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Unlike what was expected, dedicated newscasts for TV Asa Branca Alagoas, the new TV Globo affiliate in that Brazilian state, are yet to be launched, with no date set, but, in the meantime, the station, since it signed on, has been producing news reports in the state for Bom Dia Pernambuco and NETV (with its editions also called NE1 and NE2), produced by TV Globo Nordeste (the O&O station in Recife/Olinda, Pernambuco), and currently simulcast by Asa Branca (whose original station, in Caruaru, already simulcasts Bom Dia Pernambuco, since it's a statewide broadcast, followed by an Asa Branca-produced local block). Meanwhile, former affiliate TV Gazeta, now an independent station, has relaunched its local newscasts, removing most traces of Globo branding (including its graphics template and theme for its local newscasts), bar the custom Globotipo font on the station's 50th anniversary logo and similar lower-thirds. The names "Bom Dia Alagoas", "AL1" and "AL2" were kept, as they're owned by TV Gazeta (similar scenarios happened back in the 1980s and '90s, when TV Aratu - now an SBT affiliate - lost TV Globo affiliation to Rede Bahia de Televisão, but kept the name "Bom Dia Bahia" - Rede Bahia's statewide morning news is called "Jornal da Manhã" - and TV Difusora - also an SBT affiliate now - also lost TV Globo affiliation, to TV Mirante, but similarly kept the name "Bom Dia Maranhão" - TV Mirante calls its morning news "Bom Dia Mirante").

Ok, this helps A LOT. Helps not make it feel so cluttered. With the weekday backgrounds, it makes me a little claustrophobic, too much going on.

Changing some of the background graphics makes a difference. The Saturday edition of CBS Mornings looks much cleaner and without the excessive "yellow/gold" like on weekdays.

Elizabeth Worthington has joined 6ABC as a reporter.

Largely as a Peacock simulcast channel but still a big deal

And the big takeaway is that NBCSN is gonna be back.

I had a feeling this was happening; Spectrum just launched a 4K feed of NBC Sports events for their Xumo platform on their app (though no NFL right now), so it was just a matter of when they'd do so everywhere else before the Versant split. And this will make putting on games in bars a whole lot easier than having to deal with an access broker like you have to for ESPN streaming-only events and Sunday Ticket.

The sooner Altice USA sells, the better. Service is crap. Channels keep getting dropped or moved to an add on tier mostly with stations nobody wants. Stream box sucks.

Koplar didn't want ABC since they had Cardinals and Blues games

I can't remember the last time any media company listened to these analysts. They've called for Disney to spin off ESPN so many times, and that's never happened. They were calling for Time Warner to spin off HBO in 2015, and that never happened.

Weigel is not going to build out a news operation for an ABC St. Louis affiliation for the same reason Sinclair hasn't: There's no demand for another news operation in the market. ABC isn't going to pull the affiliation over not having news, because there's nowhere for it to go. ABC knows this. That's why it hasn't already happened, end of story. The market is dominated by existing news operations. None of those are places for ABC to go. Nexstar is being openly hostile to ABC, Gray has been semi-openly hostile towards the networks in the recent past, and Tegna has been desperately trying to not exist for years now, and will likely become an extension of Nexstar. None of these seem like good options for ABC to even start negotiations with. Look at Miami. They had to settle on a .2 of what is ostensibly an "independently-owned" station with an existing news department. You have to assume they went to Scripps during these negotiations, as they own both WPXM and WSFL in the market. Scripps probably said "no" to the idea of building out another news operation in Miami, because they've done it before, and it's failed every time. At best, ABC would end up as KSDK 5.2 in St. Louis. Weigel does not seem interested in owning network affiliates as their entire business at this point is diginets. This is why the rumors frequently swirl about CBS buying up WDJT. It just makes more sense than what is currently happening. KDNL is probably what most "network affiliates" will look like at some point, anyways. It's no secret that Nexstar and Sinclair are dreaming of a world where they control 100% of the airtime on their stations. As the networks increasingly become commercials for streaming services, I can see a future where the "Big 4" simply bounce around low-powers and diginet trees with a deal that they get to program 2 minutes of ad time an hour. The big owners won't want them, because they don't want to air an all-day long commercial for Disney+/Paramount+/Peacock. CBS in Atlanta, ABC in Miami, and the Kimmel thing, are all symptoms of the early stages of the death of the current affiliate model. Not to mention, business analysts are starting to suggest that ABC (and probably the others) get out of traditional broadcast altogether.

