By Tim Gallen |Phoenix Business Journal
Today’s news that “Arizona’s Family” will be moving in under the same corporate umbrella as The Arizona Republic and Channel 12 raises a number of questions here in Phoenix, the country’s sixth-largest media market.
Earlier today, McLean, Va.-based media conglomerate Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) announced it was purchasing Dallas-based broadcast company Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC) in a $2.2 billion deal. The move gives Gannett two new stations in the Phoenix market — KASW-TV Channel 61 and KTVK-TV Channel 3 — as well as two stations in Tucson. Gannett already owns Phoenix NBC affiliate KPNX-TV Channel 12, as well as The Arizona Republic newspaper and AZCentral.com website.
The news came as a surprise to Valley broadcast veteran Joe Hengemuehler, who spent 10 years at KNXV-TV Channel 15 before leaving last year to start his own consulting firm.
Hengemeuhler called the consolidation “the most significant development in local TV” since the 1990s when a number of Phoenix stations played musical chairs with their network affiliations. Coincidentally, the only station at the time to not change its affiliation was Channel 12.
