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Loud whispers: All of this requires more money, planning, and thinking than making existing underpaid and overworked producers, anchors, meteorologists, and directors add additional newscasts that sound nearly identical to the previous hour to their existing responsibilities. This would take investment at a level very few station ownership groups are willing to do in 2025 and beyond. Great idea in a vacuum. I'll believe it when someone tries, appears to succeed, and the new programming lasts multiple budget cycles.

Fybush is right. He usually is. While many people are gossiping over where a netlet will land, or whether newsrooms will consolidate, or whose tower will handle the antennas, he's pointing out it is a cataclysmic event for TV. People... broadcast-only towers will no longer be required soon. Clear Channel's top suits have been lusting over this moment for decades because it means they won't have to maintain those antiquated transmitters anymore. "The people will get what they want from phones." ... We're there. Top executives are itching for a reason to grab an angle grinder, put it to a tower anchor point, and be the first to let a tower fall but live to sell commercials into the future, mostly programmatically. A lot of years ago, Clear Channel explored using AI voices at its small news/talk stations as an entry point to kick anchors to the curb, but it didn't go well with focus groups. This has been in the works since high speed internet became a thing. Perry Sook just sped up what we thought would take longer. "He's a conspiracy theorist!" ... Ok. But mark your calendars right now.

This is why you don't see more of these outlets. I hate to say it, but a lot of these newsrooms, whether they be TV or radio or print, only exist because they were once wildly profitable, not because there's enough news in the area to need three, four, or more newsrooms covering it. They were all covering the same news and trying to win the game of Capitalism. I don't think you'll see more independent voices out there until market conditions exist to justify it, and that won't happen until there's fewer outlets delivering it. It will be smaller, perhaps you could say "right-sized" for the market, because it won't ever make the money TV, radio, and print once did. There will be no massive Channel 7 News Cavern studio with 30 people running around in the background. The weather streamers are, themselves, a late response to an already ongoing trend: Weather streamers like Ryan Hall pull in hundreds of thousands of views just on their forecast discussions, and I've seen their live streams with 150k+ people watching in the middle of the night. Folks, The Weather Channel isn't getting numbers like that, and they have a way more polished broadcast. The future will be independent journalists.

So you're saying the only alternative to video news is print? I know Colorado's AG personally. I'll have a direct conversation with him about this and the KKTV and KKCO swap.

But those are in a few locations. The local alternative here just publishes press releases, or says an accident happened. They are NOT substitutes for good reporting across the country. Many areas are news deserts as Alden and Fortress close papers and slim down the rest, including reporting news 2-3 days after it happens. The competition Nexstar claims is weaker today than even 5 years ago.

People like Matt Laubhan and James Spann are proof that they can start a new startup that people will watch. And when this happens to Tegna employees caught in the wave of consolidation, they will thrive in new platforms they join or create. And this will lead to the death of broadcast TV, not just the consolidation that is being ramrodded by companies like Gray and Nexstar.

With Sam back in the mix with Robin, George and Lara, they have 4/5 of the team back the catapulted them to #1 in 2012.

He’s never been my favorite on-air personality but with how stiff and formulaic that show is these days, his personality is needed. He has good chemistry with Robin, George and Lara which is a critical component to these morning shows working.

Update The 1°Outside Weather Stream launches on Wednesday, August 27th. https://www.facebook.com/1DegreeOutside/videos/1076633027966033

Seeing as how Nexstar extorts their viewers for "free" television by gouging the pay TV systems for money, it's a recipe for disaster the way that is going.

This idea of mutiny is hilarious. If there is no resistance across the industry to non-competes and people just sign them and hope for the best, there will be no resistance at all to consolidating stations. There is far more leverage by employees when presented with a non-compete: Walk away. When enough people walk away, they cannot run a station. When one company buys another with regulatory approval, there is no recourse.

