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I don't think it's a coincidence that this move happened shortly after a new GM came to town. While there's no doubt that Elex is hard working, his problem is that he ends up making everything about himself, whether it's intentional or not. He has gotten used to getting his way with everything at KTTV through the years of a revolving carousel of news managers, and I'm guessing that is coming to an end. I heard that his China Newsom trip a few years ago cost 40k! That's an insane amount of money to throw around for a last place station and at a company that values frugality above all. I'm sure the inauguration trip cost a fair amount of money too. I don't think the new management was going to put up with his behavior for very long. While I admired his attempts to elevate California politics, I personally found his style to be somewhat sycophantic, and for what was ostensibly a statewide political show, he sure spent a lot of time dwelling on LA city politics. I doubt he's staying within the company. It would have been announced in a corporate press release if he were. He also wouldn't be leaking stuff to the LA Times. That "Look at how NICE Elex Michaelsen is" story the day before his own announcement didn't come out of nowhere. As for his replacement, I think it's a question of whether he's replaced at all, or to what degree. Seattle just blew up their PM lineup to basically be a Headline News style newswheel with taped news blocks. The Bay Area has gone to a solo anchor format for most shows.

Well, it wouldn't work under their current naming protocols... it's cbsnews.com/MARKETNAMEHERE... it would never have been cbsatlanta.com

Never say never, but it would be very challenging for CBS to prevail over Gray in court. Cyber or domain squatting requires one party to prove that another party has acted in bad faith, which, on its face, is notoriously difficult to prove. Now, consider that Gray has had a legitimate business reason to own and promote cbsatlanta.com and domain squatting becomes almost a non-starter from a legal perspective. Gray could also argue that forcing them to sell the URL would harm their business, as it would eliminate their ability to redirect traffic to their new URL automatically. This would reduce traffic to their website, impairing their ability to sell advertising and thus harming their business. Meanwhile, CBS would have a strong copyright case against the use of its intellectual property. Is Gray participating in copyright infringement by owning, but not actively using or promoting, a domain with CBS in the name? Perhaps. But I suspect the devil is in the distinction between owning and promoting/using. Ultimately, I think you will see an agreement between the two parties where Gray retains ownership of the domain for a set period of time before having to sell to CBS at a fair market price. WCCB in Charlotte retained foxcharlotte.com after they lost their Fox affiliation, causing Fox O&O WJZY to use myfoxcarolinas.com. This grace period allowed consumers time to switch from foxcharlotte.com to wccbcharlotte.com. Later, WCCB would sell the domain to Fox, which still retains ownership of the domain today despite having sold WJZY years ago. Today, the URL redirects to Nexstar's qcnews.com. I suspect a similar delayed domain sale will play out in Atlanta.

Could be tough under Skydance, CBS can’t just disaffiliate stations and build new news departments from scratch all the time. CBS is gonna have to learn it can’t do that they might get away with that 2 more times with Tampa and Seattle but after that they gonna have to deal with Gray, and Nexstar and everyone else all over again.

Business Atlanta’s new CBS station names new leaders ahead of launch As the national network transforms WUPA-TV into its Atlanta affiliate, it is building out a newsroom from scratch. By Savannah Sicurella 9 hours ago Less than two weeks from launching its Atlanta news station on WUPA-TV (Channel 69), CBS has named three senior executives with ties to the city to lead the venture. Tom Canedo, who has worked in various capacities across WUPA for more than two decades, will continue to lead the station as its president and general manager. Shawn Hoder will serve as news director and vice president. Hoder currently sits in the same role at CBS’ owned and operated station in Pittsburgh and spent about seven years in the Atlanta market at 11 Alive (WXIA-TV) more than a decade ago. Barbara Roeder has been tapped as the vice president of sales, returning to the station after more than 10 years on the sales team at FanDuel Sports Network. She previously worked with WUPA for about 15 years. Earlier this summer, longtime Atlanta CBS affiliate Atlanta News First (WANF) announced it would go independent after more than two decades. CBS then announced that WUPA, one of its owned-and-operated stations in the city, would become its Atlanta affiliate, delivering the network’s national entertainment, news and sports programming, as well as local news. CBS Atlanta is now building a newsroom from scratch, and several newsroom positions remain publicly listed online. The station’s news operation will debut in September, and its live linear feed will be available on Paramount+. Hoder and Roeder will begin Aug. 18. Canedo, who in his role will also oversee CBS’ independent stations in Tampa and Seattle, will report to Jennifer Mitchell, the president of CBS Stations and CBS News and Stations Digital. “Launching CBS Atlanta represents a significant investment in local journalism and community connection,” Mitchell said in the announcement. “Tom, Shawn and Barbara each bring deep experience and strong ties to the Atlanta market. Their leadership will be essential as we build a station that reflects the voices of the community and delivers trusted, impactful news and content.”

Time for the annual tradition known as the LNT NFL Preseason Graphics Roundup! Ravens: no change from last year.

