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They're probably after WKOW and its spawn specifically so they can combine them with the stations they already own in Wisconsin, especially since they had to let them go the first time they struck a deal involving them. Plus they would own all the ABC affiliates within Wisconsin aside from WISN.

Babe, wake up, a new Nexstar hoping to buying Tegna report just dropped. https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/nextar-tegna-deal-talks-0e1d7524

Gray’s acquisition spree continues. Scott Jones is reporting that Gray is buying Allen’s stations.

This. There are no "good' (or heck, mediocre) companies that will get the scraps *if* there are parts of the merger that won't be allowed by the DOJ and FCC. Some strategic swaps that are mutually beneficial for big companies to minimize single station operations? Perhaps. But any spinoffs are going to be strictly to sidecars, spectrum speculators, and maybe some godcasters.

The comprehensive exhibits will be so key.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tv-broadcaster-nexstar-advanced-talks-213019553.html

And when do we get the magical assurance from the FCC (or our lord and savior DJT) that all of this forthcoming consolidation is legal?

And with move to CPM ad billing that lack of eyeballs (assuming there's no price floor) will do them no favor. I keep trying to figure out what their exit strategy is. Bilking cable for retrans fees or hoping for a spectrum incentive auction

Doubtful "77000 members and sponsors" across 6 stations, in a state of 6 million $21 mil in revenue, $29 mil in assets. $3.5 mil cash. $3.1 mil in investment income for 2024. They can stop complaining if they can afford to drop $2500 a year on a PBS membership to see their names printed on a paper

I saw Gray decided to buy 10 more stations and create tons of duopolies and triopolies. This makes things more complicated and interesting.

If I were Gray, I'd be licking my chops at getting WISH-WNDY from DuJuan McCoy, potentially for a song.

Grand Function is small but Colorado Springs–Pueblo, Colorado isn't that small, its more medium sized.

I broke off the Gray-Allen deal into it's own thread. More moving parts there that may not be as relevant to a day-to-day conversation like this.

I broke this into it's own thread, as it evolves and we discuss approval and the potential politics of it.

It's a bit surprising, but I guess they are conceding the far west. That said, they would have been sister stations to KPTV/KPDX, and given them a stronger position out there. Especially if Cowles ever decided to sell, that would give them a strong Northwest cluster.

Technically, it would be a triopoly in these two markets. Don't forget WTHV Telemundo Huntsville and WBXM Telemundo Montgomery.

Gray is on its way to overtaking Nexstar as largest tv station owner in the country. Good for Gray Good for Allen but quite honestly this is kinda scary. Really because of the laxxed FCC regulations, but this is small peanuts they aren’t at that 39% household cap. There waiting for Skydance, Tegna to unravel with each other.

In the Scripps swap, Gray exited a couple of markets in the West as well.

I just noticed something... Gray is only picking up stations in the Midwest or South. NO stations in the west. This means KDRV, KEZI, and KHSL/KNVN won't be sold, though I'm puzzled as to why not them. Gray isn't in any of those markets.

Gray + Allen would result in a NBC/ABC/Fox/CW triopoly in Fort Wayne, right next to their incoming Big Four WLIO/WOHL duop in Lima. Plus it'd marry WJRT with WNEM and WCOV/WIYC with WSFA. Given how badly Allen ran those stations into the ground, integrating them might be an easier process than you'd think. And thanks to pure political favoritism at the hands of hacks Brendan Carr and Olivia Trusty (let alone the disemboweling of the DOJ and FTC), this and all other deals will clear with total ease.

OFFICIAL: Gray to Acquire 10 Allen Media Stations https://graytv.gcs-web.com/node/24351/pdf Huntsville WAAY (ABC) - duopoly with WAFF Paducah /Cape Giradeau / Carbondale WSIL (ABC) - duopoly with KFVS Evansville - WEVV (CBS/FOX) - TRIOPOLY with WFIE Fort Wayne - WFFT (FOX) - TRIOPOLY with WPTA/WISE Montgomery - WCOV (FOX) - Duopoly with WSFA (no mention of WIYC or WALE-LD) Lafayette, LA - KADN (FOX/NBC) - Future TRIOPOLY with KATC if that swap clears with Scripps Columbus/Tupelo - WTVA (ABC/NBC) Rockford - WREX (NBC) - virtual TRIOPOLY with WIFR/WSLN (since WIFR is an LD and they signed on the Freeport Channel 9 facility) Terre Haute - WTHI (CBS/FOX) Lafayette, IN - WLFI (CBS) And in several of these markets it will be Gray and Nexstar with total control of all of the TV stations, should this ever see the light of day.

30 years in the Triad, 27 at WGHP, and Brad Jones will call it a career right after Christmas. https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/piedmont-triad/fox8-morning-news-anchor-brad-jones-announces-retirement-this-will-always-be-home-for-us/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=socialnewsdesk&fbclid=IwY2xjawMCuitleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHqpK4TRLrqGkDw1_4m6-ciKRWhi5unQDOyyKGtvegyVnZnFfscHL67D-2Hwi_aem_Z9HupLeadR7wCkyJZyDkwA

WETM-DT2 is becoming CW on September 1st according to this: https://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/Common/ViewDoc.aspx?DocRefId={B0481E98-0000-CD4A-8F64-074DF235BE83} WENY-DT3 is becoming Independent.

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.

