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Dr. Phil once again refusing accountability. Merit Street Media is filing for bankruptcy... and is suing TBN for "breach of contract". https://deadline.com/2025/07/dr-phils-merit-street-media-jv-files-for-bankruptcy-sues-partner-trinity-broadcasting-for-breach-of-contract-1236448188/

From the Broadcast Plaza server, here's the first peak at the new NBC-Telemundo Newsroom. The new set is slated for later this year, and I'd imagine this follows a similar timeline.

For what it's worth most of this goes back to the Crouch family feud, in which Matthew and his wife Laurie (and by extension, their sons Caylan and Cody) prevailed over Paul Jr. and his children for succession rights. P.J. and his son Brandon created JCTV, renamed JUCE after P.J. and his offspring were banished from TBN. Smile (of a Child) and the Church Channel were Jan Crouch's creations. As soon as she died, Matt and Laurie changed course on both. TBN stayed away from wading into political waters when Paul Sr. and Jan were running the show. Of course, that all changed when Matt and Laurie gained full control once both his parents were gone. I see that as part natural evolution, and part Matt and Laurie seeking greater influence in those circles.

An absolute fucking shakedown, point-blank period. Even if the cult leader of MAGA is only getting a fraction of what was originally filed, it's still criminal that Paramount/CBS has to give him anything.

Shameful.

A little bit of a tidbit for everyone. This week is the 4th of July holiday. It's known that employees can take a week of vacation. So wait about a week after, and if Johnson and Quinn are still off, then maybe that'll be where suspicions can be raised a little bit.

The idea is interesting. Maybe it works maybe not. Trying new things with partners who handle their areas of expertise is fine. Live and learn. Years ago, like all the way back in the last century, WPVI Philly ran a store at the King of Prussia mall. Had a small space for reporters to do live reports though I can’t say I remember that part being used much. No coffee, but it had an assortment of station and ABC-show branded merchandise. Travel mugs, hats, pens, shirts…all that kind of stuff. Lasted a few years and quietly closed down. But it got them some branding in a high-traffic location for a while. It’s easy to find all the potential negatives and things to pick apart, but in a rapidly changing landscape, taking a calculated swing now and then can be worth the shot.

Just going to flag that this shouldn't be a list. Airport newsstands and what WDIV is doing are very different ventures.

And as this comes into play. Let us reflect on all the NBC 5 sets of the NBC Tower in the last 35 years!

50 States in 50 Weeks: America the Beautiful GMA is launching a year-long weekly series where a main anchor or meteorologist will visit one of all 50 States in celebration of the United States' Semiquicentennial and its own fiftieth anniversary. Starts July 3rd in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and ends next July. https://deadline.com/2025/06/good-morning-america-yearlong-series-50-states-in-50-weeks-1236444863/

liking the "miami" in the abc font.

For those who missed it... WTEN's Steve Caporizzo's sign off from Monday:

Don't forget Daystar.

There's two EWTNs: the first is the channel that shows masses for shut-ins and daily rosaries (along with Bishop Sheen reruns). The second is the news service, which is to the right of OAN and Newsmax. Raymond Arroyo is their lead "anchor" when he's not chumming up with Laura Ingraham, a friendship that goes back to her conversation to the Church 20 years ago. The Vatican is in a tough spot, it's not like there's enough of an audience to justify the existence of a competing network with a more liberal ideology. It always had been a euphemism for the right-wing. CBN, TBN, PTL and even individual televangelists have had those beliefs for practically forever.

I posted this on Broadcast Plaza’s A Block, but might as well highlight it here too. There has been so much turnover for TBN’s diginets in the past decade, to sum up: * TBN Salsa (their attempt to target English-speaking Latinos/Hispanics) launched and failed within a couple of years; * The Church Channel became Hillsong Channel and then, in the wake of Hillsong’s scandals, became TBN Inspire * Smile and Juce TV (formerly JCTV) were merged into a Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite-style scheduling format OTA (Smile during the day and Juce at night for 12 hours each, with their 24-hour feeds relegated to the TBNi streaming offering) for a couple years after Salsa launched, then re-separated back into two 24-hour feeds when Salsa was dropped; * Juce (and its teen/YA-targeted format) was repurposed as a YouTube channel, while the OTA network got replaced by the family movie channel Positiv (becoming its first commercial diginet venture); * Merit TV launched under a distribution partnership, hit financial issues within its first year and is now likely on the verge of being kicked off of TBN’s diginet suite; * Enlace USA was shuffled off to streaming (bc of Merit’s launch); * Smile (one of the few OTA kids’ channels) folded in January and had its OTA slot replaced by infomercial service OnTV4U.

