CircleSeven

The paperwork is up regarding the Gray Fairbanks deal. Gray is buying the full-power KTVF (NBC) from Chena Broadcasting; and the two LPs KXDD-CD (formerly K13XD) (CBS) & KFXF-LD from Tanara Valley Television. The full-power KFXF is not included in this sale. Full price on the sale: $8M

From a release back in June from WWL's website, its morning show will be split. The 7-9am portion will be moved to WUPL 54.

I wouldn't be shocked if it happens in the future. Either one (or both) of those syndie shows (Steve Harvey & Ellen Degeneres) could end up being on NBC Boston in the Fall of next year. The Ellen deal for the non-NBC-owned stations are due at the end of this season. Should both shows go next year, and if the Barrymore thing sticks (place it on Steve's timeslot between Live & The View), they would've really have to get rid of IE (if it's placed somewhere on the 3pm hour).

WCVB is switching its early evening broadcast from 4:30pm to 4pm. Inside Edition will take the 4:30pm slot. This goes in effect one week from Wednesday (8/9). Prior to that date, it will have a special hourly 4pm broadcasts on Monday and on Election Day Tuesday.

They did the same practice back in June. And I've even said back then that was uncalled for. What is their logic in airing a pre-recorded broadcast if the game go past a certain time? Can't the anchors and crew to stay past a certain time anymore? They might as well not air any news at all if they want to do that. It's absurd for the largest Fox station in the country to do this practice. News could be breaking at anytime that warrants a live broadcast. The station ain't all that cheap.

That's Scripps.

Back to where she was before prior to early 2015, after Kerry Barrett left.

Little follow-up. Jerry filled-in on the marquee 10pm last night (10/13). This has to be a first since leaving this post more than two months ago.

And it looks like Nexstar might have to wait for the FCC greenlight on their MG deal. They'd asked for a waiver of the "quiet period" rules so they can receive the greenlight while the auction is still ongoing, instead of waiting until its completion.

WTOC. They air it in its entirety from 8-10am. The News at Daybreak stretches to 8am.

Well, I guess four stations with a 6pm is too crowded for one small market. So KQDS is throwing in the towel and moving it to 5:30pm. From Northpine:

They are some markets where Dr. Phil airs a secondary airing on another station. Case in point: WCIU (WBBM is the original airing station).

Probably don't mean that much to some, but there will be CW affiliation switches in five markets this Monday. Savannah, GA (WGSA 35.1 to WSAV 3.2) Cedar Rapids, IA (KWKB 20.1 to KWWL 7.2) Alexandria, LA (KBCA 41.1 to KALB 5.3) Fargo, ND (WDAY 6.2/WDAZ 8.2 to KXJB-LD 30.2) Madison, WI (WBUW 57.1 to WMTV 15.2) As replacements, KWKB is switching to This TV, WDAY-DT2 is switching to the Justice Network. WBUW & WGSA will be going indie. In primetime, WBUW will air TMZ Live & Dr. Phil. While WGSA will air a double run of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Not sure of what KBCA is replacing in primetime.

Corporate changes regarding Tegna today.... Tegna's president & CEO Gracia Martore is retiring after 31 years at Gannett/Tegna. Station group president Dave Lougee, will replace Martore as the new CEO of the entire company. Also, Tegna is spinning off Cars.com into a separate independent entity; and will explore strategic options about its 53% interest in CareerBuilder.com. Martore's retirement goes in effect once the spin-off of Cars.com is completed.

They reached an agreement today. I'm sure that "football" wasn't the factor in reaching a deal. [MEDIA=twitter]772191325529731072[/MEDIA]

They're selling other stations to try to go under the 39% ownership cap. Even with these aforementioned divestitures, they still would've been over the cap by around 2% The other divestitures to shave off the cap are WCWJ (Graham), KREG (Marquee), WLFI, KIMT, & KQTV (the latter three sold to Heartland). They're also selling KASA because that station & KRQE are both within the top-4, and had to divest one of the stations anyway (KASA sold to Ramar, Fox moves to KRQE-DT2). I wouldn't be surprised if the FCC holds out on greenlighting this deal until after the conclusion of the spectrum auction. That's nothing more than a formality. It's been done this with the MG/LIN, & Sinclair/Allbritton deals. Even if the post-transaction group already announced they're going to divest this, the DOJ is going issue a consent decree saying they have to divest this, divest.that. What I do find interesting is that the DOJ ruled that they'd had to divest an LP station (KLAF-LD) even though LPs doesn't count in the full ownership limits. They could've just said divest KADN, which is the full power station.

Looks like Gray's Laredo station KGNS 8 is about to add a 6:30pm broadcast on its LP sister station KYLX. It will go in effect on 9/12.

I am so so happy to see Phil filling in at 10 o'clock tonight. Thank You Jesus!!! But I'm wondering why they didn't allow Jerry to fill-in (he was on at 6 & 7). He can't fill-in at 10 anymore? That blows, if that's the case.

That's my biggest pet peeve. I've never liked it when a station's overall brand includes the word "News". They're not airing news 24/7 and it's certainly weird hearing the word "news" when you're not airing news on non-news timeslots. "News 5" is too generic. It's like most folks used it. WLWT uses the News 5 branding. I'm with you. Eyewitness News wouldn't hurt In this day & age, even though 5's product have drastically changed since the last time they'd used that brand.

They've been trying to get these buildings sold for years, since Zell owned Tribune.

Let me try to clarify. I meant the other Scripps stations that have yet to standardized. I knew WTVF have the Scripps graphics, but hope it didn't affect them. I've since reworded my message above.

I just hope it's not WTVF. And I hope it's one of the stations that's hasn't standardized yet.

Weigel has the rights to most of those games. Many of them air on its "UToo" subchannel. But don't 9 carry some preseason Bulls/Hawks games? Or is it all CSN?

So no "KX4" on channel 4? From NorthPine earlier this week:

There's folks that remember distinctive brands that resonates with a station. Some have dropped the brand just to bring it back. Look at KYW & WLS. I would think folks would be outraged if KGO uses the Eyewitness News name, and KPIX has used it off and on for several years. Yeah, KPIX is not using it now, but you never know they might bring it back. WOIO might as well go back to either Action News or just 19 News. And whether they change the branding or not (doubt they will) their ratings will still be a status quo, unless they change their content formula. Good luck trying to beat 3 & 8.