7950 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22107-0150
703-854-7000

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Overview

TEGNA Inc. is a broadcasting and digital media company founded on June 29th, 2015 as Gannett Co. Inc.’s successor. It is currently being led by CEO Gracia C. Martore who is credited for the continuous growth of the company since its split from Gannett Co. Inc. Within TEGNA, there are two divisions each with their own president: TEGNA Media and TEGNA Digital. [3]

TEGNA Media is led by its President Dave Lougee.[3] This group monitors existing tv stations owned by TEGNA and searches for new possible stations to further the company’s reach in the media. TEGNA currently owns and operates 47 stations in 38 markets nationwide, some of which were acquired when Gannett Co. split and gave TEGNA Inc. ownership of those stations. Other stations were acquired afterwards under the guidance of CEO Martore. It is currently the largest independent owner of CBS and NBC affiliates and the fourth largest owner of ABC affiliates. Some of TEGNA’s stations include NBC’s KPNX, KUSA, WXIA and CBS’s WUSA. [2]

TEGNA Digital’s president is John A. Williams. [3] This section of the company controls TEGNA’s digital assets. Their most recent addition was Sightline Media Group, an online newspaper company that distributes content pertaining to the different branches of the US Military. Other groups owned by TEGNA include a car buying and selling site named Cars.com, a marketing solutions company called G/O Digital, and Careerbuilder.com whose revenue TEGNA plans to increase by “offering software as service.” [1]

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Finances

TEGNA is a publicly traded company whose stocks became available for trade on the New York Stock Exchange on June 29th, 2015. On the morning of June 29th, 2015, TEGNA shares rose 1.3% whereas its predecessor’s, Gannett Co., fell by 3.6%. [4] Several months afterwards though, TEGNA shares continued to decrease until October 2015 when the shares began to rise again. [8] Currently it is an $8.34 billion dollar company with plans to continue expanding its digital media and broadcasting content.

TEGNA Media believes that there will continue to be a steady cash flow from its digital and broadcasting markets, especially with the upcoming 2016 presidential election. TEGNA currently owns 38 markets, some of which include Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, New Orleans and Portland. TEGNA also owns 47 different tv stations including several news stations like NBC’s 12 News, 9 News, 10 News, News Channel 5 and WF My News 2. With markets in such popular states and TEGNA’s large share of CBS and NBC affiliates, TEGNA claimed that they plan to “take full advantage of increasing political advertising spending.”[9]

Furthermore, TEGNA reported that their Q3 earnings this year were stronger than ever. A big factor for this increase was because of TEGNA’s acquisition of Cars.com. Previously, TEGNA (which was Gannett at the time) had been a partial owner of Cars.com along with several other newspaper companies, until later when TEGNA negotiated a deal that allowed it to become the owner of Cars.com in exchange for getting the other newspaper companies’ interests bought out. After becoming the new owner of Cars.com, TEGNA expanded and grew the website until it had become the second most popular website to go to for selling and buying cars. TEGNA profited a net income increase of 17.6% largely because there was a 72% increase in digital revenue. [10]

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TEGNA vs Dish

In October of 2015, TEGNA had a dispute with Dish Network over distribution fees during the process of renewing their contract. This resulted in a 24 hour blackout in 38 markets over 33 different states. [12] TEGNA had increased the rate of retransmission consent fees, which Dish refused to pay claiming that TEGNA was asking for “above-market rate increases” that were twice the original amount of what satellite broadcasters were currently paying. [13] TEGNA replied saying they could not accept Dish’s newly proposed contract because Dish was trying to prevent “its customers from accessing valued channels, even as customers continue to pay for that content.” [2]

With the contract issue at a standstill, Dish stopped showing any stations owned and operated by TEGNA for 24 hours. This blackout angered many of Dish’s subscribers for two reasons. Firstly, the NFL games were just around the corner and many of Dish’s subscribers became angry and worried they would not be able to watch the upcoming NFL games over the weekend. [6] Secondly, Dish subscribers, like any other subscribers of a satellite broadcasting company, pay a monthly fee to gain access to certain tv stations and channels. The prospect of not being able to have that access whenever the subscriber wanted to despite paying for it made many subscribers furious. [13]

Fortunately for Dish’s NFL loving subscribers, TEGNA and Dish reached an agreement for a multiyear contract on October 11th, 2015 which several days before the NFL games started. It is believed that both TEGNA and Dish felt an urgency to quickly reach a negotiation with the pressure of viewers wanting to watch the NFL games that was coming around the corner at the time. [5]

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Future

Although TEGNA Inc. appears financially safe due to its large collection of tv stations and expanding digital media outlets, TEGNA is appearing rather often in situations that don’t appeal to the public.

Although the decision of the 24 hour blackout was Dish’s decision, many people blame the ordeal on both TEGNA and Dish claiming the two companies inability to negotiate with each other ended up putting the subscribers in an unfavorable situation. While the number of people cutting the cord had increased since before this ordeal took place, the 24 hour blackout did give more people reason to end their subscriptions with satellite broadcasting companies. Dish in particular lost at least 134,000 subscribers. [14]

Furthermore, TEGNA Inc. was also involved in a dispute with Portland NBC affiliate KGW during October 2015 over KGW’s labor forces. News reported that TEGNA wanted to fire current union members by deleting the jurisdiction clause in union contracts and to replace those workers with more cheap, non-union labors. KGW fought back. KGW’s business representative, David Twedell claimed such changes in the workforce is, “…a matter of public safety. If there are amateurs producing that content, that information is more likely to be incorrect or cause a public safety issue.” Whether the quality of the news will fall or not is debatable, but this issue has also portrayed TEGNA in a negative way to the public. [16] How much affect the public’s opinion will control TEGNA is unknown, but if TEGNA wants to continue to grow and expand, their public relations must improve.

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Sources

[1] Colman, Price. “Martore Martore Boosts Tegna With Focus,.” TV News Check. N.p., 28 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[2] Spangler, Todd. “Dish’s Latest Blackout: Satcaster Loses TV Stations in 38 Markets in Fight With Tegna.” Variety. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[3] “Digital Marketing Services | Content Marketing : TEGNA.” TEGNA. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[4] Yu, Roger. “TEGNA, Gannett Go Separate Ways as Print Spin off Is Completed.” USA Today. Gannett, 29 June 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[5] Littleton, Cynthia. “Dish Network, Tegna Reach Deal Ending Blackout in 38 Markets.” Variety. N.p., 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[6] Zara, Christopher. “Dish Network Blackout: Viewers Fume As Tegna-Owned NBC, CBS Stations Go Dark.” International Business Times. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[7]”TEGNA.” Logopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[8] “TGNA.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[9] “TEGNA Expects to Begin Trading on June 29, Offers Guidance (GCI).” Street Insider. N.p., 22 June 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[10] Hebbard, D.B. “TEGNA Reports Strong Earnings Thanks to Digital.” TEGNA Reports Strong Earnings Thanks to Digital. N.p., 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[11] “New and Used Cars For Sale, Reviews, News, Service | Cars.com.” Cars.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[12] Flint, Joe. “Dish, Tegna Reach New Distribution Agreement.” WSJ. N.p., 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

[13]  “Tegna, Dish Network Spar over Contract Fees.” AZ Central. N.p., 10 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

[14] Ramachandran, Shalini, and Chelsey Dulaney. “Dish Continues to Lose Users, Though Profit Doubles.” WSJ. N.p., 11 May 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[15] DISH Official Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

[16] Eck, Kevin. “Is TEGNA Playing Hardball With KGW Unions?” TV Spy. N.p., 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.