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Hoping this means the “WWL Louisiana” branding is going away too.

They cannot outrun their legacy; welcome back Ion Shop.

Good Lee Goldberg is apart of the network I just saw his age he’s still very young. But 2 salaries doesn’t hurt.

Whew! This post is everything! I work for a TV Station - and we are all producing more news and with the same pay. Asking us to stay beyond midnight would be even more stressful.

We're waiting on you, 10TV...

WWL decided to run a very long close tonight at the end of its 5pm newscast with the new music and it was around 2 and a half minutes or so. In addition to that, KYTX CBS 19 also debuted the new graphics/music earlier today and this is the video of tonight’s 6:30pm newscast.

They'd be more likely to cut that last quadrant of channels that they don't own, and if QVC and HSN do indeed go the way of ShopHQ this summer their hand will be forced anyways.

Everyday they focus less on their legacy stations and more on their ION stations.

WWL-TV is on Pixel Lens as of Noon today, which leaves just WBNS & KYTX as the only two who have not yet switched. Update: KYTX is also on Pixel Lens as of Noon today.

She's a good get and will be helpful with the schedule at WABC-TV, especially with Sam barely there. I mention this in the GMA thread, but I can't stand Sam Champion. He gets treated like royalty at ABC/GMA and I don't get it. He really doesn't contributing anything but being an nuisance and over the top laughter.

That fact she’ll be doing work for WABC is a sign that ABC is trying to make this hire as affordable as possible kinda like the Perry Russom gig with WABC. So they’ll give her some local time. ABC hiring on the cheap here.

WTHI and WLFI have new information up about joining Gray: https://www.wthitv.com/news/terre-hautes-wthi-lafayettes-wlfi-join-gray-media/article_f7796406-c324-4a0f-8ba8-bc3f59d01ab9.html With Gray's Local News Live being available, I wonder if they will transition from Weather Channel meteorologists to other Gray stations providing the weather (ala LNL) or if they will hire back former folks. I believe Everett Lau was still working at WTHI, albeit behind the scenes, rather than doing weather.

Thank you two for pointing this out. Stations often increase the workload on existing crews rather than hiring more workers, when increasing news output. Many news anchors and producers already work a 2:30 to 11:35 PM shift. Staying till midnight is definitely a lot. Stations often run out of local news by the half hour mark so an 11:30 newscast would just be filled with wire service stories and national packages anyway.

The Onion outdid themselves today. I wouldn't put anything past AIPAC Bari though. https://theonion.com/bari-weiss-attempts-to-boost-ratings-by-kidnapping-tony-dokoupils-mom/

It's not the 90s... on-demand news is everywhere. Giving that time back to affiliates would actually be a burden. Stations don't have the budget for syndie programming, and producing live news at that hour has terrible ROI for advertisers. News foamers also overlook the staffing reality: asking anchors, producers, reporters, directors to add on more shows for no extra pay is ridiculous (but the norm). The Byron Allen shows are trash, but forcing cash-strapped affiliates to bleed money on an unprofitable late night local newscast isn't the answer. It’s wild to me that people here claim to love local news, yet have zero regard for the actual crews being asked to do more with less while linear viewership keeps dropping.

Nobody needs an 11:30p newscast.

Jason Dunning is leaving Hearst station WBBH/WZVN for Hearst sister station WISN. https://www.wisn.com/article/meteorologist-jason-dunning-joins-wisn-12-news-on-weekday-mornings/70941465?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwY2xjawRBAtJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA80MDk5NjI2MjMwODU2MDkAAR5qHRyFbfGeOrfcjOh-FvhbFVkwxiX-y3JG_uPoP3iVWKEHpgXGUpIMrMWaOg_aem_q-7gu8Bt6RXnZR5eKnOxOA

Angels' Not Quite FanDuel Sports Network added ABS lamps. Unsurprisingly, they're following everyone else in placement (not to mention the Bally graphics already used that particular style of lamp for timeouts in its uncommonly-seen football mode)

https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/views/public/consummationDraftCopy?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff39d432e7c019d4448efd70073&id=25076ff39d432e7c019d4448efd70073&goBack=N The deals were consummated April 1 for those three stations, so Gray now owns them.

I wouldn't get my hopes up that the divestures will go anywhere other than Mission. There is a two-year timer on them that started when the deal closed, that gives Mission plenty of time to come up with the cash needed.

Divestitures won’t happen until Nexstar knows the final outcome of this deal. Why would they sell Nexstar owned stations now if the deal is later blocked on antitrust grounds? That’s like selling your house before you know you are going to get a new house. And they can’t sell Tegna owned stations because they technically don’t own them at the moment. So everything will be status quo until the state of limbo is resolved.

The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking Nexstar should be allowed to go ahead with at least some of the planned divestitures ASAP. WTHR can be spun off now as it's a stand-alone station that isn't tied to a duopoly partner that Nexstar wants to keep. No technical issues involved. The Hampton Roads conflict would require moving WVBT-specific resources and employees from WAVY's building to WVEC's....or changing the plan and divesting WVEC instead. The others (KNWA, KTVD, WUPL, WCTX) are all in markets where Nexstar should be forced to divest two stations, not just one. Three of them, though (KTVD, WUPL, and WCTX), would likely have trouble being stand-alone stations and would need new duopoly partners. (I'd be surprised if Gray isn't already eying WUPL and WCTX.)