Here's a full breakdown; Mountain Broadcasting (which owns Merit's NY flagship, WMBC) is the second largest creditor, followed by KVMD, its LA station, and Olympusat, along with DirecTV and Nexstar and the COPS producers, among others. So it's more than TBN, but every one of his affiliates has said 'we're done', and I'm sure TBN expected a basic network, not for him to throw them into multiple culture wars. I don't really have sympathy for them because they knew they are literally competing with his own reruns, but those other groups are not going to be made whole.

I'll bet you that this and the ABC fines will be overturned on appeal after Trump is deposed (it may come to that when his term is up and he doesn't leave) because this is blackmail plain and simple.

*) I'm doing it in terms of irony and oxymoron. +) let's hope; it'll be a Merry Christmas miracle.

Looks like TBN is cutting ties with this clown and the waste of bandwidth that is Merit Street. I'm sure that some third-rate media platform will save (don't call him Dr.) Phil McGraw's vanity project, otherwise it could be on its last legs. If he loses the TBN distribution, I give Merit Street before New Year's until its forced to shut down operations, again unless some desperate platform needing content takes mercy on this shitshow of a channel.

Pedro Rivera officially promoted to weekday mornings

This is common enough that I'm sure it's just a licensing deal.

Looking pretty good. I’m sure they will be happy to have some breathing room given their current situation. My guess is a November reveal [in time for sweeps].

And sure enough, that's what happened:

I agree with this. I guess it looks "cool" but it gets stale pretty quickly. In fact, I think it gets in the way of showing the weather. Where we used to have weather maps and graphics taken full screen, they now exist on only a portion of the screen. I don't care if it "looks bigger" because the talent is tiny in comparison, if it takes up less of my TV screen at home it's smaller and harder to see. Instead of seeing the maps, we see fake walls that add nothing. And having the weather talent in a different room than the news anchors just makes everything feel less friendly. I guess it's interesting for viewers to look at, but it's distracting and takes away from presenting information.

TBN also did themselves no favors by cashing out many of their stations in the spectrum auction, and subsequently selling the licenses to other parties, much like WDLI in Canton living on as a re-packed station on Ion's (Inyo's) WVPX. These TBN stations (and other full-power god-casters) exploited the must-carry obligation to get them on cable while the others opted for retransmission consent. Donations went down over time and the spectrum was a way to make some quick cash.

Merit Street is complaining that TBN didn't help it get on cable enough.

Yes

Good for them for not bending the knee.

WKMG loses two on-air talent folks in a span of days. First, Crystal Moyer who's leaving WKMG after 5 years there later today (as of the time I write this post). https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2025/06/25/thank-you-news-6-gets-ready-to-say-farewell-to-longtime-morning-anchor/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wkmg6&fbclid=IwY2xjawLS5PNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhenP7c_1K0bxmgKgC5KtLn9AfZwzuvSPyfCm6KTqmruSfmt8sT5jt1nm_MU_aem_fTe-Jk7_86xBB8s7up4gxw Now, its longtime morning and noon anchor Bridgett Ellison who left yesterday after 14 years there. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2025/07/02/wkmg-news-6-celebrates-anchors-14-years-of-service-to-central-florida/

In the end, Paramount Global didn’t settle because they were wrong. They didn’t settle because it was fair. They settled because that’s how power works now. Grease the right palms, press the right flesh, and you can say whatever the hell you want—as long as you don’t mean it. In the end, they sold out the truth for 16 million bucks. ... that’s a hell of a bargain.

Sounds like a game show rejected by Game Show Network.

I would argue maybe bringing "Vatican Media" to the States via Roku and other streaming means and double down on content, even make actual newscasts from the reports from Vatican News? But does the cost justify it when the church is already in a tough financial spot, probably not.

The Ansin family literally developed Miramar from the beginning. The only thing that kept them from redeveloping the island was getting the WIOD side and their towers (the island was partitioned in 1962 after Biscayne Broadcasting lost the license for channel 7–which saw a replacement license awarded to Sunbeam—and AM 610 was sold back to Cox Media).

In Dr. Phil's filing, he claimed TBN agreed to give the must-carry rights on their O&O stations over to Merit Street (which would have been crazy to do) and then renenged, which they characterized as leaving the operation with "nowhere to send its broadcast signal and nowhere to air its programming". https://deadline.com/2025/07/dr-phil-merit-street-media-jv-bankruptcy-sues-trinity-1236448188/

Paley, Murrow, Cronkite, Hewitt, Wallace, Bradley all surely rolling in their graves…

Lol these media companies are literally paying him for frivolous claims and tantrums. Absolute jokes.

Sunbeam Properties, so yes. Now they have a website devoted to it as well: https://www.sunbeamnbv.com/home EDIT: They've even included a PDF with detailed plans as to what they'll construct in NBV to replace the WSVN complex: https://assets.courbanize.com/sunbeam-north-bay-village/info-plans/5c4f61e19ee3eaf708ee5cb07d1630b9.pdf

Just imagine if Karen gets a bad cup of coffee and wants to "speak with the manager" Not to mention all of the other crackpots who want to worm their way onto TV....

