Two Omaha TV stations among Chapter 11 filings

 1 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By the Lincoln Journal Star

Two Omaha television stations received in Lincoln and owned by Pappas Telecasting Cos. are among 11 of Pappas’s direct and indirect affiliates have filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The stations are KPTM, the Fox affiliate, and KXVO, the CW affiliate.   Pappas also manages a CW affiliate in Lincoln, KOWH, owned by the the Omaha World-Herald, 

“This regrettable action became necessary when good faith efforts to resolve outstanding financing issues broke down between the Pappas Telecasting affiliates and their more than eleven separate mostly non-bank lenders,” Pappas said.

“A major element in the decision to take this action was the current extremely difficult state of the financial markets in the U.S. which limit the opportunity for many businesses to obtain new or replacement financing,” the company said.

Many of the television stations’ ratings and revenue performance have remained strong, Pappas said.

Under Chapter 11 protection, business and broadcasting operations will continue as normal.

Chapter 11 gives financially distressed companies time and legal protection to reorganize.

Another nearby station, KMEG, a CBS affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa, is among the 11 stations.

The others are in California,  North Carolina, Texas, Nevada, and  Washington.

The Pappas Group said it operates another 17 television stations and two radio stations through entities that are not involved in the chapter 11 cases.

Pappas Telecasting’s President & Chief Operating Officer, Dennis J. Davis, said in a release: “In the last two years, the declining economy, the tightening and virtual freezing of credit markets, the residential housing crisis and the energy crisis have adversely affected many companies, both directly and indirectly. In particular, the television station revenue market throughout the United States has been negatively affected by the slowdown in the economy over the last year, and particularly in the first quarter of 2008.”

Pappas said housing troubles have negatively affected advertising budgets in the furniture, appliance, real estate, and other related sectors and increased energy costs, leading to reduced automotive advertising.

Nonetheless, KPTM, the Fox affiliate in Omaha, achieved revenue increases for the first quarter of 2008 of 27.9 percent over the same period in 2007, exclusive of any political advertising, Pappas said.

Pappas Telecasting Companies says it is the largest privately-held, commercial television broadcast group in the United States in terms of U.S. household coverage. The company owns 27 stations.