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The sad thing is, Media General and Tribune had really good streaming platforms through their use of Livestream (now owned by Vimeo) and Media General even had many of their stations on the NewsOn service. Nexstar has stripped much of this away with a very web-centric strategy, making their streams confined to websites and phones, and not easily translating to OTT. Fast forward to now, and the major broadcasters have pretty much put their stations news products on air 24/7 with their existing newscasts, re-airings, and other exclusive content that seamlessly works into its own virtual channel. It allows for new and targeted revenue streams that can reach viewers down to the ZIP code. And Nexstar is taking what they have and making it less valuable, all in the name of shaking down every Cable customer and cable company to squeeze every penny out of what should be a free service to the local viewer.

WGN starting their diamond celebration early.

Here is last night's Gardner retrospective:

They're airing a Yule Log today!

It wasn't long ago when the company thought most stations would adopt the WFLA "always on" model of streaming. WGN-TV and KDVR did it for a while.

This is dumb. I’m sorry I don’t have a more original thought contribution, but it’s so dumb that I can’t even begin to comprehend it. These people actually think they can live and die on retrans fees. For all of Tegna’s intelligence-insulting gimmicks, Sinclair’s extreme political bias, and Gray’s cheap/outdated visual aesthetic, those companies can at least understand one thing: they know where their audience is and where to grow it. Nexstar looks to be run by people who are too stubborn to understand that, to the point that they’re even killing off the damn web streams. It’s been said before, and it’s worth repeating: big market company, small market mentality.

How in the world do they think this will work in markets like LA and Chicago? Like they could probably get away with this in Minot - but in their large markets this has disaster written all over it. Perry seems to think that the cable bundle is the way of the future - not even Sinclair is that delusional.

ABC 20/20 report from 1982 about the competitiveness of local news - mainly focusing on KSTP

I don’t know if any other market has someone like a Jim Gardner. I know other cities have people who’ve anchored for a long time, but I’m not sure they’ve had the same cultural impact/relevance that Jim has in Philly. I mean, the dude had people tailgating in the parking lot for this. Nobody deserves it more, though. Happy retirement, Jim.

They already have CW Bay Area, so it would only make sense (and speaking of, is the "Cable 12" appendage from the pre-UPN days really needed now? In a major tech hub where most don't have cable?).

That part! NBC was ahead of its time look at NBC Bay Area, and NBC Connecticut. They have been doing well without the channel reference. Boston and San Diego had a short lived branding until it decided to bring back the channel numbers.

PAX wasn't really even that great of a network. You can get the same comparable programming from Hallmark and other "family-friendly" channels now. The only thing PAX had going for it, IMHO, was Supermarket Sweep and Candid Camera. Aside from that, wasn't much of their dramas Canadian produced anyway? And it was never going to contend with the other networks with the amount of infomercials it ran.

That right there is the fastest way the networks are going to pull their affiliations off of Nexstar. NBC is a big one. Nexstar had better behave or they're going to get what's coming to them and quick. Then again, what would this world like had Meredith gotten their way with Media General and Sinclair absorbing Tribune?

Not true! When the 4p and 10p launched they announced the times in that show only. Anyway, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Jim's last show got a 79 share in Philly and 540,000 OTA viewers. The Eagles Super Bowl when they won got an 81. https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/12/22/jim-gardners-historic-action-news-swan-song.html

For markets dominated by Nexstar where others have been bought out by them, this is seriously bad news, especially in emergency situations; you can be sure mets will be pissed off they can't say 'stream us live' during a tornado warning (or have to whip up a jerry-rigged FB Live stream to do so). And this is a direct Exhibit A about why net neutrality should definitely apply to broadcasters. You're better off buying P+ or Peacock and streaming a local CBS or NBC affiliate that way so you don't have to bother with these fights NX wants to pick with everyone, and you hope that an ABC livestream will be part of Disney+ premium soon. And if WGN thought things were bad when they took the 9 off of now-News Nation, this is coal in the stocking to their stubborn snowbird audience, but Perry won't care.

Sooo how long before nexstar begins having to sell of some of there stations because there viewership & web traffic is down, & they have less advertisers due to weird stuff like this??? These other media companies (Tegna, Scripps, Sinclair, Hubbard,ect) are going to eventually eat there lunch. I give it a year and they will be back to streaming there newscasts. February 2023 just as sweeps begin they will be back.... Hell even really small media companies like Waterman Broadcasting Corporation & News-Press & Gazette Co live stream there newscasts at there respective station websites.

Fast forward 40 years later. What has changed in TV news, other than technology, HD broadcasting, or the fact that some anchors have bubbly personalities with opinions (example, Kyle Clark of NBC 9NEWS KUSA in Denver)?

Hopefully, Deathstar… err Nexstar is smart and will still let stations live stream in real time severe weather. But this is the same company that didn’t have their cable channel break into programming for the death of Her Late Majesty The Queen. I do want to know how many current stations still don’t have live stream of any kind. I know in the past two years, one of the stations I grew up watching finally got live stream, but for some of their newscast. And that is if they remember to turn it on.

They had the opens already to go for tonight: I have to say Charlie is sounding rough these days. I wonder if they have plans to move on from him in the future. Maybe to someone like Paul Turner.