tyrannical bastard

Dan Coughlin, longtime Cleveland sports journalist who wrote for the Plain Dealer and has worked at WJW since 1983. passed away earlier today. https://fox8.com/news/cleveland-legend-lost-dan-coughlin-passes-away/

Gray, CBS and possibly Tegna are likely salivating at the prospects of adding MLB teams to their stations in those markets. Some markets already have stations or channels they could land on, especially in Dallas and Cleveland. If the Braves deal falls through, enter Gray to swoop in and bring them back to "WTBS".... (since Gray now owns WPCH and it's associated sports subchannel) Not sure about CBS (and their current situation) but Gray and Tegna are more than willing to work with the leagues to bring a partnership to their airwaves.

The supers have the FOX O&O, and even the Cox vibe to them. It even seems like a modern take on Media General's "circle" package that WCMH debuted in 2011. But it would be a good look to roll out to other markets. The existing looks are beginning to look a little stale by now. And the WDCW package needs to go...yesterday.

Looks like the Scripps-cast technique will be the future of WKEF-WRGT in Dayton, as 14 employees are laid off. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2024/10/2/ax-swings-at-sinclair-station This could be the future for other marginal markets where Sinclair is just "scraping by"....if it hasn't been totally decimated yet.

Their successor? CHSN. https://chsn.com/info/ It will include OTA coverage in Chicago along with cable and satellite, as well as carriage deals with Gray in adjacent and regional markets.

CBS has been dealt a lot of blows over the past few years, but after what Brian Williams did at NBC, he's still not fit for a network newscast again. Now when (or even if) Matt Lauer ever crawls back from the mess he created. Sad to say, he's more credible then all of the Trump-nets put together, and that's not saying much....

By now, I thought all markets had access to a Fox affiliate. Even Glendive pipes in the Fox afflilate from Billings. FOXNET must truly be a network feed that's filled in with other FOX sources, unlike the channel it used to be with old series and "The Fox Report" at 10/9pm.

That coverage may have had the dual purpose of serving Fox Weather (and even Fox News) as well, which has really been on top of things moreso than the Weather Channel.

Likely due to the connectivity and power issues in and around Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, Fox Carolina is not available on YouTubeTV or streaming online. WLOS in Asheville is available. The devastation there may be difficult to cover because of the access issues caused by the flooding that washed out the roads leading in and out of these places. So when people ask "why is this not leading the news?" the access itself is so limited that it is only for the locals and those able to help them. That's why the outside is being encouraged to stay until the immediate issues are tackled.

Longtime WIS Anchor, weatherman, midday host, and "Mr. Knozit" Joe Pinner passed away. He retired in 2018 after serving WIS-TV for 55 years. He was 89. https://www.wistv.com/2024/09/23/legend-community-remembers-life-joe-pinner/

Anyone want to bet that Scripps won't be around this time next year?

I'm surprised the Trailblazers agreed to a deal with Sinclair, given their involvement in the Bally Sports mess. Then again, if it's a partnership (like many of the Gray deals and the Marquee/Cubs partnership), that's the way of the future as opposed to RSNs owned by an entity not connected with the teams it carries.

At some point in the evening, YouTube TV lost both WTWC NBC and "Fox 49". They've been replaced by a feed of WNBC New York and FOXNET. I didn't know FOXNET still existed! I thought it went away after Greenville, MS started a subchannel affiliate in 2006.

WTWC has coverage now. It may be WPEC feeding them (with a CBS 4 bug) like they did last year.

It's 5pm ET and WTWC has a NBC News Special Report about the Hurricane. Afterwards, they went back to Dr. Phil, already in progress... Come on Sinclair.... At least "FOX 49" is relaying WCTV's coverage....

Update: WTXL and WCTV are live with storm coverage. (Cut-ins only) If WTXL doesn't do live from the field, they may stay in the weather wall or feed packages or look-lives as they come.

It's not even wall-to-wall at this point with ANY station. Maybe because of the "total evacuation" of coastal counties, or the general state of TV itself. Or it could be the timing of the landfall. Several years ago, being this close to landfall without wall-to-wall coverage was unheard of. Even the Weather Channel stayed with regular programming after midnight to 6am ET. Fox Weather went with full coverage. And from what I saw with WTXL, it was mostly Scrippscast with their chief meteorologist leading coverage in the studio. I would hope Sinclair starts something real quick. There's no excuse to have NOTHING for a storm of this magnitude, especially in an area that's never had one like this before.

This record-breaking storm is heading directly for Tallahassee, and could have far-reaching impacts in surrounding areas including even Atlanta. Tallahassee being the media market that it is, there's Gray's WCTV and Scripps' WTXL. And then there's Sinclair's WTWC. Last time (during Idalia) they piped in dedicated coverage from West Palm Beach. Their Fox channel still gets their news from WCTV. Not even a weather warning so far on the NBC side. Hopefully Sinclair is prepared, especially since they have to pipe in coverage and if there's any local effects to the stations this may actually be an advantage. I'll be curious to see if WMBB in Panama City and WFLA in Tampa actually offer live coverage online...since it's a hurricane and people need to evacuate out of their market areas...

A sale-leaseback deal may help them now, but it could come back to haunt them when that sale money runs out. They will now have to pay rent to the owners of the building. This was one of the expenses that helped bury Red Lobster because the rent was an additional expense on top of sagging sales. If the property becomes more valuable, then the rent goes up too.

There have been some fringe counties that have bounced back and forth between DMAs. One notable one is Athens County, Ohio. It's been part of Columbus and the Charleston/Huntington DMA over the past 20 years, and has switched back and forth several times. Even in the digital era, it has fringe TV service from either market, as well as from Zanesville, OH and Parkersburg, WV. Back before they got DirecTV/Dish locals, they actually qualified for distant locals on satellite due to their remote location from either market. Another switch was with George County, MS being included into the Mobile-Pensacola DMA about 15 years ago. Biloxi-Gulfport may have gotten them back for in-state TV service as opposed to service from Alabama and Florida.

While not a dispute, this could be a future problem for network affiliates. More and more money for less in return. https://tvnewscheck.com/business/article/will-stations-revolt-over-network-payments/ Let's just say Nexstar has had it coming ever since they started shaking down cable companies for carriage dollars.

This one slipped by me. Longtime WEAR sports director Dan Shugart retired back in June. He had been with the station since 1981. https://weartv.com/news/local/iconic-wear-news-sports-director-dan-shugart-retiring-after-43-years I don't think they have a dedicated sports person anymore since Steve Nissim was let go back in 2021. This leaves WALA and WKRG as the only stations covering sports with dedicated reporters in Mobile/Pensacola. WKRG has two (Simone Eli & Gerhard Mathangani) and WALA has Emily Cochran, who only appears in their 10pm shows.

You know Broadcast TV is circling the drain when the networks (Fox & CW) are airing college football on Friday nights. I get it maybe the first couple weeks, but this is a bit much. Friday nights are for high school football and I'm sure the affiliate stations that have newscasts (with extensive high school coverage) are not too happy about it. And with the Sinclair CW stations that do high school football on Friday nights... Do they send the NASCAR race that airs right before packing (in the eastern markets) in favor of their Friday Night Rivals game?

I"m surprised CBS didn't try and do this 20 years ago, when they could have seen the writing on the wall for Guiding Light and As The World Turns. Passions was still on the air as the newest of the daytime serials and would last until right before CBS pulled the plug on the other shows. Sort of ironic that the filler show (The Talk) is being replaced by a soap opera.

I'd be curious to see if any of these market shifts (or even the changes in TV households) are markets adding/dropping counties or parishes from their DMAs.