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Who knows... Maybe our FCC will actually show a backbone like Ajit Pai did by forcing the Sinclair-Tribune merger into an administrative law judge review. Whoever saw that coming? If there's any hope, maybe Chris Ruddy will convince Brendan Carr that all this consolidation is bad and sentence all of this forthcoming consolidation to the same fate... We can only hope...

So much for Nexstar/Perry Sook wanting to be in every market. It hasn't bitten them yet. I mean, we've only had the announcement that Sun Broadcasting is buying WFTX. Whereas reasonable people such as yourself are upset that Hearst hasn't put up the white flag of surrender, sold all their stations to Nexstar/Sinclair/Gray/Tegna or private equity, rolled over, and joined the choir invisible. There's a simple reason so many of us love Hearst: As broadcasting companies throw in the towel and sell their stations to competitors or private equity, all indications are that Hearst is one of the very few really companies left. Could they someday disappoint us or even break our hearts by selling out to another company? Of course. But until it does, we'll keep cheering them on.

So thankful I have Apple News (Gannett really needs to make one subscription universal across all papers digitally);

Wow. That's such a huge compliment. Thank you! Its something I live by every day, and its proof that I live by that. Thanks, everybody.

I feel like @TheRolyPoly does a better job than TV Spy.

IIRC, KYW came out of SNL and basically the top of the hour was akin to "Oh yeah. We're now CBS." Of course they did more at other times, when people other than those who hung out until the end of SNL were watching, but it was an amusing contrast to the amusingly over-the-top 1 am infomercial/"newscast" over at NBC 10. Respect to both orgs, they made what they were given work to the best of their abilities.

Why are outrageously large anchor desks becoming a thing again??

HUT=Households using television.

Yeah that was it. Short sweet and to the point. No middle of the vampire hours big festivities.

Was it this?

Both stations have posted compilations and looks back at the switch before that are available on their YouTube channels; you have to search and scan through a bit, but they did do some during the 25 year mark in 2020.

What's the issue with NBC News?

I have and there is no scale disadvantage for Hearst and no the McBride's cannot bully Hearst out of the market, if anything it's more likely we both bully each other out of the forum before the McBride's bully Hearst out of Fort Myers. Hearst wasn't dumb when they purchased WBBH and the LMA for WZVN they knew what they we're doing I've already said that they knew what they we're doing I don't know how many times, in fact we'd be having the same debate over this had Nexstar and Gray bought WBBH/WZVN. The Waterman's knew that Edith had a goal of getting out of the broadcasting business before her 100th birthday, she did exactly that, there really was no stupidity on either side.

It's really important to remember that Hearst paid $220M for WBBH and only WBBH. WZVN remains owned by Montclair, and while that LMA likely added to the value of the station, they still do not own it.

Three channels from HBO and three from Cinemax are being renamed. TL;DR: HBO2 -> HBO Hits HBO Signature -> HBO Drama HBO Zone -> HBO Movies MoreMAX -> Cinemax Hits ActionMAX -> Cinemax Action 5starMAX -> Cinemax Classics https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/hbo-renames-linear-channels-1236361141/

It is being sold to WINK. There is literally no difference between the two companies except for the chief executive. And that news department is gonna be vaporized. They desire to live in a permanent right-wing hellscape run by morons and at continuous risk of being destroyed by hurricanes, and may be uninsurable in the not-too-distant future. Not that Youngstown is any better. You don't spend $220M to wind up in a severe scale disadvantage. It's absolute lunacy to assume Hearst is content with now being in a totally uncompetitive position.

Happy anniversary, KCRA. 70 years as of yesterday. This was posted on their Facebook and I love it when stations do this.

I'm not sure if this should go to either the WCAU NBC 10 thread, the KYW Thread, or the Speculatron 9000 thread, but I kinda thought this one deserves its own. Anyway, September 10th marks 30 years since both WCAU-TV and KYW-TV traded their CBS and NBC affiliations respectively. Channel 10 was sold to NBC and became NBC 10 while KYW became part of CBS and later an O&O of the latter following the merger of CBS and Group W/Westinghouse. This was all the result of a nationwide network affiliation realignment that affected Philadelphia and many other markets as a result of the Rupert Murdoch clan at Fox snagging the NFL away from CBS. This makes me wonder if 'CAU and/or KYW is doing a 30th anniversary retrospective on The Big Switch. I don't think I should expect KYW to do anything on it though since they didn't do so for the 25th anniversary back in 2020.

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.

Some insight on Reddit.

We also skew pretty young, don't we? Also, what is a HUT?

Doubtful that KYW or WCAU still has archival video from the switch, and they wouldn't bother digging it up from Temple's Urban Archives.

