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I didn’t get it at first either, and I’ll try to simplify what I think they’re doing as best I can. CBS knows that local news is more identifiable w/ viewers than the national network. That’s a problem for them, given that CBS national newscasts don’t perform well in the ratings. By slapping the “CBS News” name onto local newscasts, the CBS News brand effectively becomes more regional. The hope is that viewers identify their local newscasts with CBS News as a whole, and that they stay w/ their CBS News station for national news rather than flipping the channel. CBS also wants to push local/national streaming, given the rise of OTT services, and also wants to integrate the operations of local streaming services. The best way they can do that is by having everyone brand around the network, rather than have the channel number on TV, the CBSN brand for streaming news, etc. The current “awkward muddle” of brandings is because they’re transitioning. In NY, I’ve seen more references to CBS New York than CBS 2 in station promos. I have no idea if this would actually accomplish the first goal of increasing viewership, and I don’t see myself wanting to watch the CBS Evening News in my market just because WCBS doesn’t call itself CBS2 anymore. However, it would accomplish the goal of integrating the network in a streaming-heavy world.

"It's like playing for the Yankees, here at NewsNation." Maybe the Single-A Tampa Tarpons, at the bottom of the Yankees organization.

Christine Sloan is back per twitter

Plus, in favor of news theme music containing the This is CBS music logo, it looks and sounds like the longtime I Love Chicago, Chicago My Home signature is slowly and gradually sailing off into the sunset

Those are some very good points. And from them I agree, the transition may be more about getting eyes and ears on CBS' streaming platforms than air, indeed. Go to any local O&O site and scroll to see the "CBS News" stream from other markets, Pluto TV offers the same. If streaming will overtake the old fashioned remote, if it hasn't already, than this is an easy way to offer the CBS brand. I may be too old fashioned for my own good, I like local-channel IDs. This does certainly rope all local stations into a corral to be clicked on easily under the CBS brand, and who knows, it may help news viewers get interested in the network's prime-time programming, or that of Paramount +. I can say that the stations I watch, KCBS / KCAL for instance, are in transition too, the duopoly seems to be putting CBS News Los Angeles right alongside CBS 2 / KCAL 9, the look is different in every promo, it kind of makes me wonder what the final identity is going to be, that's where I dreamed up the "muddle" term. It seems to me that one thing that needs work is on the streaming newscasts, where there is a way-too-long ad-less lag during commercial breaks, the "You're Watching CBS News (region) / We'll Be Right Back" deal...

All this being said, and eloquently, (it almost reads like a press release) I , a viewer and I think a longtime one with some sophistication, am simply unable to grasp the connection that Wendy McMahon and Neeraj Khelmani are so enthusiastically trying to forge between CBS News and local-station operations, trying to make them one and the same. They are two very different entities. Local viewers identify with their channels and personalities. I can't see how, for instance, making KCBS ' morning block (or KCAL's, if such a thing ever comes to pass) "CBS News Los Angeles" will turn viewers away from other choices; many are watching KTLA instead of "CBS Mornings" anyway. This is not to be harsh; it's what the numbers say. I can understand graphic design, music, etc, to be standardized, probably more for cost reasons than any other, but to me this year-and-a-half-long attempt at trying to somehow combine network news and local identity seems to be a task that has bitten off more than it can chew, as of October creating an ever more awkward muddle of brandings and looks.

More likely the Jets. I see the confusion though.

Honestly, KNBC would've been insanely dumb if they didn't promote the hell out of this.

Nexstar is someone I highly recommend not investing in. They don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

Or how about roller derby and women's tackle football as part of CW SPORTS?