GMA Miami Tour: Day 4. This time, its WSVN Entertainment reporter and Deco Drive co-host Alex Miranda and boy, he knows his Miami.

Looks like Gray is getting the last laugh on letting CBSAtlanta.com get away. CBS probably can't afford to buy it under the new Skydance management!

I think you did a good job explaining what we were all thinking. Local stations don’t really do news trips anymore lol that the best way I can name it, but you’re right I’ve barely seen a news station send a reporter or anchor on assignment to another city or another country for that matter. I remember he covered both political conventions in Milwaukee and Chicago respectively yes he covered the inaugurations, and yes went to China no other LA station did that they could’ve just used a FOX News correspondent to cover all of that. As for him making think about himself a lot yeah I noticed that a lot too but there no denying he a hard worker. I don’t think they’ll be a replacement I’ll be Christine, Marla and Susan Hirisuna.

Now confirmed: the official website will be https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta as I mentioned in an earlier post. Right now, it shows as coming soon...

CBSAtlanta.net now redirects to an Atlanta landing page on cbsnews.com cbsatlanta.com continues to redirect to Atlantanewsfirst.com

Ah, that makes sense then.

Well there’s still a lot of confusion for one, number 2 WPLG is the one and only

Most likely he’s joining FOX News Bill Melugin who good friends with him congratula,Ted him on his departure post.

I suspect that Elex's upcoming position is a national gig, of some kind. For him to join KTLA, it perhaps would be for another anchor position, because I doubt that he would settle for anything less than that at a local station after being a weeknight co-anchor on FOX 11. As far as I can tell, no current anchors have announced any departures from KTLA, either.

In other news, reporter Nic Garcia has joined FOX 11 from ABC 30 in Fresno. He just did a live report from Beverly Hills at 5:30pm on the FOX 11 News at Five.

The Miami part I get. As for the graphics, they're simulcasting so there would be no reason to differentiate the graphics.

I think he's more talking about CBS in terms of preparing WUPA in Atlanta to affiliate with them, don't think they'll be getting anywhere near the same kinda red carpet treatment that ABC's given to WSVN 7.2 & they're going to be a network O&O too!!!

WFOR? Probably hoping Skydance doesn't sell them to Nexstar (or worse).

Must be an even swap, because WITI is getting the Dateline repeats they previously aired (probably for the 1pm slot vacated by Pictionary).

September 30 is just under eight weeks away. That is an aggressive timeline to go from news director announcement to live product, even if they launch a light schedule with the CBS equivalent of a Scrippscast. While I am sure there has been a lot of behind the scenes work from an operational and engineering perspective, I'll believe newscasts in September when I see them.

WUPA 69 in Atlanta is showing Tamron Hall on their schedule at 3pm starting August 18th. It's not showing anything different on WSB's schedule yet. I wonder if they're moving Judy Justice to daytime or adding a 3pm newscast.

As long as it remains a simulcast in terms of news, there's no way that would happen.

KTVQ Billings has announced that Hailey Monaco is their new morning anchor. That line alone is not necessarily newsworthy around here. However, this time is different because Hailey's director inside the control room during the morning newscast is the one who launched the show and knows her personally... 39-year KTVQ veteran and more importantly, her father: Rob Monaco. https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/new-anchor-joins-montana-this-morning-and-shes-keeping-it-in-the-family

They lost some of their studio lighting? (Watch this video and you'll understand. That's a ridiculous number of lighted panels and surfaces.)

I would love to see updated numbers for the Miami market. From last check, 2022 via nexttv (how accurate are they ?) Telemundo 51 averaged as the top station overall. WPLG comes in as the top English language station ranking at either second or third place overall. https://www.nexttv.com/news/local-news-close-up-south-florida-holds-the-keys-to-successful-local-news It's truly a feat that WSVN was dethroned. From watching, their newscast don't carry the same energy as they used to. Local 10 has incorporated some of WSVN's tabloid penchant for flashy stories and presentation. They also have a good crop of anchors which has stolen my attention from Ch 7. WTVJ's broadcasts are very standard plain clean and corporate. Better than WFOR but not as energetic as 10 & 7.

WSVN is a station atypical of the norm, in every way possible. That's all that needs to be said. That they are a solid #2 among English-language outlets in Miami—in spite of the lack of any synergy opportunities or not being in any larger chain—speaks to how well they read the market and shaped it in a way to also be heavily atypical of the norm. You don't have to be a cheerleader of the station to realize that.

Bingo. WSVN wants nothing to do with the FOX branding outside of airing FOX network programming, live sports, and their promos. When it comes to national news coverage, WSVN has always done it themselves, maybe with the exception of the SOTU address every year, and there has been a handful of times where WSVN would rather carry live coverage from CNN (via their affiliation with CNN Newsource) than FOX News Channel (from FOX NewsEdge). Bingo. That's how WSVN 7 operates and they want to keep it that way. After all, they're not FOX 7 for a reason. I happen to live in the only media market in Florida where our FOX affiliate doesn't go by your standard typical FOX branding and that's how they look at when it comes to news as well. It won't change anytime soon, y'all, and they probably won't even mention FOX at all outside their new building in Miramar come 2026.

