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Ding dong, Soo Kim’s deal is dead. TEGNA just announced late this afternoon the merger is terminated.

While one big M&A was terminated last night, another deal is about to reach the finish line...... Nearly seven weeks after filing the paperwork, the FCC has greenlighted this WBBH deal.

I smell them having to sell their stations off too, or Apollo having to let go of Cox. He needs to run away and not be seen again in the industry.

I hope TEGNA makes Soo Kim sell his shares trying the hostel takeover and merger with Standard General I'm hoping TEGNA sues Standard General & Soo Kim for breach of contact.

Dave Lougee sent an email to employees today saying, among other things, that they were the ones who decided to not pursue it anymore, that the company will keep operating as it has been, and thanked employees for their patience over the past 18 months and for helping the company post record results in 2022. He said he'd share more information tomorrow. Naturally, employees aren't going to see any of those record results or any hundreds of millions they'll get from the termination clause. It also means stations went through months and months of hiring freezes because of "the sale" and an "uncertain economy" for literally nothing.

Glad that CBS is reading us as they continue to fix their mistakes we point out.

I just tuned in and checked out WBBM's 5:00pm newscast and noticed that they switched from the WCBS/KCBS version of the CBS 2 logo to WBBM's version in the logo bug.

Probably because no one at all would want to watch it (or even want it) to begin with.

Is it that, or is it that the networks people watch didn't want LIV Golf?

Well..... I blame LIV on this. Why you want to put your league on a channel that no one watches???.......

No, the cheap international imports were always part of the plan, I think.

Heck, PBS imports British shows all the time. Masterpiece is one giant umbrella for dramas from over there.

You guys make too much of this. The FCC has to follow the law as much as Sinclair did. They're not allowed to hold a grudge like people do. If Sinclair proposes a straight-up transaction that doesn't use a bunch of shell companies to get around the cap, they should be able to get a purchase through. In the Tribune purchase, Sinclair was doing all kinds of crazy things and FCC wasn't willing to let them go that far with the law. But as you can see with the latest purchased by Mission, the FCC isn't going to stop people from using sidecars. Assuming it gets approved, of course.

Honestly I don’t think Soo Kim/Standard will ever be selected as the winning bidders of a station group again. Just like after the Sinclair-Tribune deal died in a similar fashion, Sinclair has not been able to buy any full power stations since because no one will sell to them. Prospective sellers don’t want to sell their stations to a group that has a poor track record of getting deals done. In the bidding process companies often look at everything especially: -Who offers the most -Who is most likely to get the deal across the finish line

CoxApollo should, as well.

From that press release: That $136M Standard General has to pay up won't be enough. I hope Tegna file suit to get every penny owed. Shareholders better file their own suit too.

It Appears LIV Golf Is Ashamed of Its TV Ratings on The CW [ After holding six events this year, the breakaway league has stopped publicly reporting its viewership numbers ]

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced they should just rip the bandage off and rename the network to differentiate it from the "old" CW.

I read this as “They’re not expecting the writers strike to be ending quickly, so let’s import stuff to air - even if it’s available streaming” [because we’re Nexstar and we don’t believe in streaming]…

Tonight's edition of Banfield is coming from the new NYC set that's used for Elizabeth Vargas Reports. Based on the way Ashleigh introduced tonight's show, calling it their "new set," makes me think that this might be the new permanent home for Banfield. To date, wasn't she doing the show either from home or from a flashcam studio somewhere near her home in CT? As the only show on the network not hosted from one of their three studios in Chicago, NYC, and DC, I have to wonder if this was a network decision to bring their last remaining show in-house. I gotta say, the show looks way better in studio.

In his second message to the company today, Dave Lougee criticized the FCC for not acting on a vote. However, he also said that the decision to sell off WFAA, KVUE, and KHOU was not the original Tegna board's idea and implied they didn't want to lose those stations. He also said that Tegna is not for sale and has no plans to put itself up for sale, but if someone came along asking to buy they would listen. The most interesting thing: starting in July, all regular hourly employees will start making $20/hr, meaning the company minimum wage will be $20/hr. Not certain, but that might make them the highest paying hourly wage in the business. Nexstar is $15 and Gray is $18.

The bottom line is I know they'll be in English I'm pointing out that something like this has been tries before.

There’s a very good chance that Tegna stands pat. Standard General was the only party really driving a sale (yes, Byron tried to crash the party but the odds were stacked up against him). The L taken by Standard General is such that they may have to sell off their measly four stations to Tegna.

So, basically, Sinclair just got some company in the doghouse.

I’m not so sure. Even a simple transaction may draw the ire of the FCC after how Sinclair behaved during their Tribune acquisition attempt. Also, Sinclair is up against the national cap now (assuming that the current FCC will not be using the UHF discount anymore).

At the very least, I can see Cox putting WFXT (which they were going to send to SG) up for sale.

It appears Adell was under investigation for missing taxes.

Both parties are happy with its performance, so it'll probably continue.

Agreed. Looking at WTVJ around 1992, you really see the 'SVN effect. In my own bias..As someone who got up really early mornings for work, and hearing many journalists talk about the negative sleep effects of 2 AM wake ups, I'm not so set on early morning live broadcasts.

