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Unfortunately, I think the rumors about NBC have something to them. David Zaslav, in a rather idiotic move IMO, went on record to say “We don’t need the NBA.” In other words, they need us more than we need them. Not only is that an extremely foolish and arrogant thing to say in public; it’s patently false. TNT’s entire sports division is built around the NBA; their plans to start a streaming service w/ Fox and ESPN revolve around having the NBA. It would be disastrous if they lose it. Source: https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/david-zaslav-nba-rights-deal.html If TNT doesn’t pick up a package of games, I just hope one of the other broadcasters picks up the Inside guys. It would be a shame to lose that show like this.

Weigel is launching another diginet, MeTV Toons, on June 25. Pretty much an outgrowth of MeTV's existing Monday-Saturday cartoon blocks (Toon In with Me and Saturday Morning Cartoons) and a broadcast equivalent of Boomerang (both its original all-classic cartoon format and its current daytime-only classic block), it will feature shows and shorts like Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Popeye, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Woody Woodpecker, Casper, Betty Boop, and Speed Racer. Bob Bergen, the voice behind various Looney Tunes characters (like Porky Pig, Tweety and Marvin the Martian), will be the announcer for the network.

Sister stations are stations that are owned by the same company as them. For example WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids is the sister station to WLNS in Lansing -- both are owned by Nexstar. WNBC in NYC is sister to KNBC in LA -- both are owned by NBCUniversal... etc etc etc

It will truly suck for TNT to lose the NBA. It would be worst than NBC losing it back in 2002 because at that time NBC outside of the Olympics and Golf were to me feeling like the sports department was “mailing it in”. They had Arena Football as football filler for losing the NFL in 1998 and they had NASCAR to fill the void of no NFL but IMO Dale Earnhardt getting killed in 2001 started a slow death (no pun intended) for NASCAR ratings wise. TNT (Turner as a whole company really.) is still going strong with all of the high profile sports and events they have outside of not having the NFL. And they have the hottest studio show in North American Sports TV with Inside the NBA. TNT losing the NBA would be up there probably 3rd with NBC losing baseball in 1989 and behind CBS and NBC losing the NFL in 1994 and 1998 respectively. ESPN has their priorities. Have blank check in hand for the following sports 1. Monday Night Football 2. College Football (sans Big Ten) and the CFP 3. The NBA and the Finals 4. NCAA Women’s Tournament and Final Four As much as I and many others hate ESPNs coverage of the NBA, they do whatever it takes to keep it unfortunately and their daytime shows are heavily influenced by it when it’s not football season.

I’m aware of that, I live in the market. Point is, they don’t identify that way now, and I don’t think there’s anything indicating that Nexstar is going that route with their legacy stations.

Bring back Eyewitness News at 7 on The U, you cowards.

Ginger and Somara Theodore can handle 90% of what the network needs, with frequent calls to the affiliates for weekend fill-ins. They call up Sam to do a little weather & a little entertainment stuff, but there's zero need for him to return to the network, full-time. I like Sam, but he can't (won't) commit to 5 days a week at his current job, so why would anyone expect him to commit to a hard schedule at the top? Frankly, if the network's 2 meteorologists (which Sam is not) were men, I don't think we'd have this constant conversation, pushing for Sam's return. Just saying.

Talk about full circle. It was WGN and Tribune that held out 8 years ago sending The CW on a soul-searching journey in Chicagoland through WPWR and WCIU, and now with Nexstar in charge and in control of the CW, it's back on WGN. As long as they don't rebrand WGN as CW9. I don't think the folks at WGN could ever live it down. I wonder now what WCIU will do with their current "U" subchannel? Change it to U-too?

It will be interesting to see how fast traditional TV declines now that so much of the sports coverage has gone streaming. I'm sure most of the MLB & NFL games will be exclusively streaming in the coming years as the contracts come up.

I think as long as it makes money CBS will be happy. Sounds like they may have a solid financial footing. The stars will likely not be commanding the same amount of money as “The Talk”. Nor the more establish soaps.

This is probably a tough one to answer because a lot of stations would do some kind of "news" broadcast (definitely nothing like what we'd call a "newscast") shortly after signing on. WFMY claims the "oldest and longest running morning show" so it's not necessarily the first. That credit probably goes to whoever decided to sign on at 7am or earlier first. I know a lot of stations wanted to try and duplicate Today locally after it debut in 1952, so WFMY in 1957 also seems quite late in that regard. I imagine other stations tried something, it didn't work out very well, and they just focused on other things and the attempt was forgotten. On that note, a lot of stations have this internal lore that they did something "first", and it's almost always inaccurate or with an asterisk. I feel like there's a good half dozen "first television studio"s out there because they're simplifying a more precise claim like "first building with a room converted for television use" or "first building built from the ground up with a television studio" (I think WTMJ claims this) or "first building built exclusively for television use".

