch. 2 there's no guarantee that it would switch that station's affiliation from NBC to ABC. (Scripps still has two NBC affiliates and one CBS affiliate.) But it is a possibility.
If that did happen, it raises other questions. Would current ABC af-filiate KTVX-Ch. 4 become the NBC affiliate, or would it turn its attention toward CBS - which has had some rather stormy relations with its Utah affiliate, KSL?
And will KSL be in a weaker position with CBS because its sister station, Seattle's KIRO, may lose its CBS affiliation?
(As reported last week, CBS' partner, Group W, may buy the four stations owned by Gaylord - including one in Seattle - and convert them to CBS affiliates. That would pull the CBS affiliation out from under KIRO. Electronic Media reports in this week's edition that Group W "is in talks to acquire all or a major interest in the four TV stations owned by Gaylord Entertainment.")
Thus, theoretically at least, it's possible that Salt Lake City could experience sort of a musical chairs swapping of network affiliations for ABC, CBS and NBC.
Stay tuned . . .
DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH: So, CBS has finally made what everybody has known for months official - Tom Snyder will host the post-David Letterman show on the network beginning in mid-December.
Not that anybody in Utah should get particularly excited about it.
The folks at KSL aren't quite sure what they're going to do with the newly dubbed "Late Late Show with Tom Snyder." But it certainly isn't going to air right after the "Late Show with David Letter-man" at 11:35 p.m. - that's reserved for "M.A.S.H."
And the chances of KSL giving up its lucrative late-night infomercials are slim to none.
Reportedly, CBS will show some flexibility on how late it will allow affiliates to air "The Late Late Show," so Snyder could still end up on KSL. But it would be very late. Or maybe very early.