A lot of stations get a clean feed, and since it was during local time (Deco Drive), WSVN preferred to do that and stick with it rather than an awkward rejoin of the network at 8. In network time, stations can do what they want, and it wasn't a 'red alert' event requiring taking the network feed. I've seen a lot of stations do it before because they prefer both to make their own calls and not to be left in the lurch if the network doesn't cover it.

Out of curiosity, during which time period was this?

I assume that's so that WHDH's anchors and reporters are who viewers see on-screen. Did they have to bring their own equipment (cameras, mics, vehicle, etc.)?

Nope. It’s their own coverage.

I noticed that WHDH is covering Trump's arraignment in Miami. Anyone know if it's a straight simulcast of WSVN?

Why I assume was maybe the family wasn't interested in the TV media after Ed passed away is all.

Why would you assume that once Ed passed they would sell? Ed never had no reason to sell, and he said it himself. i'm sure he told his kids not to give in to corporate pressure. Yes, the family has other business properties. The small family own stations are trying to hold on to their business holdings, and they come from an old school generation.

Agreed. Looking at WTVJ around 1992, you really see the 'SVN effect. In my own bias..As someone who got up really early mornings for work, and hearing many journalists talk about the negative sleep effects of 2 AM wake ups, I'm not so set on early morning live broadcasts.

I think it may be due to the successful culture WSVN has built through the decades in Miami/Fort Lauderdale. Many of their English-language rivals in the market have taken key elements from them or in the case of WPLG, flat out copied them completely.

You know what, that’s a good point actually; I’m sorry it skipped my mind. To be fair though, WSVN does air a repeat of the late news during that time, so those viewers do still get relatively (depending on the story) up to-date news, even if it isn’t live.

IMO it's better they don't start the newscast at 4 AM, at least from the talent's point of view. I like that they rerun the 11pm broadcast at that hour. If this pushes Sherri Shepherd down one hour hopefully it knocks Byron Allen's fake Justice with Judge Mablean off the schedule---(even though I love her). It's strange that a market with such leisure and culture as Miami/Ft Lauderdale doesn't have a lightweight morning newscast. Even the 9am hour on WPLG and WFOR are straight news. (Not counting Deco Drive or 6 in the Mix). Looking at the quieter overlapping market West Palm, Fox 29 is straight news from 7-9. WPEC and WPBF are also strictly news at nine. Thats five hard newscasts at 9am in South Florida.

Getting off-track a bit, I would not be surprised if more stations diverted 4:00 a.m. resources to middle-of-the-day newscasts instead. Sunbeam has much more flexibility, of course, with one station independent and one station only giving up two hours a day to FOX.

When I first read this, I thought, "they should really be expanding their morning newscasts into the 4:00 a.m. hour, not the 10:00 a.m. hour." It doesn't make sense for a top-50-market station to not have their morning news start before 5:00 a.m. these days. (I still think it's weird KOKH is the only English-language news operation in OKC that starts its morning news at 5:00, while the Big Three affiliates start theirs at 4:00 or 4:30 a.m.)

That's what I figured. Heck, Sunbeam probably doesn't have much of a corporate office beyond an office for Andrew Ansin.

That has to be a typo or something. Magnes is WSVN’s GM. 12 hours a day is certainly overkill, but if any stations are going to follow the KVVU model of filling up more than half the day’s schedule with news, it’s these two.

WFMJ, for one. I wouldn't be surprised if Gray or Nexstar buys them next year.

So what "independent" Big Three stations are still out there?

Gray recently completed their acquisition of K20MB-D in Sioux Falls, SD for $100,000 at the end of July as well.

Gray is acquiring KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids. http://gray.tv/index.php?page=press-releases&releaseid=2084226

So they own LPTVs in... Rapid City SD (KIVN) Augusta GA (WBEK - the asset purchase agreement stipulates a callsign change upon closing)* Casper WY (KSBF) which are unaccounted for and do not appear to be broadcasting. It would be speculative territory to ask what the plans are for each station, though the most likely station asset buyouts in each market would be KNBN/NBC (Rapid City) and KGWC/CBS (in Casper). The Augusta station could be used to offload the My station they operate there.

Now "KVTV/KYLX"'s website and it's Facebook is down. What will Gray do next for "KVTV/KYLX"? (Yeah, now I don't know how should I call for this station.)

Gray purchased 3 LPs in Casper, WY back in February. One of them now has a new call sign. K41MD-D is now KSBF-LD. I wonder if Gray is going to bring CBS back into the fold in Casper. The affiliation agreement between Mark III Media and CBS for KGWC expired in June. I don't know if they have signed a new deal.