Mrtraveler01

Cindy Preszler and Mike Roberts will leave KSDK.

 

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/television/meteorologists-preszler-roberts-to-leave-channel/article_8c27157b-af99-5ce7-8727-937d755f0848.html

They're jumping the sinking ship that is KSDK. TEGNA knows how to run decent stations but KSDK is not one of them.

International Edition:

I stumbled on this discovery on Youtube. Apparently it looks like someone at TV3 in Malaysia really likes RTL in The Netherlands because not only did they copy their open, they also copied their graphics and their set.

Credit to Bintro on Youtube for first noticing this.

Pretty much http://www.rocketcitynow.com/news/wzdx-tv-primetime-newscast-adds-team-local-journalists

Makes sense, that does seem to be the standard cookie-cutter set that Nexstar uses for their stations in small markets. I will give them credit though for building an actual news department at WZDX similar to what they did with WFXR (actually they're pretty much carbon copies of each other).

But I will say that RocketCityNow is a pretty cheesy name for a website, even by Nexstar standards.

KLAF really did debut their local newscasts yesterday. Here is a tour of their new studio and newsroom.

http://www.cajunfirst.com/news/local-news/cajunfirst-studio-tour

Looks pretty standard for a Nexstar station which makes sense since Lafayette is a small market.

Columbus' Deal with Time Warner is up and to be honest it wasn't popular with the fans so Sinclair coming and offering a New TV contract might not be a bad thing for them to do.

Looks like Sinclair thought it was a good idea as well.

The new deal will make WWHO the flagship station while still simulcasting the games on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel. Time Warner Cable is still handling the production of the games as well. This means that ASN won't be involved.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2016/02/26/0225-crew-tv.html

Probably Sinclair or Nexstar.

My bet is on Nexstar. Turning from a small-to-mid market (leaning towards small) TV company to acquiring stations in large markets (Tampa will now be their largest after Salt Lake used to be their last biggest market, not include the CW affiliate in Phoenix) is probably going to prove to be disastrous for Nexstar one way or another. Either they're going to bleed money or run these stations into the ground AND THEN bleed money as a result.

As much as I give Sinclair crap all the time, at least they have experience operating stations in mid-size markets. Las Vegas is a good example. Nexstar got rid of KLAS's news helicopter the second they acquired the station while Sinclair kept the one KSNV has and started airing more promos about how Sky3 provides covers Southern Nevada "like no other station" a result (an obvious dig at KLAS).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bauoczXT7G8

So why is Florida markets like WPB (WPTV 5/WPEC 12 - Sat./WPBF 25) and Orlando (WESH 2/WKMG 6 - Sat./WFTV 9) are up at 5:00am on weekends? Plus, why are markets like Boston and Los Angeles and Chicago and Philadelphia and... you get the point by now.

The one I really don't get is WFTV having a noon newscast on the weekends when their isn't any sports programming. Can anyone explain the logic on that one?

Whoa! A bombshell, indeed.

I'm going to miss him. When I go down to visit family in NOLA, I always like watching Fox 8 when he's doing the weather because he always makes it so entertaining. Amazing to see how a transplant from the Midwest became as much of a part of New Orleans as the locals down there.

This is a pretty Sinclair move. But not too surprising, they seem to want their viewers either afraid or outraged over something (even their Town Halls are politicized), even more so than other members of the "mainstream media" which really aren't that much better.

Just another example of what a joke Sinclair is when it comes to journalism.

The 4am weekday morning news trend is growing by the month...

 

[MEDIA=twitter]659424582655483904[/MEDIA]

https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/kyou-adding-local-news-900-pm-tomorrow/

The bigger news (at least for me anyway since I lived in the market) is that in Market 200, there is now a competitor to the previous monopoly Sinclair-owned KTVO had on the Kirksville-Ottumwa market. Starting yesterday, American Spirit/Raycom-owned KYOU has a 7-minute long newscast at 9pm. Plans are to eventually expand it to a 30 minute long newscast in the next couple of weeks.

I am trying to get more details but it looks like that a portion of it (at least the weather part) will be based out of Cincinnati's WXIX.

The irony in all of this is that Raycom used to own their competitor KTVO until they sold it to Barrington back in 2006. Hence why KYOU is owned by American Spirit instead of Raycom itself.

Here is the new logo. If it's the standard Raycom production quality, that will probably force Sinclair to finally bring Curves and the new graphics to KTVO.

