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There are multiple factors to blame if we're going to do a full accounting of what killed traditional TV. I agree that greed is definitely one of them. Overpriced cable/satellite bills, extreme and intrusive levels of advertising, etc. It simultaneously got more expensive and more monetized while being less worth it. You could argue that the introduction of ads to cable TV, even though the original premise of paying for cable was that you were paying to avoid advertising, was the "original sin" that doomed the future of television. I posted this theory a few months ago, and I still believe it: I also think the historic laziness of American TV presentation is a big part of it. Compared to other countries that had idents, live announcers (sometimes on camera a la MTV's VJs) and all sorts of other extras that made TV feel like a big event, the presentation of American TV has always been minimalist and impersonal. In the long run, I think it's cost the networks dearly since they never developed the same brand loyalty as, say, the BBC that might have helped them hold out for longer against streaming and make the eventual transition more graceful. That laziness and lack of ambition extended to the programming, too. Networks started cancelling shows before they could even find an audience because it was safer to just recycle the same formats over and over again. Cable networks that started out with specific visions all drifted into being the same general-entertainment channels with the same programming before decaying into a worse version of Netflix binge-watching with ads every five minutes. And of course, the lack of local programming besides news doesn't help either. Most broadcast stations' schedules are full of syndicated crap that clearly nobody misses on streaming. Streaming is already heading in the same direction. It's becoming more expensive and fragmented, more encroached with advertising, too quick to cancel shows, and so on. It shows that the real problem was never traditional TV itself, it was the corporations behind it who simply can't help themselves.

For anyone needing a Mark Johnson fix now that he's no longer on WEWS.... He is still forecasting, only on his Facebook page. I still think once the dust settles, he'll end up on another station. Even if something opens up in Youngstown, he could always pull a Mark Koontz. He was hired at WFMJ and worked his way up to Chief Meteorologist, retiring two years before Dick Goddard did from WJW.

I've noticed that Spanish-language networks don't get much love around here so I thought I start one for Telemundo Deportes as their Spanish-language sports coverage is starting to become more impressive. For starters, Telemundo just released their Upfront, which is their plans for the upcoming TV season, and news came out that they're expanding their sports coverage big time. They already have Premier League coverage in Spanish, and so does several NFL games and Super Bowls in conjunction with NBC. Oh, and don't forget the 2026 FIFA World Cup. They will be all over that one to cover all 104 matches. Two things caught my eye, though, with this Upfront: Telemundo is a partial Spanish-language home of the NBA, airing 11 games per season, including the NBA All-Star Game, so NBC was able to get Spanish-language rights as well for Telemundo. The network is launching a 24/7 Spanish-language FAST sports channel in August: Telemundo Deportes Ahora, possibly modeling it just like their FAST news version, Noticias Telemundo Ahora. As far as I'm aware, this will be the biggest 24/7 FAST Spanish-language sports channel because I don't think Univision has any on ViX, and even if they do, its mainly Liga MX content. Telemundo's FAST version will probably be way different, but only time will tell. (Yes, this article does cover over stuff, but its the sports content that got my interest in this): https://www.forbes.com/sites/veronicavillafane/2025/05/08/telemundo-2025-26-lineup-preview-world-cup-2026-seor-de-los-cielos-spinoff-live-and-reality-tv/

I knew we shouldn't been fooled by their reverse 180 because Allen is still moving forward with their TWC plan.. Proof? WTHI no longer has a weather department. Their lone met, Everett Lau, will now do an off-air role at WTHI. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1254746726654346&id=100063570909098

Respectfully, we don't really encourage the creation of general threads, anymore, especially if it's being started with no particular headline or reason. The long, drawn-out process of this merger doesn't really count as so much is just currently in limbo. No matter their past, lumping in other groups' stations here is also unnecessary, as those companies likely already have pre-existing threads. Please refer to site rules. https://localnewstalk.net/guidelines/ Threads should have a targeted discussion topic: Creating threads that have no real topic of discussion (such as a "general" thread about a particular company or station) is not allowed without permission from the administration. Though threads of this nature exist from before this rule was put into effect, we discourage posting in them, as it makes it harder to find discussions about a particular topic, or causes numerous parallel conversations to take place at once. While not updated in several months, there is already a thread about the Paramount-Skydance merger. https://localnewstalk.net/topic/21444-skydance-to-buy-paramount-global/ If you're looking to discuss the political issues involved with keeping CBS's journalism independent while trying to get federal approval, there's a thread for that. https://localnewstalk.net/topic/21709-60-minutes-in-the-age-of-trump-20/ For better or worse, this thread has also already been used as a CBS O&O catch-all. https://localnewstalk.net/topic/19633-eight-cbs-stations-to-ditch-cw-and-go-independent-this-fall/

Since there isn't a thread for the CBS O&O's yet, I thought of creating one here, especially with all the speculation regarding their parent company Paramount Global's potential merger with Skydance, which as of this moment, appears to be on life support if I'm not mistaken. Former O&O's (KEYE, KMOV, KUTV, WGNT, etc.), as long as they're still CBS affiliates or former O&O's that were part of UPN and/or The CW and are still affiliated with the latter even after Nexstar took over the network, can also be covered under this thread. Replies of CBS/Paramount purchasing or selling a station, a new graphics package being adopted, etc., or anything else that's related, can also be included.

It's mirrored the WNBC news studio just like looking at a reflection

WOW. WNBC got the shaft with their new studio ... The Telemundo studio looks NICE!! -- Matt

Nothing new they want people on their paid streaming to watch all the weather coverage it’s such BS but welcome to today’s media.

