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No one’s gonna terminate their CBS affiliation because they chose to put an out-of-production Byron Allen show at 12:37 a.m. ET, BFFR. Considering the state of syndication these days, the current American network/affiliate programming model actually looks increasingly out of place, given that in most countries (as well as our Spanish-language networks and diginets), OTA broadcast networks handle most of their daily program output, fillling timeslots not occupied by first-run programs (e.g., dramas, sitcoms, reality series, lifestyle shows), news (local or national) and sports with acquired programming and repeats of current and past network shows. It kinda makes less sense now for networks here in the States to give lower-rated timeslots back to affiliates (the most recent occurrence being in 2021, when NBC gave up the 1:37 slot after A Little Late with Lilly Singh ended), given the downturn in the syndication market and stations’ tendency to just expand local news usually using an already stretched staff, rather than invest in other types of programming. Plus, CBS’s affiliates probably aren’t clamoring to take back the 12:37 a.m. slot. It’s too late for live news (outside of the occasional overrun during March Madness), and Big Three stations don’t run syndicated sitcoms and dramas in late night like they did through the 2000s (thanks largely to CBS and ABC making valiant challenges to NBC’s once-powerhouse late-night lineup with the Late Show, The Late Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live!). If CBS had turned over the timeslot, it’d probably be filled by lower-rated first-run syndies (as was often the case until the 1990s), newsmagazines (either second runs of shows like Inside Edition and ET or lower-rated shows like Extra that the station might already air in a later slot), second runs of daytime talk shows (KOCO, for example, has done this since the early 2000s starting with Oprah and now Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson), or late news rebroadcasts. You’re likely not going to see the types of suited-for-late-night first-run syndies like Arsenio, Love Connection or Blind Date that did well in the past.

If they made new episodes, that's one thing. But after last night's chintzy American Music Awards (which didn't even give out half the awards because their producer was too cheap to pay for a third hour) and just how cheap they are now and how much Shari and everyone else just want to get the deal done so they can get their money and leave? Do we even see CBS try to fight to keep the NFL after 2029? Keeping an hour of late night just for repeats is a great way of flipping the bird at your affiliate base and making it easier for them to justify ending affiliations. At this point, their strategy seems to be spending as little as possible to justify remaining in the Big Three.

When she is doing reporting, will she accidentally close her report “ABC7 Eyewitness News” out of habit?

ESPN’s new all-access streaming service is good news…unless you’re a cable or satellite provider, or one of the many broadcast TV companies that rely on said providers. ESPN is probably the last big reason why most people still subscribe to cable or satellite TV. Now that ESPN is putting everything on its new streaming service, I suspect the holdout subscribers have a very good reason to cut the cord for good. That’s obviously bad news for cable and satellite providers. It will also set off a domino effect that means bad news for broadcast TV companies that rely mostly on retransmission revenue from said providers. Cable and satellite providers now have more leverage to say no when broadcast companies seek higher fees come negotiation time. Some companies are feeling the squeeze as I type. For example, Scripps reported a $10 million quarterly loss “as a result of declining legacy pay TV subscribers.” Gray reported a $2 million drop in retransmission revenue in its latest quarterly report as well. These losses are very small compared to the revenue both companies made. However, with ESPN’s newfound devotion to streaming media, the omnipresent threat cord cutting poses to local TV is going to get worse. It's yet another reason why 2025 is a bad year to be in linear broadcast TV.

He’s been on for a few moths now. According to a post on his social media Shannon had knee surgery and would be out for a few months. John D has also been on in the afternoons

Bill Jartz's successor at WBAY has been announced, and once again they've looked to the sports department. Chris Roth will make his debut tonight as Cami Rapson's co-anchor. Update: Dave Schroeder has been promoted to sports director following Chris' move to the anchor seat. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AcxtHvZxb/

Hopefully this fixes the stations that cram entirely too many words into one super. These are the ones that have the constant L3 that switches from the story, to the person on camera, back to the story. With text sizing, these supers are downright unreadable. Wish a group would bring back a form of "Texta", this was the non-obtrusive lower graphic that summarized a story that was introduced by WKRC in Cincinnati. It lasted through Citicasters into Jacor, Clear Channel and Newport, and Newport rolled it out to many of their stations. Some Nexstar stations (post-Newport) even used it and it survived on several ex-Newport Sinclair stations until the respective Sinclair package was introduced.

As a longtime resident of Greenville and the Mississippi Delta, I can't help but feel a sense of disappointment over the frequent changes in ownership and the glaring lack of investment in our local television stations. Cox and even Imagicomm, as current owners, have not lived up to their responsibilities. It’s disheartening to think that an area struggling with economic challenges—one of the poorest in the nation—is served by station owners who seem indifferent to the needs of the community. The dedicated viewers and hardworking staff at these stations unquestionably deserve far better than what they currently receive. This mounting situation underscores the urgent need for a collaborative effort to rejuvenate our local media landscape. Our station, WABG, has the potential to shine; it simply requires modernization and owners who genuinely care about nurturing this small television market. Historically, the Delta's stations have lagged, often equipped with outdated technology that places them years behind other television markets across the state. If WABG could attain even half the production quality demonstrated by WLBT or KTVE, our community would feel far more satisfied and engaged with the local news coverage. It genuinely pains me to hear fellow community members express their disillusionment, many stating they no longer tune into our local news broadcasts and instead turn to sources from Jackson or Little Rock. The disconnect is palpable, and we must take steps to rekindle pride in our local news.

