#$cbs

EARNING UPDATE $CBS CBS Corporation for quarter ending q_Jun18 – Revenue rose but Margins contracted

[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]Please login to read the earning update on CBS [lwa][/s2If][s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]CBS Corporation reported earnings (EPS) of 1.05 per share for the quarter ending q_Jun18. This is vis-vis 1.32 per share for the previous quarter ending q_Mar18, a decline of 20.5 %. Compared to last year same quarter (q_Jun17), earnings grew…

EARNING UPDATE $CBS CBS Corporation for quarter ending q_Dec17 – Revenue rose but Margins contracted

[s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]Please login to read the earning update on CBS [lwa][/s2If][s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level0)]CBS Corporation reported earnings (EPS) of -0.09 per share for the quarter ending q_Dec17. This is vis-vis 1.46 per share for the previous quarter ending q_Sep17, a decline of 106.2 %. Compared to last year same quarter (q_Dec16), earnings grew…

JANUARY 22, 2017

In 1789 George Washington was elected the first U.S. president. The United States' capital was New York City. He had to settle for the first presidential residence at 1 Cherry Street, since the Trump Tower up the road had not been built yet.

Those were the days when if you needed directions, you could reach in your pocket and instead of an iPhone, you could pull out your compass. Instead of an app you'd be using a map.

George Washington like Donald Trump was a part of his family's real estate business. It was The Ohio Company... 

Each week Forcerank runs a variety of games covering different industries. What we have found, is that the top three ranked companies in their respective games deliver the biggest positive price movement for that week. This week the winners features popular names like Amazon and Twitter.

Amazon (AMZN) | Ecommerce: Amazon maintains the top position after reaching all time highs each day last week. The average user rank of the retail giant improved to 2.96 from 3.87  over this time, indicating the stock’s significant upside. Amazon continues to disprove the naysayers as a pioneer for innovation and technology. Its next big bet is in India. The online retailer is spending $5 billion to capture significant market share in India’s projected $100 billion e-commerce market. Amazon is also ramping recruitment in its Alexa and Echo divisions. The Alexa platform has been one of the many devices that has made them a leader in the race to the future. Amazon clearly can’t do any wrong but investors should proceed with caution as shares approach overbought territory. In all likelihood shares will have to dip at some point before breaking to the next channel.

Twitter (TWTR) | Social Media: Twitter shares are up nearly 25% since takeover talks broke 10 days ago. This is the first week Twitter takes the top spot in the social media contest, dethroning Facebook in the process. Investors continue to pump this stock in hopes that an acquisition will be in the $30-40 per share range. The main frontrunners for the company still include Google, Salesforce, Microsoft and Disney. Seeing as there is no timetable in place for a sale, this is becoming a wait and see situation. If nothing comes of these recent talks in the upcoming weeks it is difficult to see this runup continuing.

CBS Corp (CBS) | Media: New rumors have emerged that a merger between CBS and Viacom is on the horizon. This would reunite the two companies that were torn apart nearly a decade ago. Viacom bought CBS in 2000, only for the companies to split 6 years later due to the belief that CBS was holding back Viacom’s potential. In reality, CBS has remained resilient through the rise of cord cutters while Viacom has struggled. The recent merger talks propelled both stocks  and pushed CBS to the second position in the media contest. Its technical chart also took a bullish turn on the news with on balance volume and MACD trending higher.

Bank of America (BAC) | Financials: After slumping for several weeks, Bank of America appears poised for a new rally. The bank capped off the week with a 3.5% gain on Friday and has started the week on a strong note. Bank of America has considerable upside given its low valuation, steadily improving dividend and high trading volume. High trading volume means shares are susceptible to swings both up and down. Given the recent turnaround, high trading volume appears to favor the upside. Bank of America is currently ranked in the second spot of the investment banking game just behind JPMorgan Chase. Average user rank improved significantly to 4.03 from 4.79 last week.

Yum Brands (YUM) | Restaurants: Yum Brand is one of the few winners who is also reporting earnings this week. Analysts at Estimize are calling for earnings per share of $1.10 on $3.51 billion in revenue. Compared to a year earlier that represents a 10% increase on the bottom line and 2% on the top. Yum is expected to benefit on the back of strength in the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC brands. Taco Bell’s expanded line of breakfast items combined with frequent menu innovations across all its brands should drive comps. This will likely offset the slowdown the company is seeing in emerging markets, particularly China. Yum China sales have been adversely impacted by currency headwinds and several health related scares. Shares are up 24% year to date but historically don’t move following an earnings report.

