Leaderboard

If this sale goes ahead, I could see Cox Media Group wanting WUPA (Atlanta) to create a duopoly with WSB (ABC Atlanta) like they have in 3 other big markets in Charlotte, Jacksonville, & Orlando.

Does it come with the golf club membership? But otherwise...who would buy any of these stations at all? You're not getting a studio or existing personnel from the other side of the duopoly, and have to build everything but the transmitter back up from scratch, and it would take nothing for CBS to just keep the networks and schedules on a subchannel. The only buyers are the HC2s and the new era of spectrum speculators who are still convinced from the 2010s folks like Michael Dell who insist that OTA Internet will be a thing. Also it looks like KCCW is an error unless PG wants to lose all its WCCO coverage in the middle of the state.

Isn't INNOVATE (HC2) not interested in buying more TV stations?

Would they really do a third 'switch' in so many years though? They have a pretty cushy deal now where GBH does all their engineering and it really isn't worth all that effort and cost just for a channel number, and they and WNEU are on the same tower already, while WSBK has a weaker ERP. If anything the better deal here would be for PG to get a tax deduction to donate the WSBK license to GBH for $1, WGBX moves there, GBH sells 44 to NBC, they can finally pack the NBC/Telemundo suite of channels on there...which would leave WNEU the odd one out here. Weigel is a more realistic possibility especially with PG trying to get out of Start TV, so it could be a trade to get full-channel coverage of the Weigel nets. Anything but HC2 (Scripps, WRNN and Univision are also duoped and maxed out).

Meanwhile, I suppose the obvious buyer for WSBK in Boston would be NBC Universal as that would give WBTS/NBC 10 Boston a full-power home. I don't see Cox being interested in acquiring it for a duopoly with WFXT, Sunbeam already has a duopoly in WHDH and WLVI, and Hearst's WCVB is already partnered with WMUR.

They can explore all they want, I doubt they'll find any buyers. They're gonna have to eat them and make it work

I swear to God Byron Allen better not make a move... But my spidey senses are tingling and I feel he is chomping at the bit at this news...

I wonder who'd take WLNY? General question, but if media companies across the board are struggling why does Paramount Global seem to be doing exceptionally bad?

KDKA is a great example of the effect being a CBS O&O can have on a station. Dropping Susan Koeppen during the pandemic was a terrible move. WTAE deserves to be #1 in the ratings. They give a shit. KDKA and WPXI are coasting.

Paramount is exploring a sale of all independent stations except KCAL.

There are just certain things that you should never do, EVER. Especially if you work in TV... ...AND do it from work.

Kelly Clarkson Show season 6 premieres on September 23.

At least unlike last year, DIRECTV & Disney deadline is set for Sunday so it won't affect fans wanting to see the first full Saturday of College Football, although if it does end up being like Spectrum & they do get dropped, I'd expect a deal to be done before the first MNF game Jets/49ers on September 9th. Nothing motivates a dispute to be taken care of more quickly than the NFL.

No worries -- a lot of times, you'll see hints of new graphics packages coming (I'm assuming the tempates are in process of being updated) but the old one still remains

I wouldn't call it accidental... WNEM used the GrayONE First Alert Weather opens for a couple months before they switched over...

Yeah WTAE does have a better news product these days, IMO. WPXI and KDKA are meh. The hires they've made over the last year or so have made a difference (especially the new weekend AM meteorologist and new sports anchor/reporter). KDKA does have a lot of good on-air talent. They're lacking when it comes to their evening anchor lineup though. Yes at some point, they're going to move Mokay back to afternoons at 4pm with Josh Taylor, but from the way it looks, it hasn't happened yet. And to your point, hiring those right out of college doesn't look good. And I agree that the 8pm show does have potential. They just aren't using it to its full potential.

That set has always given me Nexstar vibes.