The New York Times has released an article composed of interviews Shari Redstone did over the last year which were withheld until the merger closed (article gifted to here by me): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/business/media/shari-redstone-paramount-trump-settlement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fU8.7v9Y.7meP8uzoG7Ty&smid=url-share

This article is fascinating, especially in the wake of WPLG Miami and WANF becoming news-heavy Independents. The title is: The Independent Station Era Is Coming — Here’s How Local TV Can Survive It. https://www.tvrev.com/news/the-independent-station-era-is-coming-heres-how-local-tv-can-survive-it

***polled the table at lunch Opinion was that Nexstar is making a spectrum play ("we're thinking of them now as a spectrum company that happens to have broadcast TV"). One of them said he was presented by Nexstar, I guess when they were looking for cash money, that only talked about spectrum, the whole strategy shown was about spectrum, TV only so far as ad revenue/retrans propping up the rest of the operation. refused to say, but the vibe I got was that Nexstar expects to lose network affilaites ala WPLG and is rushing to plan for it because it can be significant. There was a suggestion, rumor or fact not clear but sounded authorative like he knew something, that the networks will be dumping the affiliate model completely and going to their streaming products. The talk revolved around how cable is now bundling Disney+, and ESPN's new app into their TV service etc. is it going to pass? "their current probabilty gauge is 86% of an approval" but court injuction will more than likely happen. Unsure what the end will look like. Said to watch the spread between the $22 offering and the current stock price. Simply, if Tegna's stock begins to drop away from the $22 floor, traders/market believe the odds of approval are worsening. It doesn't say whether this is passing as sold or passing with caveats. so I had one of my AI minions troll around Nextstar's SEC disclosures. It found that Nexstar had "profound and sustained evolution in the conceptualization of how they refer to their broadcast TV stations", firmly referring to them now as "spectrum assets". Most notably after 2021 but especially the last 2 or 3 years this language has intensified, and is more apparent. And it mentioned a recent Nexstar presentation to investors where they described themselves as a spectrum company, I can't remember now but a quote of such, I lost the tabs. So Nexstar probably isn't building news operations.

Here's hoping that several state attorney general's will oppose this merger. KUSA says that the Colorado Attorney General is concerned about the negative impact. The Colorado AG previously stepped in to oppose the supermarket merger of Kroger and Albertsons, which fell apart. Personally, I am writing to my state attorney general to ask that they oppose this merger.

I heavily doubt anybody wants to invest time or money in areas where too much competition exists. Nowadays to find success and stability is like a lottery.

ATSC 3.0 is a fever dream of the broadcasters who choose to push it on to the consumer....who have virtually no way of adopting it even though stations have been pushing it out for the last 5 or so years. All it is at the moment is the same channels available in upscaled HDTV, aside from a few worthless subchannels no one will go out of their way to watch. And is any of this in 4k? I can't for the life of me even figure out a TV or even a dongle that's readily available to pick up these channels. Until it's an actually regulated thing (likely by force), it's dead in the water. Streaming delivers the 4K and is readily available through easily obtainable devices without the headache and bureaucy of the FCC. But it will cost you.

It's a cute pie-in-the-sky pollyanna wishcasting piece. Which is all that can be said.

WOIO is bringing back a 9pm newscast…on WUAB! https://www.cleveland19.com/2025/08/22/wuab-become-clevelands-43-launch-additional-newscast/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR41hPUEXaCHLdE6VtuoRgeLdluK4jKJ5lneMAzRHjHvcdlHRsjkjBVTxhGYXA_aem_df6TFbZBVYgP03QBvCuyGw#eqwl4s795hvcy68vqxza6i56qksvrw3

Remember when WOIO produced a weeknight 9pm newscast on WUAB the first time it had the MyNetworkTV affiliation? Starting Tuesday, September 2nd (Monday the first is Labor Day), the newscast comes back after a 7-year absence (this is according to TV Passport). This time, though, the block will be 9-11pm instead of 9-10:30pm as before, meaning Sports Extra will remain at 10:45pm. This also means that WUAB will be airing MyNetworkTV programming from 8-9pm and 11pm-12am.