What is with this weird fetish for speculating about transactions that never could have / never will happen? Edit: Might as well contribute my two cents to the ANF conversation: what they just did is one of the reasons behind why I left local TV news in 2020. So many that have ascended the ranks of local news management have absolutely no idea what a “brand” is. It’s so much more than a logo. No one is addressing the issues with content. Look at a newscast from 1980 and compare it to one today - the format is almost identical, even the presentation… and that’s a huge problem. You want a younger audience? They don’t want to hear a 4 minute weather forecast from a guy older than their grandfather. There’s a station in Milwaukee that’s running a promo that says “DON’T WATCH US” and claims that they aren’t going to cover the car crashes and endless crime stories and they’ll focus on local storytelling… but guess what, I watched them and that was a lie. They can’t live up to that brand promise. I had the same reaction as some who saw the lead story on Atlanta News FIRST was the hurricane that was not coming anywhere close to Atlanta. So what does that new branding even mean? I don’t think there’s anything deeper here than just dropping a ridiculously high channel number. Changing call letters is incredibly stupid. I mean, go ahead and do it, but I don’t think it’s worth mentioning. Working in TV news was my dream, but looking back on it… I look at the product the stations I worked for put out and I ask myself: “Who is this for?” I give ANF a couple years before it’s dropped for another meaningless rebrand.

Even without Alan, WLS will remain in great position overall in comparison to say WMAQ and WBBM with their current anchor roster. I could see small changes happening with ‘planning for the future’ being pushed down the line (in another 5-10 years maybe).

This varies depending on the platform, the market and where you’re watching it from. I can run CBS News app on Apple TV, Pluto TV, and my laptop (web) from the same house and get different commercials of different lengths. I have noticed if I watch CBS DFW from Dallas (parents house), I get more ads (and local ones at that), vs. watching it in DC (fewer and more national, but sometimes a random DC Local), specially since CBS doesn’t have an O&O in DC… I have no problem with calling the service “CBS News Los Angeles” (look back to the 60s at WMAQ’s news was produced by NBC News Chicago), but I would treat it with a “You’re watching CBS News Los Angeles on CBS 2 and online.” - and only include the “location” (OTA, Streaming, App-specific) as appropriate. Jim

Wolf and NBC have a partnership that has lasted more than 3 decades and I'm certain the two can work something out that benefits them both. The Chicago shows and SVU are in the last (of a 3 yr) renewal deal so discussions/renew talks about those shows were going to happen anyway. What I could see happening is dramas having shorter seasons (which wouldn't be a bad thing).

Overall, I see why Mester's was a bad move from a career standpoint. A company like KTLA's first priority is to make money and keep talent in line, understood. BUT... on a human level, (not saying his was the best way to handle it) it's nice that Mester stood up for his friend Romero like that. We can debate what is owed and what isn't, but after working at the station for that long they could've let her give a proper goodbye to the viewers. From a viewer stand point, to have a familiar face suddenly gone after 20 years then a different anchor reads a corperate message saying "she's no longer with us thanks and good bye" is just abrupt. Look at how NBC handled Katie Couric leaving for CBS: a nice send off and a thank you. Just that simple. Again I commend him for standing up for his co woker in this here-today-gone-tomorrow corperate (and general) working culture. At this point, Mester needs to tread carefully before he gets black balled in the industry.

Yeah I’m not seeing this is as any more thirsty as anything else prompted by local news. This is a huge get for them. I believe KABC has had a recent morning anchor change too? KCBS and KTTV are changing. This is a great moment for KNBC to capture some wins. Side note, their set is easily the worst in the NBC O&O line. It has a dark hue to it.

KCBS/KCAL doesn't have 3 choppers. If I'm not mistaken, they have Sky2 and Sky9. The third chopper is KTTVs SkyFOX. They have an agreement to share the video/live feed. SkyFOX flies in the morning for GDLA and the 2/9 choppers fly PM and share video with KTTV.

That is pathetic! Both the ratings and segment with those aborted calls.

MLS is already going to Apple TV, a platform that makes much more sense for them than The CW. IIRC, many of those other sports have agreements w/ NBC Sports and ESPN, which are both much more valuable partners than The CW. Even basket weaving’s got The Ocho going for them. If Nexstar were smart, they’d try to secure national rights to HBCU football/basketball. I believe those rights are syndicated at the moment, and a platform like The CW might offer them more exposure. The CW will never reach the level of the other major networks in terms of either sports or scripted programming, but any live sporting events would give it a chance to grow. I wouldn’t hold my breath on it actually happening, though.

WANF (and WNBC) included, standing desks sometimes makes the height contrast look distracting. Are they standing for the entirety of the 2 1/2 hour broadcast? They should mix sitting and standing for long newscasts such as mornings.

