tyrannical bastard

Regardless of whether or not a station has a physical presence in the market since the abolition of the "main studio rule", next year could be a major crossroads for networks like ABC. Do they want to sever ties with their local affiliates that could pre-empt their programming, align with another broadcaster who had little ties to a given area just it guarantee 100 percent coverage of their content, or abandon broadcast TV altogether? As seen with CBS in Atlanta, they will take their ball and go home. While NBC and ABC have no inkling to buy more stations for themselves, we could see a shift towards a more Canadian model of strong network stations more tied to their networks and more independents. Once the market gets saturated with independents, the market will start correcting itself, licenses will be returned to the FCC, and if we're lucky, new stations can be created with the now-available licenses. If anything, local news will be done by one or two independents, and the rest will be fed by a network of stations under their control.

Jerry Tabatt, longtime Chief Forecaster / Senior Meteorologist of WMBB in Panama City, FL has passed away after battling cancer. https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/local-news/jerry-tabatt-former-news-13-chief-meteorogist-dies-after-battle-with-cancer/ He retired in 2018 his wife suffered a debilitating stroke, so he could devote his time to her.

Here are the markets where Weigel operates where they could take over the ABC affiliation from Sinclair or Nexstar: Hartford-New Haven, CT (WHCT-LD replacing Nexstar's WTNH) Washington, DC (WDME-CD replacing Sinclair's WJLA) Rockford, IL (WFBN-LD replacing Mission's WTVO) Evansville, IN (WZDS-LD replacing Nexstar's WEHT) And the big ones.... St. Louis (KNLC replacing our favorite Sinclair doormat KDNL) Nashville (WJFB replacing Nexstar's WKRN) Salt Lake City (KCSG replacing Nexstar's KTVX) Seattle (KFOV and/or KVOS replacing Sinclair's KOMO) If only Weigel could snag a Mobile or Pensacola station, they could strip it from WEAR, they should get bonus points for their own pre-emptions over the years and being part of the WPMI/WFGX/WJTC gaggle of stations through Deerfield.

Anything Weigel does (even if it's piping in news updates from Chicago, South Bend or Milwaukee) is better than what Sinclair has been providing St. Louis viewers. They could be a wild card in markets they operate stations in alongside Sinclair or Nexstar to grab a bounced affiliation from. And if the said stations are the ones that carry their MeTV networks, that's an even bigger draw to lure in another affiliation. MeTV gets decent numbers in many places, even as subchannels. If Lilly can snag CBS from a Nexstar station and put in on a .2, it's possible. And guess what WZMQ's primary subchannel is?

Had there been an SEC blackout on ABC today.... (Notre Dame vs Arkansas) This could have been widespread with the Notre Dame fanbase, and a major issue in Little Rock (KATV), Evansville (WEHT) and Terre Haute (WAWV). It could have also spread to Joplin (KODE) as well. (LSU vs Ole Miss) MAJOR problem in New Orleans (WGNO), and potentially Mobile/Pensacola (WEAR) and Birmingham (ABC 33/40) minor issues in Nashville (WKRN), Chattanooga (WTVC), and other Nexstar/Sinclair ABC affiliates in the southeast. (Alabama vs Georgia) It would have been a major problem in Birmingham (ABC 33/40), Mobile (WEAR), Augusta (WJBF) and Macon (WGXA). "minor" problem in Panama City (WMBB), Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg (WLOS), Charleston (WCIV), Myrtle Beach (WPDE), Greenville/New Bern (WCTI), Greensboro/Winston Salem (WXLV), Roanoke/Lynchburg (WSET), Richmond (WRIC), Chattanooga (WTVC), Knoxville (WATE), Tri-Cities (WJHL-DT2) and Nashville (WKRN). Had a blackout taken place, ESPN3 is listed as an option...would the viewers been able to watch with either their ESPN subscription/credentials or ESPN+ subscription?