For 30 years, KUSA has had local news at 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, and 6:00 p.m. Starting Monday, September 9th (which sounds like the first day of the new TV season), add 3:00 and 3:30 news to the extended list to replace DBL. https://www.9news.com/article/about-us/9news-launching-new-newscast-3pm/73-4915c13f-ac6f-410f-abc7-fbbbeae5bf84 EDIT: Denver's only news breaks after this on weekdays will be 12:30-01:00 and 02:00-03:00 p.m. EDIT x2: This is not Denver's first attempt at 3:00pm news. KMGH once had one a decade ago under McGraw Hill ownership under 7 News NOW.

I wouldn't say "always been dominant." KDKA has been coasting on its call letters for years. Ever since people meters came into play, they've lost their edge -- WTAE and WPXI win other departs easily these days (KD is third place in the all-important demos at 4/5/6 -- linking below to ratings.) They have one of the best local news anchors in America in Ken Rice but surround him with middling 'talent' -- they're hiring reporters out of college now! And they have potential to do something with that 8pm show on KD+ but it's very much like the rest, just a lot of police blotter nonsense. https://triblive.com/aande/movies-tv/tv-talk-may-sweeps-ratings-released-star-trek-discovery-ends/

KCCW makes things tricky/interesting for areas in central and northern MN- Where I grew up, for example, Cable companies carried KCCW and (then) KDLH for CBS. Walker was geographically closer to us, but we were in the Duluth DMA. Unscientific claim, but in parts of MN where both KCCW and KBJR (or KVLY in select Western parts of KCCW's range), I'd bet good money that more people turn to the KCCW feed (hence that whole "Minnesota's Most Watched" claim for all those years).

I was thinking the same thing. Sky has very very very clean graphics. I will be interesting see. They are bring a decent studio team over from the UK and going to have a former correspondent return to be their "Steve Kornaki" analyst. It will be interesting to see an outside perspective. It seems that Sky and NBC are closer than they were sisters with Fox "News".

I agree. It’s a nice evolution of the diagrid graphics (even if the diagrid isn’t fully visible in the new ones), and they do fall in line with the teaser graphics that have been rolled out over the past few months.

Sade on GMA! She did an awesome job, she did say "Good Night" though at the end of the broadcast hahaha, cute blooper.

Why would anyone risk such a comfy job in a good money for something like this? I'll never know the answer to that. Some people are outright dumb and/or evil

SkyNews announced they will be using the Meet The Press studio for their coverage of the US Election. We are starting to see NBC and Sky working closer and closer together. We are seeing with SkySports and NBC Sport collab on English Premier League coverage that just started recently with commentators appearing on both channels.

I actually think it's a good evolution of the Hearst design, which has aged pretty well compared to the other group packs. I like to think they didn't change them wholesale because they see their stations visually as newspapers in design where stability is a good thing and any change should be subtle and slow. Yes, it looks like more of the same, but Hearst is already on top in many of their markets. Not much they do need to do to keep that advantage, and the graphics match their 'not broken' thinking.

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this. This simplistic "flat design" look that literally every newscast has nowadays has run its course. It all looks the same.

You know, I thought CBS would keep the 2021 scorebug, since I noticed that a wide majority of the insert graphics in Super Bowl LVIII were of the 2021 style but with color changes (not unlike the graphics Fox would end reverting to partway through Super Bowl LI, since they presumably also weren't proud of how the "flat" graphics turned out; of course, there would be a different flat graphics set come the 2017 preseason). Heck, the preseason game I'm watching is using a wide majority of the 2021 insert graphics right now! But I thought wrong.

Wonder if it's going to be separate from the College Football set as I know CBS uses the same studio for their college football coverage as the NFL & they've got coverage, at least on the main CBS network, starting in 6 days time.

Just wanted to bring this up that part of the set that was in the downtown studio is now with the University of Oklahoma for the OU Nightly Newscasts they do for the students in journalism (news and sports) and meteorology.

