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FMBC is moving WINK-TV/FM and its other broadcast properties to a new location in Fort Myers. https://winknews.com/2023/08/03/wink-tv-buys-new-headquarters-for-18-5-million-in-gateway/?fbclid=IwAR3Yyw6O2ZTVoHxkWrLeA89O1SMpK5Be8Ej_NekLrvaQg5PNhTHpSJndUFI_aem_AaMEvmtuQXLZePPjjqtvctHajRDZI7uLCJtrqfGxDuaq1AlZXiLX22uIxa63Kek3tRk&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Ehh, some of them have deteriorated to third-fourth place (or never got out of the basement under previous ownership) and have entrenched management that should have been gone a decade ago. For many of those stations, without the police comms officer in charge of their Nixle/Facebook writing up police PR and the craven accident-chasing social media accounts they happily take content from, they'd be even worse off. I'm happy to see what Scripps can do, because the Journal deal was an albatross of badly-entrenched management (if you've seen my views over the years, you know exactly who I'm talking about) that they had to wait out before they could make their mark on those stations. Scripps News is a good product that needs more eyes on it and anything that gets away from the social media/Ring/drivecam 'filler news' model for their stations is welcome to me.

An overdue upgrade for WINK and absolutely necessary for any possible sale in the future. No company in their right mind (or their insurance company) would take on that building after Ian. Oddly enough, they were committed to a future in that building until a few weeks before Ian. If you look at Fort Myers building permits - they shelved a plan just a few weeks before the storm to add a studio to the northwest side of the building—the part of the building closest to the creek and water.

FCC approvals does not mean the deal has been finalized or consummated. You should not be seeing any Nexstar insignias/signoffs yet.

The company reported an 8% revenue drop for Q2 this year over last, with non-political ad revenue down 3%: https://deadline.com/2023/08/sinclair-inc-results-slip-in-q2-company-reorganizes-operations-1235453538/

they should change their name to the history channel. also no worries.

As I predicted, The CW is moving to KQCA in Sacramento.

Ex-FCC commish Ervin Duggan and Bill Kristol are now involved.

This actually looks really nice. Kinda reminds me of the GMA look but not as cheap/sloppy. I thought they just relaunched their look but I checked The Other Site and the last redesign was May 2021… so I guess it’s been a few years.

They seem to change their graphics very often. I guess they're really going all-in on the end-to-end lower-thirds.

And the new graphics are reminding me of the 2013 graphics.

New graphics this morning.

That might still be true to a degree in the afternoon and prime access. But at 4am? That's not really the case except for maybe Fox affiliates. I think we'll see more big three affiliates drop news before 5am and run more national news.

As long as the syndication market is in the current state it’s in, you’re gonna see more newscasts added, IMO.

I think the overall trend of stations expanding and adding more newscasts at all times of the day may be coming to an end. It was certainly true in the last decade or so that more news was the most cost-effective programming most stations could produce. A lot of stations also kept expanding in the early morning as a trick to boost ratings for later hours. Now that advertising revenue is way down all across the board, plus with the producer shortage, it may not be worth it to even bother with things like news at 4am anymore. A newscast is only worthwhile if people are watching and if you can sell the ad slots. The pandemic definitely changed things too. People aren't commuting as much, and I don't think there's as big of an audience at 4am anymore. (There never really was a big one to begin with.) Some cities have been hit harder by remote work than others, but in San Francisco, nearly all stations permanently canceled their 4am news during the pandemic. KTVU is now the only one on the air before 5am. I'm surprised this hasn't happened in more markets yet. As for holidays, it really all depends on the station group, the holiday, what day of the week the holiday falls on, and the whim of management. Holidays actually have higher ratings than you'd think because so many people are sitting at home with nothing else to do. Most places where I've worked, I think they've tried to strike the right balance of offering some kind of news product while keeping expectations in check. I also know some stations where the managers are so hard-wired that they demand running their full schedules even with a skeleton staff, holidays be damned.

“Cable news” is a oxymoron. They all peddle talk and opinion programming to some degree or other. (I count the pointless and vapid talking head interviews and mini-debate segments, but yes, Fox is extremely explicit in showing bias on-air.) They also attract audiences way out of the money demo. The median age range for a Fox and MSNBC viewer is 69. CNN’s median age range is 66. I would put into question the actual relevance of the entire genre. Sure, Fox may be #1, but if their demos are that embarrassing, does it even matter?

I see Gray's taking a "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" approach to their advertising. It worked for Sega in the 90s, but I'm not sure if it's the right way to promote local news. In video games it's not bad, but I feel like with news, people generally expect something more professional.

I now see why I don't watch much TV anymore. Ugh.

And CBS is rebranded to Paramount Television Network.

A change that should've been made all the way back in 1994 when they bought Paramount, frankly. I never understood why they were so wed to the Viacom name, which has always been associated with 'cheap'.

Within the last decade or so, the 11pm opens have always been short, so they can go straight to the "Big Story".