Way back when, you didn't have the problem of mega station groups preempting a show...but there was KORK (now KSNV) in Las Vegas that was preempting tons of NBC programming including the World Series. Back then, networks actually paid stations to air their programming but they figure they could make more money selling local ads for other "local" shows. I think the impetus for their forced sale was putting their own ads over ones that NBC sold. Jim Rogers was trying to wrestle away the license from Donrey and succeeded after Donrey was essentially forced to sell to him under public and network pressure. If the FCC actually cared, we wouldn't have to worry about Station group "A" selling to Station group "B". Problem stations would be taken care of and forced to sell to someone else regardless. But this is likely next to impossible the way that megastation groups control everything now.

Come renewal time, this will cost Sinclair and Nexstar some affiliations next year. Mostly in markets where something is in play. But in places like St. Louis and Columbus, they're probably stuck for the long haul unless there's a station thats not only available, but can meet ABC's demands...

It's the moment Perry Sook has been waiting for.... Playing a high-stakes game of poker with the Blue-haired lawyers at Disney. You though losing WJMN's CBS affiliation was bad....

Sinclair is going to tell it their way, when in reality, ABC was likely getting ready to throw down the hammer this weekend and Sinclair folded like a deck chair on the Titanic.

More reporting from WEAR in Pensacola on what could happen to Pensacola State College's WSRE when their agreement with PBS expires next June: https://weartv.com/news/local/wsre-tv-foundation-explores-future-options-as-psc-severs-ties-seeks-station-assets?fbclid=IwY2xjawNDiXxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHof5b5wZtwtLvT_1VegX-JHrUYorMVLLJ6Gp80S0lcjOZ6ppUuQA4MTAbpUC_aem_lN7h_gGQzoJq2okLxhn9aw It's not looking good at this point. The college is trying to shut down the station while the foundation that runs WSRE is refusing to let that happen. The foundation is looking at even acquiring another commercial station in the market..and WPAN could be a station that fits that bill, especially if they broker a feed on it, like most of it's other subchannels. Other possibilities could be selling the station to another public broadcaster. The most likely would be Florida State University since they run a satellite station in Panama City that rebroadcasts WFSU. They could easily extend their reach to Pensacola through WSRE or otherwise, and already have a presence in the area with a satellite Medical School campus near the University of West Florida. It's entirely possible to put a PBS station on a commercial license. WNED did it for decades since they were formerly a failed NBC O&O that went under in the 50s. The only reason they went non-commercial was to perform a license swap with their sister station WNEQ so it could be sold to LIN to be operated as WNLO commercially.

All it takes is a decent owner making a better offer than what Sinclair can currently provide. Money talks and affiliations walk.

If these kinds of preemptions are going to become more commonplace, ABC should strike back and provide the affected programming to their Disney+ or Hulu customers in pattern. This would be a great tool in times where programming HAS to be pre-empted like a tornado warning or breaking news emergency is taking place. This is 2025. It's entirely possible and there's no excuse for it not to happen. Broadcast TV has been dying for decades and when Nexstar and Sinclair pull this crap, they only drive away their audiences further away only to never return because they were forced away. Had they just left it alone, they could have saved some viewer loyalty, but it's probably never coming back after stunts like this.

ABC and/or the Southeastern Conference need to hit Nexstar and Sinclair where it hurts... And if any other conferences want to join in that ABC broadcasts on their network, the more the better! It probably wouldn't work selectively boycotting the Nexstar and Sinclair stations, but if they were to pull their programming from the network, it would cause Nexstar and Sinclair to react swiftly before losing it all...

If this dispute goes long enough, could the sports leagues that Nexstar airs on the CW pull their programming in protest? We're truly living in a FAFO timeline...

In St. Louis' case, live sports is the only thing that probably gets decent viewership on KDNL. Even the network programs like GMA get hash marks because of Sinclair's historic mismanagement of that station. If ABC pulls out from Sinclair, Gray and KMOV should get it by default simply because of the monopoly Nexstar has in the market and will get even worse if/when they get KSDK.

With NJ PBS going away, it basically takes away the last group of stations devoted to the state of New Jersey. Long ago WMGM shut down their Atlantic City operation in favor of WCAU, and WWOR has zero presence in NJ even after all of the time and effort was spent to license them to Secaucus to try and save their license in the RKO General scandal. Fox basically undid all that and 9 broadcast plaza is long gone as well.

