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The Pax TV—i—ION metamorphosis is very interesting to look at in retrospect. You could argue that Pax TV was a diginet 25 years ahead of its time with a lineup heavy on reruns (albeit with a few new productions) and in which the affiliates all but carried the core schedule with no deviations whatsoever. Problem was, Pax TV was a money loser from the get-go, so much so that they turned to NBC for a capital investment that wound up with NBC suing Paxson a few years later for a redemption of their investment (and vice versa) with an NBCU board member succeeding Bud Paxson as chairman. Indeed, i had a programming deal with WBTV for a number of sitcom reruns but it clearly didn’t last long at all, as the lineup became nearly subsumed by infomercials near the end of the 2000s. Rebadging as ION and focusing on procedural reruns has given them an identity they never had prior, and it now adds a piece to the overall pie of genre channels that Scripps/Katz aims to offer.

The Cordillera stations are not hubbed as well as Tallahassee and Waco. Norfolk has Richmond, KSTU, WSFL, WTVF, and KMTV. I think Indianapolis has the rest, including the Katz networks. Denver doesn't have a hub and MC is hubbed from Indianapolis. They were hubbed there when they were McGraw Hill. The Now and other news products come from Denver and Indianapolis distributes for that too.

I personally love these graphics for WTVY. Very immersive and also modern.

I don’t know how anyone can look at this and think this is what a modern media operation in 2021 should look like.

I will say yes and no. It will all depend on the level of cuts Sinclair makes at the stations, I will say the ones that suffers the biggest cuts will in all likelihood see newscasts being hubbed elsewhere, those that doesn't see the biggest cuts will probably see their news department remain in tact.

That's a shame. Drew Anderson is TOP NOTCH TALENT. I loved when he was on WGAL and FOX43 ... he knows his stuff. Hopefully he returns to the SusquValley soon. -- Matt

The ones to watch are in San Antonio and Mobile/Pensacola. San Antonio is easier since it's all in one place, despite the recent addition of WXLV's newscasts. Mobile and Pensacola each got a taste of it last year thanks to COVID shutting down each station. WPMI did WEAR's newscasts for a few days when they had an exposure and the opposite happened when WPMI had a case...WEAR produced the news for both stations and WPMI personnel filled in where they could have in the field. It's probably safe to say that the days of a market Mobile/Pensacola's size having four distinct news operations (2 of which Sinclair runs) is numbered.

Actually what I meant to say is that there are at least several Fox affiliates owned by Sinclair that fits into the WZDX type of stations I consider KDNL/WXLV to be Sinclair's equivalent of WATN/WOI without a full scale news department.

Sinclair is a bit different. They built themselves on Fox and netlets, not the other way around.

Then why is KMGH/KCDO master control is in Indy then?

Tegna starting a Master Control hub in Charlotte at WCNC--I wonder what stations they will be running out of there? And does this mean that NBC News Channel is no longer at WCNC? https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/supervisor-broadcast-hub-operations-at-tegna-2433082877 As it stands now Tegna has 2 hubs going, Jacksonville, FL at (WTLV/WJXX) for NBC, ABC & My Network TV stations & (WLTX) in Greensboro SC for CBS, CW, & FOX Stations.

So maybe they'll replace QVC and HSN with two new networks that launch that same day.

Newsy still has to deal with contracts with MVPDs, which prohibit Scripps from moving the network to OTA right now. Once those contracts end, then and only then can Newsy start airing on OTA. As for QVC, it seems like that may just be temporary until contracts run out or Doozy and Defy replace them.

We can consider many Sinclair stations to be in that category.

WRDC to Nexstar would fit like a glove. They could run the station a la WCTX with an expanded morning news and a primetime block with MNTV going to late nights. Bahakel would be too big to re-enter Raleigh (they owned WKFT before selling it to Univision). The company I'm thinking that would be a better fit for WLFL would be, oddly, Tegna. Owning a standalone CW would be a bit unconventional but their approach would stand out in this market and would give the market the fourth OTA outlet it should have. Also, it would be able to draw from and benefit WFMY and WCNC so a win-win of sorts. Hey, it can't be any different than the WZDX's, WATN's, and WOI's of the group. With enough work they could reach WPMT/WTIC tier.

Were any big names laid off? I know high-level news positions don't come along very often (i.e. News Director, Evening Anchor, Chief Meteorologist).

