Leaderboard

The thing is: who actually notices? For all the complaints about common elements, how many viewers are actually going to be in two markets with common designs, and happen to watch the stations in question, and happen to pay that kind of attention, and actually care? Effectively no one. Nobody cares if WABC and KABC, for instance, have common design elements. A few people like us on message boards aren’t representative of the public at large.

I just hope under this change, the O&O stations continue to keep their individuality and local news branding instead of making them all look alike. There is a charm to that indivualistic aspect of a news station versus them all looking alike and sounding the same.

Trying to justify the purchase of what was an HD-era experimental channel otherwise bound for HC2 irrelevancy. The entire WHDT purchase made no sense from the start at all; sure, you get an overflow station, but what else can you do with that station outside guaranteeing full coverage for your subnets? The CW isn't moving, you've got WFLX and Fox already via sidecar, and the Ion flagship is just as sidecarred. I wouldn't be surprised if the purchase came with a Mar-a-Lago membership a la WLNY.

Yeah the new ABC O&O mandate has an element like this for bugs. I actually like it, it’s pretty utilitarian.

Kate Snow announced this evening she will be leaving “Nightly” Sunday next week to focus more on “Daily.”

Geraldo Still at Large.

Ratings don't matter when you're profitable. Look at the entire suite of cable networks owned by Paramount Global; they all still exist because they command profits with no budgets and no effort given into programming. Which is just as well. Nielsen clamped down on the scraping of data that Mediaite used to do to get cable TV ratings, thus you don't hear much about ratings in general nowadays.

Any market that has to deal with a significant amount of severe weather/tornadoes/hurricanes, I can see at most 6. Have 2 in-studio, and instead of using reporters/mmjs, use the other 4 out in the field for reports, so they can give first-hand meteorological reports of damages, etc and fill-ins... I don't know why stations all of a sudden had a need to have a different meteorologist for each damn newscast of the day... No wonder they are starting mets at $15k a year.. there's no work

I'm not in support of the merger, but I will say one thing about the commentaries from Sinclair - at least they don't make it look like it's a part of the newscast - different graphics, theme, look, etc. If you like the news on Sinclair's Local 37, but don't like the commentaries - perfect time to visit the crapper, walk the dog, or whatever makes you happy. J

Loss of (expensive) talent that identify with the viewer can risk being a big turnoff. After all, Sinclair's favorite colors are pink and green. WJW and WGN-TV risk being wounded irreparably by THAT... moreso than by being forced to run Osama bin Epshteyn ordering the arrests of people protesting the Trump Regime... or Sheryl Atkinson's poor impersonation of a non-discredited journalist. (And to clarify, both WJW and WGN-TV will be losing a lot of veteran talent, even in the imperceptible chance the Sinclair deal implodes.)

I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm 99% sure that when people stop watching something, its ratings go down. Math.

If enough ND's or GM's refused to air the "must" runs, the company would probably just give up. They couldn't fire everybody and it would send a message to corporate that it was a bad idea (and GM's getting together to complain about something until it goes away is a thing that HAS happened in the past.) But these people work for Sinclair. They're probably more concerned with finding a new job and not burning bridges than they are about fighting running Boris' Rant.

Corporate Mandate = Forced

All this Sinclair-Tribune nonsense makes me yearn for the days when Nexstar-MG was happening and the worst I thought would be "Local 27 WKBN", epic cuts, and "myvalleyisproud.com." Say what you will about Nexstar, but at least they don't try to sway sides in a not-so-subtly way compared to GO Media*. *New name I came up for Sinclair. the GO means "Grand Ole".

You really think Republicans watch John Oliver? Please. They've been spoonfed by the usual suspects, namely Fox News, Rush and Lumpy, etc., to disregard anything he says - or anything said by his contemporaries - as "fake news." Oliver only has one specific audience, and that's liberal Democrats. Sad, but true.

Y'all here we go again with this.

Dude. He posts these on YouTube.

Personally, i'd go for the Putin Media Service/America or PMS America

But not before Sinclair changes their name to Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft first.

I highly doubt that Sinclair will pick up either Hannity or O'Reilly. These guys have egos the size of Jupiter and will demand a salary to match that ego. There is no way Sinclair's penny pinching bosses will shell out that kind of money for these two. They'll just turn WGN America into a rerun heavy channel with programming acquired on the cheap.

Yeah! It's like one stupid tourist gets stung by a jelly fish, or steps on a sting-ray...and I get blamed. Bunch of haters...and besides you decided to "protect" all those yummy seals and otters just so you could all feel good about yourselves and take your selfies with. The thing I need to remember is not to get short with some people here that I think should "know better". Everyone here has a different level of interest and understanding of these complex subjects. We all kinda educate each other anyway. I have to have more patience sometimes cuz it's a little flaw of mine.

Don't even start with the confusion that is syndication with 'regular people'. It doesn't help that in most places Ellen usually airs on an NBC affiliate, so they think it's produced by the network, while everyone will think the Sony game shows are from ABC themselves. Just this week TVNewser ran with a faulty story that 20th Television's weeknight RightThisMinute ripoff will be hosted by Billy Bush (it isn't) and even they were saying it was being produced for the Fox network when it very clearly isn't. And then there was a few years ago when the local conservative talk radio station with the same calls was forcing the TV station that hasn't done a thing with them for 20 years ago having to state over and over that they have nothing to do with the radio station and were completely neutral to the issue being pushed through the state capitol. Times like those are where I wish the 'you break up, one of you gets new calls' rule was still in place.

