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Former anchor Jeff Vaughn is suing CBS, citing “anti-white discrimination”

One of the most confusing network 'launches' I've ever truly seen. They knew the CW wasn't going to let that slogan and name fly, they had the same library and it was still a last-minute decision where Scripps just handed them the Defy name? And right now their affiliate body is the decaying husk of HC2 and whatever full-power crumbs they could get from Gray? Scripps is the clear winner here; they got to throw back on a popular channel over-the-air in Ion Plus (I think it should've never left but Katz got his way for a bit after the Ion close before he got pushed out), gets completely out of this gender-segregated network nonsense that has never worked (TrueReal already died last year) and Free TV Networks gets that A&E reality inventory that has become an absolute viewer repellent, aging like raw milk. About the only positive thing is they're adding Live PD reruns, but who wants to watch old crime coverage from six years ago?

On a positive note, the new set is expected to premiere Monday July 8th.

Free TV Networks has acquired the naming rights and programming inventory of Defy TV from Scripps, which repurposed the (original) Defy’s former channel space for an OTA relaunch of Ion Plus (a farm of 2000s-2010s dramas carried by other Scripps networks, former Ion/Pax originals and obscure CanCon and ‘90s-early 2000s first-run syndicated series that Scripps relegated to AVOD streaming shortly after acquiring Ion Media in 2021). Free TV Networks relaunched Defy (dropping “TV” from the name, but keeping the logo used by the Scripps iteration) on Monday (July 1) with much of the same programming lineup as the original network. The Free TV Networks iteration of Defy was originally announced in April to be launched as Dare, intended as a copycat to the original Defy (similar to how The 365 and Outlaw are copycats to Bounce TV and Grit, both of which FTVN CEO Jonathan Katz once oversaw), with FTVN cutting a deal with A+E Networks to air unscripted content from its library (the network also initially intended to reuse The CW’s former “Dare to Defy” slogan, which was changed to “Dare to be Bold” for the “relaunch”).

Good KOTV deserves it I’ll be keeping my eye on it here in Tulsa.

ICrime was renewed for season 3 I read about it all the way back in Jan or Feb of this year Vargas is still host of the show. I'll check out Crime Expose with Nancy O'Dell always liked her when she was on Access Hollywood & sometimes would watch ET. I liked Crime Watch Daily I'll also check True Crime News which I wonder if that will be aired in the afternoons or in the access prime to compete with Inside Edition late night as well.

WWJ is simulcasting the streaming service CBS News Detroit, which will ultimately be in operation from 4am to 11:30pm every day. The original and current plans are to offer up to 40 hours of simulcasts a week on channel 62 (and presumably WKBD can also simulcast in other hours. Supply chain shortages delayed everything and resulted in a soft launch so a presence of some sort could be had for the February sweeps. Even with just a 6 and 11, it’s still far more local news than anything CBS has ever done with the station and the most local news output on 62 since labor unrest shuttered Big City News on WGPR in 1991. This brings up a point @Weeters has raised before and I agree with. It’s 2023. What good is it to identify your news operation with EWN or Action News, which date back to 1959 and 1970, respectively? Plus “CBS 62” has long been a negative and a liability and an embarrassment for the network—they were basically forced into buying an obscure indie from the Free Mason that was the first-ever Black-owned TV station in the mainland, and because of continued upheaval at the network and it’s corporate parents, couldn’t do anything with it.