CircleSeven

New Petition.

RNN has filed to have Norwell, MA's WWDP to vacate VHF 10 and move to UHF 36.

I would've rather see WGBH (RF 5) or WSBE (RF 2) move to this allotment than a station that only shows wasteful infomercials and shopping channels.

New M&A.

Bert Ellis is selling Anaheim, CA's Independent station KDOC to TCT (Radiant Life Ministries) for $41M.

Philadelphia's first Black TV reporter Trudy Haynes passed away at the age of 95.

The FCC has greenlighted the Cox/Imagicomm transaction today.

The FCC is asking the parties for new information in regards to this transaction.

From Bloomberg:

Quote

In its letter, the FCC asked whether the companies plan to coordinate with private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc., which is helping to finance the deal. The New York-based investment firm is acquiring preferred equity in the transaction that doesn’t have governance rights.

 

The agency also asked about possible strategies for negotiating agreements with cable providers for rights to carry TV station signals and inquired about “anticipated staffing reductions.” It set a June 13 deadline for responses.

5 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

Do you know of anything about WGUD-LD Pascagoula? According to RabbitEars, it says that Gray Television owns that one too.

Mentioned about it back in March.

The deal was greenlighted on May 11. It has yet to be consummated. 

It seems when they close to completing an LP deal (WKSY deal was approved today), a new LP deal comes up.

They're getting Selma, AL's K35OX-D from Richardson Communications for just $40K.

And also this needs to be mentioned, remember Gray announced they're building that new production facility at the former car plant near Atlanta? Well earlier this week, Gray had struck a deal with NBCUniversal for NBC to lease and operate the facility, once its up and running in 2023.

From the press release:

Quote

NBCU will manage all studio and production facilities on-site within the Assembly Studios complex, including Gray’s own studio facilities and Gray’s Third Rail Studios. This arrangement is expected to leverage NBCU’s extensive experience and expertise in managing studio lots, ensure consistency across all of the studio operations and leasing opportunities for third parties, and permit Gray to retain its focus on its own video production business.

2 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

That...doesn't make any sense they already had a graphics change

Hold the phone. When they last switched to the current (WVLT) pack? 2019?

1 hour ago, pinghawi said:

Is WOWT changing it's graphics to the WMC graphics package?

This question comes up because on the station's website, there a background on the header that looks similar to that graphic pack.

Don't know if or when a graphic change will be in effect. Probably won't happen until after the station moves down the street to Blackstone (Kiewit) Plaza.

WITI morning anchor Angelica Duria is leaving after 12 years at the station.

The question I have is is this a "refresh" (small modifications) or is this a full replacement.

If its the latter, I find it unusual for a station to replace a set this quickly.

So a couple of advocacy groups (i.e. Common Cause & Public Knowledge) have asked for more information and extension of time so they can file their oppositions of this deal.

The FCC has granted a limited extension of time to file.

So anyone who wants to file a deny petition, the new deadline will be June 22. For oppositions to the deny petitions, you'll have to file those by July 7. And for replies, you'll have to file those by July 18.

Sad news for the ABC family.

Walter Liss, former GM of WABC and later becoming the president of the ABC Owned Television stations, passed away earlier this week. He was 78.

He started as a promotions manager at WPVI. Some of you might not know that he was credited for writing the lyrics to Al Ham's iconic "Move Closer To Your World" theme song.

Before going to Channel 7, he was also GM of Fresno's KFSN.

Today (5/19), the FCC announced the ten qualified bidders who have advanced to participate in Auction 112, which will begin on June 7.

• BEK Sports Network, Inc. 
• Gray Television Licensee, LLC
• Major Market Broadcasting of North Dakota, Inc.
• Marquee Broadcasting, Inc.
• Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.
• Sinclair Television Group, Inc.
• SJL Television Inc.
• TV-49, Inc. 
• Ventura Media Communications, LLC
• Venture Technologies Group, LLC

The ones listed as not qualified are Estrella Television, RxDIO.com, LLC, Renard Broadcasting, and previously-announced Redwood Empire Public Television. 

Also to mention, four entrants have claimed a "New Entrant" bidding credit. BEK Sports, Ventura Media & Venture Technologies have a 25% credit. And SJL have a 35% credit.

Well it only took seventeen & a half months and three amendments. But the WDVM minor modification app (moving its signal a bit south so it can reach the D.C. viewers), was finally approved by the FCC today.

Here's the contours of both. The upper one is the current signal, and the lower one is the proposed new signal.

And if there's a vacant channel available, why get rid of an LP? There's always some value for another set of spectrum.

Anywho, new R&O today. And good news in West Virginia.

FCC has greenlighted WDTV's move from VHF 5 to UHF 33.

13 hours ago, JCB4TV said:

For the most part, WFVX is a UHF repeater for WVII, with that in mind, Rockfleet can just simply attempt to move WVII to UHF from VHF 7.

Whether they move the big station (WVII) or not (which I'm not taking about), that's up to them. Should that PBS station be sucessfully in its petition, Rockfleet going to have to displace that LP to a new allotment.

Anyway, we have one R&O.

• KSCW (12 > 28)

3 hours ago, Samantha said:

Meanwhile, WMEB Orono ME seeks to move from VHF 9 to UHF 22.

Should that change go in effect, LP Fox station WFVX-LD would have to find a new channel to go to, since they're on 22. And LPs don't get allotment protection.

Let's get back to the Gray talk. Two things today.

Last week, I was reading article about Gray's Q1 earnings. And it mentioned about they've added more local news, as "three syndicated shows came to an end".

So earlier, I read the transcript of their earnings call and it stated this:

Quote

In the past two months, three syndicated programs coincidentally came to an end, Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, which we produced and distributed for two years; People TV, which we inherited with the Meredith acquisition; and Right This Minute, a weekday entertainment program that we jointly own with some other broadcasters. In nearly all cases, our television stations replaced these programs with new, locally created, locally focused newscast.

Now PeopleTV was already announced its ending back in March. But I haven't seen any releases from your usual publications about the ending of Right This Minute. But that show's Facebook page hasn't been updated since April 29.

__________________

Also, Gray's LP-picking continues to roll. This time in St. Louis.

They're getting KDTL-LD from Word of God Fellowship (Daystar) for $1M.

It's been mentioned before, but Gray owns the trademark "First Alert Weather".

1 hour ago, GoldenShine9 said:

I noticed Macon was one of those markets - the one Georgia market without a Gray station, and unless a trade is coming (i.e. swap with Tegna for WMAZ), there is no realistic plan to get into that market.

Gray just bought an LP in Macon (W21EN-D) and had that signal modification app approved today. I'm hoping they'll expand that signal contour in the future.

This might explain all of this LP buying....

Gray announced it has expanded its partnership with Telemundo to carry the network in 34 markets. 

The 22 new markets are primarily in the Southeast.

Another Hearst outlet is launching the 4pm. WISN (Finally!!) will launch the new show, beginning June 6.

Weekend Anchor Kristin Pierce and 9pm anchor Derrick Rose will anchor the new broadcast.

Program lineup will also change

• 2pm - Tamrom Hall
• 3pm - Ellen DeGeneres (will be replaced by Jennifer Hudson in the Fall)
• 4pm - 12 News at 4pm

Looks like The Good Dish would probably be burned off in the overnights for the remainder of the run.

KCRG switched to the WBAY/WBTV package.

That graphic pack is not new. They're using the same pack WBTV & WBAY uses.