The ticker looks great. I also like the extended forecast graphic, which is less cluttered than its previous version. That is perfect for WDSU.

A reminder also that outside WMYD and standard renewals, Scripps never actually affiliated stations with the network itself on their own and most of the affiliations were outstanding from the Journal and Cordillera days. Kinda like Hearst's Fox refusal, except they didn't want to shake up the boat until the CW became more than a primetime-E/I only network that reduced their local programming time. And conversely, Nexstar affiliated stations with the Katz networks when they were independently owned, so both of these are just the two groups taking their toys they got from a friend and going home.

Exactly- I would think Maurice would at least give up the 5pm to prepare for the evening news. That would be the perfect place for Cindy if they went that route, or Dick Brennan if they wanted to (re) promote him.

It could be a coincidence, but the timing seems related to Scripps separating from the network.

You captured my thoughts perfectly. While it’s nice to see Cindy back at noon permanently (almost 20 years after she was demoted off the anchor desk), I am sad to see the 9:00 a.m. newscast is being cancelled. Cindy really put her heart and soul into it (in fact, it could have been called The Cindy Hsu Show). Maybe I’m being optimistic, but perhaps Cindy will have a role on the early evening newscasts when Maurice starts anchoring the CBS Evening News. We still have no idea how the move will impact Maurice’s role at WCBS, although the press release indicated that Maurice (and Lonnie) will both continue to be a presence on WCBS. But, I don’t know how Maurice could do the 5 and 6:00 p.m. newscasts if he is anchoring the Evening News.

Studio 1 is for Eyewitness News. Studio 2 is for “Live” (audience). Studio 2 is done and looks largely the same as TV13 does. Both studios are exclusive to WABC. The space mentioned is the EWN newsroom. Flashcam space still yet to be built. Studio 1 will be more expansive than studio 77 is. It’s significantly larger.

I don’t know when exactly it started this week but KABC brought back talent opens to the newscasts for the first time since 2012. I just caught one at 4:30 this evening.

A bit, I watched This Morning recently and there was a panel at 5 in the morning, seriously? I just woke up, I want the headlines not some talking heads talking about the same stories that I knew when I went to bed, and I think thats the problem with the weekday This Morning, it's too stiff, too political.

Is DirecTV legally barred from using websites to verify stuff like that? Or paying attention to industry news? I mean, doing due diligence kinda seems like low-hanging fruit here...

My new book "Here Now the News" is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I interviewed dozens of people who shared many memories and ancedotes about the legendary New York City newscasters.

And they are open about it being a temporary home, so they’re not trying to be all cagey about it.

Kristine Johnson anchoring CBS Mornings today

I don't think they do either

Sure seems like a cluster. It’s hard to understanding the decisions CBS is making.

The opens no longer mention the time of the newscast, which feels cheap to me. The lower-thirds and anchors still say "CBS 2 News" and the CBS 2 logo remains everywhere. Are they trying to be gradual or is this really as uncoordinated as it looks?

Weekend teams are fine. I suppose station thinking is that bringing in a primary anchor like Maurice on the weekend signals urgency and importance to viewers. Similarly, on the national level, Kristine is a capable anchor but Norah was brought in eventually so the leading face of the network could be with viewers through this big story. Having Norah (and Lester and David) in on a Sunday signals that the situation is huge. Anywho...back to WCBS before the admins come.

Is any of this even worth documenting? Nah

Do we need to document other stations' line-ups in the thread of another, when one of those line-ups was already mentioned in that respective stations thread? Nah

Yep and yet sister station KOTV has a some what similar set to the old set from 2004-2022 from when they moved into their building in 2013. They are more desperate for a new set then KWTV but hopefully they will soon.

Seeing as what's happening with the stations Marquee just picked up, it's a tall order to bring local TV service here. Could it come to the market just merging into the Billings market? Glendive is a small fraction of households compared to even the Alpena market.