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Ion and the CW airing live sports. Whodathunkit? What's next, candlepin bowling on MyNet?

An absolutely disgusting move by Sinclair, especially after reassuring their employees that these cuts were "done". I guess they changed their minds after more bad financial news. Basically, if anyone from Sinclair reads this, and your station is poorly ranked, under-invested....GET OUT NOW!!!

Basically. I really wish there was a company that would come in and buy KTUL but sadly I doubt that will happen.

It’s been discussed extensively here in the past, but I don’t think the branding shift was designed to “move the needle” as much as it was designed to promote the local streaming services. I really wish there were more reliable sources for ratings than that creep Rich Lieberman, but even if he’s right…at least the station hasn’t tanked, I guess. Pittsburgh is always competitive, and the ratings race for the 25-54 demo is extremely close. I’m sure there are other factors as to why KDKA is down at 6pm, though I wouldn’t be familiar with what those are.

To me the city name as the main brand on the screen feels more detached, less local - like are people in NY and DC doing the news and this is our lightly edited “edition.” Just my observation. The Rich Lieberman blog says the rolllout hasn’t “moved the needle” at KPIX though they were pretty aimless going in. KDKA’s May was mixed vs a year ago…good data here: https://triblive.com/aande/movies-tv/tv-talk-strong-sweeps-ratings-for-wtae-tv-pbs-explores-age-of-easy-money/ The 6 dropped a lot esp among the demo, WTAE held its ratings at 6. The 5 and 11 look more stable. Don’t know the market well enough to hazard other factors at 6 though that tends to be the creature of habit time slot vs the leadin driven 11. Feb also showed a drop vs prior year for KDKA at 6. Noon which is an oddly big audience for KDKA held steady. Any other station have a Noon that draws more than most of the evening?

FTVLive’s Scott Jones, who once worked at KTUL, had some choice words about the gutting of its news department. The headline of his article on it says it all.

THAT RIGHT THERE. So, let's just say this was all without an affiliation agreement. Well then, at any point, Nexstar themselves could have easily pulled the affiliation. But let's say that Nexstar and Adell had gotten into it after the CW began airing WWE and acquiring whatever other events and then Nexstar had pulled the affiliation and gave it to whoever. Adell would STILL be crying nonsense. This is the man that had a major network affiliation in 1994 all but handed to him on a gold (never mind silver) platter but managed to mess that up and sent them to a station no one knew existed and is just now relevant. Adell is what would have happened had Weigel been run by wackos and it's an insult to even mention Weigel in this post.

I would say it's pretty important for a New York station to be based in Manhattan.

Let's not forget that the "from before (3K) " had been cut down and cut back due to Covid. I agree the severe 90-degree angles are awful - corners should have been rounded. I also don't like the gray used around the "4" on the anchor desk. I continue to believe the flagship station of the NBC Television Network deserves a more substantial and better-looking set!

I vaguely remember her BRIEF time in Cleveland at WEWS as primary anchor with Ted Henry between Wilma Smith and Lorna Barrett. I think it was something she said on air that sent her back to Milwaukee...

Most CBS stations, especially the laggards, rate well at midday, post-Price is Right.

I can tell you KTUL’s newscasts have not performed well for sometime. its not uncommon for their viewers o be in the hundreds. They occasionally perform worse than longtime basement dweller KJRH. KOTV and KOKI are overwhelmingly dominant in the Tulsa market.

The station that uses Dimensional the best is CBS 5. I don't understand why the other O&O's don't use the full package like CBS 5 does.

“Adell told B+C he did not have an affiliation agreement with The CW, but agreed to air the network as an “accommodation” as he awaited the FCC’s signoff on the sale.” Someone just needs to get this boy away now. If he is “accommodating” them, like he says, he has a contract with them. How is Scripps and WMYD breaking anything? The CW/Nexstar had to go to them, not the other way around.

This basically further buttresses the theory that the company’s debt (exacerbated by Sinclair’s mismanagement of Diamond Sports into bankruptcy) is having an effect on the bottom line enough that it’s choosing not only to cut back on news operations at lower-rated stations in sub-65 markets, but now cut those in (somewhat) larger markets where their newscasts perform well. It would have been easier for Sinclair to sell off stations to help pay off its debt (setting aside their plans to expand into other non-broadcast businesses until things get stable with their media arms), but their unwillingness to do so means employees at the affected stations suffer the consequences.