And even worse...2,000 people 25-54 sipped their coffee in front of the TV as they witnessed the start of another "Morning in America." Adrienne Bankert ought to be ashamed of herself. Even Bozo in full costume would get 10,000 more AM viewers. Consider this: that's 40 people in a single state watching this program!!

Hence why I don't see Nexstar and Fox lasting much longer together.

This is likely some speculatron stuff but I could see Fox being uncomfortable with Nexstar owning the majority of the CW for some reason. Especially if Nexstar actually believed that it could land major sports rights, which I'm not at all saying they will. I'm certainly not speaking for the other networks though.

Maybe another MadTV revival could be in the works...or perhaps picking up that In Living Color reboot that Fox passed on years ago. (JK)

The last line in the article sums it up. Just look at the lack of success at NewsNation.

As expected... dead last among all the competition in the demo. And for added paltriness, here's how it looks like in the demo... "Eric Bolling: The Balance" on Newsmax - 16,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo "CUOMO" on NewsNation - 8,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo ...and when it comes to total viewership: "Eric Bolling: The Balance" on Newsmax - 151,000 total viewers "CUOMO" on NewsNation - 147,000 total viewers "The Balance" outranked the "CUOMO" premiere in the demo, and it outranked the "CUOMO" premiere in overall viewership. https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/10/04/chris-cuomos-return-to-prime-time-lands-in-last-place-at-8pm/?sh=2f5d85a03d95 Not a good start so far for Cuomo on NewsNation. Then again, what do you expect? It is NewsNation, after all.

Dude...just move on before your only options to be on TV are The Balancing Act or a 'you might be entitled to compensation' lawyer infomercial for a rice cooker recall. You steamrolled the prompter and had to know what the consequences would be, and all of this could've been on a Facebook group locked to the bosses.

“Several sources at the station” could theoretically be the news director, the general manager, the janitor, and maybe a couple of coworkers that didn’t like him. I understand that people will never publicly attach themselves to these claims, but they’re too hard to independently verify outside of this article. It’s enough to just acknowledge that Mester violated the terms of his employment and he could’ve handled things a bit better. There’s no need to get into character assassination without a real basis. Also, there seem to be zero public mea culpas from management for their end of this situation, which indicates how dismal things are at KTLA right now, regardless of one man’s behavior. And even if Mester’s behavior was as bad as the LA Times article alludes to, that’s also on management for not firing him sooner.

So far from what I understand, KTLA did this all wrong. Good for Mark for trying to make it right. Hal Fischman right now is rolling over in his grave knowing what KTLA did here. No doubt. -- Matt

Mark Mester stood up for a close friend

That definitely took guts.

I also saw Mark’s message at the top of the 8am hour. I was thinking, damn, this guy has balls, but also made me think, what an incredible local management team that allowed him to criticize them on their own air. Mark was right that, after 24 years, Lynette should’ve been allowed to say goodbye, but really, as someone commented earlier, she one leaves for a competitor in any industry, you’re generally shown the door pretty quickly. In his message, Mark eluded to something terrible that happened to Lynette which caused her to stop anchoring weeknights at 10 with Hal Fishman. Does anyone know what that was? I was a kid back then and always wondered why she was taken off the desk.

Weatherscan is shutting down.

This should also be mentioned that KTRE have that active petition to move the station off of VHF 9 to UHF 24. Little update regard an LP in Western MA. WWAX-LD has recent gotten the greenlight to move its facility further SOUTH to WFSB's tower.

This would be an awesome chance for some great local prime time programming. But I’m sure we will just see a ton of very mediocre local newscasts.

The woman is (or was) married to a err.....criminal (won't say what he did here...Google is your friend) and somehow, this is what broke the camel's back. Not saying that anyone in the media should be bringing their beliefs into local news but her stance would be a bit ironic. That's all I have to say about that.

