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CBS is not in a buying mood. Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration. Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were. CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O. Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market? I doubt it. CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox. As for WANF becoming a "WHDH-like juggernaut?" History would say otherwise. WHDH already had good ratings when it went independent. WANF and its predecessors never had good ratings, and the overall trend of fewer people watching TV in general doesn't bode well for the future -- no matter how much money Gray shovels into WANF.

The moderators have recently had to hide several posts from less-seasoned users, asking about individual stations' launches. Gray has like a thousand stations, we don't need to see inquiries about all of them. Please try and show some restraint, from this point on.

This is precisely what the problem is. They took the lazy route and copied WNT's format, especially with the excessive use of breaking news for stories that are sometimes days old. Feeling the need to make changes is fine and necessary, but directly copying your competition is the easy way out, especially if you aren't taking their ideas and trying to improve upon them.

Gray has really put a lot of work into WANF to make it into a valuable station. Why CBS did not acquire WANF I do not know. Then again, I don't even know the logic behind taking the CBS affiliation and putting it on WUPA in the first place. I get that they own the station but they have to put money into WUPA to bring it to at least the bare minimum for a CBS affiliate like say... news department and such.

I also don’t understand the staggered departure from 11pm and then 5pm. Would’ve been more grand to just have it done at once for his and Mike’s sake.

Oof. I'd rather see anyone else buy them as opposed to Coastal (former Coastal Employee. I can make a primetime special on how big of a jerk the owner is.) Anyone else would be an upgrade (Including Scripps, Sinclair, and TEGNA)

No they wouldn't be satellites, they would help WISN bolster Wisconsin coverage. Plus, Hearst would be smart to bring them all back to their own independence (that's IF Hearst were to acquire them, not saying it WILL acquire them).

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF? Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money. CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

Also Hulu/Disney+ and Peacock have all-in marketing where everything is always marketed as being on them clearly with full-throated spending and development, while Paramount+ is still stuck on CBS All Access's tech stack and has severe underinvestment as PG cuts to the bone. Sony cooperates well with Disney already, while Peacock has been open to content from other sources. The big thing to note here is if ratings go down OTA, especially as subscribers are able to watch shows ad-free if they have that plan. The tie-in advertisers will be just fine, but the local advertisers (which have declined to an absurd number of home remodeling services and 'we do it all [not well but we do it all!] HVAC/pluming/electric' contractors, some of which whom have farmed out ads to AI) will lose a lot of eyeballs, along with any local news promos. But after last year's never-ending mudslinging fest with campaign ads, both services now can focus on advertising their ad-free tier as free of them, and though you'll still have the diehards that will DVR or VHS the shows, this deal will end a lot of 'where can I watch this' questions if the shows are pre-empted, just like those who watch Days of Our Lives now have a show that no breaking news will ever pre-empt.

Totally accepted the decision, no protest from me. It’s simply an interesting observation.

It makes sense with Tom doing both Top Story and Nightly News at the same time, why move from different floors and studios when you have it all in one. What intrigues me the most is how they manage to make Studio 1A look different for all 3 shows. Of course the Today logo on the side ruins the illusion but I'm impressed none-the-less.

There may have been some personal issues behind it, or a negotiation with ABC. Neither of which need to become public. Whatever, I'd just accept the decision.

The announcement is comming today ... http://www.mediaite.com/tv/exclusive-more-msnbc-changes-coming-with-three-shows-out-hard-news-and-chuck-todd-back/

The CW will air the Savannah Bananas baseball game on July 27th: https://www.nexstar.tv/banana-ball-heads-to-the-cw-network-with-the-broadcast-television-debut-of-the-savannah-bananas-on-sunday-july-27/

I think Tom gets the job done. He's the NBC version of David Muir. Young(ish) guy in a suit and tie at the desk, roving anchorman sporting a black t shirt in the field. If not Tom then who's alternative with those all encompassing traits? Peter Alexander? IMO the issue is more so NBC Nightly News than Tom. I like Lester Holt but the program's quality declined after he took over. It's been rapid fire pacing, high story count, head spinning graphics in packages, and breaking news for the entire A block. All of this was likely a response to World News Tonight getting #1 (so I understand why they felt the need to change). Of the modern era anchors, Brian Williams' broadcast was superior. It was also fast paced but not to today's ADHD level. He also possessed a grand narrative writing style that was evident in his anchor intros which I appreciated. Regarding the speaking, I've noticed and been irritated by it too. NBC and ABC anchors seem to shout -- and as you say -- talk in half sentences. "Bullets flying, police coming to the scene, investigators finding victims". It's a mechanism to keep the story's "TRT" or runtime down to about 90 seconds long.