MyNetworkTV.com says it's on Mondays 11-1am on WMYT

Let's not forget, the WCAU/KYW situation affected Denver. And Colorado television changed forever. The KCNC documentary from 1995 educated us on WHY the switch happened. It started with FOX launching a sport division, striking a deal with New World, then-owner of the now-former CBS/ABC/NBC affiliates. This prompted most CBS affiliates and some ABC and NBC stations to switch to FOX, because FOX would be much better reached on VHF channels 2 thru 13. Otherwise, FOX and its then-new Sports division wouldn't have gotten a better reach if ti remained on UHF stations. Now, onto Philly where the story came to an end. NBC wanted to buy WCAU from CBS for cash. But to avoid tax problems, CBS suggested a trade. CBS gave WCAU to NBC of course. But in exchange, CBS wanted KUTV Salt Lake City, some NBC equipment in Miami (including the channel 4 signal) and of course, KCNC DENVER!

It is also worth noting the exclusive option for Hearst to acquire WZVN is at a 2023 base price of $4.46 million, with an annual escalation minimum of $133,800. Source: https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/attachment/25076f91874e5250018756995d3503e2 - last page I'm curious how quickly they'll acquire it once new ownership rules are in place.

Yeah they would have because they'd have to go up against the McBride's and you'd be saying the same thing you're saying about Hearst being "bullied" out of Fort Myers so you're wrong on that assumption

Yep. The population influx is evident the rising real estate prices. Despite all it's flaws, it's Florida. Offer people a year round beach, consistent sunshine, large houses and a tropical aesthetic -- as opposed to the industrial Midwest ----- and they will come.

[Thought I was responding to the latest post, but I was two pages off. Whoops...]

The commercials are going to be...four fifteen second ads throughout the seven-ish hours, game action will remain on screen, and likely not be carried when any team is in the red zone because that's the literal name of the channel, duh. Pretty much what you've seen during extra points or after the kickoff. I know these ads, during baseball games they're just 'here's a word from (beer/casino/gambling platform)' during a break in the action and it allows a quick flip break to see the score of something else or to get something to drink. The Price is Right has that type of ad break before the Showcase Showdown. As Aaron Rodgers said once...relax. They're being upfront about the ads when they could've said nothing. This reminds me of oddballs who claim they'll never watch a network again after a soap got cancelled; a stupidly vocal minority that cannot possibly hold to that pledge. Most of the public is not going to care at all and if you haven't noticed, there's betting, fantasy and tie-in 'sponsored by' segments all over every edition already as-is, so it's already been stealthily carrying ads for years, and we wouldn't expect to have a purely ad-free experience because that would lose money. I'm more concerned with stupid betting odds and other degenerate parlay whatever super 6 things polluting my enjoyment of sports; worry about that over one minute of unmemorable light beer ads.

There is no scale disadvantage for Hearst, they are fine where they're at, they don't buy stations unless it's for the right station and for the right price. It's not ludicrious that Hearst spent $200M plus to get WBBH/WZVN

Can't wait to see the headlines about how the Evening News is once again losing viewers with the new (old) format lol

So Lindsey Sablan left WINK a couple of months ago and now we know where she's next... She is now at Orlando's WESH to anchor Sunday mornings, including their new 9 a.m. hour on Sundays which is also simulcast on WKCF. https://www.wesh.com/article/wesh-2-news-expands-sunday-morning-newscast/65970770#

Here's KCAL.

This is what you call "How To Act Like an Independent Station, Though You're Still Affiliated," not to mention...O&O.

It really would’ve helped if they’d actually promoted the damn thing instead of waiting for the 11th hour to do it. It made sense to move most of the local news to a station that actually gets ratings, but the branding is going to be confusing, and is counter to what CBS is doing in the rest of the country. Not even WCCO, arguably their most successful station, is going to get this treatment (I know it’s because of the radio station, but still). Is CBS so damaged as a brand in LA that they have to put the KCAL name on everything? That set does look fantastic, though. I’ll give them that.

So apparently the key to building ratings growth is: new set confusing/mediocre branding more hours of news than anyone else

Here’s a promo that confirms the “KCAL News” brand will also be on KCBS.

Hearing January 23rd for WWJ. Waiting for confirmation.

Now if we could get a good update to The Hammer...

…but KCAL isn’t CBS…

That part! NBC was ahead of its time look at NBC Bay Area, and NBC Connecticut. They have been doing well without the channel reference. Boston and San Diego had a short lived branding until it decided to bring back the channel numbers.

