WTKR's owner reaches deal to buy WGNT, Channel 27

NORFOLK

Channels 3 and 27 will be sharing a roof now that they're siblings.

Local TV LLC, the owner of WTKR NewsChannel 3, said Monday that it had reached an agreement with CBS to buy CW27 (WGNT-TV). The terms were not disclosed.

Under the plan, the staffs will merge, with some of WGNT's 50 workers losing their jobs. Channel 27 will sell its property on Spratley Street in Portsmouth and move into WTKR's headquarters on Boush Street in downtown Norfolk.

Jeff Hoffman, the president and general manager of WTKR, a CBS affiliate, said he planned to add local newscasts to Channel 27. He said he didn't know when they would start or at what times.

But "we're not going to make wholesale changes in the programming" at CW27, one of the nation's top-rated CW affiliates, he said. CW27 has won strong ratings with such shows as "Judge Judy" and "Judge Joe Brown."

Hoffman on Monday began serving as general manager of both stations. The deal ended the job of CW 27's vice president and general manager, Steve Soldinger, a second-generation media executive in Hampton Roads with more than three decades of broadcasting experience.

Hoffman told his employees Monday: "This is a really huge deal for our station."

The merger requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, Hoffman said, but WTKR began operating both stations Monday under a "local marketing agreement."

It would be the second TV "duopoly" in the region. LIN TV Corp. owns WAVY-TV (Channel 10) and WVBT-TV (Fox43).

It's a trend that the FCC has grown more accepting of, said Alan Breznick, an analyst based in Ontario, Canada, with the firm Heavy Reading.

"Broadcasters are not making the money they used to," he said. "They're looking to cut costs and boost revenues by merging and consolidating."

Soldinger, a Norfolk native, led stations in Baltimore and Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh/Durham, N.C., before returning to Hampton Roads in 2005. His father, the late Harold Soldinger, was vice president at WTAR, predecessor to WTKR, and WAVY.

"I think it's a great opportunity for Channel 3 to expand their base of viewers," said Soldinger, 56, "and it's a natural, right business decision in today's climate."

Hoffman, who came to WTKR in 2008, said the move affirmed Local TV's confidence in the station, which rose from last place in local news ratings to narrowly edge WVEC-TV (Channel 13) for the top spot at 11 p.m. in May.

He said none of Channel 3's 125 workers would be affected.

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com