Look at Who has Come A-Courtin

Word out there is that some representatives of Hearst-Argyle Television group have paid a visit to the New York Times Broadcast operations center in Norfolk, Virginia and have also stopped by the NYTimes station there. I would imagine this would be some relatively good news for those who work in the NYTimes Broadcast group and are waiting for the other shoe to drop in the anticipated sale of the stations. Chatting with a friend at the Station DOTR, this person even commented when the planned sale of the group was announced that perhaps they would be lucky enough to be purchased by H-A. That group has about two dozen stations scattered around the country from Orlando to Boston to Sacramento and they apparently know the broadcast business. It's the second largest owner of NBC affiliates and the largest ABC affiliate group in terms of audience reach. (Their words, not mine). H-A already owns stations in Des Moines, Iowa and Ft. Smith, Arkansas so I guess they'd keep the stronger station in the markets and dump the other. This visit also kind of fits the time frame of what was rumored when the sale was first announced: That the NYTimes wants to have a sale in the works by the end of October and have this thing wrapped up around the first of the year.