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Actually, even some reality shows are gonna be hit by SAG-AFTRA striking since some of the hosts & people in them may be in that union. This will probably mean the networks go to Plan C, "movies, news, & sports" But I gotta give props to the union for standing with their writer colleagues. The response AMPTP gave to the WGA & SAG-AFTRA is absolutely reprehensible. They literally said they're willing to let the writers lose their homes before taking up their deal. They've already shown their cards & this does nothing but increase the amount of support the unions are getting from the public. Besides, doing this will only end up hurting the studios themselves at the end of the day. I do have a feeling that this could evolve into something much bigger, especially if the Teamsters decide to strike after the end of this month & both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA hold on. Time will only tell.

Set debuted 2 days ago...

I like it. Looks real nice so far.

Looks like Diamond dropped their lawsuit trying to block the Phoenix Suns from going OTA:

The man’s also been hospitalized over this, so that’s also a factor. The story is complex, and there’s still a lot we don’t know, including both the motives of the accusers and the full severity of the accusations. I think a lot of the anger at The Sun is because they implied criminality; one article implied that Huw (still unnamed) “could face criminal charges.” This wouldn’t look good for them if he didn’t commit a crime, unsavory though his actions may be. There’s also a broader discussion to be had about the right to privacy, if it was violated, and whether it can realistically be maintained in the case of a high profile individual at a public institution. If it turns out that none of the allegations amount to either criminal activity or workplace misconduct, one might ask if this ever should have been a story at all. As far as misconduct is concerned, I can’t judge one way or another until we know absolutely all of the facts, especially considering that authorities found no evidence of a crime. It’s tempting for people to make a verdict, but it wouldn’t be an informed (or just) one. Sexual misconduct is a scourge on society, but so is defamation. IMO the only appropriate thing I can say is that I hope everyone, including the alleged victims, Huw Edwards, and his family, gets much needed help and support.

Last month, WAVY demolished their former set (debuted back in 2016). They're currently anchoring from a temp set behind a chroma key. Let me add this tidbit. Their last two sets debuted on July 21 (2008 & 2016). Could this happen for a third time?.....

It could be worse, like a religious network masquerading as a news network....or vice versa.... But maybe it's time to revisit the must-carry rules, since 99.9% of the stations that opt for them are worthless garbage programming of little benefit to the local viewer....

No no no my 8 babies ABC O&Os are my best station group New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philly, Houston, San Fran, Raleigh-Durham are in the top 25, with Fresno in the 50s. Don't give them up a perfect combo they're a diverse group of DMA's. BOTH are all of them are legacies.

Meanwhile, they're not getting the Suns back:

And you know what that means: The reality shows will continue until morale improves.

Nah, for the most part this is returning quite a few stations to the Saturday status quo they had for at least a couple decades where they'd carry ESPN+ (the old regional sports version) or Raycom coverage. This should have been done back to when UPN was carrying XFLI games but the weekend syndie hour show market hadn't yet hard-crashed. They might be the thinner matches, but it's still college football on Saturdays and basketball on weeknights. It's better than Nielsen scratch-athons the 55th episode of dead sitcoms or Byron Allen filler... ...and this package will affect his HBCU coverage for the next season. Expect that to bump exclusively to MyNet affiliates and subchannels if it was on a CW station last year. Of course this is contingent on the CW renewing SInclair, which is still quite in limbo.

The joke’s on them. This actually makes the games more accessible than they were on Bally

I'm amazed that Raycom Sports (now part of Gray) will be producing the games. Nexstar and Gray, while two big broadcast companies, are about as far apart as can be when it comes to things like cable, digital and OTT...

This definitely came from the Bally contract they ended up voided earlier this year.

In addition to finding a strategic partner for ESPN, Iger said that he was “open to selling or spinning off Disney’s legacy cable networks, including FX and NatGeo, and its broadcast group, ABC Networks.” Man, Fox made out like bandits when they did.