Update WDAY-TV has found their replacement for John Wheeler as Chief Meteorologist... ... its Jesse Ritka. For those of you who've been on the forum for so long, she used to work at WTMJ-TV Milwaukee for a decade before joining WDAY-TV shortly before COVID took over. Now, she gets the Chief gig full-time and leading a weather team of six which is rare for a market that size. https://www.facebook.com/wdaytv/posts/congratulations-to-jesse-ritka-wdays-new-chief-meteorologist-jesse-has-been-with/1095953142566157/ Here, she's being interviewed by former KVLY-TV anchor Robin Huebner (who you don't see or hear here) who TIL works for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, the TV station's sister daily newspaper:

If (this is speaking theoretically) CBS were to re-affiliate with KSTW 11 and KIRO 7 were to go independent, KIRO would be able to hold its own. WHDH and WJXT have done remarkably well since losing their network affiliations. I'd anticipate WPLG, which is also losing its network affiliation in August, along with WANF, holding its own too. I'd agree with responses by @TVLurker and @Howard Beale about Gray Media investing too much money and resources into WANF (which previous owners Tribune and Meredith, from the WGNX and WGCL days, did very little to no investing), to CBS likely not being interested in buying WANF.

I can tell you this, it won't be clean for Gray if they even wanted to buy more stations. The only markets Gray doesn't have a presence in with Allen stations are Chico-Redding, Terre Haute, Lafayette (both in Indiana and Louisiana, Gray's last market where it doesn't own a station in that state), Tupelo/Columbus, Eugene, and Medford.

I don't really think Brian Williams screwed himself per say. He was moved to MSNBC and left around the time politics and journalism became perverted and sensational. I know he did stuff for Amazon during the election, the most important question is why would he go to Amazon who was partially responsible for getting Trump elected via The Washington Post not endorsing either candidate? And I know Amazon is a division with a bunch of companies owned by Jeff Bezos. He left MSNBC on his own terms though and is still presented and represented as a legendary journalist at NBC News. If you really want somebody who totally screwed himself over. Look no further than Matt Lauer who is persona non grata at NBC. The day after his last show was basically the news anchors of Today at the time talking about his firing over sexual misconduct. There are still videos up featuring him on the official Today channel but aside from that, NBC News does not mention Matt Lauer at all, only reluctantly because Matt is a large part of the Today's show history from 1996-2018. Almost 3 decades of content that features him. I don't think anybody misses Matt anyways. YT comments that mention him are either pounding on him for his treatment of women or semi-nostalgic for his tenure. I say semi-nostalgic because I haven't anybody say that The Today Show needs Matt back, they just like those days when Studio 1A actually had people in it.

The thing is, CBS doesn't need to run WUPA well as a CBS O&O for it to be a financial success to stockholders, which is all that matters. It just needs a better balance sheet than WUPA as an independent. This paragraph is speculation, but the retransmission deal CBS has with pay TV providers likely is structured that so CBS gets more per subscriber for a station running CBS programming than an independent station. Plus, they get to keep all of it as opposed to negotiating a reverse compensation affiliation deal with WANF where Gray was paying CBS some percentage of the retransmission fees Gray collected. Syndicated programming costs will go down in the long-run since CBS network programming covers 11 hours per weekday in the time between CBS Mornings and Colbert. (Plus however many hours of CBS News roundup and CBS News Mornings they air overnight) There will be CBS programming where they can charge more for ads than they could with existing syndicated programming. They don't need to go big or expensive building a news department. That cost can be managed along with the expectations for it, and there is far more space to sell in a local newscast than in syndicated programming. Even if they attract lower quality advertisers, that revenue, ideally, gets made up in added availability to sell.

Re-railing back to the original topic of this thread, Latenighter has an article about the deal that brought Allen and Comics Unleashed back for a second round.

WGBH has been using the Arthur fist meme as a symbol for their cause to keep PBS and NPR on the air. It is symbolic for many reasons. In the context of Arthur it was a part of a story that teach kids about anger and taking accountability but out of context it is powerful, it is a message against Trump that public broadcasting will not go down without a fight. The tariff's may be causing people to hesitate in donating but I'm guessing members here have a lot of disposable income. Why not donate to keep PBS and NPR alive?