It looks like WCCB will keep local programming and local news after giving up The CW, if this is any indication... A new weekly sports-themed show after Saturday's 10pm news on WCCB Charlotte (which also seems to be their new branding starting Sept. 1st). https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1181517557327932&id=100064090953536

And another thing PBS stations run by colleges and universities do is to educate and train journalists. This is basically their first job and hands-on experience reporting on the news in the communities they are attending school in. In return, these areas (some of which are VERY under-served) get local news coverage from a mix of students and professionals who work together. Some notable ones that run daily newscasts include WUFT in Gainesville, FL (University of Florida) and WOUB in Athens, Ohio (Ohio University). Even in the 1990s after Paxson shut down WAKC's news department and stripped their ABC affiliation away in favor of infomercials (and later PAX), WNEO and WEAO stepped in with NewsNight Akron which was a discussion show about news in the Akron area. They couldn't afford to start a news department (the stations were a joint venture of the local universities, Akron, Kent State and Youngstown State at the time) but this was a way to fill the void until WKYC partnered with Paxson to start up a local newscast again in 2001 that ran on WVPX (the old WAKC).

WCTX channel shares with WTNH, and WCCT's main channel is hosted by WTIC as the area lighthouse. Subnets notwithstanding, it's a very manageable conflict as we all know WCTX is the CW affiliate once Tegna's CW deal is done, and WCCT (which had their 'site' hosted on the CW+ portal for over a decade) is all but a zombie station once the CW moves off there (the only issue with CW of course is if WTNH prefers to keep the primetime newscasts as-is and they move to streaming/WTNH+ down the line). Worse comes to worse because WCTX and WTNH channel share is both WCCT and WCTX get sold off to someone like RNN, Weigel or HC2/Innovate, and 59.1 becomes 8.2 in a renumbering and is your new CW affiliate. And Nexstar still has a wild card with WFXQ-CD, which could be moved from being a WWLP UHF repeater in Springfield to a Hartford station without any regulatory conflicts rather easily. WTIC could even be sold off to comfortably fit Fox onto 20.1 because hey, it's #6 in the market until Fox moves there, so then it's a 'clean deal' in technicality. They will finagle these deals and conflicts in a way that makes Sinclair/Tribune look like a clean merger in comparison.

Not just hoping, from the wording of it, it sounds like they're close to a deal.

With political hacks Brendan Carr and Olivia Trusty running the FCC into the ground, expect no sacred cows. It'd be enough to get Congress and the Senate to rubber stamp any legislation removing all cap restrictions.

'Kelly Clarkson Show' Set to Return This Fall, Moving Forward After Ex-Husband's Death

From the Hollywood Reporter's article about the deal (emphasis mine): Smart bank.

Lol! They voted for this.

As I sadly expected, the first victim of the PBS/CPB cuts on-air isn't one of the 'woke' documentaries the GOP targeted, but older reliables like Lawrence Welk repeats which have heavy ASCAP/BMI fees. PBS Wisconsin is pulling it after this Saturday's episode. And yes, the old folks who put in a lot of money into their member stations are mad (rightly so).

Painfully small markets, though. And it got them a triopoly in Lafayette. Scripps now dominates much of rural Colorado in addition to their Denver duop. Gray must be angling for a swap that gets them in Salt Lake or to someone willing to get that unbuilt CP they got from Marquee (which also saw them hightail it out of rural Wyoming).

If approved: Lafayette is a tiny one-station market. Terre Haute, Rockford, Lafayette, Fort Wayne and Evansville are Gray/Nexstar markets, while Columbus-Tupelo and Montgomery are Gray/someone else (that said, Morris and Bahakel would be prime for Nexstar). Huntsville remains a 3-station operation, while Paducah would be Gray and a local owner (as long as Paxson doesn't walk away, since Nexstar would probably love WPSD). Probably because that would leave them with the #1 and #2 stations in the market and likely would create bigger hassles than a #1 and #3 station acquisition. Also, someone else might be shopping that station like Scripps. What this means for the three new markets: Indiana - Only missing Indianapolis. That will be a difficult one barring a trade. Mississippi - Only missing Greenville. They missed the chance with The Delta News, but if Deltavision doesn't complete the acquisition, Gray could jump on it for peanuts.

And yet they still own stations in Alaska and Hawaii...

I don’t see WJRT listed there.

The only clean purchases are in Columbus/Tupelo, Terre Haute and Lafayette, IN. And there was a time that WSFA would have never considered merging with WCOV. It was literally a handshake agreement between Raycom and Woods that they would not acquire WCOV, given their former status as the market's CBS affiliate until 1986 and WAKA's quest to serve Montgomery after being relegated to Selma. But ownership rules be damned...let the bloodbath begin!!!!

Stations like KDRV, KEZI, and KHSL/KNVN may be wondering to themselves as to why not them.

We don't know which ones yet, and if this will even go through, but if so, there's lots of conflicts there will have to be squashed over (unless this FCC will just let it through). I can think of the Wisconsin stations as such an example.

Rob Haswell is leaving Real Milwaukee but is NOT leaving WITI. After all, he's got the Wake Up News, the Wisconsin Weather Experts on FOX 6 Local, and other things he's doing for the station. https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2025/08/05/rob-haswell-leaves-real-milwaukee-stays-with-fox-6.html?csrc=6398&link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=68921c8577f5ba0001143af7&utm_campaign=trueAnthemTrendingContent&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawMCpd1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHun0lS-q8Oq8e4iNER3fy2by-2PZPhUgPKo0wf91jLcrAF2h0wJDs3HYc_Wk_aem_PEz63BAGJH1vMsM_UdinQg

It could be an interesting legal precedent if CBS takes Gray to court. Could it technically be cyber squatting if Gray owns the domain yet no longer has the rights to CBS in Atlanta? It's a power move to keep their WANF viewers in the tent since the station was once known as "CBS Atlanta".