I never thought I'd see the day that KTVO would have a competitor but I guess with Iowa being such a political battleground state these days, a news operation in Iowa is too difficult to pass up.

Well, it happened. FOX is now only on WTVC 9.2 in Chattanooga, and has changed its branding from "FOX 61" to "FOX Chattanooga". WDSI meanwhile has ThisTV on 61.1 and Comet TV on 61.2. MNT has moved to WFLI 53.2. Chattanooga is now the largest market (and first Top 100 market) to have FOX on a subchannel of a Big 3 station.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=22590#station

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=72060#station

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=22590#station

So basically they took the Fox Rochester logo and replaced it with "Chattanooga".

It's also worth noting that with the new rebrand, the newscasts on Fox Chattanooga got the new graphics.

ICYMI, WFXR 27 launched its new in-house local news operation today. The morning newscast has been renamed WFXR News - Good Day Virginia and is now on the air from 5:00-9:00 a.m. weekday mornings. WFXR News - First at 10:00 has always been an hour-long on weeknights, but will soon be an hour on weekends too, starting October 3rd.

 

And it looks like WFXR 27 is using somewhat different graphics from other Nexstar stations and they've decided to use Extreme by Stephen Arnold Music. You can see a small portion of the 10:00pm news open under this story's video:

 

http://www.virginiafirst.com/news/local-news/wfxrs-commitment-to-local-news

The choice in colors for those graphics remind me a lot of the Scripps package.

Obviously it's not the same package but you can tell they were trying to base the colors of the package off of that one.

Looks like Tribune and ATT U-Verse are heading into a retransmission dispute. This showed up on their webpages today. They have until October 1st to sort it out.

http://fox2now.com/keep-ktvi-on-att-uverse/

KING 5 is doing a town hall after the football game this coming Thrusday about traffic in the Seattle/Tacoma area.

Sinclair is well known for their town halls but usually the topics are more political. Are there any other TEGNA stations that have down Town Halls before? I don't think KSDK ever did one before unless they did one during the Ferguson crisis and I just missed it.

Just noticed that WKTV got some new graphics and the L3's they use look pretty similar to the Sinclair package.

(Actually I think it looks nicer than the Sinclair package)

WOIO has finally switched to the new graphics/branding.

They're not using CBS Local either which is very surprising. Here is the stream.

http://www.19actionnews.com/category/291914/19-action-news-live

Here's a better picture of Cleveland's CBS 19 News logo on their Facebook page.

It's not even in use yet in their newscasts and already that logo looks horrendously dated. Did I step back in time and it's now 1995 all of a sudden?

 

...That horse's mouth is, uh, interesting, but it is real:

 

http://dishnetworkretrans.com/

 

That is SBG's website on the affair. They are claiming that the deal expires tomorrow and apparently lots of Facebook pages are buzzing with negative comments. Dish, for its part, says negotiations are ongoing and questions why Sinclair felt the need to involve consumers at this point.

 

Stuff like this are why so many people are deciding to "cut the cord" so to speak. So both parties are shooting themselves in the foot anytime they go through this.

If you guys haven't already taken a look at that website, I would suggest it. It's quite an entertaining read.

I thought this was the best part of that website:

 

 

• Q: What is retransmission consent?
  
• A: It’s a long story that started in the 1970s but we won’t bore you! Basically, retransmission consent is the process that cable and satellite companies use to negotiate with the owners of television stations for the right to carry those stations on their cable systems.
  

Gee thanks Sinclair, I didn't realize I was too stupid to understand what re-transmission content was. Otherwise I would've just realized what a money grab this whole scheme is.

Another part I liked:

 

 

• Q: Isn’t this just about greed?
  
• A: No. It’s about a local business just working to operate its business profitably. Given that we spend millions of dollars each year to buy and produce high-quality programming, it is only right and fair that Dish Network compensate us fairly for a portion of our cost, especially since they are re-selling our content to their subscribers. In addition, the inability to reach agreement with Dish Network is related to other material matters besides the amount we are to be paid.
  

Unless I live in Baltimore, Sinclair isn't a local business to me.

And then you get the usual "we should get money for cable companies carrying our OTA signals because ESPN does it so why shouldn't we" spiel:

 

 

• Q: Why should Dish Network have to pay to carry a television station?
  
