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It's worth noting that the weird "Connect +" sidebar thing shows up in examples of the ABC O&O package in the demo reel. As does the incredibly boring "callsign/market" logos in what looks to be a prototype of the Scripps look they did There's also some stuff that looks Weather Channel-esque. I kind of wonder if some of this might be "spec work", like Allen was shopping around for a Weather Channel refresh, and Defiant pitched "we can rebrand the stations too!" which is why there's no actual logos present. Given Allen's attempts at replacing local weather teams with The Weather Channel staff, I also wouldn't be shocked if the whole idea here was a mostly unified look between both the local stations and TWC. It might also be necessary to standardize both TWC and the local stations, given that I can't imagine they have the internal resources at any of the local stations to integrate a graphics package like this.

I think it's a crazy take, there's no way the McBride's is going to bully Hearst out of the Fort Myers market despite the internal issues that typically comes up in the Fort Myers market. If they have to settle for playing 2nd fiddle to the McBride's so be it, they're used to being in that role in other markets they're in anyway.

Is it me or do Sinclair sets underwhelm - look kind of on the cheap.

I know I don't see much of these stories anymore. However, I still think it's cool to post because it gives us something to talk about. The dominance of WJXT Jacksonville continues. Now, they're #1 at Noon as well (they weren't before), in addition to their other newscasts. WJXT was 3% short of equaling WFOX, WJAX, WTLV, and WJXX... COMBINED. Nielsen M-F, August 2025, A25-54: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wjxt-tv-channel-4-news_the-local-station-is-the-1-choice-in-jacksonville-activity-7369075923477905408-AvP6?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=android_app&rcm=ACoAABqGw-0BrOQ_9csrv95OAtvM37gqLkE_dSc&utm_campaign=copy_link

I know there hasn't been a lot of mourning of the old Brutalist Fortress in this community considering the general disdain for "old buildings," but as somebody who's been used to its presence, it's going to be weird to see it gone...

If I am Hearst, there is no reason to change anything right now. Let the chaos with the competition happen and capitalize on opportunities that come from it and creatively come up for solutions to challenges it creates. And I say this as someone who drank the Kool-Aid at WINK for several years. Hearst's piece of the revenue pie isn't shrinking. Just two other slices are getting combined. I haven't seen numbers in a long time, in fact, I blocked Darrel Adams on Twitter within days of signing up in 2009 because I didn't want his rating brags to mess with me. But as far as I know, the NBC side has consistently received better ratings than WINK for the last few years. My SWOT analysis for Hearst in Fort Myers Strengths Pre 1996 grandfathered LMA/Time Brokerage deal that makes WBBH/WZVN a unified, efficient operation and 30+ years of operating that way Hearst resources that reduce operating costs and benefit the product: centralized traffic, billing, accounting, graphics hub, DC bureau, national investigative team, etc ABC and NBC are (for now) far more stable and in less turmoil than CBS Fort Myers has a reputation as a market with higher than average HUT levels. And WBBH tends to over perform on NBC flagship events like the Olympics Speculation: Better leverage in negotiating retransmission as a multi-market company for WBBH so a revenue advantage there Subjective: Stronger digital presence and adapted to the 21st century far earlier and faster than WINK Subjective: By far a superior creative services team and long-term marketing strategy Subjective: They always operated more confidently. WINK's newsroom culture during my time there can best be summed up as "competition monitor bedwetters" Subjective: They didn't get go off the air for days during Hurricane Ian Weaknesses In-market scale disadvantage English language only operation, losing out on a respectable percent of the market and Spanish language TV viewership has lost much less of its audience than English TV. TV and digital only sales packages Limited in-market partnership opportunities with other media outlets (radio, print, new digital) WZVN's history of underperforming in the market Opportunities Sampling from Fox 4 News viewers when that brand disappears (somewhat limited by having .1s unavailable for 7-9am and 10pm) Even though they just rebranded, they now have the perception of being the stable, consistent operation in the market Businesses who do not like WINK/WXCW and have sworn off advertising with them who bought ads on WFTX may move money they spent there to WBBH/WZVN Big changes elsewhere presents the opportunity to pursue subtle changes to be more efficient under their unified brand (test the waters of simulcasting) Partners across the state on big news event (WESH, WPBF) Threats TV's great decline, especially as baby boomers age and die , while Southwest Florida grows and sees more younger people move there in demographics who don't watch much linear TV Corporate budget life problems: If Hearst makes cuts, those cuts will likely be consistent across the company Keeping a news intensive operation fully staffed as fewer people pursue TV as as career or burn out faster Diluted product with dueling AM, 6pm, 11pm newscasts Hurricanes, alligators, elderly drivers, and "a Florida Man" - the most dangerous parts of Florida

I actually think they're #1 in most cities now. From the three you mention, WLWT has done better over the years thanks to WCPO and WKRC's misfortunes, WAPT has become solid even if its not #1, and I think KHBS is the market leader there, if not close to it. WBBH is the market leader, which probably made it attractive for Hearst to get. Here in Florida, WESH is a VERY STRONG second in Orlando, and WPBF is now the market leader in WPB. I know y'all want them to sell to the McBrides, but then... that's how competition fades. I'll give Hearst a chance. They're one of the better national media companies out there IMHO.