While we're still talking about WANF/WUPA, and also considering the old CBS-Meredith contract ending in 2023 and the ongoing situation with Standard General and Apollo, I shall note of what could have been if not for the FCC + the Fed. If Cox and Tegna were to have merged together, formed a blind trust, compensated Byron Allen, whatever...CBS could have easily traded WUPA and WTOG earlier this year to the combined entity in exchange for Cox's KIRO in Seattle. This would have created the following: In Atlanta, Cox would have had a duopoly partner in WUPA that would have allowed WSB-TV to expand its Action News franchise into the morning (as in 7 to 9 am) and primetime hours, and provided not only direct competition for WANF/WPCH, but also WXIA/WATL and most especially WAGA which has pretty much cornered the market at these timeslots since December 11, 1994. (Most every other timeslot has belonged to WSB-TV since the days of kinescopes and 15-minute soap operas.) In Seattle, CBS would have had an O&O in the Pacific Northwest in KIRO, a CW affiliate with a restored news department + "Tacoma Bureau" in KSTW, and a "CBS News Seattle" streaming channel. As with Atlanta, it would also give KIRO opportunities to air newscasts directly against KING/KONG and KCPQ/KZJO. (KOMO has KUNS for their duopoly, but no direct English-language linear outlet to expand its franchise unless the FCC allows triopolies, dependent on whatever sort of "voices" test may apply.) And in Tampa, where CBS is not very likely to want WTSP given that it's apparently home to the TEGNA graphics hub (the master control hub is in Charlotte at WCNC), TEGNA would have a duopoly with WTSP/WTOG that would effectively compete with WTVT and WFLA/WTTA, and that's not even counting the possibility of WFTS making a swap with Hearst for WMOR (which is in the situation WFTS was in prior to becoming an ABC affiliate - when that station didn't even have space for a newsroom). There is a lot more of what could have been, but for now it is what it is, and the only question now, with the SEC going to ABC in a couple of years (which explains why WSB is very unlikely to want to part ways with ABC, if at all), is where does WANF go from here? Remember that the on-air graphics are effectively using the colors of the (rebuilding) Atlanta Falcons, with no telling as to how many Falcons games will indeed be flexed under the new NFL TV contracts, or even what the ratings will be compared to SEC Saturdays full of Chick-fil-A and Zaxby's tailgates (for which only the latter would be open during whatever Falcons games WAGA does not pick up on Sundays).

I first noticed it Friday at noon. I think the ticker not only looks incredibly ugly but it's also pretty useless. National sports scores, 7-day weather forecasts for different towns in the area (how about more details about the next 24-48 hours for different regions instead?), headlines from the website that are sometimes more clickbaity than informative, etc. Wish they'd redo this so that it looks nicer and has more useful local information. If the ticker is gone, permanently or temporarily, why not use the old bug that has the time and temperature that's actually in alignment with the logo? The current O&O graphics package was always pretty boring but CBS 2 has really looked bad with the sloppy mix with the "CBSN New York" look. I'm hoping the new look that comes is more elegant.

What's going on with the black crawl bar at the bottom of the screen on CBS 2. Noticed it was absent since 11pm yesterday. It's present though online.

Why not? People watch the Olympics. Plus its gotta achieve a broader audience than what they have now.

The service is irrevelant and CBS wanted to program those two hours it couldn't within those two stations in those Top 20 markets. They'll be fine without MNT. WSBK and WBFS deserve to be Independents. MNT is really worthless. I won't miss it one bit.

Especially after Spectrum had to bump their Broadcast fee $4...it's time for reform. There's no justification for a MyNetworkTV affiliate running on autopilot to rate the same cost as an NBC station.

Broadcasting + Cable just posted an interesting guest article that basically says what most of us are thinking: the retransmission consent law is in desperate need of a reform.

Also despite how much nobody actually considers them anything but a line in the syndicated section of the NBCU quarterly report any longer or an actual network, MyNetworkTV is a very direct competitor. I see that relationship[ being more realistically affected than Big Fox, and the latter is for down the line anyways; we're not seeing "The NBA on The CW" in the near future and all the other major leagues are locked up, plus Nexstar is looking for specifically cheaper programming. That and station managers in major markets wouldn't be happy to be cut out of the NFL to go back to the days of movies on Sunday afternoons.

Idk but I do have the feeling that at least one network is gonna have an issue and I really feel like Fox would be the one to not want to be tied to a network associated with a potential competitor.