O'Reilly? Hannity? And Sinclair denys that their must-runs are conservative? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Short answer is no. No matter what platform they are using to post their tweets, you can see the picture you're posting with your post. Once was a really bad mistake. But to post the same picture TWICE to two different stories, gives rise to intentional acts.

Fascism? Serious? Don't become too much of a victim now. Just take the cash...you know exactly that's the end game. Be a victim...collect cash.

Have KTVB or KIVI said anything about it? I wonder if they would have the guts to file complaints...

It can't just be a bad picture choice by a rookie producer? How does anyone know the pic was not automatically generated based on a few standard keywords? So since it's a Sinclair owned station then the mistake it racial in nature? What a crock of poo poo. I see a guy in handcuffs..who is not related to the story presented. It's a poor choice for a picture...nothing more.

Great! Now the automation is racist ! Twice in the same show!!! Oh Pray tell! Heavens to mergatroid.. It's Trumps fault...JUST say it! No people...This is what happens when you have children working in a "profession" that requires "adult" supervision. This could have easily happened anywhere. But you guys can blame the boogie man and Trump and those pet hamsters of Barons that were in that meeting with the sexy russian layyyer...boris and pals...hitler...ftvlive.

You can't make that up. You just can't.

I believe the main monologue segment is usually available on HBO's YouTube channel.

I like John Oliver but he's not worth paying $22 every month for bad movies and Dungeons and Dragons with boobies.

It's opinion pieces on both sides. Both side are preaching doom and gloom. and..... Both are in the business to entertain and/or scare you....all for a profit. So enjoy!

My Grandpa lived in a double wide for a few years. He would get pissed if we called it a "trailer". He would always say... "It's a coach"! Then he would hit us and say... "Go play on the 405...the 405 FREEWAY!"

He said he was coming from WJLA; there's an NC8 set there overused by all of SBG's must-carry segments and shows, including Armstrong William's weekend graveyard filler between Made in Hollywood and a real show called 3 Wide Life (at least in Milwaukee). He thinks it's impressive he's coming from Washington, but I'd be more impressed if a Sinclair host filmed a must-carry from KIMA in Yakima or one of their lower-market stations. This is what literal 'fake news' is. Of course ratings are going to be up if you replace infomercials and E/I treacle (which Full Measure did) with a series with actual content. The painful 'this new show is up 400% over last year's time-slot filler, a test pattern' press releases are good for a laugh and little else.

Saddam Epystein might want to post his videos on a platform where they can't be rated or commented on.

Agreed. Terrorism is not nonsense, Boris is. Sinclair needs to die as a company and more.

He would be happy to accept more...but the taxes on a million bucks is a bitch.

Presented without editorializing...though he donated to a guy who beat a reporter. "Sinclair VP donated to Gianforte after 'body-slam' incident"

Let me guess, they're gonna load up on the DHX/Cookie Jar library crap?

Sinclair news veep Scott Livingston is encouraging viewers to drop a dime on their local station if they see biased coverage http://abcnews4.com/news/local/content-concerns

You know things are FUBAR when Perry Sook emerges as a legitimate white knight.

As someone who watches a lot of YouTube, it's fine, although it's a bit easy to flip when something uninteresting is on. Plus, it's an escape from the worst garbage YT pushes, so the curation is appreciated. It did do one good thing, it finally killed off any hope Retro TV had of getting any stations with actual signals back; the last three of five RTV stations with actual network affiliations were Sinclair; it replaced it in Toledo, Roanoke and Reno. KEYT in Santa Barbara and WKTC in Columbia, SC are it now. The sooner their sad idea of 'retro' is gone (AKA public domain offal, bartered Canadian crime drivel and "Crosswords"), the better (and they're also holding the rights for older Doctor Who episodes, which is annoying people who wanted it on the new US BBC/ITV Britbox service that was launched today).

WGME has the ice desk and the mobile green screen!

Translation: The debt is stacking up and ad revenues are much lower than we thought so now we have to cut costs wherever we can. I feel this is just the beginning. Welcome to the next Clear Channel (err...iHeartMedia).

Sinclair slapped with a $ 9.5 Million fine for illegally negotiating retransmission consent for stations they didn't "own or control'. I'm not a Sinclair hater, but that makes 2 fines for illegal operations/negotiations, how many more of these will they rack up before they become RKO and are forced out of the television business.

I hope and pray to god TWC & NBCUiversal say no to Sinclair.

Yeah, that was a tad overkill. Usually stations doing similar stories like would highlight the history of the station and where the future is taking them but this is the first that I saw that kisses up to the owners of the station so much. But I guess since it's the flagship station, we shouldn't be too surprised.

Looks like they bought the real estate only. They also probably will write the equipment/ furnishings off as obsolete. Unless someone with standing marches into Federal Court and challenges with a notice to show cause... it will most likely just fade away. The "Broadcasting Bubble" WILL burst in the near future. Which mega group will cry "too big to fail". Keep watching ClearChannel /IHM.

I quote of what TVNT member Breaking News said "Disney doesn't buy TV stations. Didn't anyone learn from the sale of WJLA? ANYONE???? THEY DON'T BUY STATIONS!!!"

But they can't simulcast Fox NFL games on their stations. It works with ESPN and NFLN because they're on cable. Fox doesn't show games on FS1. If your regional team is playing it's already on the air on local TV in your market.