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As a moderator "buddy," I'll tell BOTH of you to cool it. You gave your POVs, I'll trust you both to leave it at that. Feel free to continue contributing to the larger discussion, but no need to address each other, beyond this.

Why do folks make such subjectively inaccurate statements based on personal biases? Of course people still watch local news–perhaps not in the same numbers they once did, but the viewers are there. And if you're not one of them, then don't assume everyone else is.

I could think of no better way to drive away viewers than through consolidating news departments and mass downsizing. People are creatures of habit and they're going to be upset seeing their favorite station dismantled, especially when it's the much stronger station Nexstar opts to kill off (KUSA, WBIR).

KDVR has recently overtaken KUSA from what I've heard from those in the market. Additionally, KDVR houses the master control hub for like 60 of Nexstar's stations. They're actually one of Nexstar's most successful and profitable stations I believe. Not to mention they own KWGN, a CW affiliate, which Nexstar also owns the majority of. Fox News even has offices in the building. It's far far easier to gut KUSA than it is to upend KDVR. But you're right, consolidation really isn't bad! Merging stations and laying off hundreds of people with thousands of years of experience while local management and the executive offices continue to get massive bonuses is fantastic. Not to mention Nexstar's phenomenal yearly pay raises of...1-2%.

Sinclair deserves to be bought out. Their employees deserve a better owner, and the viewers deserve one as well. Hopefully the next one is any sort of improvement.

I think it's really obvious that Sinclair knew the Nexstar train was almost at the station and was using the media reports to put the offer in front of Tegna. They'd been in talks for months. This was 11th-hour, 11th-minute. By the time we heard of it, the Tegna board had approved of it.

Nah. Nexstar will sell 9News's building and consolidate operations at KDVR|KWGN, since they're right down the street from each other and Nexstar is known for gutting stations that they purchase. So 9News will be hollowed and, knowing Clyde Becker, all these stations will have the same graphics and branding (i.e. "We're on it".) because Clyde can't manage to find his way out of a McDonald's much less boost ratings. All the departments will remain mostly the same size for 4 stations as they are with 2. I expect simulcasting to save money. Kyle Clark, for the record, will be fired or pushed out. See him coming to Substack soon.

Former Nexstar employee here...it sucks that the field of employers is narrowing. Even worse that the lowest paying station owner is now the biggest.

I think the final logo will change, it's currently used by the network in some of their graphics and it looks like they threw it together at the last minute. As a loyal MSNBC viewer, I'm thrilled that MSNBC is distancing itself from the toxic disgrace known as NBC News, and I know many others who feel the same way. Yes MSNBC is partisan, but there are a lot of people out there who want and need a partisan network right now. We can't trust any mainstream TV news to cover Trump fairly because their owners are worried Trump is going to come after their theme parks or internet business or whatever. By removing all associations with NBC News, this new network can highlight the fact that they are independent and the only television news outlet not scared of death of upsetting the president. NBC News is actually hurting MSNBC's credibility with its audience right now.

They will need to look to Tegna's shareholders to make the argument that it is a better deal than Nexstar's. Although Sinclair has much bigger financial issues...that would be a disaster in the making.