Even then, Sinclair's glass/curves look didn't make it to all of their stations before it got replaced.

It’s a totally different studio than we thought.

TWC really should have done full coverage of the severe weather from 10pm-2am ET last night, given how horrible the tornado outbreak was, but alas, they did not. Just occasional break-ins with Mike Bettes.

More vintage South Florida News Snippets late 1970's ( Clip starting at 50:20 until the end contains disturbing images, viewer discretion advised)

They're doing the same thing as Sinclair did -- took them FOREVER to roll out and Sinclair's is what, almost a decade old (combining the glass/curves 1.0 and 2.0 looks) and also very stale?

France Two things here... BFM Paris Ile-de-France, the first and flagship of the BFM Regions channels, went off the air for good in mid-March. Accumulated financial losses were to blame, but the other regional channels from BFM are still around. https://fr.themedialeader.com/bfm-paris-a-ferme-ses-portes/ The great Daniel Bilalian, who anchored Antenne 2 (before the name was changed in 1992 to the current France 2)'s 13h and 20h during the 80s and 90s, before leading the sports department for 12 years, has passed away. He was 78. https://entrevue.fr/en/disparition-de-daniel-bilalian-figure-de-laudiovisuel-francais-a-lage-de-78-ans/

Those are very good questions. I think Spectrum News will continue and will more likely expand to cover more areas and with more channels (Gainesville for example possibly receiving Spectrum News 13 from Orlando; Ocala already has it since Spectrum does serve there but no Cox but Cox serves Gainesville but no Spectrum there). CMG is 29% owned by Cox Enterprises. Maybe we'll see some changes regarding CMG but it's too soon to say on that for now. It'll be interesting and weird at first to say Spectrum from Cox instead of from Charter but we'll get used to it (I wish I still lived in Gainesville and had Cox to see the full effect).

I have a question, two actually. Will the merger affect either Spectrum News or Cox Media Group in any way? Despite CMG being owned by Apollo, doesn't Cox Enterprises still own a small part of it?

Spectrum is pretty solid for me in CT, as well.

Katie Raml said farewell to the Valley today at the end of tonight's 6PM KNXV (ABC Phoenix) newscast after nearly a quarter-century there, seeing it rise from the bottom all the way to pretty the top if not close to it now. Considering how some of the corporate owners, particularly KNXV's owner, Scripps, have been handling things, we're lucky in this market that there hasn't been the craziness that has dumbed down news operations as we've seen elsewhere. And nice to see when the network acknowldeges it too seeing World News Tonight anchor David Muir recording a "Thank You" video for Katie, it's one thing if it's for a local anchor in NYC, where you might as well be a part of the network knowing how their news dept. operates, but another if it's for a non-O&O affiliate. https://youtu.be/DQpKmEIP6u8?si=m_yWzUOvx2wLBqTt https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DfzqbwpFU/

Some things of note that may or may not have already been mentioned: The Lightning are joining the Panthers and moving to Scripps Sports next season from Fox Bally FanDuel Sports Network Sun; WXPX is going to shift from Ion to an independent to become its flagship station Something odd I've noticed in Sportsnet's Stanley Cup coverage is that very recently, the network has switched to using a bug of the Rogers logo instead of the Sportsnet logo during Stanley Cup coverage. No other changes to the graphics (which are still primarily branded with Sportsnet logos, with the Hockey Night in Canada brand heavily downplayed despite the CBC simulcasts; the previous graphics package/Stanley Cup logo had a Sportsnet/HNIC co-branding on either side), and all of Sportsnet's other programming/broadcasts still use a Sportsnet bug. The CBC simulcasts also still use a CBC bug.

These screenshots of their new 30 rock studios are from the TELEMUNDO47 YouTube channel

Normally, WDAY-TV articles online are paywalled. Not this one... ... because it's John Wheeler's last newscast in full from earlier tonight. They did it really well, especially the last half hour. https://www.inforum.com/weather/live-at-6-p-m-john-wheelers-farewell-forecast-on-wday?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WDAY_TV_News&fbclid=IwY2xjawKUv7JleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHvvOecBRlSRqTZZ59Cd_QvD3OmUjzp5nX2HUKKtqhWK07SMhHOVgq-0kaBdp_aem_8vAtR7vvhikBVT2OdA7nJQ

Shannon Cake's farewell. WPTV spared NO EXPENSE in going all out for her. Even former colleages like Michael Williams, Roxanne Stein, and Jim Sackett all came by to wish her a farewell. These videos aren't embedded so you'll have to go to YouTube directly for them: https://youtu.be/lSpGIFe7leo?si=qajbgy50Vupj6Bw6 https://youtu.be/geVGcK5GUkk?si=dxUMy25Kv_FQBnnl https://youtu.be/wXnXlRURwuw?si=m_jMgV7XIKJLctHR

I’ve watched Wheeler for years and the special one-hour farewell is more than fitting. Included a proclamation and key to the city of Fargo from Mayor Mahoney, a city snow plow plow being renamed the “Wheeler Weather Peeler”, and the entire current weather team on hand in the studio.

Even WISH-TV's look keeps it alive after Nexstar traded over to WTTV/WXIN. And WXIN's new look looks like a more refined GrayOne. GrayOne hasn't even made it's way around the country yet and it's getting stale. I wonder if they ever intended to take it national after it debuted at WANF.