The Banner and Tribune show it is entirely possible for those outlets to be on par with their commercial competition. You just need to invest in them because they are NPOs and can only spend what their finances dictate be spent. I would rather throw money into building those outlets up than by fighting a losing battle against a merger 99% guaranteed to be ramrodded through, opposition be damned.

Oh damn. I can't believe the amount of hate Shari got. What is wrong with people?

It's a bogus argument to be honest. There were online alternatives but the truth is those online alternatives are not any better. Plus they can take an establishment like the LA Weekly and turn it into crap so it's whatever.

The argument is that there are online alternatives for local news. I'll wait for you to name me one, because it's absolutely crap. Newspapers were the only other alternative.

Mmmhmmm

Having been to a taping of LIVE myself, some segments are pre-recorded, so even when aired "live" it's not entirely live.

KMAX's Good Day's 30th Anniversary special as aired last week during their 10am hour.

Whole heartedly agree with this. They would not do this deal if they knew they would get it all. It absolutely sucks for a lot of talented, smart, hard working people who are just salaries and benefit expenses on a spreadsheet for Nexstar. But, the election results in November made it just a matter of time before it happened. Sinclair thought they could do this with their attempted purchase of Tribune, frankly, it is still surprising they didn't pull it off, a lot of the credit for that goes to Deadspin and John Oliver. But the guardrails that prevented that deal from closing are gone. A TV group takeover is, on average, the 342nd most chaotic thing happening on any given day where the federal government has a role in the outcome right now. I've said it before, I'll say it again... IF there are spinoffs, it's all sidecars, or license only to spectrum speculators and godcasters. If you want a laugh, there is someone on the broadcasting subreddit who posts rambling, delusional, incoherent, baseless speculation on divestures and other future mergers and clearly has no understanding of the business. Things that make the speculatron on its worst day appear measured and calm. Like, groups voluntarily splitting up existing duopolies, groups like Disney/ABC that haven't bought stations in 30+ years going on mass buying sprees. The level of confidence in those posts are amusing. Not even worth fighting with common sense.

That does beg the question, how leveraged will Nexstar be after purchasing Tegna, and with declining ad revenue and limited reach due to duplication on Nexstar stations except for network and maybe syndicated shows, how long until the entire thing collapses when they can't pay back the loans? I'm sure by that time Perry Sook will take his windfall and leave so others have to pick up the mess.

Let. It. Burn. It's going to happen anyway whether we like it or not.

Scott Fybush had this take on RadioDiscussions this morning on the merger and it is worth sharing here:

And let's see what happens when Nexstar goes bankrupt because they're the last broadcaster who exists in a given place. Newspapers are at least dying a slow death with the marketplace. Radio has more "variety" even though it's all a bunch of jukeboxes and fringe voices. TV is being murdered against it's own regulations because someone doesn't like the truth being told. Let TV die with the market instead of murdering it by uber-consolidating it. That way, if a station or group goes bankrupt, the market can decide whether or not to bring it back either as a station or group.

Yeah that will end well lol. Nexstar will just shutter those facilities, fire everyone and convert the stations into a pure simulcast of their existing properties while also threatening retribution on their own staff if they try similar stunts. You watch as they comply out of sheer fear. Union busting is real. Why else would Nexstar be headquartered in Irving, Texas, a right-to-work state? It might not be a bad idea to read up on XHDE, which was literally killed off by a strike that is still technically ongoing even after the shuttered studios burned to the ground.

The way things are heading, we have resorted to a "fight fire with fire" mentality. Remember when Media General refused to turn over WAGT to Gray a few years back in the Gray-Schurz merger? We could see this again as the Tegna staffers refuse to turn the keys over to Nexstar. Jobs are at stake and so are a diversity of voices in places where Nexstar gets a third, fourth, and even a FIFTH station in the same market. Unless people with a backbone start standing up, America as we know it is done for. Donald Trump is not a king. And his ass better be out of office by the next inauguration unless congress finds a LEGAL way to overturn the 22nd Amendment which limits elected presidents to TWO TERMS. End rant.

This administration strategy is F the judges.

