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I'll summarize my thoughts from the Discord: I don't think this is an attempt at a new OTA weather channel or anything close to WeatherPlus. I think this is a vehicle to enable the hubbing of weather. The press release says "Fox Weather will feature local, regional and national updates... [Drawing] on more than 75 meteorologists across 17 stations and Fox News Channel’s news gathering teams." and makes no mention of affiliate stations. This is a project that involves only the O&O group. Rebrand all the local weather departments under the "Fox Weather" banner (Which would be similar to WeatherPlus) and now you have a unified brand that anyone can appear in front of. Do you really need weekend meteorologists at both WITI and WFLD? Or can you just "regionalize" these markets and do both out of one station from time to time? Oh no! A Tornado warning has been issued on a Sunday morning, and nobody's at the station! Not to worry, the Mothership in NYC has somebody on duty, and they were going to cover the Tornado warning anyways, so they might as well just simulcast Fox Weather on the local FOX O&O. I would not be the least bit surprised if midway through next year, they announce they're "streamlining" the O&O's and are taking advantage of "operational efficiencies" presented with a network of meteorologists and suddenly some stations lose their weekend/fill in mets. I've said for some time now that Weather and Sports were ripe for hubbing, and I think this might be the start of that.

I wouldn't...... ....Count On It.

Also wanted to note: the use of "COUNT ON IT" has increased fairly dramatically in the last few weeks or so. It's now part of the reporter outcue. .......I'm never gonna be able to change my forum description, am I?

Cool, I'll be curious to see how well it does. (It will be NBC Weather Plus 2.0, with search lights )

Diane Deaton from WAFB is retiring after 37 years as meteorologist at the Baton Rouge station. Her current role is morning meteorologist and her last day is December 18. Steve Caparotta will fill her spot after her departure. Deaton, among many others, deserves a nice, long break from the hurricane season from hell, whose scale none of us could have truly anticipated. So for all of the work and sleepless nights Gulf & East coast meteorologists had to deal with this past summer and fall, I raise a huge glass to them.

I would think the station’s executive team would be the ones to determine what the station’s holiday promo is all about, not you. Traditions are nice, but they can also evolve. Doing something one way just because it’s always been done that way is the worst way to do anything. Hoping your holidays are happier than The Grinch that appeared in a previous year’s WNBC holiday promo.

I'd say go for it too. Not only would moving to Times Square give CTM a breath of fresh air in several ways like studio-wise and design-wise (including a bigger window for passersby to look into), it would also give the Broadcast Center space for another TV show (or at least CBS [News]) to do production. A straight-up win-win for everyone.

Butchering local town & landmark names while a tornado bears down on the viewing public. Anybody wanna take a crack at pronouncing "Schuylkill River"? Yes, 3000 miles away they will still be able to harness the technology to pinpoint the path of a storm and give viewers pertinent information, but when they can't pronounce your town, I get the feeling that some folks will turn the channel. And this is even IF they actually start hubbing weather. I see it more from the angle of "well, there's CBSN, ABC News Live, NBC News Now... what news-y angle ISN'T someone taking a stab at?"

NewsCentral was before its time. Technology has changed so much that it's impossible to compare with what we can do today. We have meteorologists working from home covering severe weather. What's the difference if they're 30 miles from the station or 3000?

I do think you're onto something here. I think this could be one of those trends of the 2020s especially in this so called media consolidation frenzy. I think we'll see many more groups fall in line with Fox and streamline the weather and sports departments. I don't think Fox is going to be the only ones doing it, I think we'll start seeing other groups whether it'd be networks or local affiliate groups jump into the fray and do the same thing.

Viacom probably wants to make a statement about the two companies being under the same roof again and make better use of prime real estate. MTV made good use of it during the first run of TRL, but it has been pretty much vacant ever since. Getting CTM in there is probably the best chance of anyone ever using that studio space again. The recent reboot of TRL flopped pretty quickly. I'm not sure how much this plays a factor too, but I believe there are some local regulations that require property owners/tenants in Times Square to have a flashy or high profile exterior use. The MTV studio has never been all that flashy, but it was certainly high profile during TRL in attracting huge crowds. If they do move, I'd be worried that CBS would then be lured into making the same mistakes again as the Early Show in trying to emulate the trappings of their competitors. I shudder at the thought of dueling outdoor concerts. The best thing about CTM and Studio 57 at the beginning is that it was true to what CBS News does best.

If all you have to worry is a TV stations Christmas commercial after the year that we’ve had you are one lucky person. They are clearly trying to boost some spirits and keep a tradition going while keeping their staff safe. Jeez.

Retransmission disputes with Dish are not short.

FOX Weather: First you didn't believe the news ... now you won't believe the weather! -- Matt

This is an idea that's waaaaay late. I don't honestly see the point.

Can't wait for the Trump Golf Course Forecast followed by a rundown of severe weather warning areas drawn on maps with magic marker. In all seriousness, I wonder if this might move Accuweather to make their channel (if it still exists) an over-the-top streaming service, or if The Weather Channel will offer a more weather-focused version of Local Now. Also, can't think Weathernation's very happy about it. I liked The Weather Network out of Canada's streaming offering they had a while back - it had TWC-esque local forecasts and everything - but it just up and disappeared one day from their app.

Could CTM be moving to Times Square? Talks are just that at this point but apparently CBS liked having the show broadcast from its Viacom studios in Times Square for the election. I say go for it since GMA hardly uses the exterior of Times Square in any form on camera anymore. https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/cbs-this-morning-times-square-tv-news-1234848704/

I am not a fan of Jeff Zucker but everyone in this group is talking about CNN’s demise post trump. Between Nov. 4 and Sunday, CNN has averaged 1.73 million viewers, more than double a year ago, Nielsen said. Fox News Channel had 1.56 million and MSNBC had 1.53 million. It's the first time since December 2001, the newsy period after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, that CNN has beaten Fox News in this measurement for as long as a month, Nielsen added. Among the broadcast networks, NBC led last with a primetime average of 6 million viewers. to be fair to Jeff... this is under his watch.

Here's a WXYZ sign-off from 1983, only a few years before ABC sold it off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDMzani-fWo

I think I figured out who did the epic KCRA 1993 Theme. Take a listen to this bumper, if you may.. Sounds a lot like Non-Stop, doesn't it? It wouldn't surprise me if Non-Stop did some themes we may have never suspected, they were known to switch up their instrumentations a lot more than other firms. Their WGHP Theme is an excellent example, it sounds completely different from the likes of First News and News Central.

Man I miss Dick Clark so much. -- Matt