Play next week’s games to access this information before the competition

Photo Credit: Mike Mozart

By activiststocks

Hold my beer, watch this guys.

Bill Ackman is getting chewed alive by the media thanks to Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The stock is down over 80% since he went activist last year — he even saw $1 billion go up in smoke on Tuesday – but hey, it’s not really a loss unless you sell. Things have gotten so bad for Ackman thanks to the fact that nearly every stock he owns is down on the year, he’s now dumped a chunk of Mondelez to help right-size the portfolio.

ALso see  Valeant Crashes: Ackman Sends Letter To Investors 

There are plenty of other funds that are being taken to the woodshed with Valeant, but Ackman’s own hubris and slight arrogance has opened him up to public shaming. Publicity is a net-negative for the Ackman posse, especially compared to Jeff Ubben at ValueAct Capital or Robert Goldfarb and David Poppe at Sequoia — who own more Valeant shares than Ackman. Is it fair? Probably not, but the media knows no fairness, driven only by clicks. But even Matt Levine is having regrets about joining in on the curb stomping of Ackman.

Now, I know, Ackman has is known to blow up hedge funds, but this time is a bit different. Rest assured, Ackman is not getting any margin calls or mass redemptions. He notes that just 2% of assets were redeemed at the last redemption mark — Feb. 15.

Also see  Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl & Jebb Ubben

I am, however, interested in the second step for Ackman at Valeant. The obvious choice is to start breaking this bad boy up. Ackman notes that Valeant is “a problem, but we know what to do.” I think that likely involves showing Mike Pearson the door — there was no real reason for Mike to even come back from medical leave. He should’ve slipped into the abyss. Mike is suited to build things up. These times call for a CEO that can break things down.

Dubbed the “new Lehman Brothers,” Valeant fits all the holes — accounting issues, weak board and poor governance, saddled with debt, unsustainable business model, dodgy management — the money making model of buying drugs and jacking up prices is over. Without that, what is Valeant? More importantly, after Ackman and Ubben’s involvement with Valeant, why should anyone listen to what they say?

Also see  Valeant Non-Gaap Definitions - A List

To that, I say Ubben is still in the black and was involved with Valeant long before many of these journalists were out of diapers. Ackman, on the other hand, has got caught with his ego hanging out. He needs to work fast to get a replacement for Mike and start junking the pharma company.

Let’s just hope that Ackman takes a page from David Einhorn when it’s time to reflect on 2016. Einhorn was full of humility in his 2015 investor letter after his Greenlight Capital posted a 20% loss for the year. Quoting David Bowie, Einhorn wrote, “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” Greenlight Capital has been one of the few bright spots among hedge funds in 2016, up 3.3% through February.

Also see  Greenlight Capital Q4 Letter To Investor 

Take it down a notch.

Activists, in general, are getting taken to task of late, however, it’s still early. Activism exploded over the last few years and now there’s a lot of money chasing fewer targets. The strong will survive and thrive, however, we do need a bit of a washout — some of which has already taken place with Orange Capital and LionEye Capital shutting down.

More importantly, no matter how activist investors do going forward, they have forever changed the game. Conventional activists have empowered the passive investors and brought about “reluctavists,” which are normally passive investors, but are taking an activist approach to flip poor corporate on its head. Half the activist campaigns in 2015 were launched by reluctavists.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have companies caving to activists too easily. That needs to change. Granted, this avoids a costly proxy fight, I’ll be the first to admit that activists are not always right. However, they’ve managed to convince major fund managers like Fidelity and T. Rowe that they are, giving them even more firepower. Like all major changes, we tend to overshoot. The major funds will eventually start thinking for themselves again.

Also see  Boardroom Battles To Fall In 2016

Pencil for your thoughts.

How is Office Depot still around? Rhetorical, obviously, but even the ‘saving grace’ for the company, its commercial office supply business, has to be drying up. Making money from selling pads and pencils is a dying business, it’s that simple.

But just as Amazon is getting into the physical bookstore space, a move into another dying industry only makes sense for them — after all, Bezos loves losing money. So, with that, Amazon is looking at buying the corporate business of Office Depot. The buildout of its delivery network, with trucks and planes, would make delivering office goods that much easier.

