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Gray doesn't really have a choice. To be fair, neither do any other broadcasting companies. They can't cut the cord and abandon traditional broadcast TV because that's where they've tied up their money, by investing in infrastructure and technology, and by relying on retransmission fees and --- to a lesser extent for some companies -- advertising revenue. Broadcasters missed the boat when it came to adopting a digital news and programming strategy that could also be effectively monetized. I also think what Gray is doing at WANF is a sign of what's eventually to come for broadcasters. Networks really don't need affiliates anymore. Certainly not as great a need as what existed in decades past. The time will come when the networks get rid of affiliates and rely solely on their streaming platforms. Affiliates will then either sink or swim. Those that do swim will rely on a heavy mix of local news and local programming. But the long-term sustainability of such a plan is in doubt. In 2029, the NFL can opt out of most of its TV contracts, and if it does so, then so goes what is perhaps the biggest reason why people still watch broadcast TV.

I miss the availability of raw numbers like those listed. Yikes.... So only about 9% of households in the Atlanta DMA were watching local news at 11 PM. Despite the overall low numbers it is impressive to see WSB's audience share dominance in 2023. Action News had 24K more households than their closest competitor Fox 5 News and double the audience of Atlanta News First.

What about KXII?

It's not like Gray has a regional sports channel in their cluster that could be accessed for programming...

An unexpected lowpoint from what used to be a respectable network. What is the purpose of this video anyways?

CBS is gonna make ASMR popular.

Yes, this is a real YouTube video, but I didn't have this on my bingo card. Days ago, CBS News released a YouTube video of... Walter Cronkite and the CBS Evening News from June 1971, set to ASMR on a rainy night in New York City. The video is nearly 3 hours and 20 minutes long.

What choice do they have though? It's either that or paid programming. I would say color bars but I doubt it would turn a profit.

Glad he’s not retiring I’ll give him to 2035. But I’m glad he’s staying.

I composed two themes that are used daily; the entire QCL package, and the tease and talent themes, Plus, several handfulls of suplimental cuts, which will still be used.

The difference between WSVN in 1989 and WANF in 2025 is viewers. WSVN succeeded because the "if it bleeds, it leads" format was unique, and it drew in plenty of viewers during a time when you had few other choices for news. Today, you can get your news from almost any local source on your phone. Who needs to watch traditional TV news anymore? Very few people do, and the ratings prove it. Here's what Broadcasting & Cable had to say about Atlanta ratings in 2023: That's pretty bad when you realize that Atlanta has, per Nielsen, 2.7 million TV households. I've no doubt that WANF will do fine in a post-CBS era. Gray has an incentive to ensure the station succeeds. My point is that WANF and Gray are doubling down on more news in a legacy format that is losing viewers and revenue.

I don't see CBS buying KIRO (they couldn't for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with Brendan Carr). At the very least it heavily influences Apollo's attempt to sell off Cox Media and makes it very very hard to sell a station that might be stripped of a network affiliation. Especially if CBS extorts the buyer to make massive reverse compensation payments in order to keep the affiliation, that would make KIRO radioactive to anyone not a competing network. And since Nexstar can't legally buy into Seattle at this time...

With ESPN in the family you would think they’d figure something out as a workaround. It always annoys me when I dip into a newscast from an ABC O&O.

At the rate CBS is heading, WANF and Gray are the winners in that they don't have to pay CBS anymore for less and less content. CBS has done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot for the last several years, especially on the news side. Losing the SEC was another blow, and primetime keeps getting worse and worse. Now that WXIA gave up on the primetime news on WATL, I totally expect WANF to bring it back. And given Gray's great OTT platforms, the reach is far beyond Atlanta as cord cutters and watch WANF virtually anywhere. Since ratings and revenue don't matter anymore, CBS took their ball and went home. They'll be the 5th place operation but as long as people are paying for CBS somehow (through cable, satellite, OTT or Paramount+), they'll get all of the money from that now.