WFLA Newschannel 8 1994 WPVI Action News 1990 WJZ Eyewitness News 1993 (clip starts at 14:11) WRC News 4 1993 KNBC Channel 4 News 1995 WHBF 4 News closing at the beginning of the clip. 1985 WTSP 10 News 1994

Cyle Dickens, our own Cyle Dickens, has been promoted to Assisant News Director at KWQC. He's off weekends but will still do the weather at 5pm every weeknight. In the meantime, the station has hired a bilingual meteorologist (very exciting) and a hometown local (from East Moline) in Diana Rodriguez. She takes over on weekends from Cyle. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=677244911937985&id=100089574456129

It should be another lesson to media writers that they need to stop being 'viewer HR' and that day-to-day work status of TV show hosts is not a story that needs to be reported, and that these people deserve to have private lives and grieve. This is especially cruel because they helped spread the same trash to her Wikipedia article and folks had to edit around vandals that yes, she still works for the show. So much sympathy for her and her family, and I'm sure everyone at 1A feels the same.

So, she's outside now?

Even then, Sinclair's glass/curves look didn't make it to all of their stations before it got replaced.

Oof. Those poor Cox customers. I've heard nothing but awful things about Spectrum. Maybe Xfinity can put Mediacom out of its misery too. They're so bad they won't even hook up my street, leaving AT&T fiber as my only option.

KLEW newscasts are now produced and anchored from Boise. The quality has always been high school/college/cable access quality. The station veterans were great but everything else was so blah. It’s worse now.

They're one of the very few, if not the only Sinclair station not to use the Sinclair music package. Been using Aerial since 2012, all the way back to the LIN days.

"FAKE SUDS!"

Not surprised. I had an inkling this happened. Mostly because I was thinking recently of...

With the folks behind the standard doing all they can to sabotage ATSC 3.0 as a DRM'ed mess with weakened coverage areas to distribute FAST channels and websites nobody needs, this is just another nail in the coffin for it. Sunbeam is right to just give up on it and end the farce and focus on just channel 7 alone and figure out something else for their 3.0 plans; ABC and Fox don't even take advantage of 3.0 90% of the time.

It appears WOFL is on a temporary set.

If anything screams '2000s imagining consultants imagining what the kids like', it was their branding the most at that time; "43 The Block" remains on the hill of worst station brandings above "JoeTV" and that short time KWGN was "The Deuce". "Cleveland's 43" is a signal that there are finally adults in the room.

What in the hell possessed INSP to incinerate $393M like that in less than three years? That's Enron levels of fraud. Did Marc Rowan (Apollo's CEO) have incriminating evidence against INSP CEO David Cerullo and threatened to release it if INSP didn't blow all that money on KOKI, WHBQ and a bunch of spare parts and scrap? Cause there's no other way to explain why they would engage in such a horrible transaction.

We now have the complete prices paid for the Imagicomm stations. Imagicomm previously paid $488 million for the stations and has now sold them for $94.9 million. $2.9 million: KIEM / KVIQ (Eureka, CA) $1 million: KMVU / KFBI (Medford, OR) $63 million: KOKI / KMYT (Tulsa, OK) WHBQ (Memphis, TN) KAYU (Spokane, WA) KFFX / KCYU (Yakima, WA) KYMA (Yuma, AZ) $28 million: WSYT (Syracuse, NY) WICZ (Binghamton, NY) WNYS-CD (Ithaca, NY) KLAX (Alexandria, LA) KPVI (Pocatello, ID) WABG / WNBD / WXVT (Greenville, MS)

Without the Sony game shows (there by default because Nexstar and Sinclair aren't throwing money into a perceived 'dead market' like Syracuse) WSYT would probably be a Coastal station like WYDC nearby. It really feels like an complete afterthought since Sinclair spun it off with WNYS.

WICZ is a distant 2nd place between WBNG-TV, so yea.

I cannot think of anything more value destructive. Just because Ed Ansin got away with it twice doesn't mean it can work when the product is diluted this much. In a billingual market, no less. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see Warren Buffett take the L after a year or two and unload WPLG to Mission so Nexstar can have a CW O&O for Miami. He's had some bad business moves re: media (buying the Media General newspaper chain, helping Scripps buy Ion) but this might be the biggest oopsie.

I don't like this at all

I'm surprised they are buying the others too, since they would essentially be a local owner in Greenville.

It is indeed-- it would also be like if KTRK Eyewitness News in Houston had suddenly changed from "#1 in Texas" to "#1 in Houston" in the 80s (hypothetical of course).

Why did they change it?

and WICZ in Vestal/Binghamton as well. It was an early Gannett station when they were headquartered in Rochester. Doubt Tegna would ever go for it...especially now!

It's the definition of "acquired taste", that's for certain. It's really gonna take getting used to.