ALso see  Staples Issues Letter To Customers In Support Of Merger

Office Depot is a name that has been good, and bad, to activist investor Starboard Value. The hedge fund forced an OfficeMax and Office Depot merger, which was great, for a time. However, the spread of Amazon soon negated any synergies. So Starboard’s mission of late is to get Staples to buy Office Depot — a move that has faced a number of regulatory hurdles and FTC pushbacks.

The whole reason for the merger is Amazon. However, the grand plan is to get Amazon to buy the corporate biz and then the FTC will let the merger with Staples go through. I will say, it will take a ‘huge’ move like this to get the FTC to go along with the deal — so Jeff Smith at Starboard better be building his position in Amazon.

Carmer, give me a break.

United Airlines is getting pressure from two ‘activist’ investors, although both PAR Capital and Altimeter Capital are both far from conventional activists. The two joined forces and announced a proxy battle to get six of the 15 board seats — making the announcement just days after CEO Oscar Munoz returned from a heart transplant.

Of course, Jim Cramer chose to opine, “Right or wrong, these activists could have waited a couple of weeks. Whatever you think about the way United Continental is run, I think this is a new low for activist investing.”

PAR and United were involved with United before announcing the proxy battle and had been communicating with Oscar while he was on leave. And with his brand new heart, I’m sure Munoz can handle the pressure. After all, United purposefully delayed the announcement of the heart attack — so they’re not worth entirely defending. Either way, the absolute debauchery of the United and Continental merger that’s been taking place for over half a decade should be the real topic of conversation.

Also see  Are Institutional Investors Violating Anti-Trust Regulations?

Letters to Santa.

Sessa Capital bashes Ashford Hospitality again. Cevian is still pushing for a breakup of ABB, now hiring Boston Consulting Group to consult on such a breakup. CBS exploring strategic alternatives for its radio unit.

Thoughts welcomed. Fill out the 3-question survey here. Enter your email to win my advanced copy of Dear Chairman by Jeff Gramm – I’ll even sign it – ha. As I step away from the day to day and intricacies and turn the data sourcing and analytics over to those that are more suited for that role I’ve got more time for bigger thinking and connecting the dots. Along those lines, I’d love to hear what you want to see more of.

If you’d like to get stuff like this in your via email, right in your inbox, please subscribe here. If small-caps are more your jam, feel free to sign up for theUnderrated Small-Cap Stocks newsletter we do with ActivistStocks– here. Happy hunting!

While the sector faces challenges, businesses like CBS Radio generate solid cash flow.

by Chris Nolter & Jaewon Kang

CBS Corp.'s announcement that it will consider a sale of its radio division has brought focus to radio consolidation, which has lagged.

"As you know, for a while now, we've been reducing our footprint here," chairman and CEO Les Moonves told shareholders Tuesday afternoon at the company's investor day presentation. "Just as we did, when we separated outdoor, the aim here is to unlock value for our shareholders."

The move comes as advertising sales for the industry continue to decline and standard bearers such as iHeartMedia Inc. and Cumulus Media Inc. are struggling to manage their debt. While the sector faces challenges, businesses like CBS Radio generate solid cash flow. The unit could tempt a private equity firm, even though iHeartMedia Inc.'s battle with creditors provides a cautionary tale. A sale of the entire business to another radio group may be a longshot, but the company could explore a tax-friendly structure like a reverse Morris trust merger with a smaller rival.

CBS owns 117 radio stations in 26 U.S. markets and has a presence in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington and Boston. CBS is in the review's early stages and will take time to explore alternatives for the radio unit, he added.

Radio industry advertising revenues fell 1% in 2015, the Radio Advertising Bureau reported this month. While overall sales declined, the drop was moderate. "There is a lot of misconception in the marketplace," said Peter J. Solomon Co. banker Mark Boidman. "Everybody thinks radio is dead."

The sector includes high cash flow businesses that have low capital expenditures, he said. "Traditional radio is not going away any time soon. Digital continues to grow. There is going to be consolidation," Boidman said.

There is a gap between buyers and sellers. Boidman said the bid for radio generally is 5 to 6 times Ebitda, while sellers want 8 to 10 times.

"A PE firm could get comfortable owning this business, using cash flow to pay down debt creating equity value over time and at the same time capitalizing on some of the digital growth opportunities in radio," he added.

