CircleSeven

Now Feder is saying this morning that WFLD could be implementing a new 5pm newscast this summer. Should this come into fruition, this would be the last Fox O&O to implement an early evening broadcast.

I'm surprised Gray didn't fight for the CW on KCRG (despite having MyNet on its .2).

Feder posted that WMAQ is going to launch it's hourly 4pm newscast this August. And here's the shocker. Feder also stated that Extra is expected to be moved to WFLD.

And yet another Hearst station is adding news to replace the cancelled Vieira. This time, its KMBC. The new hourly 4pm show will debut on April 25th. And to follow WESH's footsteps, it'll also extend its primetime 9pm show that airs on KCWE to a full-hour. That'll also be implemented on the same day.

And here's more from last night's WZDX's launch.

So they made these new graphics and logo, but the news studio & anchors are still outsourced. Cheap.

Exactly five months after it was announced, the FCC has greenlighted the deal of the NTV stations. The Pappas trust is about to wind down.......

Look like we might have Rich King's replacement. The last station in town that never had a female sports anchor is about to get one. TVSpy posted this morning that Channel 9 has hired Lauren Magiera as a new sports anchor & reporter.

Digital First Media closed on its acquisition of the last two Freedom papers yesterday. And as a result of the completion of the sale, its editor from the Register and 70 other workers were laid off. At last. The "lit torch" has finally been extinguished. Freedom.

Big follow-up regarding KLAF/KADN. After almost a year investing in new equipment & hiring personnel, the station will formally implement its new in-house news operation tomorrow night at 5pm.

According to the guide, WCVB airs Svengoolie on a delay, from 11pm-1am. KCCI & KETV also delays it one hour.

Well, she's not heading to NBC. Macedo is joining ABC News to anchor World News Now & America This Morning.

And look at here. Another Hearst station adding a 9pm show on its Me-TV sub. This time, it's KOCO. KOCO is also adding a hourly 9am show on its main channel. These shows go in effect next Monday.

A somewhat of a rarity regarding programming on 7 tonight. Tonight is the airing of The Ten Commandments on ABC, which the network will air at 7pm/ET. That's no rarity. But the rarity is that WABC is pushing the movie one hour later to 8pm, because it's schedule to air an hour-long Auto Show special at 7pm. That means (because of the length of the movie (with ads)) the late news will be aired at 12:44am!!! I don't think I've remembered the station airing news this late, and it didn't involve a sporting event.

So a big follow-up. Since the Feds were recently granted the its request to block the sale, Freedom changed course and accepted a $52M bid from runner-up bidder Digital First Media. The bankrupt court approved that sale on Monday.

Well look who's going participating in the "forward" auction? Almost three years ago, Sinclair expressed interest in buying back spectrum that's was getting sold off from the reverse auction. On Friday, the FCC released the list of applicants who will participate in the Forward auction and one applicant "STG Wireless" B&C states that its the same owners who control Sinclair. The FCC is withholding the applicants who'll participate in the reverse auction, until the forward auction is completed.

The Department of Justice has filed suit to block Tribune Publishing for acquiring the newspapers owned by Freedom Communications. Tribune Publishing owns the LA Times while Freedom owns Orange County Register & Riverside County Press-Enterprise. Tribune recently won (at a bankruptcy auction) to acquire the remaining assets of Freedom early Thursday Morning, when the DOJ filed suit hours later. The DOJ fear that should the deal go through, Tribune would have a monopoly in print media in the OC & in Riverside. Tribune stated that it will defend the legality of the sale. Freedom previously own several television stations prior to the end of 2011, when it sold its broadcasting arm to Sinclair.

I doubt it'll name any of the MG ones until that deal is completed.

Okay. Here's another Follow-up. Yesterday, Wheeler spoke to House panel defending his actions about the unwinding of the JSAs. He stated that the JSA rider that was put into place back in December was only for JSAs that were in effect in March 2014, but it didn't include when a station changes hands. I'm not sure what Nexstar is going to do, as they'd asked the FCC to grandfather existing JSAs in their acquisition of MG. And this was before the FCC greenlighted the Gray/Schurz deal, which didn't honor that grandfathered JSA for KDCU (it was conditioned to unwind the JSA within one year). _____________________________ And here's an interesting read from the Indianapolis Business Journal (posted Saturday) about the M&A Craze, and how one station group isn't following the certain trend like the other groups. I'm surprised they didn't mention the Scripps/Journal merger (which ended last year, but did mention the current portfolio count), even though it they did mention about the Tribune/Local TV deal (which ended over two year ago).

At last!! Nearly fifteen months after it was greenlighted by the FCC, the Nexstar acquisition of KCWI is finally DONE!!! It was consummated on Monday.

And guess who's at their Good Day set......TONIGHT????!!! [MEDIA=twitter]709905482878754817[/MEDIA] With a new set in the works upstairs, it shouldn't be far behind for a close sister station to the north to get one as well.

So a small follow-up to this B&C stated today that a group of U.S. Senators among both parties were not happy about Wheeler requiring station groups to unwind its JSAs just to get deals to go through.

Looks like the Pappas trust could be winding down soon. The FCC greenlighted the WLGA deal to CNZ (Caballero) today. They also greenlighted the KDMI deal to TCT on Feb. 24. Now KCWI's deal was approved on 12/19/14, but that hasn't been finalized as of yet. And the KFXL/NTV deal with Sinclair is still waiting for the greenlight.

TVNewsCheck posted this morning that WANE will expand it's Saturday morning show to two hours, from 7-9am. The change will go into effect March 26.

Hate to correct you, but did you mean the Sarah Wallace situation??