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CBS is not in a buying mood. Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration. Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were. CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O. Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market? I doubt it. CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox. As for WANF becoming a "WHDH-like juggernaut?" History would say otherwise. WHDH already had good ratings when it went independent. WANF and its predecessors never had good ratings, and the overall trend of fewer people watching TV in general doesn't bode well for the future -- no matter how much money Gray shovels into WANF.

The spiral reminds me a-lot of the Fox News Channel newsroom snd now the new ABC Newsroom.

I think Tom gets the job done. He strikes me as the NBC version of David Muir. Young(ish) guy in a suit and tie at the desk, Roving anchorman in a black t shirt out in the field. If not Tom then who is the alternative with those all encompassing traits? Peter Alexander perhaps? IMO the issue is more so NBC Nightly News than Tom. I like Lester Holt but the program's quality declined after took over. It's been rapid fire pacing, high story count, head spinning graphics in packages, and breaking news for the entire A block. All of this I'm sure was a response to World News Tonight getting #1 (so I understand why they felt the need to change). Of the modern era anchors, Brian Williams' broadcast was superior. It fast paced as well but not to the ADHD level it is today. He also possessed a grand narrative style that was evident during his anchor intros that I appreciated. Regarding the speaking I've noticed and been irritated by it too. NBC and ABC anchors seem to shout and as you say talk in half sentences. "Bullets flying; police coming to the scene, investigators finding victims". It's a mechanism to keep the story's "TRT" or runtime down to about 90 seconds long.

Update WDAY-TV has found their replacement for John Wheeler as Chief Meteorologist... ... its Jesse Ritka. For those of you who've been on the forum for so long, she used to work at WTMJ-TV Milwaukee for a decade before joining WDAY-TV shortly before COVID took over. Now, she gets the Chief gig full-time and leading a weather team of six which is rare for a market that size. https://www.facebook.com/wdaytv/posts/congratulations-to-jesse-ritka-wdays-new-chief-meteorologist-jesse-has-been-with/1095953142566157/ Here, she's being interviewed by former KVLY-TV anchor Robin Huebner (who you don't see or hear here) who TIL works for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, the TV station's sister daily newspaper:

I just wanted to say thank you to the admins, moderators, and users for all the wonderful updates, videos, and photos that debut each Gray TV station's new graphics. I've been here from the start of the GrayOne thread. Also, to the few who know what and when each one will debut, thanks for keeping it secret. I like the suspense and surprise. I still despise the red theme (Richmond, Atlanta, etc.,) but the others are fantastic. Thanks again for all the updates!

If (this is speaking theoretically) CBS were to re-affiliate with KSTW 11 and KIRO 7 were to go independent, KIRO would be able to hold its own. WHDH and WJXT have done remarkably well since losing their network affiliations. I'd anticipate WPLG, which is also losing its network affiliation in August, along with WANF, holding its own too. I'd agree with responses by @TVLurker and @Howard Beale about Gray Media investing too much money and resources into WANF (which previous owners Tribune and Meredith, from the WGNX and WGCL days, did very little to no investing), to CBS likely not being interested in buying WANF.

I can tell you this, it won't be clean for Gray if they even wanted to buy more stations. The only markets Gray doesn't have a presence in with Allen stations are Chico-Redding, Terre Haute, Lafayette (both in Indiana and Louisiana, Gray's last market where it doesn't own a station in that state), Tupelo/Columbus, Eugene, and Medford.

I don't really think Brian Williams screwed himself per say. He was moved to MSNBC and left around the time politics and journalism became perverted and sensational. I know he did stuff for Amazon during the election, the most important question is why would he go to Amazon who was partially responsible for getting Trump elected via The Washington Post not endorsing either candidate? And I know Amazon is a division with a bunch of companies owned by Jeff Bezos. He left MSNBC on his own terms though and is still presented and represented as a legendary journalist at NBC News. If you really want somebody who totally screwed himself over. Look no further than Matt Lauer who is persona non grata at NBC. The day after his last show was basically the news anchors of Today at the time talking about his firing over sexual misconduct. There are still videos up featuring him on the official Today channel but aside from that, NBC News does not mention Matt Lauer at all, only reluctantly because Matt is a large part of the Today's show history from 1996-2018. Almost 3 decades of content that features him. I don't think anybody misses Matt anyways. YT comments that mention him are either pounding on him for his treatment of women or semi-nostalgic for his tenure. I say semi-nostalgic because I haven't anybody say that The Today Show needs Matt back, they just like those days when Studio 1A actually had people in it.

The thing is, CBS doesn't need to run WUPA well as a CBS O&O for it to be a financial success to stockholders, which is all that matters. It just needs a better balance sheet than WUPA as an independent. This paragraph is speculation, but the retransmission deal CBS has with pay TV providers likely is structured that so CBS gets more per subscriber for a station running CBS programming than an independent station. Plus, they get to keep all of it as opposed to negotiating a reverse compensation affiliation deal with WANF where Gray was paying CBS some percentage of the retransmission fees Gray collected. Syndicated programming costs will go down in the long-run since CBS network programming covers 11 hours per weekday in the time between CBS Mornings and Colbert. (Plus however many hours of CBS News roundup and CBS News Mornings they air overnight) There will be CBS programming where they can charge more for ads than they could with existing syndicated programming. They don't need to go big or expensive building a news department. That cost can be managed along with the expectations for it, and there is far more space to sell in a local newscast than in syndicated programming. Even if they attract lower quality advertisers, that revenue, ideally, gets made up in added availability to sell.