No, no, and no. This is a play by WINK and partner companies to increase revenue (both advertising and retransmission) in the market with as little operational cost as possible, and eliminate a competitor. Maybe a few MMJs will get carried over. But the realistic outcome is WINK newscasts currently on WXCW will be moved to WFTX or they'll be simulcast on both WXCW and WFTX. One other thing of note with this deal is Jim Schwartzel, the president of Sun Broadcasting, is a candidate for a U.S. House seat in 2026. Running in the crowded 19th District Republican primary to replace Byron Donalds who is running for Governor.

If Gray wanted anything, it would be WINK.

I mean, at least they found one of the few local broadcast owners left? I'm curious what resources Sun Broadcasting has, though.

Scripps is offloading WFTX to Sun Broadcasting for $40 million.

Nope. Still there unfortunately. There's nothing to laugh about. She's about to return under a very heavy heart and her wound is probably still deep but feels encouraged and okay enough to return.

Allen Media Group somehow had the budget to (at least) consult with, of all design agencies, Vivid Zero/Defiant to come up with some drafts of a standardized look for its stations. There was a (now locked) thread on here a while ago where someone claimed that Allen stations would be getting a mandated look, and these could possibly be the package in question. These screenshots came from Defiant's most recent studio reel of news graphics.

The FCC is "modernizing" its rules due to changes in the economy and viewer trends. The old saying still rings true "adapt or die." The industry is recognizing this. I would hardly call the incumbent FCC leadership political hacks because of this. Change was going to come regardless of who happens to sit at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You can call it political but the same could be said for any administration. Back to Scripps, although they did give WFTX a new set fairly recently, the station is severely neglected. To see them divested is not a surprise to me. We will see what happens regarding its news department. Perhaps Sun Broadcasting has other plans that is best discussed on a speculation forum. Although it could go that way, I don't think it's 100% certainty that this is the end of its own news dept. I'll say that much.

In all fairness, Fox 4 News is a nonstarter in the market. Scripps decimated the station. While only two tv owners in the market is concerning from an oligopoly POV, from the viewers perspective, take this for what it's worth... IMO despite Gulf Coast News being market leader, WINK is the better news product.

I'm gonna say this with all due respect. The idea of suggesting that Hearst would shut down an ABC and NBC station is, for lack of a better term, insanity. Yes, what WINK, Sun, whatever you wanna call them, is doing is insane and there is no reason for someone to have that much blatant control over a market. However, Hearst knew or should have known going in how powerful WINK was and how weak WFTX might be. Also, suggesting they sell WBBH to the McBrides is just as insane. Hearst is 2nd and 3rd place in several cities. Should we expect a sale of WLWT, WAPT and KHBS next?

I was seriously joking when I was talking about a WFTX sale with the Beasley cluster purchase... This is probably much worse than I could ever imagine. I do think if Hearst tosses money at the market and good advertising emphasizing community service and weather (and absolutely going hard-in on holding local government officials accountable because FMB/Sun certainly won't), they should do fine, but having a broadcaster so ridiculously controlling a single market will backfire years down the line if there's a natural disaster or a mini Sumner Redstone situation among the Schwartzels and McBrides.

It seems that the CBS Evening News is slowly returning to its previous format... The headlines are back at the beginning of the newscast. output.mp4

But... but... the neighborhood reporters....

Not anytime soon. They just acquired them. Plus, Hearst RARELY sells. The last time was selling Island Television (KITV/KHVO/KMAU) in 2015 to SJL/Lilly. If anyone will stick it out in the longrun, its Hearst. I'm surprised Gray didn't take a swipe into WFTX considering their recent swap with Scripps.

Paperwork is up on the acquisition of the Allen stations: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f9198d1eb470198e7e7b5b10b27 WTHI, WLFI and WTVA are clean. As long as the 8th Circuit ruling holds, they would be okay in Huntsville with WAFF and WAAY (1st and 4th place), KFVS and WSIL(+KPOB) (1st and 3rd place), WFIE and WEVV (1st and 4th place), and KATC and KADN (2nd and 3rd place). WIFR is low-power so WREX is not an issue. The red lights, in my opinion, are Fort Wayne and Montgomery. I would put a condition that one station must be divested in those markets as the failing station waiver shouldn't create a triopoly when alternatives exist. In Fort Wayne, there's an easy out - trade WISE or WFFT to Nexstar (along with WBKI in Louisville) for something that creates major issues for them in the Tegna acquisition (such as KTHV). In Montgomery, most likely they would have to either turn off WIYC, or sell it to a religious broadcaster, as the other incumbent there (Bahakel) also has issues. One thing I could also see is KFVS put a satellite up on 3.2 to improve coverage for CBS in the northern part of the market.

