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They will have a hard time.

Yeah I predicted this when they rebranded. There’s a reason Gray is removing all the network logos on their station logos…. Watch for more of this.

From WABC-TV: Bill Ritter takes one more step towards retirement, announcing tonight (Mon 6/2) that he's stepping down as 5:00p co-anchor. He will continue to appear on Eyewitness News at 6:00p. Mike Marza, who replaced Ritter at 11:00 not long ago, adds the 5:00 starting tomorrow (Tues 6/3). https://abc7ny.com/videoClip/16636706/

I know it’s a long shot, but wonder if this is a play by Gray to pick up WSB from Cox. Sell WPCH, scoop up WSB and run it with WANF as an independent and a merged newsroom.

I can only see Hearst buying WKOW and the Wisconsin stations to bolster WISN plus WAAY to bolster WVTM. The rest would be difficult for Hearst to imagine buying. I don't see them going back to Hawaii (for KITV).

When does the affiliation agreement with Tegna expire?

Effective tomorrow Mike Marza takes over the 5:00 with Sade. Bill stays on the 6 with Liz. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AhpnvNR1h/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Will they hire, build and launch a newsroom and product in just 10 weeks? If it is outsourced again to WCBS, WFOR, KTVT, WBZ or other O&O, I just can't see how they will have an actual local presence and build viewership. Because there is a large Gray affiliation agreement part of all this, I wonder who pushed whom? It puts a little different light on this.

I haven't had much of a chance to watch the show since the update, but it feels a bit grittier. Interesting for them to leave a studio to go into the newsroom. I kind of wish the daytime newscasts would go back into the newsroom (though I didn't care for the boring flashcam setup).

I do not get modern broadcasting trends. Normally you would affiliate with the station that provides a benefit in terms of audience and stature and it's been that way for decades until up to this year. The WPLG affiliation switch in retrospect was definitely a sign of things to come, the networks have devolved from strategic alignment to focusing on the bottom line which happens to be money and nothing else. I have a feeling CBS is considering even more affiliation swaps with the stations that they own. I wouldn't be surprised if KTSW became a CBS owned and operated station. I would try to figure out the sense of it but of course it's Shari Redstone who's actions make no sense whatsoever. Good luck to WANF, I have a feeling their independence is going to net better ratings then whatever WUPA can come up with.

Yeah. CBS is going to do the same thing in Seattle and Tampa. They could in theory but Kiro since Cox is for sale, but I doubt CBS would be willing to spend the money to buy it.

Yes

Fair point.

Losing a network affiliate and becoming an independent isn't as hard of a downfall as it used to be... I mean look at the news-intensive independents that have popped up recently. Now we'll have WPLG Miami and WANF Atlanta as the latest such examples.

Wow. Didn’t see that coming. The new station launches newscast it definitely gonna struggle in the ratings. Like some have said this is purely money related I don’t think CBS knows how hard it is yeah they have newscasts but it’s produced somewhere else. You’re talking about moving production in-house and starting an entire news department from scratch, in a market with 3 established stations and one station that losing it affiliation struggling to keep up now you add another newsroom in the picture. I think CBS is gonna have a very weak prescene in Atlanta. This was money based not ratings based and it will hurt CBS.

That's exactly what I just said on a private message with two of these people on this site!!!! Get outta my head, dude.

Bonus points if it ends up back on WUPA as 69.2

I low-key could see CW being booted too for some reason. I don't know why but I wouldn't be surprised if it were.

We have a CW55 logo!

If CW moves from 17 to 46, WPCH is one step closer to returning to it's "Superstation" roots...

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. It always seemed like they were just temporarily "parking" CW on WPCH until CBS' eventual exit from WANF.

Looking at the list of stations, I'm pretty certain they'd be a clean purchase for Hearst or Graham...but most of them are small-market, so outside of maybe WAAY, KVOA, WREX, KWWL, and WKOW, I don't think Hearst would be all that interested (and Graham even less so). Also, the work that would be involved in making the stations decent again.... It'd probably be Hearst's last significant purchase of the 2020s and 2030s.

I think the best option is to keep WANF as all-Atlanta and focused on the area, while WPCH acts as a regional superstation with the sporting events and state coverage (for things like the Legislature), with the latter also becoming a subchannel on Gray's other channels in the state. For example, in Savannah, WPCH could go on 11.3 or 11.4 or something.

As I have said many of times Byron Cheap Skate Allen had no business to buy TV stations and should've just stayed in his lane with his cheap syndication dreck, he was always a Wannabe Media Mogle, and his empire is about to crash. I'm sure those that work for Allen Media at the local level are happy their being sold sometime soon.