One of my managers is a former Sinclair ND. It's all anyone could talk about today. Tulsa is not a small market and KTUL, I think, was in second place.

Simple: it gets clicks.

Are there any actual CBS O&O folks here? Word around is the new image (graphics/music) has been a flop. Negative viewer reaction (especially with the music) in just the few months in use. WBBM's President/GM had been very vocal about her concerns about the whole package prior to rollout which are turning out to be true. WBBM has been continuing to use one music cut from the Enforcer package for the opens of the 5, 6, and 10 PM weekday opens since their changeover. I've noticed they've been phasing in more Enforcer cuts here and there, and again for the 10PM bumps. I have a feeling the graphics may stay but the new music may get dumped in the close future.

I think this is a really nice upgrade. Sure it's not super exciting, but I genuinely don't know what more people could possibly want from a news set. It's by no means a small set, the materials and overall design are much more cohesive and high quality than 3K. It's absolutely a set worthy of DMA #1. I think back to the 2012 3C set, which despite its size looked amazing, and was way ahead of its time, launching a design thread that even persists into this current set, 11 years later. That set didn't get in the way of telling the news then, so I truly don't understand the present gripes about a lovely, expensive new set that is almost double the size of 3C.

I think Peacock is a much bigger priority for them than USA. Trying to make a sports destination out of a cable network that isn’t ESPN is an uphill battle in 2023, and NBC has severely lagged behind in the streaming race. The problem with their strategy is that a few live sporting events alone won’t convince enough people to subscribe to Peacock. Other than “The Office,” much of their content is awful (this video takes a good look at it). FWIW, they are looking to make a run at NBA rights, so there’s that.

I just don't understand who watches TV today. It seems like there are a multitude of 1.0 rating shows, of no interest really to anybody. It's a miracle that can make all the numbers work and make a profit.

My only memory of PAX was watching AFV reruns and maybe you get a replay of the WNBC news or some programming that was preempted on NBC. As Ion, it is just rerun city. There's nothing really special there and I'm surprised Paxton got someone to pay for that network for a lot of money.

the morning music is too chirpy. Playing that track over a serious story doesn’t fit well. they only cut that KPIX doesn’t use is the main extended theme heard throughout the station groups (especially the KCAL, KOVR, KCNC opens) I was hoping they would’ve used that track for its new primetime newscasts but they went with the 7pm music route instead.

I’m don’t work at a station, just a casual viewer. IMO, the graphics look sharp and are a massive improvement over what they replaced. My one criticism is that the L3s (especially the logo bug) take up a large chunk of the screen at all times, and a constant headline ticker isn’t really necessary most of the time. Otherwise, I’ve got no issues with them. However, the music is really, *really* repetitive and dull, and it’s already become stale imo. I was hoping there would be more cuts of “Dimensional”, but it’s a really limited music package.

That's just awful to hear too, especially in fairly large markets. I wonder what kind of openings exist in the other stations in each market? I know Gray was very aggressive to pick up those laid off elsewhere, but Gray does not have a station in either OKC or Tulsa.

Well, this is big... and something you'd expect from Sinclair in small markets, but now it's coming to the middle markets too. Sinclair is consolidating KTUL news production with KOKH in Oklahoma City. Sounds like a few on-air folks have already been let go, but the axe will likely continue to swing as KTUL's Tulsa facility basically becomes a newsroom only with broadcasts originating from OKC beginning December 11. From the Tulsa World article: I can't find anything about this on the KTUL site, so it sounds like it's being kept sortof quiet. Given the fast developments, I'm guessing the KTUL and KOKH shows will become something like "Oklahoma News Now" statewide shows, and not truly local to either market. What a shame, and a sad end for one of the foundational TV and journalism brands in the state.

Most channels are turn-key jukeboxes these days. Look at virtual OTT providers like PlutoTV. You have entire "channels" of old shows. Trying to watch the 24-hour look of "A Christmas Story", both TBS and TNT are basically barker channels for the latest Superhero movies and HBOMax. Aside from sports and news, the entertainment channels are useless since all of the content can be watched without commmercial interruption and visual cluttter promoting some program they want you to watch. I can see why Scripps wants to focus on news and sports. In terms of channels, Ion is like the "Ollie's Bargain Outlet" of TV shows. Just off-network runs of mediocre TV shows no one else wants anymore.