These stories remain amusing, especially since Sinclair is also eyeing TEGNA. https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/tv-station-owner-sinclair-proposes-merger-with-tegna-4bd3bb86?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1 TV-Station Owner Sinclair Proposes Merger With Tegna Nexstar Media Group announced a deal to buy Tegna By Lauren Thomas and Joe Flint Updated Aug. 19, 2025 10:08 am ET Sinclair has a market value of about $1 billion. Photo: Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/ZUMA Press Sinclair, one of the country’s largest owners of local television stations, has offered to merge its broadcast TV business with Tegna, according to people familiar with the matter. Tegna had been in advanced talks to sell itself to Nexstar Media Group NXST 0.65%increase; green up pointing triangle , The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month, and Tuesday announced it had agreed to a $6.2 billion deal with Nexstar. The details Sinclair SBGI -1.09%decrease; red down pointing triangle has proposed separating its Ventures business—which houses nontraditional broadcast media assets including the Tennis Channel and investments—and merging its remaining broadcast TV business with Tegna, in a deal that would value Tegna shares at around $25 to $30 apiece, the people said. The deal with Nexstar was for $22 a share, the companies said Tuesday. That was a more than 30% premium to the average price before the Journal’s report on the Nexstar talks. Sinclair has a market value of about $1 billion, while Nexstar’s is around $6.3 billion, potentially making it hard for Sinclair to compete. Sinclair also has over $4 billion of debt on its balance sheet. Tegna owns 64 stations, many in major markets. The company has attracted takeover interest from several suitors in recent years. In 2022, it agreed to be taken private by hedge fund Standard General in a deal valued at $8.6 billion, including debt. But the deal fell apart after a series of regulatory hurdles under the Biden administration. Sinclair has 178 TV stations affiliated with major broadcasters such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and the CW, and across 78 markets. Earlier this month, Sinclair said that its board authorized a wide-ranging strategic review for its broadcast business, including potential sales and acquisitions. It also said it was considering a spinoff or split-off of its Ventures arm. Nexstar is the largest local television broadcaster in the U.S., with over 200 owned or partner stations in 116 U.S. markets. The context Deregulation has been predicted to spur a wave of consolidation across the TV industry, which is facing its own challenges, as more people consume media outside of traditional TV providers. Sinclair is among the broadcasters who have pushed the Federal Communications Commission to relax rules that prohibit a broadcaster from owning television stations that reach more than 39% of the nation’s television households. Late last month, broadcasters scored a win after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the FCC’s rules against a station group owning more than one of the top four TV stations for audience share in a given market.

Add KWTX to the list.

In the market I grew up in, Nexstar (or one of its sidecars) controls 3 stations. It's just one newsroom, and the same news program repurposed over and over again. The other major station is owned by Sinclair, and is a shell of itself. How this is in the public interest to have such consolidation of news, considering alternatives like newspapers are pretty dead thanks to consolidation and cuts by either Alden or Fortress (dba as Gatehouse/Gannett). A 15 sec Tik Tok video from a questionable source is not a credible replacement for all the newsrooms cut. I can't see how this is good news from a viewer's standpoint.

TBN is countersuing, claiming among other things that Dr. Phil Primetime isn't the continuation of the syndicated series that McGraw supposedly promised would air on the channel. (An interesting point, given that Primetime was much more politics-oriented than the lifestyle-focused syndie program; Wikipedia considers them separate shows.)

A few things: Who says they shut down great stations in place of keeping their own? Usually they keep the good one. In Denver for example, I could see them keeping KUSA, and LMAing Fox31. They know which station is stronger. Also, station consolidation isnt bad. They cant survive on their own anymore. No one watches local news! The days of having 5 newsrooms no one watches makes no sense anymore. If they can combine into one strong profitable center.. great.

There was once a saying that 4 and 6 do not come close to equaling 10 in Columbus. Nowadays, do 4 and 10 come close to equaling 6? I guess it's a wait and see to how far 10 has fallen under Tegna, and if 4 has actually recovered under Nexstar. Before, 4 and 10 dominated and often traded first place between each other.

Elex Michealsom linked-in page says he’s primary anchor for all breaking news events. Don’t believe me look it up.

I'm willing to bet it's permanent. Fox has gone on record saying they want their duopoly Fox stations to be all-news during weekdays.

Oh god no this is gonna force the networks to get involved I’m afraid. The number of markets that will be affected and layoffs will be astronomical.

The set is good. So much better than the previous one and its miles better than the ITV virtual garbage and the hard sets the regional newscasts have. Id rate it above the weird Ch5 set with the big "radiators" in background and the old colour-blocks Ch4 set. That hasnt really changed much in decades. Its too similar and the same can be said for the BBC sets. Where it falls apart for STV is the graphics, music and the old fashion format. They had the opportunity to do something fresh and they kept the glassy photos montage, yawn. And the stock library-sounding theme. Almost there, but the set is very nice.

This is going to be a regulation nightmare. Regardless of any forthcoming FCC action, antitrust issues are going to force some divestitures for sure. I knew the Sinclair Tegna deal was too good to be true... Now who's going to put Sinclair out of their misery?

Oh, shitfuck! Another invasion of the Sin-crapola in Denver! First in 2018, Sinclair approached the Tribune stations, who were parent companies of CW2 KWGN and FOX31 KDVR, to merge with them. That merger was rejected and merged with Nexstar instead. Now THIS YEAR? Sinclair is about to invade Denver again. Sin-crapola is approaching Tegna, who is the parent company of NBC9 KUSA, to merge with their stations. It could get worse in Washington DC. Tegna-owned CBS9 WUSA could merge with ABC7 WJLA, which sinclair already owns.

