KNTV Appoints New Sales Team KNTV Builds New Group With Local Talent
 
SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec 1, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Richard Cerussi,
KNTV/KBWB's vice president of sales and station manager, announced today the
hiring of three veteran Bay Area sales executives. Chris Wagner, director of
project development and new business sales for KNTV/KBWB, joins Patrick Notley,
regional general sales manager for KNTV/KBWB, and Dennis McNamara, general sales
manager for KBWB. Each will start at the station over the next five weeks.
 
KNTV shed its ABC affiliation on July 3, 2000 and operates as an independent
station until it becomes the Bay Area's NBC affiliate and home of "Must See TV"
on January 1, 2002.
 
"Building up our sales team is part of our strategy as we prepare to become
NBC," said Bob Franklin, president and general manager of KNTV/KBWB. "They don't
come any sharper than Rich Cerussi, and I'm confident that together we will
build the strongest sales force in Bay Area television up to the switch to NBC
and beyond. Chris, Pat and Dennis each have great working relationships in the
Bay Area and recognition in this market."
 
"Each member of this team looks forward to the challenge of becoming the Bay
Area's NBC affiliate and serving the region's advertisers," says Rich Cerussi,
vice president of sales and station manager for KNTV/KBWB/KKPX. "We've attracted
a very strong and very focused sales management team that will be an integral
part of this station's efforts in making television history."
 
With over twenty years of niche marketing experience, Chris Wagner's
responsibilities will include analyzing the stations' marketing position,
developing retailing and advertising opportunities and developing station
promotions. Chris most recently comes from AOL as a San Francisco/West regional
director and was director of business development at KTVU-TV before that. She
also founded and was president of Co-opnet, Inc., a national marketing
consulting and research firm. Chris resides in Oakland.
 
Patrick Notley will build a sales staff in the rest of the Bay Area from the
ground up and oversee the sales staffs for both stations. He comes to KNTV/KBWB
from six years at KRON-TV where he most recently was the national sales manager
and responsible for leading the marketing and sales efforts in Chicago, Los
Angeles and New York. Patrick was previously a research director for KOFY TV20
in San Francisco. He began his career over 10 years ago as a research analyst in
the station representation business at Petry television in New York. Patrick
lives in Larkspur.
 
Dennis McNamara most recently comes from Net-Mercial as executive vice president
of sales and was vice president of sales at AIM-TV.com before that. Prior his
dot-com experience, Dennis was general sales manager at San Jose's KSTS-TV and
at KGO-TV as a local sales manager. Dennis brings over 20 years of experience in
the Bay Area sales marketplace. He resides in Pacifica and is a graduate of the
University of Portland.
 
KNTV is one of nine network-affiliated stations owned by Granite Broadcasting
(Nasdaq: GBTVK), whose broadcasts reach almost 7% of the nation's television
households. KNTV is operating as an independent station until January 1, 2002
when it will become the Bay Area's NBC affiliate. KNTV produces "Tech News
Today," making it the first television station to produce a daily half-hour show
on technology and business. The station has established news bureaus in Oakland,
Palo Alto and San Francisco to broaden the reach of its news coverage throughout
the Bay Area. KNTV's current primary news focus is Silicon Valley, and 14
reporters cover South Bay news every weekday, triple the number of reporters any
other station has dedicated to Silicon Valley. KNTV airs syndicated content as
well as WB network programming.
 
SOURCE KNTV/KBWB
 
 
 CONTACT:          Maya Esparza of PRx Inc., 408-287-1700, or
                   maya_esparza@prxinc.com, for KNTV/KBWB
 
 URL:              prxinc.com

Please note:
Dec. 1, 2000.
Standard & Poor's is concerned about Granite's ability to
maintain appropriate access to external financing amid
weakening operations and rising funding needs prior to the
start of NBC affiliation at the company's San Jose station KNTV
in January 2002.
    Granite was not in compliance with the maximum total debt
ratio and minimum fixed-charge coverage ratio under its senior
secured credit facility at Sept. 30, 2000; however, the banks
waived compliance with such ratios at Sept. 30, 2000 until
March 30, 2001.
    As of Nov. 13, 2000, the company had $101,672,000
outstanding under its credit facility. Granite will need to
refinance all amounts under the facility or obtain further
waivers by March 30, 2001 to avoid a technical default under
the credit agreement.
    As of Nov.  10, 2000, Granite had $9.7 million cash and $30
million available under its  credit facility.
    Granite's operating results during the 2000 third quarter
were weak, resulting in a 42% decrease in pre-corporate expense
EBITDA on a year-over-year same-station basis.
    Weakness at its San Francisco and Detroit WB affiliated
stations, as well as cash flow losses at the San Jose station,
which is operating as an independent station until Jan. 1,
2002, were  partially offset by positive results at the
company's major network affiliated  stations.
    Granite's EBITDA margin, with WB affiliation payments
treated as an operating expense, was poor, at about 18% for the
12 months ended Sept. 30, 2000.
    Interest coverage was very weak at 0.8x, and coverage of
interest plus non-cash, debt-like preferred dividends was 0.4x.
    Granite anticipates further operating weakness for the 2000
fourth quarter and in 2001, which will increase the need for
external funds.
    The company needs to replace $14 million of 2000 political,
Olympic, and dot-com advertising revenue, making for difficult
revenue and cash flow comparisons.
    Higher operating and promotional expenses at KNTV will
further impair cash  flow.
    Besides meeting a shortfall in interest coverage, Granite's
other funding needs include its initial $61 million affiliation
payment to NBC due Jan. 1, 2002, about $13.5 million for
digital television conversion over the next 18 months, and a
commitment to NBC to spend at least $1.8 million to promote
KNTV's new network affiliation.
    Granite also expects to spend about $20 million over the
next three years to expand KNTV's studios.
    The year 2001 will be pivotal for Granite in light of a
potentially difficult revenue picture and higher expenses.
    Availability of external financing will be critical until
cash flow improves upon the start of KNTV's NBC affiliation in
2002.
    However, the magnitude and rate of cash flow improvement is
highly uncertain due to factors which could include:
    -- Lower viewership due to the channel position change for
NBC  programming,
    -- Potential audience share gains by competitors during the
18-month gap  without network affiliation,
    -- The popularity of KNTV's local programming, and
    -- Higher promotional and programming spending that will be
needed by KNTV.
    Signal reach in San Francisco had been a concern, but
Granite has increased its transmitter power to cover much of
the San Francisco market and is securing cable carriage
throughout the market.
    Standard & Poor's will resolve the CreditWatch listing in
the next two-to-three months, placing particular emphasis on
Granite's operating performance and progress with its financing
plans.