A little birdie told me uncle Warren said no to a sale - if he sold it would have tax implications given how he acquired wplg. I still think Fox will buy 10, and that the ABC deal was a hedge by wsvn management since Their fox affiliation expires 2026 so...

Network 10 in Australia recieved a brand refresh coinciding with the debut of 10 News+. 10 Bold Drama changed to 10 Drama, 10 Peach Comedy changed to 10 Comedy, and the Network 10 logo no longer has a circle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0R2DEGX2eM&t=105s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okD6JRi5U4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqP2XJIUcI4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBGcMTXFrYM

CNBC has shops in multiple airports, though they're also just news/convenience stores with branding. I remember seeing one in Charlotte back in 2007.

Same with KUSI…. https://www.san.org/Shop-Dine-Relax/Detail?Id=54

Nothing will happen Biden said the F-bomb when Obamacare was passed. I say let the F-Bomb fly it isn't that big a deal in my opinion, and I don't get why lots still get offended by the F-Bomb in this day and age broadcaster should be allowed to have the F-Bomb fly in primetime maybe for 10PM to 6AM that is safe harbor but seems that the broadcasters don't use it for some reason.

This looks like something that could work, and I like how they're doing this. TEGNA stations across the West are joining forces to bring you a weather-only program called Weather Out West on streaming. Stations featured? KXTV Sacramento KFMB San Diego KING/KONG Seattle KGW Portland KREM/KSKN Spokane KTVB Boise KUSA/KTVD Denver KPNX Phoenix/KMSB Tucson (TEGNA owns the latter and airs KPNX news there too) It appears to be a daily occurrence, but I'm not entirely sure. Today, its KING 5's Ashley Ruiz hosting (and delivering the Seattle forecast) with a national summary from WXIA-TV Atlanta's Julie Martin (remember her? From TWC?).

The 18.1 placement really doesn't matter for anything but cable carriage. Not that it matters because LPTVs are excluded from must-carry rules.

WRAL has a store in the Raleigh-Durham airport. It’s just a market with supplies for travelers. I assume its real purpose is just like any other form of advertising. It exposes newcomers and visitors to the WRAL brand. https://www.rdu.com/wral-travel-store/

It's as if it has.... [puts on sunglasses] ...no merit.

That is what it feels like to me, they are keeping the seat warm for now just in case CBS decides the current Evening News format isn't working. Shall we start a betting pool for when Maurice will be back at CBS 2?

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/cbs-files-new-response-to-dismiss-president-trumps-lawsuit/

Brady would probably have a baby and file a complaint, if it does come to fruition. He owns WICZ. On earlier post, I speculated that Media General would acquire the Granite stations, because it wouldn't have any sort of conflicts. The overlapped markets (Duluth & Fort Wayne), one of them would be assigned to that Galloway shell (I think he holds the Sheild). The article states that one of the deals may include Granite. Should they acquire Granite, I don't think that it will include KOFY or WMYD. That would be just too big for them. Should Nexstar goes ahead and acquire Granite, several things need to be sorted out, not only the situations in Peoria & Syracuse, which I think there's several issues in itself, but the current LMA in other existing/new Sinclair/Nexstar markets. It looks like Sinclair will win another Big-4 duopoly soon (like in SA with WOAI/KABB) in El Paso (KDBC/KFOX). If both are going to move to a new facility in 2014 like they said they were going to do, where are going to move to? Or are they going to build it from scratch (which is very unlikely). Other markets include Harrisburg, Rochester. I think, the Rochester one basically be done after it expires. I don't think Nexstar will lose any sleep if WUHF move to WHAM, because there busy hubbing the other NY stations anyway. Harrisburg could be a real tricky situation since Sinclair will operate both WHP and WHTM, while they still have that LMA with WLYH. In other words, 7 years ago when they both partnered to do the LMAs in Rochester, Peoria & Harrisburg, and while both have more then one shell I think they have all the capital that they don't really need/continue to have an LMA. Peoria will be one hot mess. Should Nexstar acquires WEEK (and they would no doubt have come with a Mission), you know what they're going to do. I'm not sure if WMBD's building is big enough to occupy two stations and two master controls. I would love to see WHOI having an in-house news operation. If Sinclair was smart enough, they would probably think about the spots to where they could build a facility, and yes they would have to recruit personnel and buy sets and HD equipment and such. OR, should WEEK move to WMBD, WHOI could have the WEEK facility all to themselves, and move WYZZ to join WHOI. But whatever the case maybe, this would be one of the most complicated moves I've ever see in regards of move of station operations. If the LMA in Peoria & Syracuse never happened, this would be an easier pill to swallow, I tell you.