I'll respond. First off, welcome aboard since I can tell this is your first post. And second, no. I believe The Good Morning Show from WFMY-TV Greensboro is the first early local morning newscast in the United States. That program has been on since December 1957.

I mean, he is 92 years old. He still is quick as a whip with his wit and understanding and I think it was a good segment. They had to honor Dan Rather in some capacity. They say that time heals all wounds. Good on CBS News and Sunday Morning doing this. And he still wants to be a journalist. Dan Rather has quite a history and I applaud him still doing what he does. -- Matt

Everything looks great and thanks for keeping the faith and going the extra length to keep the forum going. There isn't anything like it elsewhere.

One of the biggest rationales for non competes in journalism is safe guarding intellectual property. From my time in a newsroom I can tell you that photographers and digital writers (who aren't under contract) are privy to just as much intellectual property and "company secrets" as reporters/anchors and producers (who were under contract). So, IMO that doesn't hold up. This might be a radial leap but contracts should be abolished for all LOW WAGE employees. It's one thing to lock in Hoda Kotb or Robin Roberts for two years when you pay them millions. But small to medium market MMJs/Reporters making around $20 an hour should have the freedom to leave if necessary, especially because companies do not care about living expenses etc.. Aside from wanting your face exclusively on their channel, contracts are typically a mechanism for stations to curb high turnover. They lock talent in rather than improving the working conditions (and pay) that cause the turnover to begin with.

If he's able to and wants to, would it really be a good idea for CBS to bring back Dan maybe for one last election night? It seems that since this was his first appearance since his ouster years ago, it seems like CBS was able to give him a second chance and the controversy is all behind them. He still seems very sharp for 92.

Mark my words, WKYT WILL be debuting this month.

i think this belongs here GM:QUICK STICK THE CBS LOGO IN IT PD:are you sure? GM:YES THEY WONT NOTICE

It'll be the first time since the demise of Qubo in 2021 that we've had a over-the-air digital network largely dedicated to cartoons. However, the only difference is that MeTV Toons will feature shows that many of us of a certain age remember fondly, as opposed to a channel that featured mainly Canadian content and cheaply-produced domestic animation. Also because Warner Bros. Discovery is also involved, this new network will access to a lot of content, between the original Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera studios.

WPIX and KTLA never went that route. KPLR just rebranded, and they didn’t go that route. I think it’s a safe bet that they won’t mess with what works.

Basically, this is WTVY, the 800 ton gorilla in the Dothan market. WDHN has come a long way, but its still in WTVY's rear view mirror. The name itself started about 2009-10 when WTVY was also Panama City's default CBS affiliate and WSFA/WJHG filled out Dothan's offerings. It was originally hosted by former anchor Angie Casey, although the title leads to more of something that could have been hosted by the late Ann Varnum, a long-time "hostess" of the market who once had her own show with interviews and features. She may have been involved in it's early years.

The primetime staff probably makes more than the actual channel grifting off Nexstar's national ambitions. They had that Beavis and Butthead skit on SNL and when they highlighted it on air it was pointless because NN is so undefinable and nobody outside PIX Plaza actually remembers it was supposed to be spoofing NN. But as for WGN, I hope creative just refuses outright to make the entire logo pumpkin orange.

Purple would look good on WVUE and even WAFB. It would almost be the total subsuming of WWL over the last 20 years post Katrina. Stations like WWL made purple look good on TV.

I would imagine a subchannel. They would be foolish to send Fox packing to Scripps and WGNT, or worse, Sinclair and WTVZ.

As we all expected, WGN will reunite with The CW in September.

I think the strength of the Super Bowl, SNF, MNF on ESPN/ABC, NBA playoffs, etc. will help maintain a sizable portion of live sports broadcasting on linear for at least the foreseeable future.

NBC usually does a great job with transitions (outside Al Michaels, but that's more him than him), and like NBC basically grabbing the entire ABC MNF crew when they got the Sunday night package, I would expect them to just grab most of the Turner personnel and mix with their own. And though I love Mike Breen (and it depends if they switch it to a Super Bowl-like rotation), to finally give Kevin Harlan a Finals call would be amazing alone.

The league won’t care about nostalgia, longevity and sentiment as long as the check clears from the highest bidder.

Do it right, or don't do it at all.

If TNT loses the NBA this is the biggest loss of the entire process Turner being with the NBA for 40 years Inside the NBA ends it will be the biggest mistake in the history of the league

Yea, how much times will they have to mess up their TV stations before the FCC catches the idea? I mean, ending news departments, making KTUL and KOKH's newscast basically almost the same thing. Yet 'PIX is the problem? The Federal Communications Commission, they JUST DELETED LOCAL NEWS at WNWO in Toledo and STILL did nothing about KDNL, is you not understanding what's going on?