Chris Ruddy should be dismissed as a crank just like the Free Press. And if he is a libertarian, then that says a lot about the movement. None of it good.

Since CW55 is now up and running, the old WBNX.com site is still active....and hasn't been updated since Winston turned over the keys to Nexstar. Wonder if Nexstar is ever going to take it down and redirect to Fox8.com with a sub-page? And the new CW page is up...https://fox8.com/cw55/ But WBNX.com is still alive and well as of this edit...do we need to raise ol' Ernest from the heavens to slay this demon?

I've noticed that Nexstar has been filling in the "streams" on their OTT apps with NewsNation programming...

So Joel "If it bleeds it leads" Cheatwood is part of this mess? Must have been after he was brainwashed by Fox News and Glenn Beck.

Well fresh blood cant hurt. I like WGN alot, but frankly the newscasts can be tough to watch. They are a tad stale. The whole thing needs to be freshened up a bit. They have one of the worst sets in the city and the graphics needs to be updated and some of the anchors tend to rattle-off the news. The last great news casts was Mark Suppelsa and LOurdes Duarte when they anchored from the Newsroom. That was a brilliant show. Loved it. Energy and personality without being too fluffy and goofy. Most anchors now just try too be to humorous or.

Regarding my prior post, WJW is now producing an 11:00 p.m. newscast that airs on WBNX, which is now the CW station of Cleveland as of September 1st. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/regional/2025/08/29/cw-to-return-to-channel-55-starting-sept-1/85864283007/ An interesting move for sure... How come WJW has never acted on this for years?

Speaking of new... WGN has debuted another new show for its streaming channel, WGN+. This time, all weather. Its called The Forecasters and airs weeknights at 7 p.m. It debuted last week but here's a sample: https://wgntv.com/video/the-forecasters-september-1/11035096/

Noticed in the video mentioned in the thread about the possible Allen Media group pack that the recent Defiant demo reel has what looks to be a prototype of a Scripps look that never made it to air.

Since it's more of a catch-all thing between the switch of the CW from WUAB to WBNX in Cleveland, I'll post here. YouTubeTV has dropped WUAB from it's carriage. I checked yesterday, and all of the WUAB programming was "not available online" on the service. Basically, the same error with the eye crossed out for anything that's not cleared to run "online". Today, the channel was completely gone from YTTV. Shame that they got dropped in Cleveland while WANF is still available as an independent in Atlanta (along with Peachtree Sports Network.) Maybe a deal with Rock Entertainment Sports and WUAB is forthcoming? Meanwhile over on WBNX, they are now carrying (a rebroadcast?) of New Day Cleveland at 3pm and "Local News" at 11pm? We'll have to see if WBNX is actually programming WJW news at 11pm which has been long vacant in Cleveland since the 1994 switch. They did air a rebroadcast of WJW's 10pm news in 1995 and 1996 at 11pm before FOX took over WJW when WBNX was an independent station.

And unfortunately, this horrendous look will continue since KHSL/KNVN is NOT one of those duos being sold to Gray.

looks like something you'd see out of Germany or Poland. Not bad but quite depersonalized from the current stations' identities. Except the Nextdoor and Whatsapp spam on the right

TWC is like the Allen local stations, no money for anything, mismanaged, low morale. Doesn't sound like they could compete effectively. They are probably paying $15-$30 mil of their yearly budget money to Francisco partners (used to be IBM) for the rights to use 'The Weather Channel' name, weather data, forecast engine, radar mosaic, etc since TWC is a shell, it doesn't own anything, including weather.com. And the way these agreements are set up, the cost probably goes up ~3% per year

Allen is destroying the value of an asset... by destroying EBITDA and the 6.3-8.1 multiple it would get normally for the stations - so they can sell it to ___________ for... 2.1-3.9 multiple a now distressed asset would get?! *facepalm* Why when Allen can simply JSA or SSA to Gray/Sinclair/Nexstar/Scripps/Graham and call it a day? Or sell at the top. Seriously. Intentional destruction of asset value is illegal. Byron owns nothing, his creditors own everything. In February 2025 he rolled debt over, so in the middle of an active asset value destruction he borrowed money? This would mean he committed fraud or his lender was stupid, and lenders are rarely stupid or lose money on purpose. His loans come with covenants that force certain things to happen. His sale of the stations could be from a loan covenant clause he had to abide by -- ie $x value of assets will be sold if Y happens in Z-period etc. At minimum it would open Byron Allen to fraud and breach of fiduciary duties claims from his creditors. He would have pierced the corporate veil and exposed anything he remotely controls to be ceased. Illegal actions are often not protected by bankruptcy. He could also go to jail. Officers down the chain from Byron could be sued for knowingly abetting breach of duties by creditors clawing back every red cent they loaned. Allen is stupid, but doubtful he's that stupid because the above is not an actual strategy

Of course, a Canada-focused thread should probably be started by a Canadian...