The company groups radio and TV stations together in its local broadcasting unit. Sales for the local unit fell to $2.6 billion last year, from $2.75 billion the year before. The company said that CBS Radio fell 5% in the fourth quarter. One source put Ebitda at about $350 million in Ebitda and revenue at $1.2 billion of revenue.

That person agreed that CBS Radio is a logical leveraged buyout candidate for about $1.7 billion to $2 billion, or 5 to 6 times its Ebitda, adding that it could be appealing to sponsors resembling Blackstone Group LP (BX). The private equity firm could not be reached on Wednesday morning for comment.

CBS could also choose to pursue a reverse Morris trust transaction. The tax-friendly structure would involve spinning off the radio business and merging it with a smaller peer such as Entercom Communications Corp. (ETM). A representative of Entercom could not immediately be reached Wednesday.

Some are less optimistic about sale prospects for CBS Radio.

"I actually don't think their timing is so good. They should've moved a long time ago," said a second industry source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

CBS should have started to look at options at least a year and a half ago when there was more of an appetite for radio assets, that person said, adding that the media company's price expectation has simply been too high.

"They will get a lot of calls to strategically sell off certain markets to certain buyers, but I don't know who can buy the entire business," the source explained.

A sale of CBS Radio as a whole to another radio group is not likely. Other broadcasters are either too leveraged or too small to make such a large acquisition.

"We just don't see any realistic buyers for the whole kit and caboodle," Wells Fargo Securities LLC analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote in a recent report.

Large groups such as iHeartMedia and Cumulus are "bordering on financial distress (which, quite frankly, is being polite)," she observed.

Meanwhile, Entercom, Emmis Communications Corp. (EMMS) and Radio One Inc. (ROIAK) lack the scale for such a deal. "Maybe these three would be interested in a one-off or two, but not the whole thing," she suggested.

While consolidation has slowed, there have been deals.

TV station owners must decide whether to participate in a potentially lucrative spectrum auction.

by Chris Nolter

After years of anticipation and trepidation, TV station owners have just a few months to decide whether they will take part in a landmark Federal Communications Commission auction that would sell to mobile telecoms the wireless spectrum that now carries TV transmissions.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (pictured below) has set the so-called incentive auction, which is the most ambitious sale of wireless spectrum ever, for March 29, 2016. While an application deadline is not set, Wheeler has suggested that the process would start in the fall.

For Wheeler, moving the licenses from the broadcast TV to the wireless broadband market and generating tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury could be the foundation of a legacy.

Broadcasters may have mixed feelings about diverting spectrum to another industry, but they are in line for a potentially lucrative payday. The FCC's last wireless auction raised more than $41 billion earlier this year, surpassing expectations and underscoring that the spectrum is worth more in the wireless market than in the TV market.

"We know it's higher because we know what the wireless companies have paid for similar spectrum and other types of spectrum," said Mark Fratrick of BIA/Kelsey.

"It was a sea change for broadcasters to stop thinking of their station as being worth 7, 8, 9 times cash flow, and to start thinking of the value of the spectrum to other buyers, such as a wireless company."

The highest concentrations of TV stations and the greatest demand for wireless spectrum, of course, are in big cities. Broadcasters such as CBS Corp. (CBS) and Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) subsidiary NBCUniversal own duopolies, or multiple stations, in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco, and could take part.

The largest broadcast spectrum holders, however, are Spanish-language giant Univision Communications Inc. and ION Media Networks Inc., both private. Startups backed by firms such as Blackstone Group LP (BX), Michael Dell's MSD Capital and Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) will likely have an active role in the incentive auction. A struggling station on the fringe of a major market could have outsized value.

AS UNIVISION PREPARES for an IPO, the company occupies an enviable position. The New York media group owns two or more stations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Dallas and other top markets. One station broadcasts the namesake Univision network, and the other carries Uni Mas.

Backed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, Providence Equity Partners, TPG Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Saban Capital Group, the company acknowledged in its July initial public offering prospectus that it is considering taking part in the incentive auction. "In most of our largest markets, we believe we can contribute a 6 MHz channel to the auction and combine our Univision and UniMás networks on the other 6 MHz channel, creating a self-sufficient solution," the company's IPO prospectus states. The company declined to comment beyond the proxy.