I think it may be due to the successful culture WSVN has built through the decades in Miami/Fort Lauderdale. Many of their English-language rivals in the market have taken key elements from them or in the case of WPLG, flat out copied them completely.

You know what, that’s a good point actually; I’m sorry it skipped my mind. To be fair though, WSVN does air a repeat of the late news during that time, so those viewers do still get relatively (depending on the story) up to-date news, even if it isn’t live.

I know Dimensional (or at least, the one cut most of the stations use) has a bit of a relaxed vibe that doesn’t mesh with the other NYC stations, but it arguably works ok for WCBS. Channel 2 isn’t nearly as tabloid (for lack of a better word) as channel 7. Eh, Idk about that; it’s not like they’ve gone full-on WSVN-style tabloid with their story selection just because of a music change during the open. Although, there is a problem in that the music sounds really awkward when the headline is about how nice the weather’s going to be like.

People who work nights? I know if I was working nights, I'd prefer early morning news over infomercials any day.

They could've noted that before they made the music final, and get a custom cut then. When you go with random themes based on 'vibes' you lose the trust of those who build the newscast out and the average viewer who is just over every time period having to lead off with doom and gloom because of one guy's decision to be out of compliance.

I don’t know that it’s fair to through WCBS in the same category as KCBS and WBBM. I think they’ve worked hard at recovering from the 1996 massacre and having become a competitor again. The new music may work for some stations, but it’s too light for New York. It’s why WABC has stuck with the 1999 version of the Eyewitness News theme. The version KABC uses is way too light for NYC.

This cut sounds so chaotic, I'd love to hear it in the clear!

Because WCBS is lost and doesn't know what to do and doesn't know what there doing.

IMO it's better they don't start the newscast at 4 AM, at least from the talent's point of view. I like that they rerun the 11pm broadcast at that hour. If this pushes Sherri Shepherd down one hour hopefully it knocks Byron Allen's fake Justice with Judge Mablean off the schedule---(even though I love her). It's strange that a market with such leisure and culture as Miami/Ft Lauderdale doesn't have a lightweight morning newscast. Even the 9am hour on WPLG and WFOR are straight news. (Not counting Deco Drive or 6 in the Mix). Looking at the quieter overlapping market West Palm, Fox 29 is straight news from 7-9. WPEC and WPBF are also strictly news at nine. Thats five hard newscasts at 9am in South Florida.

The other news orgs have merch around their shows too. https://www.nbcstore.com/pages/nbc-news https://www.cbsstore.com/collections/cbs-news https://shopabctv.com/collections/good-morning-america

Tony Perkins, Derek Mcginty, Bob Ryan, Jeremy Hubbard, Rob Nelson, Mike Barz, Spencer Christian, Bill Beutel, Bill Ritter

Funny you mentioned that; my first thought was “thank God it’s 10am and not 4am.” I know it’s become conventional for stations to start at 4 or 4:30am, but is there really that much of an audience there? Granted, most people are at work by 10am, but you can at least get stay at home moms/workers and people in waiting rooms to watch you.

That's what I figured. Heck, Sunbeam probably doesn't have much of a corporate office beyond an office for Andrew Ansin.

That has to be a typo or something. Magnes is WSVN’s GM. 12 hours a day is certainly overkill, but if any stations are going to follow the KVVU model of filling up more than half the day’s schedule with news, it’s these two.

That's all Soo Kim had to do was unload the conflicts, but no. He wants to be stubborn like a mule with how he's handling this.

Enough time has passed since the Curry ouster. That's still a hard moment to re-watch and they never regained that number one slot like they hoped.

If I had to guess, CBS wanted WADL to be run like an O&O, which Adell balked at. NBC tried a similar thing with KRON when Young Broadcasting bought it a few years later, and all that accomplished was costing NBC its longtime Bay Area affiliate, forcing them to buy KNTV, a longtime alternative ABC affiliate that was at this point sharing The WB with what was then KBWB (now KOFY). The only reason CBS bought WGPR in the first place was because, after Adell said no, they had literally no other options. WKBD, the lame duck Fox affiliate, was owned by Paramount, who wanted to reserve that station for UPN. They tried to get WXON to affiliate, but they demanded $200 million for a buyout, which CBS said no to; they ended up with The WB. WBSX, the eventual Pax/Ion station, was an HSN affiliate. And the remaining Big 3 affiliates, WXYZ and WDIV, were happy just as they were, the former in particular led to a deal with owner Scripps that led to another set of dominoes too numerous to list here.

That's a bad thing?

As old as Waterman his, he probably has some connections everywhere. My first thought is he feels Hearst would be most likely to maintain whatever standard/level he thinks WBBH is and that Hearst would touch it the least out of the others. As for Hearst, it's definitely a stunning move. There could be endless motivations behind it. They're like that quiet dude at the party that says some off the wall thing you didn't think they were capable of.

I'd say it depends on the station. "PIX 11" and "KTLA 5" work better than "The CW 11" and "The CW 5" because those stations were much more established independent of the network. The same would be true of WGN should it regain the affiliation. But it mid-tier or low-tier markets where the affiliate never had an identity outside of their affiliation? Probably not. Of course, it's entirely possible that Nexstar could up and change the network's name...