Following its mammoth divestment of the Local Media division, Meredith Corp. will be a company wholly enveloped in its National Media assets.
What does this mean for the Des Moines-based company and for Local Media Group President Patrick McCreery?
We have the answer.
Once the sale of Meredith’s 17 local TV stations to Gray Television is complete, Meredith will focus on accelerating the growth of its iconic brands including PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, and Allrecipes.
In Meredith’s view, these female-friendly brands deliver “trusted, actionable content for every aspect of consumers’ lives.”
And, the spin of Meredith Local Media makes the new Meredith Corp. a “more focused company” that aims to continue producing and delivering content for 95% of U.S. women — even as print media’s 25-year-decline shows no signs of a slowdown as advertising growth in digital will clearly be the key concern once the TV division is shed.
For Meredith Chairman/CEO Tom Harty, the company expects the transaction “to unlock meaningful shareholder value as it advances all of the company’s financial priorities.”
Reducing net debt is Priority No. 1, followed by “improving financial flexibility, allocating capital to fast-growing digital and consumer opportunities, and providing returns to shareholders.”
Harty commented, “As a more focused company with an enhanced balance sheet and cash-generating media assets, we will further advance our position as a media leader with trusted brands, a digital business of scale, and unparalleled reach to women … This transaction will allow us to sharpen our focus on the potential of our brands and assets.”
In particular, post-TV divestment Meredith “will invest to accelerate our digital growth and leverage our industry-leading first party data to deepen engagement with consumers across multiple platforms and provide advertising partners with greater value.”
But, what of certain leaders of Local Media, including Patrick McCreery?
A company spokesperson tells RBR+TVBR, “Patrick will remain fully committed to Meredith and Gray by seeing the sale through to closing.”
This signals McCreery’s departure from Meredith once the transaction is complete. He is expected to transition to Gray Television, however, which gained former Raycom Media head Pat LaPlatney through the Raycom-Gray merger and named him co-CEO upon closing in early 2019. A Gray representative tells RBR+TVBR that “LMG employees are Gray employees at closing.”
McCreery became Local Media Group President in July 2018 and has been associated with the company’s TV stations since April 2002, when he became a Special Projects Executive Producer for KPHO-5, the CBS affiliate owned by Meredith in Phoenix. He relocated to Portland, Ore., to become Assistant News Director of KPTV-12 and KPDX “FOX12+.” Nine months later, he ascended to News Director. In October 2008, McCreery was promoted to VP/GM for KPTV & KPDX. In May 2014, McCreery then rose to VP/News & Marketing for the entire Meredith Local Media Group.
Prior to joining Meredith, McCreery was an Investigative Producer for KPIX-5 in San Francisco. From 1994-1999, following his graduation from The Ohio State University, he was a Producer for WTOL television in Toledo, Ohio.
FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
“We are terribly excited about this announcement,” Executive Chairman and CEO Hilton Howell Jr. said upon opening his company’s conference call with Wall Street analysts and media. He noted that many Meredith employees will be joining Gray by the end of 2021, with many Gray executives joining Howell on the call. And, Hilton was blunt in his “disappointment” of having to sell WJRT-12 in Flint, Mich., due to FCC local ownership regulations, as it has been a strong property Gray would have loved to keep. That said, WNEM, the Meredith property in the DMA, is even stronger.
Meredith held its own conference call, an hour earlier than Gray’s. As part of that effort, Harty released a letter outlining how Meredith is “Focusing Our Future” on the National Media Group.
“The company has a long history of major milestones and today marks one such milestone,” Harty wrote. “This transaction will improve our value among key stakeholders, accelerate our digital growth and deepen our cross-platform relationships with millions of American consumers.”
Harty spoke at length about Meredith’s potential going forward minus the local TV group.
“Our digital business is large, profitable, and growing as it continues to account for a
significant portion of Meredith’s total expected advertising revenues,” he said. “In short – it is time to lean further into our competitive advantage in the digital and consumer marketplace.”
And, while a “reprioritization” means positive things for Meredith’s business, Harty affirmed that it does not take the Local Media Group’s “value to the Meredith legacy” for granted.
“Our television stations have played a critical role in our development for the last 75 years and their outstanding coverage, local insight, and strong advertiser partnerships have been instrumental in our growth,” Harty said. “We believe this transaction will allow [the Local Media Group] to continue to flourish and enhance the broadcast capabilities of Gray Television much in the same way it did for Meredith. I want to sincerely thank Patrick McCreery and his team for their outstanding leadership of LMG and dedication to our company.”
That was the lone mention of McCreery across all of the public conversations from Meredith and Gray.