I have duplicated some ... Finally tossed the Big 2 inch masters about 10 years ago ... all I was doing was storing them ... finally had to downsize on our last move from Central California to the Bay Area ... so, I'm curious where the TV Archives "Northern California" contact you mentioned actually is ... Thanks.

If I find one or if I can produce a decent screencap, I’ll post it. Their website and social media have been quiet about the updates.

I would ask @Weeters or anyone in admin. before doing so. I would myself but I'm not so sure.

Congratulations, 10 years, that was a long run. Did you save your masters - there are some TV production archives that preserve this sort of thing, one in Northern California for example.

Not sure when the TV listing on their website was updated, but sure enough, CST is slotted at 9:30, which is a boneheaded move. They're airing their own Bears pregame before 7, Monday night, before the game on ABC/ESPN, and CST will be long over before the station-produced postgame airs. Feels so odd to air a sports wrap-up show before most prime/Central time games are over, but whatever. I'll stick to GN Sports. 1st & North remains on Tuesdays, and still no idea what The Chicago Report will be, but I see no Paris on Politics anywhere on the schedule. Meanwhile, it looks like the mistaken fluke addition of Chicago Now to the 10-noon schedule was simply premature, as it's back on the guide, come Monday.

If you're going to post this, at least leave a picture.

WGN to premier new weekday show called WGN Take Two on Monday Sept 8 @ 2pm. From viral moments to highlights from recent WGN newscasts including WGN Morning News, the show will also take viewers on a journey through some of the stations most memorable moments from the WGN-TV vault! Looks like most anchors will provide commentary before and after clips. Looks like this will replace Dr. Phil at 2pm however my YouTubeTV guide has yet been updated to reflect this.

Many viewers have moved to Tampa Bay since they have been known as ABC Action News and will not associate the new name to the old one from the 90s. You would think they would mount an ad campaign and give viewers some time to adjust in the lead-up to such a change. This will take some getting used to.

More retirement news... KOLN/KGIN's Chief Meteorologist Ken Siemek at the end of October after 44 years. No time for a replacement either: its Brad Anderson who's been there for nearly 30 years. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.1011now.com/2025/09/03/chief-meteorologist-ken-siemek-retire-after-44-years-1011/%3foutputType=amp

More retirement news and its another one in Portland. Another legendary face in Portland, Steve Dunn, is calling it a career. By the end of the year, one of the longest anchor duos in the country will be broken up once Steve Dunn anchors his last KATU newscast in mid-December so just before Christmas. https://katu.com/news/local/a-job-well-dunn-veteran-anchor-steve-dunn-to-sign-off-in-december-after-39-years-katu-news-journalism-murrow-cronkite-television-oregon-portland-icon?fbclid=IwY2xjawMkmTlleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHnkH07Udk4MzK110JFBN1jrjEPg9EkDn6LdzKo0hQT5y3ighOYm3IMfDnA7B_aem_OUixzkZICdAB2hSVO3VHDQ

Why would Allen spend money when they can roll this gem out? From KHSL Redding.

I didn't realize this until now but last night was Shelley Kirk's last night at WEHT and now entered retirement after 35+ years there. There's already a studio named after retired anchor Brad Byrd. Its only fitting that his longtime partner on the anchor desk gets a newsroom named after her. I have a feeling that the Wayne Hart Weather Center will soon follow.

KAKE is NOT waiting another week to air Dr. Phil's replacement... KAKE News - First at 3:00 is the replacement and the hour-long newscast began airing today. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1251255007044193&id=100064791158023 45 years in the broadcasting business is enough for Greg Floyd. He's retiring from WRGB at the end of the year, the third longtimer to do so in the region after their own Liz Bishop back in May and WTEN's Steve Caporizzo back in June. https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/longtime-cbs6-anchor-greg-floyd-announces-retirement-45-years-in-broadcast-journalism

South Dakota Public Broadcasting, which was already taking body blows from the Noem administration pre-DHS, is cutting state and local programming and resources for the state's educators. Legislature, high school sports and some arts coverage will be saved, but station shutdowns were on the table.

Another result of the cuts... WEIU is dropping its PBS member status on Sept. 30th after 33 years. They'll go back to being an educational independent station for the first time since 1992. https://www.wcia.com/news/education/eiu-announces-end-of-tv-stations-affiliation-with-pbs/amp/