"They have 16 duopoly markets. Some of them are smaller and probably wouldn't be as enticing in terms of the valuations," said Justin Nielson of SNL Kagan. "They have major properties in L.A., Houston, Miami and New York. They may look at auctioning those off if the values are high enough."

ION, based in West Palm Beach, Fla. and controlled by Black Diamond Capital Management, also has properties in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and many other markets. The company declined to comment.

And Tribune Media Co. (TRCO) CEO Peter Liguori acknowledged the appeal of the auction during an earnings call earlier this year. "We're really excited about it on many levels," he said. The New York media group has stations in nine of the 10 most valuable markets, according to a report that Greenhill & Co. produced for the FCC earlier. "Our spectrum in those top 10 spectrum markets at a median basis, not the high end, not the low end, is worth about $2 billion," Liguori said. Tribune declined further comment.

A number of small outfits have emerged to buy stations, with an eye to selling them in the incentive auction. Blackstone sponsors LocusPoint Networks LLC, OTA Broadcasting LLC has backing from Michael Dell's MSD Capital, and NRJ TV LLC is a Fortress portfolio company. LocusPoint and NJR declined to discuss their intentions, and representatives of OTA did not respond to queries.

Though the incentive auction originated under former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Wheeler has championed the project and brought a venture capitalist's approach to the undertaking.

The FCC retained Greenhill to draw up a pitch book explaining the auction to broadcasters. Former Greenhill banker Lawrence Chu, who joined Moelis & Co. LLC (MC) on Tuesday, served as a special adviser to the FCC for the incentive auction.

The FCC will purchase spectrum from broadcasters in a reverse auction. The Commission will use a "descending clock" format, in which it offers broadcasters a high bid. In subsequent rounds, the government will reduce its offer, so that it arrives at the lowest amount that bidders will accept.

National Association of Broadcasters is not a fan of the descending clock.

"The FCC has gone through a lot of trouble to structure the rules to minimize payments to broadcasters," said NAB Vice President of Spectrum Policy Patrick McFadden. The government could have asked broadcasters to name their selling price or have set up an ascending auction. "That's a fundamental decision the FCC made that is quite possibly going to effect participation."

The payments to broadcasters still could be substantial. "In the largest markets its going to be hundreds of millions of dollars [for a station]," Fratrick said.

IN A MARKET LIKE NEW YORK, the opening bid could be as high as $870 million, according to projections in the Greenhill report, and a median first offer would be $660 million. The opening bids in Los Angeles and Chicago could be as high as $630 million and $620 million, respectively. Those sums are projected opening bids, however, and broadcasters would likely collect less.

"Station X in New York may get offered $820 million in the first round," Fratrick said. "It doesn't mean they are going to end up with $820 million. I suspect it's going to be less than that. It's a reverse auction. The offers go down."

A broadcaster can sell its license and go off the air, share spectrum with another station operator or move from UHF to VFH.

The FCC will market the spectrum to wireless carriers in a more traditional auction, in which bids go from low to high.

While large markets such as New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston will be active, Carl Salas of Moody's Investors Service Inc. suggested that bidding in the corridors between major cities will also be lively.

"Between Boston and New York there are certain corridors. Between New York and Philadelphia there are certain corridors," he said. "To the extent you had a signal there and it was creating interference, you could be an attractive candidate. Your spectrum would have value."

Some markets are more congested than others because of their locations, Fratrick said. "You get the Eastern seaboard," he said. The New York stations affect "Philadelphia affects Baltimore and Washington, which affects Richmond. We call it the daisy chain effect." The West Coast and the Midwest have similar patterns. "There are a lot of television markets right next to each other and the stations ... bleed into the adjacent market," he said.

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and Albany, N.Y., affect the New York market, he said. Providence, R.I., affects Boston.

Harrisburg, Pa., reflects the daisy chain effect. The capital of Pennsylvania abuts Philadelphia, which abuts New York. The maximum projected opening bid for Harrisburg, is $420 million, exceeding Dallas' $350 million and Houston's $290 million.

The FCC is also sensitive to markets on the Mexican and Canadian borders, such as Buffalo, N.Y., where LocusPoint owns WBNF-CD,

CBS chief executive Les Moonves and other executives discussed the potential to participate in the incentive auction in February. COO Joe Ianniello described the spectrum as "a hidden asset within our portfolio," and noted that the company has duopolies in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Boston. "If I just looked at those median values, not the maximum value in that Greenhill report ... [it] totals $2 billion for those four markets," he said.