Yes. Well, not their impatience per se but the deal itself might be deemed illegal. But it is equally possible that the deal stands. There’s a process - and not usually a quick one - that has to play out. Anyone who tells you they know how this will end is just guessing.

Nexstar weren't impatient. They moved quickly after the FCC approval probably anticipating State Plaintiffs/DIRECTV will file a TRO but also because Bank of America gave Nexstar a high-interest 7-day bridge loan to close the deal. As soon as the approval came TGNA was removed from trading and Nexstar moved quickly to sell bonds to repay the BoA bridge, and pay TGNA stock holders their $22/share. These deals are loaded with tens of millions of $ in fees so any delays end up costing. Asst. AG from the State Plaintiffs complained in the filing that she emailed Nexstar counsel to delay the closing, but they weren't responding for something like a week, the merger closed, and Nexstar replied saying it's too late to wait. Not illegal, just State Plaintiffs got outmaneuvered. Nexstar is not required to wait or accomodate any pending litigation unless it's court ordered, it's on the plaintiff to counter it.

WAVY is #1 in most newscasts. Sign-on to sign-off, IDK. WAVY and WVEC were fairly close in the ratings when the latter was owned by Belo.

I was surprised to see JKO in Yakima. Didn’t seem his style. He was in Eureka, CA before where he anchored every weekday newscast, morning and night. It is a beautiful place. He seems to like the small markets.

KOKI has a much superior facility. While the building itself is not new (built as a department store in the early 60s), it’s a much bigger and more modern facility than KTUL’s in Lookout mountain. KOKI has space to build out multiple studios. It even has several thousand square feet of a now-unused event center operated in the building under clear channel. The building also houses a cluster of radio stations now KOKI is partners with. KOKI is also a much higher rated station. Sinclair has run KTUL so far into the ground, many of its newscast see viewers in the hundreds, rather than thousands. KOKI is a solid #2 and on occasion still beats KOTV, though not like it used to under old Cox.

In the latest NewsActive3 video, the closing credits for WTHI and WTVA both feature Gray Local Media so at least those two plus WLFI are now Gray owned stations. The rest are still up in the air, despite what The Desk is reporting.

I believe the deal has been finalized. The stations are now showing Gray copyrights, and the FCC sites have changed to such as owners. Confirmation?

Don”t forget Griffin in Oklahoma.

It kind of had to do with NBC's relationship with Ansin, which was terrible despite Ansin being super loyal to NBC. WSVN at the time was a 3rd placer which pre-empted NBC shows during a time when NBC was less tolerant and NBC thought they could do better and bought WTVJ in 1987, they waited 1 year and a half due to Ansin getting NBC to honor out their contract. WSVN turned out through failed CBS negotiations which resulted in them buying the then WCIX from TVX a Fox affiliate. Ultimately, WSVN had managed to propel itself in the ratings thanks to its highly successful and unique news operation while WTVJ fell due to finding itself under WSVN's shadow and NBC's inconsistent direction whether to make the news department more traditional or more tabloid. While NBC affiliated with WHDH at the time, their relationship still felt unstable and after speaking out against the stupidity of the 10PM Jay Leno show, managed to tank their relationship despite the overall failure of the 10PM Jay Leno show. 7 years later, NBC created a station (WBTS) out of thin air, leaving WHDH to become an independent similar to WSVN. Compared to Nexstar which would involve affiliation switches the likes of which haven't been seen since 1994-1996, Ansin looks tame by comparison.

also a battleground state

CBS does not take the same NFL approach Fox takes. I’m happy to point out AFC markets where they do not own a station and non-AFC markets where they do own a station. Both Houston and Washington are bigger markets and they would trade KDKA in smaller market Pittsburgh in a heartbeat. KDKA is also the only O&O in Pittsburgh.

If they had just done the divestitures in the first place, we wouldn't be talking about this. In any case, I agree with you.

I still think this merger is gonna go through just a lot of divestments.

And this is why:

Ratings usually parallel market share, so markets that seem to combine any of the top 4 with or without an existing -opoly are likely to be divested if the courts get their way. Now in a place like Dallas where WFAA/KFAA and KDAF are, they're likely safe because the latter two stations don't hold a candle to WFAA's reach and market share.

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).

Haley Meier is filling in for Ari Sarsalari this week on "Fox Weather @ Night". Unusual, seeing that the show, for some reason, usually doesn't air at all when Ari is off.

This move is the latest confirmation that CBS simply doesn't care about their viewers or affiliates. All they care about is money in the Skydance era. They'll drop an affiliate in a heartbeat if they get a better offer from someone else, or have the means to go it alone (like in Atlanta). Non-CBS or Paramount content is getting pushed aside in favor of their own shows. Isn't this why we had the fin-syn rules before? CBS News is being dismantled even further to make themselves look good to dear leader. And if some huckster like Byron Allen is throwing money to get his third-rate repeats on....CBS happily obliges. I can't wait until Let's Make a Deal is cancelled for one of Byron Allen's "courtroom drama" shows....