Leaderboard

Put baseball back on local broadcast stations again & add a streaming partner. Broadcast worked for years before the RSN's, it can work again.

Kirstin Cole posted a video of them rehearsing in the new studio. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpF8OIjD5rj/

Hadn't seen this announced anywhere but NBC Sports completely overhauled their app. Gone is the clunky old app that was a mess to navigate and stream in the background to one that looks like it takes the best elements of Peacock and Xfinity's Streaming app. Here's some screenshots:

I’ve got to think Jillian’s a shoe in for weekend evenings at this point. She’s been co-anchoring with Walter a bunch of weeks in a row now, sometimes on both nights. I’m wondering if they’re waiting for the new sports person to start before making the official announcement and changing the opening. They do still appear to be testing pairings at noon and on weekend mornings.

This is textbook Wendy McMahon if you recall the branding shifts at WCCO and WBZ in the mid to late 2000s, both of which were places where she was the head of creative services. The WBZ brand of that time is a great example — she brought the call letters back, but the CBS eye became more prominent in a lot of branding elements.

Given all the diginets out there who somehow seemed to make money and stay alive with crappy programming, you would think that somebody could make money with Pac-12 sports. Scripps has TV stations in the home markets of each remaining Pac-12 school, plus LA, San Diego and Las Vegas. That's a pretty good start for some kind of an over-the-air network. Home markets are where you will get the most viewership, and then just stick it on a diginet for the rest of the country. Just like the old days when sports teams had to assemble their own networks. Like I said, it's not crazy. Another thought: They own Bounce, the black oriented channel. Pac-12 programming might fit on there as well.

Honestly, even if Apple or some other streamer gets the rights, I'm not sure that would completely close the door on Scripps or another linear broadcaster getting the rights. After all, Apple's deal with the MLS allowed for a linear window, which Fox was happy to jump onto. Even Thursday Night Football runs on OTA in markets where the featured teams are subject to blackout rules. With people tightening their wallets over fears of a recession, there's certainly room for at least some major sports to air for free, even if it's more of a gateway drug for a subscription service or RSN (which seems to be the case with most sports on OTA in recent years) than anything else. After all, the RSNs are in freefall, and Pac-12 royally screwed up the handling of their own network, so there's likely to be a mix of income sources as the teams and leagues figure out how to navigate the new realities of TV.

I believe KCAL is the only station that brands themselves as 'KCAL News' at all times, even outside of newscasts. Also, this is a 'must read' for anyone interested in understanding the mindset behind this graphics rollout and the grand scheme, if you will, that dates back to Fall 2020. Exclusive: Inside the rebranding of CBS-owned local stations I hope reading this will put an end to all the what ifs and whatnot that has plagued this thread recently. A couple of highlights.... 'KPIX, serving the San Francisco Bay Area, launched the new branding and design in late December, formally becoming CBS News Bay Area. Los Angeles duopoly KCBS/KCAL and WWJ in Detroit will follow, ahead of a wider rollout this spring for remaining stations in the group.' 'Viewers will notice the removal of station numbers from logos and bugs with an emphasis on location. McMahon notes, however, that the overall rebranding is very much a market-by-market approach heavily guided by market-level research and data... In some markets, viewers may see channel numbers remain while in others – such as at KPIX in San Francisco – stations will lean into call letters as the primary moniker alongside the location name.' '[Wendy] McMahon [president and co-head of CBS News and Stations] notes that each market is different and the knowledge, brand and history for each owned station will influence its final brand positioning and on-air design.

Absolutely. They can’t risk another Wendy Bell PR nightmare on KDKA-AM/FM.

WE. GET. IT. Geez, you’re getting annoying with this.

Independent based on what??? Where/why are you getting the impression that WDIV is in a bad place with NBC? People are leaving stations all over the country, in droves. Yes, some operations are getting hit harder than others, but this is a problem for the whole industry.

An interview with Phoenix-area resident and huge Eagles fan Charlie Van Dyke: https://6abc.com/who-is-voice-of-action-news-charlie-van-dyke-super-bowl-57-lvii/12787409/

Sad news out of Detroit, former longtime WXYZ 7 Action News Sports Director Don Shane passed away at the age of 70. https://www.wxyz.com/sports/longtime-channel-7-sportscaster-don-shane-has-died

At KYW Philadelphia - RIP Eyewitness News! The birth station of the format that became widespread across America (including four other CBS O&Os that are former Group W stations) gave up EWN, and now, CBS News Philadelphia is taking its place. This is the second time KYW ditched the Eyewitness News name. The first time was from 1991 until 1998. After a seven-year ditch, KYW brought it back, only to be dumped again this year 25 years later. Probably the LAST CBS O&O and former Group W/Westinghouse station to dump the EWN brand.

Sad news out of Atlanta tonight. Dave Michaels, a longtime news anchor for 11Alive, CNN and other outlets died this month at 88 years old. His wife, Ann, contacted 11Alive on Friday and said he had passed away on Feb. 1 – after a long illness of Alzheimer's and congestive heart failure. He was at home in hospice care at the time he died. Michaels worked at WXIA from 1976 to 1985. https://www.11alive.com/article/news/community/dave-michaels-longtime-11alive-anchor-dies-88/85-fcb6b81f-8160-49f1-9a36-0fa3225721c9

Because, as @Weetersexplained, the “KCAL” box is the only box meant to be a brand that could kinda-sorta last in the long term. So that streaming bug accommodates both brands and will do so OTA very soon. The “CBS 11” box is blatantly temporary and once it’s dumped, they’ll adjust the proportions. THE. CBS. 11. BOX. IS. GOING. AWAY. VERY. SOON. CHANNEL. NUMBERS. ARE. BEING. PHASED. OUT.

This is my cue to pop in and say I adored the Jodi Appelgate experiment, and I'd stream it almost every night in Philly. Bring back "The Day In PIX"!