• A: Nobody would suggest that Dish should be able to carry cable channels such as ESPN, USA, TBS, etc, for free! Dish Network pays large sums of money to these cable channels to have the right to carry and sell to their subscribers. Local TV stations are similar to cable channels in that we pay millions of dollars each year to buy high-quality programming from national networks (such as Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS and CW) and other program creators, and to produce important informational programs, such as the local news and sports. It is just standard business practice that cable companies like Dish Network should pay for the right to resell programming to their subscribers. It is essentially the same as cable channels.
  

• Q: But aren’t television stations available for free over-the-air?
  
• A: Yes, we are very proud that Local TV stations and all their great programming (including network and local shows) are available over-the-air at no cost with the use of an antenna. However, this doesn’t mean that cable companies have the right to resell our signals without properly compensating us. It is no different from the fact that local radio stations are free over-the-air, but a satellite radio company like SiriusXM Radio has no right simply to carry local stations and charge subscribers for it.
  

It's almost always a good thing when a station dumps the MyTV branding, but 22 the Point! sounds more like a radio station to me.

Coincidentally there was a radio station in Pittsburgh that was called The Point back in the 90s.

 

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/tv-radio/2015/05/27/WPNT-TV-fromerly-WPMY-to-focus-on-sports/stories/201505260127

 

 

Looks like based on this promo for a new show featuring a local sports talk radio host (Mark Madden), the new branding is "22 the Point"

https://www.facebook.com/my22pittsburgh?fref=photo

I'm not a huge fan of Sinclair but I will say that they do seem intent on providing a lot more local content for WPNT compared to before.

 

On the move for today:

 

Martha Sugalski is looking forward to August 6 when her future will be revealed according to Orlando Sentinel

 

Also according to www.ftvlive.com there hearing that Stephany Fisher is to head to FOX owned WAGA-TV after her non-complete clause is up. I think this would be perfect for Stephany. If they can move Tom Haynes to Good Day and have Stephany on the 5 & 11pm broadcast good for you WAGA.

 

 

Julian Johnson to leave KMOV and to move to WGCL to stay in the company fold. Also it reporting that KMOV to start a 4pm news in the fall which will shuffle the programming schedule on Channel 4. Either The Price is Right will stay at 11am or move to 10am. Y&R currently airs at 4pm will move to 11am or 3pm like (WGCL), or Dr. Phil could move to 9am a lot is going on at KMOV.

 

Wow, this is big news because the Y&R have been on KMOV at 4pm for a very long time. But since KSDK and the KPLR/KTVI duopoly both have 4pm newscasts, it was inevitible KMOV would join in too. My guess is that they're trying to copy their sister KCTV and start an hour-long 4pm newscast and have TPIR and Y&R air at their regular timeslots (10am for TPIR and Y&R at 11am). Then the question is where will they move "Great Day St. Louis".

A lot of people have left KMOV lately, first Robin Smith retired earlier this week, Craig Cheatham left KMOV to take an assistant ND job up at KSTP and now this. Gotta wonder what is going on at KMOV.

Don't forget that Detroit is a NFC market. Even with the lackluster economy of the market, I don't see Fox selling WJBK unless the Lions join the AFC or something.

 

This website will be rolled out to all of the Nexstar stations.

 

Now if they would only stream their newscasts.

 

So WJCL moved their site to Hearst Television's CMS provider, Lakana (the former Internet Broadcasting). However, they are not using the layout that the other Hearst stations use. Rather, they are using the same layout that Nexstar is rolling out to their stations.

 

It makes you wonder, if the other Hearst stations will get this layout in the near future, because it's responsive and the existing Hearst sites are not (they load a separate mobile skin when I browse on my iPad, for instance).

 

Check it out at http://www.wjcl.com/

 

Looks like they got the weather portion of the Hearst package at least (not sure if this has already been covered).

http://www.wjcl.com/weather/more-very-hot-weather-this-afternoon/20943198/story

It looks like Waypoint Media is doing the exact same thing in Jonesboro that they are also doing in Hattiesburg, MS. Waypoint acquired a low power station there and beamed in a FOX affiliate (and eventually a CW .2) from their facility in Meridian. Waypoint owns both WGBC and WMDN in Meridian, having acquired WMDN from Frank Spain via a failed station waiver.

 

I'm surprised KAIT didn't go after CBS as a .2 prospect. This way, they would still have WMC to import into the market as an NBC. Antitrust issues perhaps?

KAIT just recently added NBC to 8.2 and just simulcast WMC's newscasts.

Not sure how antitrust work with networks on subchannels but I guess Raycom figured it was easier to just make 8.2 a satellite of WMC instead of tackling a new network.