More On That Toledo TV Thing

There’s a good reason OMW doesn’t touch on media news out of Toledo often – we don’t really know the market.

A correction to our earlier report regarding Raycom Media (owner of WOIO/19 and WUAB/43 in Cleveland) and its merger with Liberty… it turns out that Raycom already owns Toledo NBC affiliate WNWO/24. Local media watchers there say it’s likely that the newly merged Raycom will have to sell one of the two stations it’ll end up with – the other being Liberty’s WTOL/11. It’s expected by most that WNWO will be on the Raycom chopping block because of the merger.

Though Raycom says it’ll apply for a waiver, it isn’t considered likely to be granted, according to an article in the Toledo Blade newspaper. TV duopoly ownership rules apparently don’t permit one company owning both stations in a market the size of Toledo, but Raycom is allowed the duopoly in Cleveland with 19 and 43.