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I'm as critical of Nexstar as anyone else, but let's be realistic about this: A hard out time on a newscast is a hard out. Especially in a world where master control is run by a hub hundreds of miles away and a single operator is in charge of multiple stations. When the programmed end time happens, the master control software will trigger the next break or program, whether they're done or not. As it should. An anchor's farewell is not, and should not be, an event that merits blowing through a hard out time. Want to make sure everything gets said? Produce a newscast with room to breathe for the farewell.

But that's not a Big Bad Nexstar problem. In a world of industry-wide automation and hard cut-offs, everyone should know better, and the team in the control room failed him.

truly sad to see Scripps of all companies vulnerable to a takeover attempt by a slightly better performing company that it itself is not doing too good either but they did it to themselves.

Scripps itself is trading near all-time lows, so I'm not sure if that would be a big deterrent to the family wanting to sell. We're talking about a company that was trading at ~$145 a share in 2004, and $4.42 today. Frankly, this concept that the family doesn't want to sell seems a bit absurd to me. I said this in the Discord, but I have to assume that Sinclair is aware of something that we're not, and I would presume that something is that some of the "Family Shareholders" want out. The family shares have been diluted between roughly 75 members as of 2021, and I think it is impossible they are all unanimous in agreement on not selling the company. The Family Shares are so diluted at this point, some numbers I've seen shows nobody walking away with more than $8.6 million (at the current stock price) and, in fact, most walk away with far less than that (7 members hold exactly one share, 28 hold less than 200 shares, and the ones with the most all seem to hold somewhere between 200k and 700k "family" shares, according to a document I have found). tl;dr I'm wondering if the internal process for family members to sell shares has already begun, and nobody in the family wants to sink their own money into buying more shares of a declining asset. At some point, those shares can be sold to whomever they want, and the Board can't stop them.

Works great for cooking/recipe videos too. That said, if you find the time, the full video was definitely worth the watch!

Hanna Battah has made it to the big time and this is why she left KDFW... ... to join ABC News and anchor World News NOW and GMA First Look alongside ex-KABC'er Sophie Flay. I don't know if this is the first time two women regularly anchor a nightly overnight news program in the country but I think they just made history for it. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2025/12/hanna-battah-joins-abc-news-world-news.html?m=1

Copy/paste the link into Google Gemini... This is great, really well done. And yeah, Joel Cheatwood is kind of a slimeball. Glad to see that get some attention too.

For KMCI-TV, it was a logo rebrand, per se. It didn't stop being "The Spot", in fact, I dunno why Scripps even imported that brand to other media markets.

"The Spot" with a parallelogram as a logo. Classic. It's actually surprising KMCI kept that old (and better) logo for as long as they did given the rebrands KSHB has had.

Wow, how disrespectful of the station and Nexstar for a long term anchor. You can tell from the sound when they pulled out from his last words. And this is the company hat wants to own as many TV stations as they can. A warning to markets where Nexstar and Sinclair will control all stations. Shameful. It shows Nexstar loyalty is to money, not its people.

I'm not a fan YouTube video essays. A summary would be nice.

A good rundown and summary of everything Merit/Envoy up to today, including transcript and evidence detail. (Mods, please add "Envoy TV" to the title)

Some of you have probably seen this before, but I just came across it now, so....

Not a graphics knockoff but a logo knockoff. A & E Blind, Awning, and Glass LLC in Wichita Falls, Texas. They should hope that A+E Networks doesn't sue them.