On that 1st one, I think Sinclair would deserve to be hosed by the same people who hosed them for buying the RSNs in the first place. On the 2nd one I see it as a mix of Granite and Clear Channel/iHeart however I see it as more like Granite than Clear Channel as I think Sinclair is way too big for one owner to take on all 160+ stations, I see it as more like the type of deals they just recently made with KBSI/WDKA.

The likeliest outcome does not involve the mass selling of stations, but is twofold: 1.) The holding company for the RSNs goes bankrupt and taken over by creditors who can resolve debts. In fact, that happened with Comcast’s ill-fated Houston RSN. If Sinclair were to offload their stake now, they would be getting hosed big-time. 2.) Sinclair winds up like Granite, but in too big to fail mode. (Actually, a better comparison would be iHeart and Cumulus when they entered Chapter 11. You’ll note that there was never a fire sale of stations for either radio operator but it killed off whatever M&A mindset existed for the radio industry.) But indeed, there are multiple stations that Sinclair can cut to the bone like Granite did to WKBW. Sure, a white knight investor like Byron Allen could swoop in, but only if the Smith family is stripped of control of the company. But by then, would it be worth it for Byron?

Two thoughts on this package. The first is that it looks an interpretation of the the former WALA graphics; at least open anyway. The second being, it looks like something you can buy on VideoHive.

Identical? Can I interest you in a new pair of glasses?

Looks good. If anything, the supers sort of have a Graham-like vibe to them.

I suspect that, in the coming days, a lot of the subchannels that are duplicated between Scripps-owned stations in the local division and the Scripps national muxes will move over for good. You have to think they are working to have a standard mux of channels but that the existing carriage agreements with other multiplex holders (such as Univision) are impeding them. Keep in mind that in 2017, Univision signed a renewal with Katz until 2024. So it could be quite a while.

I pity the poor cable companies tomorrow that have to either take 'why am I not getting (new network) that just popped up on Ion' because of their painful dependence on must-carry agreements on the main channel, having three of the same network on because Ion plopped Ion Life on a main channel in the market that used to be TBN/CW/some other network, or missing channels because you know there will be a station carrying a Katz subchannel that'll be like 'well (bleep) you too' and throw it off their lineup in spite the moment the clock strikes 6 tomorrow morning. Milwaukee's situation is such a mess with the Katz networks spread among WTMJ, WMLW and WPXE, and Green Bay the same with WGBA, WACY, WFRV, along with existing coverage of Ion on WBAY that you know will be gone soon to create another Ion/MyNet Frankenstein lineup on WACY.

I honestly feel as though Scripps did not think this through. There are now three CourtTV Mysteries, one on WPTV, one on WFLX, and one on WPXP. WPTV is now occasionally breaking up, even though I live 5 miles away from the tower. They added too many subchannels to WPTV, WFLX, and WHDT many of them the same network. It gets me frustrated and it's only been a day. They could have used one subchannel for Telemundo or another spanish network since the market is underserved for the hispanic community. I was actually hoping this was going to be the case but it looks like Scripps is really trying to get people to watch Mystery and CourtTV.

Thankfully, there have been some internet sleuths who have recorded the switchover and put it on YouTube. Apparently, it happened right in the middle of an airing of Franklin in most markets. Honestly, if I hadn't known about this from other forums, I'd have guessed this was some BS edit done by some anonymous troll. But no, this actually happened (in most markets, at least).

The entire reason Scripps gobbled up ion was to get signals to put their diginets on, not to launch (from scratch!) a bunch of news operations. Maybe you'll see a half hour of Newsy on the main signal at some point during the day. Maybe you'll see a new newscast from any new Scripps-owned sister stations in the market. But we're not getting any new news departments out of this.

They can't. At least not yet. The stations were operated as one giant feed. Currently, there's no way to interrupt one station without broadcasting it to the entire country. At least that's what we were told.

They've indicated a few times that they intend to run the Ion stations separate from the rest of their portfolio. I'd be surprised if they tried to do news on them.

Hopefully the hold up is that there is pushback on these below-par graphics.

Cleveland music, radio and TV legend Michael Stanley has passed away at the age of 72. After a very successful music career in Northeast Ohio and a longtime stint on 98.5 WNCX, he also co-hosted WJW's version of PM Magazine with Jan Jones in the late 80's & early 90s. https://fox8.com/news/cleveland-music-legend-michael-stanley-dies-at-72/