You have a totally fair point. A pre 7am to 11:35 pm workday is ALOT. They could use another MET. However she seems to be enjoying herself based on the Instagram reel. From firsthand experience, I can tell you when you do something you love such as journalism, it's much easier to pull a double -- SOMETIMES -- rather than in a regular job that you're not passionate about.

Has anyone been paying attention these last 7 months? Laws. Don’t. Matter. At least not any laws that impede or restrain the regime.

It's nice enough a name. It'll take getting used to. It could be worse(/better). I like what it stands for. (things I'll tell myself for a while).

Meanwhile CBS News is bleeding money. A lot of money. Like, $50 million a year per Puck. (Archived copy here.) Allegedly the new people in charge think right-winger Bari Weiss will magically cure all the network's ills, which only shows how little they actually want to keep the network.

You've never heard of the Baltimore Banner? Or the Texas Tribune? Both are highly regarded and have avoided the pitfalls Gothamist and LAist have encountered because they have money to operate. The Banner has a successful subscription model and has benefitted from the aftereffects of the Sun being owned by Alden and David Smith. There is a non-zero chance that someone, or a collective, finances a startup online news service that tries to acquire all of the KUSA talent Nexstar will blow out, particularly Kyle Clark and the station's investigative unit. Edit: @channel2 also noted to me that the Colorado Sun exists.

I can't believe I just noticed this 2 days later. This is stunning and I cannot believe the amount of monopolies and triopolies that Nexstar will soon have. WTF?

Does he live in Nebraska?

ESPN is actually not going to drop MLB altogether per Andrew Marchand Per the framework agreement they get MLB.TV into ESPN's new DTC package plus the 5 MLB teams' local media rights that MLB currently has control over (Rockies, D-Backs, Padres, Twins and Guardians)

He's so many years from retirement and earned the right to rotate his assignments from day to day. Maybe if Rob Marciano had known how to treat other co-workers and especially women he'd be doing the same thing now. I agree Sam is hyped up on all the caffeine and he's not for everyone, but his prime was in bright and cheery 90s news when seriousness was for the longtime 'grumpy old anchor who's too old for this but I'm used to this schedule' and everyone else could be goofy. But he does seriousness well when needed, is great as presenting even without certs, and he still has a 'morning show' mindset that's sorely missed when a lot of the format is now so much news, promotions, and having to regard the chicken sandwich wars like the Gulf War. I'll take his sincere cheer any day of the week.

what does 22nd amendment have to do with anything or Nexstar specifically? I love sheltered westerners whose closest encounter with an oppresive regime is lawful things happening in their country they don't like because their sleep paralysys villain Donald Trump is the one doing it . Same people 3 years ago: "put everyone who doesn't mask at home in jail and fire them from their jobs!". Those of us who've actually lived under opressive regimes, that aint it. I was told by authorities since I still have my Bulgarian/EU passport I have to censor myself, even while living in the US, to be compliant with the new EU wrongThink laws or face prosecution, speaking of kings. "WAGT staffers refused to turn over keys" never happened. Great way to become unemployable though, in an industry full of gossipmongering where getting a job depends on who hires you and how much they like you. I thought the news would be blowing up by now but so far it looks like it barely got traction. Both sides posting on the socials that broadcast is boomer TV, lame, old, irrelevant, who cares. So it will probably end up sailing through. Hard to argue against when everyone can grab their phone and head to the socials to air their grievances, smart tv apps, Substack, Youtube. Viewers also don't care, one look at replies under WPLG's independences posts - 2/3 were asking where can they watch David, Wheel, Jeopardy, The view, dont care about WPLG or staff jobs, who needs that much news that repeat every hour, etc... Nexstar itself might not even survive that long, adding $6.5 Billion to their balance sheet when 60+% of its revenue is retrans fees, right after we watched ABC move to a LPTV station to get 100% of retrans. They're one step away from ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX going full Vancome Lady on them and moving their signals to Bob Borisovich's LPTV down the road for $15k a month. With negotiations coming up other stations will soon get Sunbeamed. We might even see a network go off air in some markets for Cable/Sat/YTTV-only distribution.