A reminder for folks when it comes to cbs buying stations. 1. their finances aren’t exactly in the best shape right now. Buying a non appreciating asset like a broadcast station would not be a smart move financially 2. The current administration has a vendetta against Paramount. Even if cbs wanted to it’s likely to be held up by regulators for petty reasons

One of the new shows on the new WXPX Channel 66, which will be Independent as The Spot - Tampa Bay 66... WFTS' streaming weather show, Denis Phillips Live. It begins the day the Independence era begins. https://www.facebook.com/denisphillipsweatherman/posts/2-buttons-1-bans-people-while-the-other-immediately-goes-to-commercial-break-so-/1269147774574148/

CBS purchasing WANF would save them a lot of money in the long run since they have an established news department and other departments relating to community involvement. CBS by moving to WUPA not only has to spend money on a news department but also build up the station to be on equal footing with WANF. I doubt CBS is going to put in the time and effort into WUPA. The move to WUPA is going to be disastrous for CBS in the long run. Prepare for WANF to become a WHDH like juggernaut.

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF? Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money. CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

Re-railing back to the original topic of this thread, Latenighter has an article about the deal that brought Allen and Comics Unleashed back for a second round.

Apparently June 2nd was the day. The full Weather Unfiltered team has been together today and yesterday.

Also Hulu/Disney+ and Peacock have all-in marketing where everything is always marketed as being on them clearly with full-throated spending and development, while Paramount+ is still stuck on CBS All Access's tech stack and has severe underinvestment as PG cuts to the bone. Sony cooperates well with Disney already, while Peacock has been open to content from other sources. The big thing to note here is if ratings go down OTA, especially as subscribers are able to watch shows ad-free if they have that plan. The tie-in advertisers will be just fine, but the local advertisers (which have declined to an absurd number of home remodeling services and 'we do it all [not well but we do it all!] HVAC/pluming/electric' contractors, some of which whom have farmed out ads to AI) will lose a lot of eyeballs, along with any local news promos. But after last year's never-ending mudslinging fest with campaign ads, both services now can focus on advertising their ad-free tier as free of them, and though you'll still have the diehards that will DVR or VHS the shows, this deal will end a lot of 'where can I watch this' questions if the shows are pre-empted, just like those who watch Days of Our Lives now have a show that no breaking news will ever pre-empt.

WGBH has been using the Arthur fist meme as a symbol for their cause to keep PBS and NPR on the air. It is symbolic for many reasons. In the context of Arthur it was a part of a story that teach kids about anger and taking accountability but out of context it is powerful, it is a message against Trump that public broadcasting will not go down without a fight. The tariff's may be causing people to hesitate in donating but I'm guessing members here have a lot of disposable income. Why not donate to keep PBS and NPR alive?

I've stopped following the legal drama since it has become a game of pong. And I'm not talking about ping pong, I'm talking about Pong for the Atari 2600. I believe due to CBS's inability to focus on priorities that money could instead be invested in as well as the lack of money that parent company Paramount Global has, that Sony will be the victor. CBS should just walk away while they have the chance. Not only would it keep a shred of dignity in the relationship between Sony and CBS but it would also prevent a disaster involving those shows and CBS owned stations that carry said shows. But no, CBS will never walk and those shows will go to their competitors out of spite. I don't think any CBS owned stations who rely on those shows will ever have a ratings advantage again.

This might be the end of PBS and NPR as we know it

I second this as well. I don't think CBS would want to wait for an opportunity to buy WUSA when said opportunity also is tied to buying either all the other stations or other reasons that might not sit well with CBS. (I don't know what the various real life reasons could be, be gentle.) If I were CBS, I would either find a way to buy WJLA or failing that, any of the UHF stations. The UHF stations option is scary because it will set a precedent that networks no longer need reputable stations with news departments and a history of serving their community. If WWJ, WBTS and the pending move of CBS to WUPA has shown us anything, it shows that the networks are starting to come to that conclusion, even ABC has even started to follow CBS's lead and NBC's partial lead by taking the affiliation from WPLG and putting it on a subchannel of WSVN. When CBS decides to strip WUSA of it's affiliation for a station that nobody knows or cares about, anarchy will arise and it won't be good for the viewers of those TV stations of which the networks are starting to screw around with.

Well with MSNBC moving out soon, they’ll have a lot of studio space soon. But if Tom likes it I don’t see a problem. That today logo can be removed for the nighttime shows. I’m sure the set can be modified in between shows Tom already moved to another part of the set for Top Story. Ya know I think studio 1A is a great space, and with today’s technology they can have there own space for all principal shows, breaking news and election coverage and special reports as needed.

No one said CBS had to buy WUSA...

I know a streaming deal has been discussed/in the works for over a year now, but anyone else think selling to Hulu and Peacock is a somewhat deliberate F-U to CBS on Sony’s part as their legal drama continues?

Totally accepted the decision, no protest from me. It’s simply an interesting observation.

The White House has officially sent the rescission package to Congress and now begins a 45-day clock for them to consider clawing back $9.4 billion in approved spending, including $1.1 billion to fund CPB for FY26 and 27. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-formally-asks-congress-to-claw-back-approved-spending-targeted-by-doge This news comes a day after GBH in Boston made the announcement they've laid off 45 staffers.