It also never got a chance to fly, so to speak. One anchor suffers a catastrophic injury, the other has personal issues of her own emerge. Not faulting ABC for swinging back to Charlie, but there was relatively (in viewer habit terms) little time to prove the concept.

Are you okay, boss? This is just a message board. Take a deep breath; you’re gonna be okay.

I like that idea. Should've gone with USA News. USA Network, maybe USA Golf, maybe USA Entertainment, idk.

It's weird that they're still keeping "MS" in the name even though Microsoft sold its share of the network 20 years ago. I know they're trying to make it a backronym for "My Source," but it's just very clunky. I'm not sure why they weren't willing to make an 100% clean break from the MSNBC brand. They've always been the third-place also-ran in cable news, there's nothing there worth clinging on to. The logo is also bad. It looks like the logo of a third-rate presidential candidate who gets 3% of the vote in the Iowa caucus and drops out before New Hampshire.

Markets with at least a Tegna/Nexstar duopoly, if not a triopoly or quadopoly between them: Ft. Smith, Little Rock, Sacramento, San Diego, Denver, Hartford, Washington, D.C., Tampa/St. Pete, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Quad Cities, New Orleans, Grand Rapids, St. Louis, Buffalo, Charlotte, Greensboro, Cleveland, Columbus, Portland, Ore., Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg-Lancaster-York, Knoxville, Memphis, Abilene, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, Tyler, Tex., Norfolk. This deal doesn’t make financial sense if you buy these stations and keep separate news departments running. Most, if not all, of these markets stand to lose a news operation.

Oh no! A strongly-worded letter? That'll sway them.

It's so cute that everyone is just casually assuming that Nexstar would be obligated to sell anything when this merger is announced. The cold hard fact is Brendan Carr—a total right-wing hack of the worst sort—along with his lackey Olivia Trusty, will do all they can to get this cleared and approved as quickly as possible and will ignore any protests to the contrary. Why? Because Nexstar is the quintessential Republican company led by a typical Republican (Perry) whose lone purpose is to buy shit up. It's a company Brendan Carr loves and adores. We've seen in full display what he'll do with companies he doesn't like. Who cares if the current legislation doesn't allow it? No one else in this regime gives two shits about laws on the books they don't like, let alone one shit. Congress, who already just destroyed public broadcasting with a glint in their eye, wouldn't care if Carr superceded them (beyond the meaningless whining from the likes of Susan Collins or the tone-deaf tweets of an enriched, oblivious Charles Schumer) and you know it.

Today I noticed that WCMH in Columbus seems to be doing the news from a different spot in the studio. Looks like they moved the desk over to the stand up area. Anyone know what's up?

I miss Superstation WGN. We had that one for about a year after we moved to NH from the Chicago area, only for it to be replaced with VH-1.

Spectrum News expands yet again. This time... Alabama on Channel 1. Subfeeds? Birmingham, Decatur (Huntsville), Montgomery, and Auburn. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/news/2025/08/new-tv-news-network-now-available-in-alabama.html%3foutputType=amp

My issue is why are broadcasters using the Eighth Circuit ruling (unusual since appeals court rulings usually aren’t final until SCOTUS has their say, whether they take their case or let the lower court ruling stand) on local TV regulations to facilitate deals. Not even in the Bush and first Trump administrations (the two GOP presidencies that followed the 1996 Communications Act’s passage) did broadcasters initiate M&A deals before the Republican-led FCC made any changes to broadcast ownership rules. Nexstar and Gray couldn’t wait until the FCC formally modded their rules (the Top-4 rule technically is still on the books, despite the Eighth Circuit ruling) before striking deals? I should also point out that while the presumption that the GOP majority on the Commission led by Carr will deregulate, you do have one of Trump’s pals, Newsmax head Christopher Ruddy, advocating against certain rule changes (like raising the national ownership cap), something he purportedly was successful in convincing the Pai FCC not to mess with. Not to say Ruddy’s lobbying efforts will be successful this time, but still…

Would be interested in how that went with people who were in those situations during Tribune and Media General mergers

Here's Perry Sook on CNBC explaining the merger:

Here’s a look at the new parts of the main set. As I have mentioned before, don’t think it blends well with the older areas, but it is what it is. Really hate the brushed metal elements behind the big monitor and in other areas. At least they added a touch screen…

I didn't know she worked so close to my market!