WJFB operates as a television station in name only. They don't have an actual facility in the Nashville market outside of a transmission tower as everything is beamed in from Chicago, and I doubt Weigel would want to go through the trouble of starting a new news operation from scratch, let alone a new network affiliate.

KNLC's sole local presence is literally its transmitter site in House Springs. Historically, they were located on Locust Street in downtown St Louis but Weigel lists its Chicago address for FCC studio address purposes. I doubt Weigel would be much interested in acquiring a studio and investing in a build out of such a facility.

United Kingdom Today's the day. Even if they don't celebrate it on the air, its still worth mentioning. September 22nd, 1955. Happy 70th birthday to the BBC's biggest competitor...

Toni absolutely deserves it. She’s been doing it so long and is great. But as we’ve seen in the past they seem to pass over some of their in house people

I guess they had to give him something to do. Didn't they bring him in to anchor weekdays? Elaine is definitely gone and back to the network. A CBS2 reporter confirmed it in a PM on IG.

Update: KCTV's tower is relit once more. It was just after 9 pm when it was relit. It even brought back its 1999-2002 logo on its time/temp bug with the current logo to mark the occasion. https://www.kctv5.com/2025/09/18/history-rekindled-iconic-kctv5-tower-once-again-shine-over-kansas-city/

The full MCTYW was introduced a few months ago. That headline thing started last month.

There’s also just no valid or reasonable excuse not to cover the ceremony. At the very most you’re missing 20 minutes of shitty low-effort morning television.

It’s sad to say but 9/11 is a day… the only day.. for a few short hours Americans are one united nation. I was in 3rd grade and will never forget that morning or the days and years that followed. I hope the coverage from our stations do not change anytime soon.

9/11 Ceremonies in the NYC area aren't going away. It's part of the fabric. It was real to us, whether we were in the City or not that day. I'm in NJ, but also on LI and throughout the 5 boroughs, there isn't a community that didn't lose someone. I remember it like it happened yesterday, as do most. I remember the caravan of ambulances racing into NY thinking there would be people to save. I remember the empty NJ turnpike, the black smoke off in the distance where the towers once stood, with no cell service until I got south of the airport. I remember being lucky I had cable, over the air broadcasting was lost when the towers came down. I remember the cars in the commuter lot up the street, left for months because their owners never came home. All that rushes through us each year. It is appropriate that each station honor the fallen (and the first responders and lower Manhattan residents still falling due to what they breathed in). And each station carrying it allows each of us to feel comfort in watching it on our preferred station, even though it is mostly a pool feed. Stations also go beyond the ground zero ceremonies, showing local ones held in most towns. Will at some point it move to a rotating schedule among stations, maybe, but not anytime soon. And we are fine with that. Today is a solemn day, and as I describe it the most surreal day of my life.

Even 24 years later, a generation later, the horror and the pain and the scope of 9/11 continues to endure. It actually feels worse now to watch the events unfold than it did years ago because of the scope of the disaster and how much we know now than we did at that time. So, I don't expect it to end anytime soon actually, and here's why: The effects of this tragedy rocked the world as we know it, to some degree, every bit of modern society to this very moment has some recollection of the day. It changed how we do life. So for that reason alone, it's an event that will never be and never should be forgotten. It was arguably one of the darkest days in modern history. Until we collectively overcome this as a human race maybe in several hundred years, I don't see these ceremonies ending in my lifetime. The ceremonies will probably evolve when they feel right to, but I don't see it ending at least not in our lifetimes. It's kinda like how COVID "ended" our relationship with the disease evolved its still very well around but we've learned how to live with it in our shadows. One would argue, why don't we do a COVID memorial every year? The pain of 9/11 however is a different type of pain, though its a pain that was born through evil acts. And that kind of pain is far more greater in my opinion. Even though I don't personally know anyone affected. I feel the pain and the grief of those who were involved because these were ordinary people like us here, just having a normal day, who went to work and never came back home and that's why it's so painful and heartbreaking and why we continue to commemorate the lost every year. The victims families have to live with this day in and day out, the grief is with them forever so its a way to remind them that we are with them and we feel them as well. But going back on topic here, it seems like all the stations aired the ceremonies as expected and the programs were pre-empted or aired on the digital sub channels as it has been for the last 24 years.

