Board seat opened at Fisher Communications

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For all the trouble Roger Ogden went through to win a seat on the board of directors at Fisher Communications in this year’s battle for control of the company, now he’s had to resign. The move resolved a new conflict.


Ogden, retired President and CEO of Gannett’s Television division, has been a director of the E.W. Scripps Company since 2008. Serving on the Fisher board as well was no problem until early this month when Scripps announced a deal to buy McGraw-Hill’s TV group for $212 million.

One of the four McGraw-Hill ABC stations going to Scripps is KERO-TV Bakersfield, along with low-power KZKC, an Azteca America affiliate. Fisher, as it happens, owns KBAK-TV (CBS) Bakersfield, plus low-power KBFX (Fox).

To avoid any violation of the FCC’s ownership rules once the Scripps acquisition of the McGraw-Hill stations closes, Ogden resigned from the Fisher board, effective October 7th. His successor has not been named.

RBR-TVBR observation: The vacant seat leaves the board count at Fisher at five pro-management and three dissidents. While the pro-management side still holds a majority, they will no doubt want to fill that seat quickly with another director who wants to grow the company rather than put it up for sale.