3rd? Don't they outperform CNN? They kept the MS in MSNBC after Microsoft left due to brand recognition. MSNBC was so ingrained in the media lexicon that it would've been like Twitter rebranding to X. In that same vein I understand Versant keeping "MSN" is their name. They want the public to immediately recognize MSNOW as the successor of MSNBC. I was initially skeptical of the name, but I can tolerate it. Agreed, the logo is . Versant probably paid consultants and this is the best they could've done! I'm all for NBC distancing itself from that toxic partisan cable network, but if CNBC is keeping it's name, MSNBC might as well. We're already supposed to ignore that MS originally means Microsoft so they can keep that up for the NBC part. CNBC is already covered with Consumer News & Business Channel. I'm surprised the star of their network coverage didn't suggest "MSDNC" as a rebrand.

YouTube TV is still carrying WANF. However you have to re-add the channel since CBS is now WUPA. Since that's an existing station with prior carriage, no action should be needed. They're also carrying the Peachtree Sports Network in addition to WPCH.

And now they've also agree to pick up a cluster of radio stations from Bicoastal Media in Medford. It sounds like more of an advertising play rather than creating a new news shop in the area (outside the standard local morning news, the only talker in the cluster, KMED, is all-syndication).

No network affiliation change, but Scripps has rebranded WFTS Tampa from "ABC Action News" to "Tampa Bay 28." https://www.tampabay28.com/about-us/abc-action-news-changes-name-to-tampa-bay-28 EDIT: Sorry, didn't see the posts in the Scripps forum. Oh, well.

Sinclair buys COX there only buy they can make in my opinion otherwise they'll be sold by someone else in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to sell the diginets as well.

This screams "rushed." They want it to be known as "My Source for News, Opinion, and the World," but those minute details alone don't make that name choice make any sense. Besides, most people won't even know that it's still the news channel they've come to expect at first until the channel beats them over the head with it in promos for several months, if not a whole year. If that's the end result and the viewers still don't come, then that suggests that they're failing at brand awareness. And after I typed this, I read an article detailing what Hollywood Reporter editors thought about the name change. Not even they knew what Versant was going for with this half-hearted attempt at a rebrand post-spinoff.

Expiring contracts and Nexstar taking The CW on their own stations on DT2 or a sister TV station although kinda surprised that in some markets that Nexstar is in the rivals still have The CW was kinda surprised that Sinclair owns a couple CWs in IL thar Nexstar has TV station in the same market, kinda surprised they didn't take them away when Sinclair renewed for The CW in 2023.

I can't believe that people are under this belief that a court ruling will stop this when this regime has purposely ignored all court rulings they don't like. Let alone this false hope a decimated and useless FTC and Patel/Toasterhead DOJ will do anything. It's a fait accompli and exercise in right-wing political patronage. The worst part won't be the shuttering of newsrooms wholesale, it'll be when the remaining newsrooms will be weaponized as a front for far-right propaganda, which Uncle Perry will gladly engage in.

Non-chamber of commerce Republicans. CPAC and Newsmax are only now starting to bring it to people's attention. Broadly, the media has ignored it. CPAC statement toward the end of their letter gives a good idea how the debate on the ownership cap will evolve very soon-ish: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10804739414409/1 CPAC made a really cogent argument about everything, and drew big attention to the UHF discount calling it "technologically unjustifiable" and even illegal at one point. The 39% cap removal would have to pass the house and the senate. If the dominant conservative narrative, which CPAC would likely end up being heavily involved in, is the same as that letter they wrote then congress likely won't touch it. Or at least not before the midterms. And if it becomes a frenzied debate that isn't controlled by the Chamber of Commerce GOPers, we might live to see them lower the cap. This half-assed FCC stunt could actually end up backfiring on Nexstar, Sinclair et al spectacularly

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?

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

You have absolutely no clue what you’re talking about.

But not to worry. Job creation numbers are about to go through the roof once a lying hack is doing the orange one’s bidding.