Adding more fuel to the question if the Murdoch family and Fox Corp are fit to have public television licenses, are two events from yesterday. One is the defamation suit by Ray Epps, a private citizen who took part in the 1/6 insurrection at the US Capitol, who Fox News & Tucker Carlson have continuously brandished as a FBI plant. He is not, nor ever an employee or associate of the FBI. He points out Fox's disinformation and impact on 1/6. The second is this opinion by those who were with Rupert Murdoch from the beginning of establishing Fox as a fourth TV network, and their current feelings. It makes for interesting reading. The issue is not how the local stations operate, it is whether ownership is a fit license holder. https://boulderpreston.com/2023/07/12/how-our-efforts-to-bring-competition-to-television-unknowingly-helped-create-the-fox-disinformation-machine/

I don't like how they insert a name below the headline since the update a few weeks ago. On the old look, the headline would move up and the name would show up below. Now with the revised new look, there is a red wipe from left to right to unveil the change. It feels like it's a different slide in a presentation, tricking the eye that the entire banner has changed when it should be more obvious that the headline has just made room for the name. I'm hoping they are still working to adjust this. I also really dislike the flipper being in all caps.

I saw a follow-up (forget where) that said there were some parts of the updated look they planned to keep. I think the biggest thing was getting the heavier font weights back. Still think they should do more two line chryons, that narrow squished look is horrible, no matter who does it.

Well, I guess it's been 2 to 3 weeks since the rumored reverting to the old CNN look. I guess it's safe to say I was wrong, and so was the original "source" who spark my thinking. My apologies.

I somewhat understand this opinion, and also acknowledge that it’s possible for some shows to use swearing as a bit of a crutch, but to me, that’s a problem of bad writing, not the existence of swear words. You could also argue that a complete ban on swear words makes certain shows unrealistic. Can you really suspend your disbelief about the average CBS police procedural when you don’t hear the occasional F-bomb flying around? I understand having no explicit content before, say, 9pm, but I still think a complete ban is unrealistic in 2023. Although, given the fact that we’re about to experience a drought of scripted shows, this is probably a moot point. Oh well, get ready for Deal or No Deal: Electric Boogaloo.

https://www.foxweather.com/watch/play-681e8dd62000a01 Looks like for Bob Van Dillen's debut today (video linked above), they did an introduction segment for him on Weather Command; however, they didn't have him host any shows today. Amy, Kendall, and Kelly were off today, and Ian is on assignment in Vermont covering the flooding live on scene. Stephen filled in for Amy as host of Weather Command (Michael and Jason split duties sitting in Stephen's seat today). Kiyana filled in for Kendall, Brigit filled in for Ian (with Adam Klotz taking Brigit's normal role), and Fox Weather Live with Steve and Marissa is airing in a pre-recorded loop in place of Kelly's show. America's Weather Center was a normally fully-live show with Michael and Kiyana today.

Exactly; they actually *did* push fake news on their stations, not to mention the mass closure of newsrooms. You’d have a better case against them holding licenses, yet they’re still here. I know Fox sucks and all, but there are plenty of grifters out there who will use a legit issue like disinformation to rake in cash and attention. They aren’t helping anyone or anything but their wallets.

WCSC replacing Hot Bench with new local show Palmetto Life at 9am in September.

If "character" was ever an issue the FCC cared about, Sinclair would have been shut down years ago. But even by their failed and misguided attempt to purchase Tribune, payola, plugola and regulatory blunders over the years, all they got was some fines and consent degrees...

Fox News does have a few payoffs from legal rulings to deal with and cuts will come from non-essential areas, like, say, your somewhat new weather channel that may or may not be getting a lot of eyeballs.

Okay we're getting off topic -- we can continue this in the Weather Lab section

Meanwhile, Karen Jordan is celebrating 20 years with ABC 7.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment. The First Amendment does not guarantee anyone a specific platform, and there is no constitutional right to own a broadcast television license.

Did RKO General mismanage WNAC (Boston) and other stations they owned? No. They lost their licenses for the misdeeds of the parent corporation. And that is the basic question, from the defamation suits, the admission of broadcasting false claims, to the culture of abuse and more, does Fox meet the requirements as a responsible TV license holder, irregardless of how the individual stations are run. The question is worth being asked and debated by the FCC.