WABC also uses Eyewitness News This Morning… CBS’s national show used to be called CBS This Morning.

** it's hard to find data from 2024 or 2025, the latest I can find is from 2022. If this gives any idea of recent market standing... WSVN was at last check no longer market leader, and they're already in competition with WPLG. Based on the latest numbers from Nexttv (if we trust them) WPLG tops the English language stations in overall households in several time slots, with WSVN coming in second but competing for the demo. The Spanish language stations however appear to be averaging at #1 & 2 overall in the ratings in multiple slots. WFOR is in better standing than I thought they were, coming out as # 1 in english 11 PM. I have a family member that lives in So Flo who didn't even know there was a Channel 4 if that's any indication of their market standing. They separated WTVJ's numbers so it's difficult to ascertain their average standing. I would like to see something more recent, but 2022 is the latest I can find. https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news-close-up-south-florida-holds-the-keys-to-successful-local-news (2022 Ratings)

What's the rest when not news? Endless Family Feud reruns?

news overload! but they really have no options.

They can do what some other cable nets have done and license out the selected sports events. NBC also can switch many to Peacock. Years ago, before NBC owned Golf Network, the events were split between the two networks, so it it back to the past in some regards.

https://www.thewrap.com/fcc-chair-threatens-company-mergers-over-dei/ Completely out of bounds under FCC jurisdiction. This administration is out of their minds.

Dionne is in Milwaukee for the Illinois game on Friday, so she did the 6 from the arena, so Marshall was only on at 5 & 10.

I don't live in Milwaukee (although I have some family there), I'm liking the new WDJT look that they're using. I don't honestly get the "anti-channel number" branding sentiment that some of y'all have, but to each their own. I'm still pretty much old-school when it comes to channel numbers, and yes, I'm well-aware of the current adage of the digital TV era and the technical aspects that come with it (RF vs. virtual), but there's still a segment of over-the-air viewers that still use and prefer the "traditional" channel numbers. I subscribe to cable, but I also use over-the-air as a backup of means, so please save your lecturing nonsense...I get it, but I still preferred the old-school method of tuning-in channels, beyond that you're being condensing, but whatever.

Yes, KTVN in Reno, NV did this first. Good to see WDJT rebrand their news to the market they cover unlike other CBS O&O's that just lazily brand to the state they're in.

Looks like WDJT is going to move from the old CBS O&O look to the new one tomorrow at noon. I think this makes them the second non-O&O to adapt this look, right?

All-new parade graphics debuted today, adopting lower thirds that are reminiscent of the collage-like panels in the news opens. The old St. Patrick's look was nice, but the stock banners used across all parades have long needed an overhaul. (Baichwal, Butler, Rivera, Garcia, and newbie Lisette Nunez in the station contingent.)

They could also relaunch WJKW...WJW's infamous place-holder calls from 1976-1985 because of Storer's sale of WJW radio. When WJW-AM changed to WRMR, Storer restored the calls to TV8 and they've been there ever since. But what's probably keeping that from not happening is an FM station in Athens, Ohio with the WJKW calls that brands themselves as "Ohio's Christian Superstation". Even though it would be perfectly legal for Nexstar to do so for WBNX. Another thought....WJCW? (exists as an AM station in Johnson City, TN owned by iHeart Media)

Guess the only question is if they go with new call letters to leave the Winston era behind entirely; if they do hopefully they just don't do a dull CW tie in (because WCWC for "CW Cleveland" is uhh...remember that Les Moonves said there was a good reason it wasn't called The WC ), and maybe grab WJKW as perfect symmetry (to go in effect on September 16, the 40th anniversary of the return to WJW) if they can get those calls (WJCW would work if they just have to put in a CW reference).

Todd Parkin was also a sales executive for Bally Sports... https://thedesk.net/2025/03/sinclair-sells-tv-stations-rincon/

More likely it's just as usual for DirecTV; test channels go up, they're tested for a bit and then they disappear and it's nothing to worry about. Planning for all situations and making sure everything works in public view. But I don't think it would be Hearst, who is a bedrock 'must renew ASAP' group for NBC (they wouldn't have done the Gulf Coast News rebrand now if they weren't confident of keeping NBC); most likely it's one of the more tenuous groups like Allen Media Group, which we all know the issues with and where it's a coinflip if the monthly affiliate dues are paid out.

Griffin will shut down the tv stations before they ever sell.

I doubt this would happen with Hearst, but it would be nice to have... They can be like Griffin and have 2 strong stations

I just don't understand launching an entire new station like this when KUNP would be better served providing eastern Oregon a KATU satellite and just pushing the Blazers to an upgraded 2.2 TBD subchannel (they do have translators on the same stick but it's baffling they just never did anything with it outside Univision in the digital age). Without the NBA, there's literally no purpose to this station without (and it's sad to type this) a MyNet affiliation at the very least outside continuing Sinclair's bizarre mission to denigrate Portland's very existence through their local and national newscasts, and three hours of advertorial programming in a row during the day? You might as well just offer three hours to Les Schwab, because those folks will be the only ones watching it captivly in the waiting room (and thanking Steve Jobs for the iPhone to avoid being stuck watching it).