This might be the end of PBS and NPR as we know it

I second this as well. I don't think CBS would want to wait for an opportunity to buy WUSA when said opportunity also is tied to buying either all the other stations or other reasons that might not sit well with CBS. (I don't know what the various real life reasons could be, be gentle.) If I were CBS, I would either find a way to buy WJLA or failing that, any of the UHF stations. The UHF stations option is scary because it will set a precedent that networks no longer need reputable stations with news departments and a history of serving their community. If WWJ, WBTS and the pending move of CBS to WUPA has shown us anything, it shows that the networks are starting to come to that conclusion, even ABC has even started to follow CBS's lead and NBC's partial lead by taking the affiliation from WPLG and putting it on a subchannel of WSVN. When CBS decides to strip WUSA of it's affiliation for a station that nobody knows or cares about, anarchy will arise and it won't be good for the viewers of those TV stations of which the networks are starting to screw around with.

Well with MSNBC moving out soon, they’ll have a lot of studio space soon. But if Tom likes it I don’t see a problem. That today logo can be removed for the nighttime shows. I’m sure the set can be modified in between shows Tom already moved to another part of the set for Top Story. Ya know I think studio 1A is a great space, and with today’s technology they can have there own space for all principal shows, breaking news and election coverage and special reports as needed.

No one said CBS had to buy WUSA...

Most likely be a VR set, quicker setup

I found the whole 5pm send off /farewell really odd. For most of his career, he’s been known as the 6pm and 11pm guy… he’s been on at 5pm for a little less than 6 years (replacing Diana Williams in September 2019). It made sense to have a big announcement about the 11pm. They probably should’ve done the 5pm at the same time… or just made this a less over the top goodbye.

Also would Tegna unload it's flaghip?

Yes, however, they kept all other CBS affiliations and they over index in SEC territory markets (GA, FL, SC, AL, MS, TX (granted not all are CBS stations).

And since its call letters have the exact same number of syllables as "WTBS", it could use an updated version of this classic: "Celebrate! Celebrate! Superstation P-C-H!"

Yeah, it’s the end of an era indeed. This is exactly how it played out for Bill Beutel in the late 90s until he left the station in 2003. And most of the veteran anchors stayed on the 6 p.m. show till their final days. Bill Ritter, now his replacement from 2003, is now 75, so it’s understandable that he's slowly beginning his departure from the career. Hopefully, he stays till 2030! What a solid anchor and face he has been for WABC.

Yeah, it was WCIX that was irrelevant because of a poor signal and limited resources for their news department. Once Steve Maudlin came in as GM by 1998, they became competitive.

WMAQ 10PM News (8/7/1987) during the second month of the ongoing strike between NBC technicians and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians

This is an exclusive from Front Office Sports regarding how Inside the NBA on ESPN and ABC will operate next season. I will do a list, so apologies, but its to drive the bullet points home from this article... TL;DR: The show will lead ESPN's pregame and halftime programs. There will be an extensive postgame show, which ESPN wants to run as long as it has been on TNT. They'll be on Opening Week, Christmas Day, all ABC games after Jan. 1st, and the final week of the season. The show will air live during their biggest NBA events, including the playoffs (like before), conference finals (like before), and, for the first time, the NBA Finals. https://frontofficesports.com/inside-inside-the-nba-transition-to-espn/

Turns out Strahan is staying on GMA after all, albeit on a reduced schedule.

I can only see Hearst buying WKOW and the Wisconsin stations to bolster WISN plus WAAY to bolster WVTM. The rest would be difficult for Hearst to imagine buying. I don't see them going back to Hawaii (for KITV).

Fair point.

Looking at the list of stations, I'm pretty certain they'd be a clean purchase for Hearst or Graham...but most of them are small-market, so outside of maybe WAAY, KVOA, WREX, KWWL, and WKOW, I don't think Hearst would be all that interested (and Graham even less so). Also, the work that would be involved in making the stations decent again.... It'd probably be Hearst's last significant purchase of the 2020s and 2030s.

You just mentioned one key word flagship.

With news of CBS moving from WANF 46 to WUPA 69, here's a video from back in late 1994 close to the time WAGA, then a CBS affiliate would go to FOX, where they reported on who was planning to take over the affiliation in...channel 69, then WVEU after CBS purchased it, only for then WGNX 46 took over instead. So, ch. 69, after nearly 31 years, ends up getting CBS after all.

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

WDBJ 7 Roanoke is making the switch.

I am certain WDBD in Jackson was updated before WXIX. It’s hard to see FOX40’s newscasts since they aren’t streamed anymore. They probably switched when WLBT switched several weeks ago. WDBD’s looks like the WLOX package.

Really nice job with the open and graphics here.

Speaking of WDBJ I wish more Gray stations would pick up their graphics package, especially their weather graphics... I think the Raycom stations would've looked better with that packaage

FINALLY! That's long overdue.

At least the current graphics package at WOIO are a lot better than the "Cleveland 19" look and any of the "Action News" looks.

I have heard them call her that in the past...Idk why..Maybe its cause shes the only anchor that has lasted during that part of the newscast?