For a broadcaster like CBS or NBCUniversal, combining stations in a duopoly market could be an easy score. Outright sales of major network outlets in big markets may be less common. At a major network affiliate in, say, New York, the station's enterprise value could be roughly comparable to the FCC's offer.

Univision has clearly examined the possibility of combining its duopoly stations. Operators such as ION, Tribune or Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. (FOXA) could partner among themselves.

Fox executive vice chairman Chase Carey said in an earnings call earlier this year that the incentive auction "could be interesting," but the company declined further comment. In a network-sharing scenario, Fox could take a higher allocation of the bit stream on Sunday night when it is broadcasting an NFL game in high definition and ION has programmed a re-run.

Public TV stations or university stations have a mission to maintain, and might balk at selling their spectrum. However, they could host a commercial station on their spectrum.

The spectrum aggregators such as LocusPoint, OTA and NRJ are likely sellers, and niche broadcasters may see the allure of the FCC's offers. Moody's analyst Salas said that some small, private broadcasters are exploring the possibility of putting more than two stations on a single six megahertz band of spectrum, one source said.

While the large public broadcasting groups may play a significant role, the success of the incentive auction will likely require activity by a range of private groups.

Below are the key markets and outlying areas likely to play a role in the FCC's upcoming spectrum auction. They do not reflect the entire broadcasting base in a given city.

NEW YORK

The set the curve for valuations in the incentive auction.

BIA Kelsey's Fratrick said that NBCUniversal's WNJU Telemundo station would generate an $870 million opening bid, using the calculation that the FCC used to determine offers.

CBS also has a duopoly in the market, with WCBS-TV and WLNY-TV.

Fox owns WNYW and WWOR.

Univision operates WXTV, WFUT and satellite station WFTY.

ION owns WPXN, and Tribune owns WPIX.

Among the smaller private operators, OTA owns New York station WEBR. NRJ's portfolio includes local stations WLIG and WBLS but also has WZME of Bridgeport, Conn., which falls within the New York designated market area.

Looking in the surrounding areas, Nexstar Broadcasting Corp. (NXST), which has backing from Abry Partners, owns two stations in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Greenhill report projects a maximum $490 million initial offer for a full-power station in the capital, with a $410 million median bid.

Univision has a single station, WFDC, in the district.

ION owns WPXW and satellite station WWP. Fox also has a duopoly, with WITG and WDCA.

Blackstone-backed LocusPoint has WMJF-CD in Towson, Md., which is in the Baltimore market.

MIAMI

In the third-largest Hispanic market, Greenhill projected a maximum opening bid of $300 million and a median of $280 million for a full-power station.

NBC operates WTVJ and Telemundo staton WSCV. Univision has a duopoly of WLTV and WAMI; as does CBS, with WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV.

Tribune and Ion have solo stations WSEL and WPXM, respectively.

Blackstone's LocusPoint operates WLPH.

LOS ANGELES

In the top U.S. Hispanic market, Greenhill projected a $630 million maximum opening bid for a full-power station, with a median of $560 million.

Duopolies abound.

NBCUniversal has the KNBC and Telemundo affiliate KVEA; Univision has KMEX and KFTR; Fox operates both KTTV and KCOP; and CBS owns KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV.

ION and Tribune own single stations KPXN and KTLA, respectively.

NRJ owns KNET-CD and KSCI in Long Beach. The group also has KUAN-LP, a low-power station in San Diego County.

Fellow spectrum aggregator OTA has KMIR-TV in Los Angeles.

SAN FRANCISCO

The top projected opening bid in San Fracisco is $540 million, with a $410 million median offer for a full-power station.

Univision operates KDTV, KFSF and KDTV in the market, while CBS has KPIX-TV and CW affiliate KBCW-TV.

ION owns KKPX.

In addition to San Francisco station KCNS, NRJ has KVTO in Berkeley and KVVN in Santa Clara

LocusPoint owns KFTL-CD. OTA's portfolio includes KACT-CD and KTLN-TV in Novato, Calif.

SEATTLE

Greenhill projected a $210 million top opening bid for a Seattle full-power station, and a $190 million median offer.

Tribune operates the local duopoly of KCPQ and KZJO.

CBS has CW network affiliate KSTW-TV, while ION has KWPX.