ESPN is reportedly close to a deal with NFLN.

Given how badly the affiliation base has been degraded and continues to be degraded, Nexstar really needs to stop the Sam Zell-era double standard and impose the network branding on their biggest stations. That absolutely means KRON, KTLA and WGN. Like, come on. Make it so people know your network actually still exists. Because right now they don't.

The MLB Sunday morning package could move to Roku.

With respect, what makes you suggest they would do that? PIX11, KTLA... Evidence that the branding will not be messed with. If I had to take a gamble, Branding and logo stays the same except for a somewhat awkwardly placed CW logo to the right of the 9... Just like they did in 2006. I do however look forward to a Paul Konrad WGN Courtesy Desk bit if they do try to mess with rebranding as CW9.

It appears that the reduction-in-force train has hit Allen Media Group, according to Scott Jones at FTV Live. Operations at local stations and the Weather Channel are affected. Any details?

Little update on this; John Tesh says all they have to do is give him a call if they win the package. The Fox license isn't exclusive: http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/nbc/john-tesh-roundball-rock-nba-media-rights.html

The Cox-Dish dispute is finally over: https://www.nexttv.com/news/dish-and-cox-media-group-end-17-month-retrans-blackout

Toward the end, Charlie (who I loved) did little else but introduce stories. Jane turns a package now and then. Dan Rather was on CBS Sunday Morning today, his first appearance on the network since his 2006 ouster. The Evening News has remained unstable 19 years since Rather left the desk in 05.

Hello everyone! Been a while since I posted about this but I am here to share our latest episode with you from our school newscast. Before Spring Break, it was our first year anniversary so we celebrated that with a new graphics package which you can see here (which debuted before break) and a new music package that debuted with this episode. All feedback is welcome as always!

I’ve always viewed as more ownership based than affiliate based. For instance, KHOU and WFAA are sister stations in Texas despite one being a CBS affiliate and the other being ABC.

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.

Scripps is looking to sell Bounce TV.

Im all for Bill adding his opinion.

Thank you for bringing us back! Even though I"m done with TV (for now), this site is still a daily one for me to keep up with what's going on in the crazy world of TV.

Speculation: Sam wants his GMA gig back, but Ginger is there, so he can't. Two male anchors plus the lead anchor and meteorologist in on a weekend! interesting.

Exec. 1: We're losing viewers to games and TikTok and YouTube. Exec 2: I have an idea. Let's make access to our product more complicated and more expensive.

Welp, congrats on killing your advantage of low barrier of entry.

Even in the 1980s there was minimal difference between the two brands. Look at Bill Bonds at WXYZ with Action News, and it was basically all centered around Bill Bonds and his on-air presence. Ditto with Irv Weinstein at WKBW; they used the EWN name but it wasn't anywhere close to the Al Primo EWN. The brands were never uniformly applied and mean different things to different people. @HulkieD has brought up how CapCities slowly (even if unintentionally) morphed WABC into... if not a Xerox of WPVI, then obviously a station with WPVI's Action News in its' blood. It still used the EWN name, but it wasn't the EWN pre-1986. WOIO's usage of Action News is mostly associated with the "last-place, last-chance news" uber-populist format that Bill Applegate---the same person who presided over WABC's late-80s changes---put in, almost out of desperation by Raycom, having admitted to overpaying for WOIO/WUAB when they bought out Malrite. It is a tainted brand in the market. EWN means nothing in Cleveland and hasn't meant anything since WEWS gave it up in 1990, and even then, NewsChannel 5 meant nothing when they gave it up a few years ago, aside from people likely confusing WEWS with WPTV on social media. If WOIO used EWN, it would feel tacked on and meaningless. (Yes, channel 3, then KYW-TV, originated EWN from 1959 to 1965 but it predated Al Primo or even Westinghouse's full treatment of the brand. Because of the passage of time, few are alive to actually remember when it debuted in Cleveland.) It actually says a lot that none of the stations in Cleveland have a so-called "brand" for their newscasts: 3 News, News 5, Fox 8 News and 19 News. But does it matter? I'm from Cleveland and I can tell the four news operations apart fairly easily.

Missing the point. "Action News" and "Eyewitness News" are extremely dated brands, and are more or less cliché at this point. It's nearly 2023, it's time to find new ways of branding local news outside of two 60's era news formats. The formats themselves are barely even used anymore. I sure don't notice any difference between an "Action" or "Eyewitness" newscast and... every other newscast out there.