The way I see it, Briella isn't wrong, but neither is nycnewsjunkie, and neither are you. It's the old adage of "perception is reality"... or more accurately, perception can become a person's reality.

This is what a forward-looking news organization looks, sounds, and feels like. I'm sure there will be people upset that the "Westinghouse channel numbers" and "iconic" other cruft disappears, but these stations existed before that stuff came around, and will exist after. Most of these stations never had a firm "logo" for their first 20 years of existence and they did just fine, without "confusing" anyone. Most of these logos have outlived several generations of logos at major brands. I'm still not sure why it's seen as important for a local television station in Baltimore or Pittsburgh or wherever to keep the same logo forever, while major companies like United Airlines or Hyatt Hotels get to update theirs just about every decade. TV has this bad history of treating viewers like they are absolute idiots. "Oh, we can't change anything because someone out there might get 'confused'." If someone told me RJ Fletcher's speech in UHF about the "pea-brained yokels" watching TV in his market was based on real worlds said by a real TV station GM, I would not be that surprised. There's nothing wrong with a little nostalgia, but it can't get in the way of progress. When a station branded as "TV 7" in 1954, that's because that's where it was. On TV. On Channel 7. That was it. The first signs this branding didn't work in the modern era came in the late 90's when every "ABC 7" and "NBC 4" was fighting for a relevant web domains. Then came Social Media. If I go on Twitter right now and search for "ABC 7" this is what comes up: Talk about "Confusing viewers" when the first one offers no way of identifying which station it is, and looks identical to the rest of the ABC7s there. No, most viewers do not know offhand how to differentiate between the different Circle 7s out there. There is no confusing where these CBS stations are located. I don't buy into these stations "losing" any "local flavor" with this branding, because locality is baked into the heart of it. You can be any one of a bunch of "CBS 2s" out there, but there's "only one" CBS News Chicago.

You’re right, my mistake. Sorry I mean, I totally agree that CBS needs this shakeup, but I can understand the criticism on some level (and I think it goes beyond music and channel numbers). For all the corniness about the way American stations have continued to identify themselves, it at least gives the impression that your station belonged to your community and not some faceless corporate entity (reality notwithstanding, of course). That’s not to say that CBS O&Os have felt that way (especially under the old management), but some of the vestiges of unique identity were still there. That’s going away now, even at the legacy stations, and one could be forgiven if they felt that their local outlet didn’t really belong to them anymore. Again, not that David Friend cultivated that sense of belonging, but the vestiges were still there. That being said, you’re right, it had to be done. CBS is too big of a company to have most of their stations flailing in the ratings and being irrelevant. The association with CBS News definitely grants them some level of prestige IMO. It’s just that losing local characteristics comes with its own risks. Considering the state of most of those stations, though, I think it’s more than worth it, and at least they’re trying *something* with them.

The thing about nostalgia-driven posters is that they’re usually the loudest people in the room. It’s easy to see how the perception takes root. Said posters can have their opinions on CBS going for unified branding and music not Enforcer being A Bad Thing but CBS is doing this because they see it in the best interests of the network and their station group. The execs in charge have determined that The Old Way Of Doing Things is no longer going to work.

Considering that you’ve got 10 people liking your post, and that a sizable number of people in this particular thread have offered nothing but uncritical praise for what CBS is doing, your perception is mistaken. Yes, there are people who don’t like it, and prefer stations to have individual characteristics, but that’s their prerogative. They’re allowed to have an opinion too. As far as my personal feelings are, I really like this rebrand. The graphics are miles beyond what they replaced, and IMO, they’re the second best looking local news package out of the US that I’ve seen (the best being NBC’s). although I’m not a fan of the way they use the call letters in what is very likely a temporary branding. The call letters in a box don’t look good next to the “CBS News X” really look sloppy IMHO. (EDIT: I probably should’ve noticed that already, but I really notice it now having seen it on air). I get that they’re trying to transition things over, but they’ve already been doing that for more than a year. In KPIX’s case, I don’t think the anchors/reporters even mention KPIX once. If you’re going all in on CBS News, go all in now.

Nicely said. Things change, just gotta get with the times. These news organizations are struggling (most don't even look for sweeps periods anymore) - who really watches the news anymore? We get our information from social media. I would side eye an organization if they weren't making changes right now...

What's so cool about this is that for the first time ever in America (please correct me if I'm wrong), we have a local and national media outlet sharing a design language with the graphic packages. From the CBS Evening News, Streaming, and the locals, they match together. Great identity system.

Also, I don't get all the disappointment. All the signs of what this package was going to be have been laying around since the start of this thread, and should have become clearer when CBSN was launched and the overhaul of the network package. If you thought it was going to be anything else, you weren't paying attention.