Here's a who's who of Ohio University student journalists who went on bigger and better things....from WOUB TV's Newswatch. One did not have to be a Journalism or Telecommunications major to participate, but the staff was largely all student volunteers running a newsroom for TV and radio. John Klemack - went on to WOWK Huntington, KSTU Salt Lake, and now at KNBC in Los Angeles. Frank Marzullo - worked weekends at WTAP Parkersburg at the time as well, then went to WFMJ in Youngstown and later WXIX in Cincinnati. Larry Seward - later worked at KHOU in Houston and is at WFOR in Miami. Kathleen Cochrane - Worked at WTAP, News14 Carolina (now Spectrum News), and WJW in Cleveland where she was infamously attacked by a cat during a live shot. She later married Dean DiPiero, the former mayor of Parma, Ohio and later a member of the Ohio State House of Representatives. Sadly, she passed away in 2018 after complications from a bout with influenza. Yours truly was one of the camera operators, in fact, this was my very first time operating one of those huge Ikegami studio cameras. It didn't go so well...Take a look at the end of sports and see my botched "cookie cutter" shot. I can still remember the director yelling "CAMERA 3....WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?! Thankfully the credits were wrong at the end

WAKA TV-8 News Midday (November 24, 1994; clip starts at 5:41)

I wonder if this branch of the Scripps family is as screwed up as the other half of the family tied to James E. Scripps (brother of E.W. Scripps). They're the ones tied to Scripps Health, the Scripps Oceanography Institute and were the original Detroit News owners. There was a good American Greed (season 10, Family Fortune Feud) that described how granddaughter and heir Melissa Scripps burned through millions of dollars...

Another sign off later tonight besides KOIN's Jeff Gianola... WHBQ's Darrell Greene after a 15-year run there. 10pm is his last. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRh6CyOgXOm/?igsh=YXc0djNubnZ3NWFk

Just looking at that studio and I'm amazed that NewsNet/MI News lasted as long as it did, now it's just another generic station broadcasting some digital netlets. Perhaps the hobbyist should of never sold to the snake energy drink salesman.

Scripps board voted to insert a temporary poison pill that expires November 26, 2026. aimed at unapproved outsiders who gain 10% or more in Class A shares, cancelling their rights but allowing anyone else to buy SSP at 50% discount. tl;dr Sinclair, or any entity, or Sinclair acting with another shareholder as a 'wolf pack', will get automatically diluted if they go up in ownership from the 9.9% now. If they're already at 10% and gain another 0.1% or more the poison pill is triggered (https://scripps.com/press-releases/scripps-adopts-limited-duration-shareholder-rights-plan/)

KTRK Houston is about to lose a major face in their newscasts. The current longest-running anchor in Houston, Melanie Lawson, has announced her retirement. Her last day at KTRK is January 31st, 2026. https://mikemcguff.blogspot.com/2025/11/melanie-lawson-retirement.html?m=1

Another update: following the auction, it appears they have placed the old Cadillac studio up for sale. Listing photos show the inside mostly emptied out. The only stuff remaining is part of the old weather set, the old MI News 26 set, and a reception desk based on the style of the MI News 26 set.

They would probably like to keep their options open for potential buyers themselves.

This one is interesting, because NBCU and Hulu + Live TV have come to terms, despite Fubo and Hulu + Live having the same ownership, while Fubo outright declares that the Versant channels are "not... worth the cost to Fubo subscribers" (NBCU is bundling those channels with theirs for at least the current retrans cycle). https://deadline.com/2025/11/nbcuniversal-fubo-take-their-shots-amid-carriage-fight-1236628864/ 11/26: TelevisaUnivision and YouTube TV have reached a new deal, ending the two-month long dispute.

it looks like a short fuse tactic to pressure the board into acting without giving them enough time to seek other bids. Or, Sinclair knows/guesses the family may be infighting and this would prevent them from ironing out any disagreements, splintering the vote enough to get over the 50.1% hurdle. The board can ignore the bid as they can also be sued for lack "due care" if they accept it without getting bids from Gray or anyone else who might be interested. Imo the offer isn't that good for Scripps family. They control 93.3% of the vote, if they accept, over 60% of what they get will be in SBGI stock that is trading at a 13-year low. With a 3-5 year lockup they could very likely end up worse off by the time they're allowed to cash out

Channel 11 would be the big winner in the end...

Thirty years ago, Sinclair tried to file a license challenge to usurp WMAR's license because 'I'm a local gimme the VHF license and McGraw Hill can kick rocks' (didn't work); I swear David Smith has a vendetta against having any competition and is hopeful to see his lifelong dream of WBFF on channel 2 come true even though it's otherwise pointless and he's already ralphed up the Sun into a paper that's just Armstrong Williams's 3am must-run show in print form.

