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If you're an hourly employee and have to sign one, that is downright criminal. The only way they should ever hold up is if if the employee is important enough and compensated handsomely because of it.

FCC order is here (it boggles the mind that some websites paywall documents that can be found in two minutes) It feels like the FCC is doing a case of malicious compliance by allowing the sale under these conditions. And I love it.

It's almost insane that a company can fire you (or you leave them) yet they can dictate your post employment actions in a "free country". Anchors aside, I highly doubt the audience will abandon a station in droves if a reporter switches from say KABC to KNBC. So the rationale for post employment non-competes doesn't hold up to me. Related anecdote --- During college I applied for a $12 h/r job at Uniqlo who said we couldn't hold any simultaneous retail jobs. If someone is working in retail, most likely they only qualify to work within the industry. So how can you tell them they can't seek supplemental employment in their field? Not surprisingly this same company that recruited directly from college campuses also told students with 8:00 a.m. classes that had to be able to close at 1:00 a.m. a few nights a week --- so I'm pretty sure they don't care.

Unsurprisingly, Hank Price decided to humiliate himself in this op-ed claiming it will be a "body blow" to the megachains and depress salaries for talent, and openly pled for "an appropriate court" (translation: a right-wing court dominated by Republican appointees) to overturn it. It's easily the most depraved, tone-deaf and out-of-step reaction by a man who runs a website—TVNewsCheck—now wholly subsidized by rich old white males Perry Sook, Hilton Howell, Adam Symson and David Smith.

From paragraph 54: 15% of 168 hours means Nexstar cannot supply more than 25 hours and 20 minutes of programming per week. The CW primetime takes up 15 hours total per week, meaning they cannot program any more than 10 hours of sports per week or any NewsNation simulcasts. Mission got a greenlight to purchase a boat anchor for $75 million.

It's going to be stuck in appeal purgatory for quite awhile (and of course...2025 and a certain result can toss it completely), but the FTC has now voted to nullify all non-competes.

Hearst-lite.

Even though this was kind of an "emergency" rebranding, that was a purposeful little nod to the site's history. That, and the fact that the media we talk about is growing beyond "TV" in the traditional sense. I think there's something wonky going on with the caching (we're behind Cloudflare now, something else I've wanted to do for a while) that is causing this, I'm going to look into it further.

The cost is one part of it - but the other elephant in the room is staffing the endless newscasts most stations are doing. Recruiting producers was a challenge before the pandemic hit four years ago, and the brain drain there has only gotten worse. The Scrippscast model doesn't solve the retention problem - but it is one way to function in an environment where there aren't enough people willing to do the job. (and hopefully, lighten the load and reduce the misery for the ones stations have left)

As you can see from the FB post below, KPRC moved its newscasts to the newsroom beginning today at noon while a new set is being built. It looks pretty cramped, but the newsroom provides a decent backdrop. Curious to see what’s in the works. Their current set debuted in 2016 when the station moved into its new building and has held up really well, with no significant signs of wear. One issue they have had recently is that their livestreaming show from 7a-10a has a unique format and often has kinda funky setups. Same goes for the new 10a newscast. They do a super-tight shot of the anchors for that show that shows almost none of the desk and stick a small, lucite table between the anchors. For interviews, they often put stools in front of the 3x3 video wall instead of using the designated interview area. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02WRZX3xqu12Nx16Jou75o4DPMWQibfVM5sYR7vqA9BB8ZTXtuDf2L2bfGqb7jApKyl&id=100058222113278

Very underwhelming, especially for Graham which has some good looking stations. They should have taken a page from sister station WJXT whose set looks way better. IMO, stations need to tone down the video walls, quit the furniture minimalism and get some physical set pieces.

According to Houston blogger Mike McGuff a desk will be featured on all newscasts but 6 and 10pm.

COMPLETELY underwhelmed. This took 2.5 months? Did Graham do this in house? The 10a show has a unique format and is heavy on in-studio interviews so I assume we will see an interview set in the morning.

One of their reporters posted this sneak peak on social media yesterday to mark KPRC’s 75th birthday. I realize it’s not done yet, but it’s kinda … underwhelming. Too much gray. As of now, at least, it’s a big step down from the not-very-old set it’ll be replacing. Also … based upon the multiple boxes, please tell me they’re not really ordering some set pieces from Amazon?!?