It’s something the ABC stations have done since they broadcasted online. I assume they’re fearful about rights but other chains have no issue.

Top Story is really good. Was hoping he would hand it off to Ellison Barber so he could focus full time on Nightly.

I wish I could say I was shocked but as I've said for years, without the SEC and with CBS becoming what Moonves feared would happen under Viacom's rule, Gray wasn't going to keep paying them for a third-place product at major-market prices. They get a clean slate and now it's all CBS's problem. Like I was saying on the After Midnight thread, replacing it with Byron Allen repeats won't cause affiliates to dump the network, but underinvestment across the board and settling 'that lawsuit' and intefering with news judgement certainly doesn't help. These groups are not willing to pay for content like formless reality shows and Hollywood Squares that only a decade ago were full-on MTV2 and VH1 product. This was where WSVN was on January 1, 1989 and I feel like this is a similar situation, where the network felt no loyalty and was happy to let them go their own way, and it really didn't work out well for CBS, which is de facto irrelevant in Miami. It's never felt like they cared any way or the other for WANF. And yes, we're in an unknown, but TV has adjusted before. Gray has the Braves and the Hawks will eventually come to their own crossroads with FanDuel, and who knows what happens with United and Apple TV; they could offer more games from them, and I feel like in a few years if they keep on this track, they could be at parity with WSB news-wise. Meanwhile, WUPA is just...nothing. It has call letters from a network that died twenty years ago, a lousy lineup and all of its news product has been worse than if they did nothing at all. I don't think they're going to invest a lot in Atlanta; maybe ramping up their sports coverage as the Falcons official station (speaking of cursed entities), but they'll probably do enough to look relevant and not much more than that.

I see

I agree with all of this. He’s such an underwhelming anchor and presenter that it’s hard to believe he’s the flagship anchor for NBC News. Maybe we’ll feel different about him when he’s had the role for a few years but then again I’ve always thought this of him. It seems like NBC just wanted to find a Muir answer.

The stations that are rolling out now just upgraded to the new VIZ engines that can support GrayONE, hence why the slow rollout. There are stations that still don't have the upgraded VIZ systems in place, (WHNS, KPHO, KOLN, KNOP, KHNL, KSFY, ) so probably next year. Not everyone has VIZ, some still have Chyron (A Lot of the Ex-Meredith Stations)

Yep when do you predict all stations will have grayone

I don't believe there's no real loss for WANF when it comes down to the wire. The station has always been the underdog ranging from the initial affiliation swap in 1994 when WAGA became Fox and CBS moved to 46 after buying 69 just in case. Throughout WGNX/WGCL/WANF's history has been several attempts to beef up the news department to get viewers away from top dogs WAGA, WSB and even WXIA when all three stations were competitive in the market. Gray has been nothing but supportive of WANF to the point where the ratings were higher than WXIA which suffered from both lack of investment and a lack of care when it came down to not only it's news product but how the station was treated. CBS' intention to move to a station they own was solely for monetary reasons. CBS' investment in WUPA will also be significantly lower than WANF, WXIA, WSB and WAGA combined. What CBS did was a real slap in the face to Gray who owns several key CBS affiliates, a lot of them the top dogs in the market. I'm lucky that Gray and CBS managed to keep those stations affiliated but for how long? We're really reaching the point of no return where the affiliates/ownership groups are not treated with compassion, both WPLG and now WANF can attest. There's nobody to blame but companies who focused on getting rid of regulations in the broadcasting market, I doubt any of them recognize the damage that occurred under their watch and are basically laughing their way to the bank as we speak. WANF has more positives than negatives when it comes to the situation they're in, I have full faith that WANF will come out stronger without CBS.

You know this is one slow rollout.

I wonder how WWJ is doing in the ratings lately.

WHDH has always been a powerhouse with popular talent and a winning formula. Same with WPLG. WANF has none of that. So cant compare success. As for CBS, they just did this in Detroit. Launched a whole operation. Its not the central cast thing.