So, how bad's the overlap between the two companies? I know they both own stations in Baltimore, Cincinnati, Nashville, and West Palm Beach, and I'm sure there are others -- and I'm not even accounting for the Ion stations.

Sounds like they plan on being the last station standing. More power to 'em.

NBCSN now on Xfinity platforms: https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/nbc-sports-network-nbcsn-comcast-xfinity-tv-1236591554/

The specific quick expiration date is interesting. Not sure it indicates they have family agreement. The initial press release gave the impression they do not.

It's an attempt by Sinclair. Unless Sinclair knows that there are Scripps family members willing to vote yes and they collectively make up 50.1% of the vote this is likely dead on arrival. The family can legally ignore all investors and do as they please. They have to follow procedures obviously but they don't have to listen to Sinclair or anyone else holding Class-A stock. Scripps has dual-class structure with the family owning 93% of the voting shares. 50.1% is required for this to pass per the Scripps Family Agreement. And those that vote yes can be bought out by other members of the family who do not want to sell. Sinclair's offer is kinda crappy, 70% of the offer is in SBGI stock, that's trading at 12-13 year lows. And any stock offer like this will likely come with vesting lockups to prevent dumping ie can't sell for 5 years etc meaning Scripps members who vote 'yes' could end up worse than they started.

7News was on ABC18, but not on WSVN proper Andrew Ansin was on Biz Journal's podcast recently. He shares how the WSVN/ABC deal came about. ABC approached them in August 2024, Sunbeam agreed but asked to simulcast 7News. From WPLG we know around that time ABC went silent and stopped negotiating but extended the contract. Ansin seems to suggest WSVN wasn't doing well financially before the ABC tieup, "and this way by simulcasting [...] a television business that was not doing very well, all of a sudden became significantly more profitable." Nothing specific but if WSVN, the top earning station in Miami for at least 2 decades isn't doing well financially, that means the other stations could be in a much worse financial situation! Later on mentions that now WSVN/ABC18 at 10PM often capture 60% of the people who watch the late news in the market. He doesn't clarify English or English and Spanish, if both then the rest of the 40% is split between 5 stations Work has started on the new WSVN building. The precast walls will go up around early December 2025. He emphasied that the family is committed to WSVN, they see it as a service to the community, and suggests they will keep going even if it's little or not profitable at all. Ansin points to his mother who created the Miami City Ballet not to make money but to provide high art to the community. Sounds like they view WSVN in the same manner. He emphasises "the community" and non-profits. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1333-business-breakdown-with-b-273274022/episode/business-insights-from-the-america-forum-305962841/?position=687

WTVY News Ten O'Clock Report (October 9, 1989) WGXA Fox 24 News at 10:00 (November 24, 2003, exactly 22 years ago to this day) KFSN Channel 30 Action News at 11:00 (July 19, 1988) KABC Eyewitness News at 11:00 (January 31, 1987; clip starts at 3:41) WJLA News 7 at 5:00 and 6:00 (November 3, 1993) WDVM (now WUSA) Eyewitness News Nightcast (November 13, 1984)

I think the 25% opacity text across the screen in the opening is incredibly distracting. There's too much going on visually. Keep the C4D renders, the large text stroke, the names of the cities, and the background video.

Two more Scripps independents have rebranded, including the OG original KMCI. WACY KMCI EDIT: Out of all the Indies left by Scripps, "KDF-TV", WHDT, WMYD, and WSFL are the lone holdouts without the branding (so too is WSYM.2, but its being traded with Gray Media, so I don't expect it there).

Happy Thanksgiving! This is the first time we've seen (or at least I've seen) the "MS NOW Reports" branding being used. I'm not sure when this happened but it looks like the bug no longer explains the backronym of their new name. Also, they're trying to promote their new website (msnow.com is taken -- I feel like they should have considered this) but it's so unnecessarily tiny in that graphic. What an odd design choice.