I ain't tryin' to change your mind but okay... Southwest Florida isn't a small market, it's more medium sized. Plus, if both parties (In Question, the Waterman family, especially Edith who wanted to sell WBBH and the LMA for WZVN before her 100th birthday; and Hearst) are okay and approve it, it's a deal. Come on, it's a sale that had already been completed, why be so troublesome about it? Plus, Hearst rarely even buys (or sells) stations. Just calm down and appreciate that it wasn't SINCLAIR acquiring them.

That part. Could not have said it better.

EDIT: Can we all take a collective pause and assess the culture of this website. This is one of the only online discussion boards I've been on where several members regularly feel the need to be sarcastic, condescending and nasty in expressing disagreement and offering corrections. There has to be a way to articulate disagreement or correct others respectfully. Our super interest in news is esoteric enough, so this should be a forum to connect with people of similar interests. This shouldn't be a place the one-up each other with industry knowledge or belittle others.

Especially when you're a grown man handling this in a very inappropriate manner. We are all gonna have different opinions and that's nothing we can't handle but to talk to us in a condescending way makes you look bad. Not to mention going overboard. This isn't even the first time he's done this.

You don't have to change your mind, but we don't have to listen to you either.

You need to look at yourself in the mirror and realize the things that you're saying isn't in line with what the vast majority of the people on this forum is thinking. And I will tell you this, by calling on staff to have an ignore button is very childish of you because you clearly cannot handle a healthy public discourse or anybody who has a much different opinion than you, that type of attitude was what nearly drove me out of the BP Discord server, you need to learn how to agree to disagree on things, you have your own opinons and I have my own opinions, EVERYBODY on this forum has their own opinions but to go out there and just say "Oh I need to ignore this person because his opinion is not in line with mine" that's childish. I recommend either taking time away from this and getting yourself mentally right or focus on the other aspects of TV News that you're passionate about and just stay in that lane because mentally I don't think you're a good fit for at least this portion of the forum (or even on the Discord server for that matter), you can react with all the angry's and the haha's you want to but that's just the truth. And oh by the way there's no such thing as being cheerleaders for this company or that company or a hater of this company or that company it's just that we're calling it the way we all in here collectively see it, whether it's a good opinion, bad opinion, etc, it doesn't matter so for you to label people as "Hearst lovers", "Tegna haters", "Scripps haters" I think is also childish and you need to take that out of your vocabulary too. That's all I got to say if people want to gang up and attack me be my guest but I'm not going to change my approach just because people try to convince that their opinion is better than mine or anyone else's I will gladly respect everyone else's opinions as long as you respect mine and we can all have a good healthy discourse about subjects related to broadcasting because at the end of the day we're all broadcast nerds and we're all here to have fun and have a good lively conversation about things, if that can't happen why would I or anyone else be here partaking on this forum or even on the Discord for that matter.

Also, can we talk about the tantrums and the slurs that a certain person is throwing. Is this how grown people handle things? No amount of talking to people like they're beneath you is gonna make you look good.

If you really wanted to see a show, imagine if theyd have been sold to Sinclair, Apollo or Allen.

So, basically, you think Hearst, wasted MONEY on the "unnecessary" purchase of WBBH and the LMA of WZVN? Imagine saying that to the face of the Waterman family in 2023 when they sold them off. Hearst is more reliable. Also... At least Hearst isn't dumb and wanted to trash the stations.

Did anyone notice that the format of the 11pm show has changed a little bit? The full MCTYW open has been restored naming all of the talent, not just Rick Williams. At the top of the newscast, they quickly tick through some of the top headlines before they go into the Big Story.

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...

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.

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

I just read the conversation and I thought it was getting sold to WINK. I honestly do not know if the news department will be kept but there is a slim chance it might be kept because the only other station they own is a CW affiliate. Fingers crossed though.

Fox4 has always been a horrible news operation, with horrible talent. Scripps has improved it however in recent years. But no one will miss it. End of story. WBBH is one of the strongest local news stations in the country. Great investment by hearst and they dont need to do a thing. WINK absorbing an also-ran Fox station, is a non story frankly.

That's only like 0.0098% of Hearst family wealth. It ain't shit to them.

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.

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

Who's yall? Don't put me in with them. Be that as it may, if the logic of Hearst selling all non number one stations is allowed to be entertained then stations like KOCO would be on the block. Also, aren't they second in Pittsburgh and Baltimore as well, or did KDKA and WJZ fall from grace? Last I heard, those were the top dogs.

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.

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.

If Gray wanted anything, it would be WINK.

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.

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