I read the whole petition. It’s a bit weird and reads more like a high school essay at times. It does a lot of conflating FNC with FTS and the Dominion suit, but it doesn’t really make a very clear connection between FNC and WTXF other than that both broadcast Fox News Sunday. The petition would be stronger if it could point to specific examples of false election claims being broadcast on WTXF via Fox News Sunday, Level 1 and 2 cut-ins, and/or NewsEdge packages during that timeframe. There might be some instances of such a thing, but even so, it’s probably a far cry from what was being broadcast on FNC at the time. Don’t get me wrong – NewsEdge definitely does sneak slanted reporting through its PKGs that it passes along to affiliates almost every single day, but I don’t know if there was much during that time that rises to the same level of libel as Sidney Powell on Maria Bartiromo’s show. I don’t know how far this will go, but it’s still interesting, and another headache for the Fox legal team. The FCC’s notion of license holders having a duty to the public might be a product of a bygone era, but it’s possible the FCC could take this seriously. Is a corporation that settled in the biggest defamation lawsuit In American history worthy of holding an FCC license, even if the defamation didn’t happen on FCC-regulated airspace? It’s an interesting question, and while this whole thing might not go very far, perhaps it’s still worth exploring in an FCC hearing.

FCC has no jurisdiction over what airs on cable channels.

They’ll be called CBS News Detroit. WKBD is not KCAL. Also, don’t be surprised if WKBD simulcasts the 7-9am streaming block of their morning newscast in the fall.

I love KDKA’s newscasts, but it’s time for them to change their mics. They are still showing the old logo. Same with KPIX.

Is this the first former member of Morning Express to have an on-air presence again? I know someone predicted here he'd land at FOX Weather. If so, great move on their part.

Well, CBS is exploring a potential sale of the Broadcast Center, so they may not get a new set until that happens.

Let's hope they get new graphics along with the new set!

Just read this from a small market station and it will help you understand the difference: https://abc17news.com/weather/2022/01/26/insider-blog-what-is-arctic-high-pressure/ Let's get back to the new graphics... Just compare these risk outlooks from KTRK and WPVI. Which one is a better visual representation that viewers can remember more easily? The 'improved' version isn't listed in ascending order, isn't color coded, and has bar graphs that are all over the delineations.The isolated tornado bar looks like a mid-to-high end low risk, damaging winds could be a lower-end high risk or a high-end medium risk, etc. It's just poorly done and much harder to remember at a glance. KTRK's way is labeled on each bar, color coded, listed from highest to lowest risk, and each bar goes the full length of the delineations (4 vs 3 for new package). This isn't an improvement. It's a downgrade. I should correct something: Hothaus Creative didn't not make the weather graphics for KTRK; they made current and prior news packages. It was their former Chief Meteorologist Tim Heller who designed the weather graphics. Tim used unique color gradients for radar, enhanced satellite, rainfall, dust-casts, etc. (I don't know who made the red High though). The package made by VividZero uses the same green, yellow, and red color tables for almost everything. It's just too basic.

Oof. Kinda looks like a temp set.

The inevitable has happened; RNN Associates, which turned several major market stations into zombies carrying ShopHQ programming, has purchased ShopHQ's parent company out of (duh) Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They're probably going to keep their viewer-hostile 'only appeal to 50+ers until they're in the grave' strategy going. Great job, FCC; your spectrum auction turned a broadcaster into a shopping network-owning literal waste of electricity for a channel that should've died decades ago but hangs on because of must-carry. Really great for that 'diversity of voices' thing you used to judge licensees on in the old days.

Just heard about this on the radio. Longtime DFW anchor John Criswell has passed. He anchored at WFAA for 17 years, then moved to KDFW and anchored there for 7 years. Criswell is likely the most notable for starting WFAA's regular feature "Wednesday's Child", where a child is profiled who has been fostered and would like to eventually be adopted. "Wednesday's Child" is still a weekly feature on WFAA. Criswell was 83. https://www.wfaa.com/amp/article/news/local/wfaa-anchor-john-criswell-dies/287-84a009b0-db4e-4457-a2f5-22416b476aba