My God I hope it happens.... Too bad ABC doesn't have the Big Ten anymore, or they could pull the same stunt in Columbus with WSYX. There's going to be some pissed viewers in Mobile, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Macon, Tulsa, Nashville, Charleston, New Orleans and any other Sinclair or Nexstar ABC market with a strong SEC fan base....

I guess I'll catch up when I can since WLOX dropped off the air RIGHT WHEN JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE STARTED! It's too strange to be a coincidence. I get a strong signal from them and the other South Mississippi stations are coming in clear as a bell. I hope to god it was not something deliberate with the station's signal. It's come in and out over the last half hour, but something is very wrong with their transmitter right now....

ABC does offer a live network feed (filled in with ABC News Live programming) on YTTV where no local affiliate exists. This includes places like Parkersburg, WV; Zanesville, OH; and Glendive, MT.

And do the viewers who pay for cable or Disney+/Hulu have the ability to stream the show in pattern? If that's not the case then it becomes a consumer issue, Nexstar and Sinclair are taking away access to something consumers are paying for. If they are not getting what they're paying for, they deserve to be compensated. It may be a fractional amount, but it's based on principle because they are being willfully denied programming that they are obligated to receive from their local affiliate. In this day and age, only a breaking news or weather emergency should deny local viewers access to a network show. And even then, the show should be made cleanly available to paying customers to watch alternatively.

Well, that adds another 29(ish) stations that won't be clearing the show...for now. And Nexstar's ABC affiliations are all up next December as well. Including Tegna, that's another 13 stations that could be affected in the future if the merger with Nexstar is ever greenlit. This could come back to bite Nexstar not only with their status with ABC, but getting Tegna to begin with. ABC could go scorched earth and shack up either on a low powered station or subchannel, or worse, go streaming only if they pull their affiliations from Nexstar and/or Sinclair. Some stations to watch.... WEAR. They were the last to add JKL in pattern in 2022. Last night, they went back to their 1 hour 10pm show and bumped the ABC Family Feud filler to 11pm. Given the market, there may be 4 Sinclair stations, but plenty of other commercial stations outside of Sinclair, Nexstar and Gray. These include WPAN, WMPV, WHBR, and WFBD. All of the former Sinclair stations under Rincon including WICS.WICD, KHQA and KTVO. They're "not" Sinclair stations anymore...we'll see if Rincon picks up the show like the others or if Sinclair is still pulling the strings.... WYTV (and any other shells under Nexstar like Vaughan or Mission). Either they're particpating in the boycott or Nexstar is illegally controlling their programming. And now that Nexstar is particpating in the boycott, WLOX also comes in handy for New Orleans, and viewers in the western half of the market can watch on WBRZ in Baton Rouge.

Back then, WLOX was still family owned by the Love family. They later sold out to Liberty who continued the ban of the show. Another station that kept NYPD Blue off for an extended period of time was WMBB in Panama City. Their ban started in 1993 and ended in 1997 after the television ratings were adopted. This was at the behest of their general manager while the station was owned by Spartan.

WEAR begs to differ.... https://weartv.com/news/nation-world/abc-jimmy-kimmels-suspension-show-will-return-tuesday (looks like they posted the "wrong" article and not the TND one other Sinclair stations are posting....)

So if Sinclair is still planning on pre-empting JKL, did Nexstar cave in like a shoddily built house of cards? Thank goodness I have access to WLOX, so I can watch JKL like any ABC viewer should be able to. Come tomorrow, I"m sure Sinclair will cave in at the last minute after ABC starts serving them with papers...they always chicken out. And even if they do agree to run the show, they'll probably still be toast as a holder of ABC affiliations after next year. Remember WHDH threatened to do the same with the Jay Leno Show but later dropped those plans. NBC probably factored that into their decision to take their ball in Boston to their own station, even if it was a low-powered gaggle of subchannels powered by NECN.

Back in the day, you would have a general manager of a small station in a deep south market who would pull the plug on a show like "NYPD Blue". Probably most of the viewers would have obliged and the show found its way on another station with the network's blessing. Now when you have the CEO of a mega broadcaster making the same decision, It's a much bigger problem because it has a serious effect on the program's reach. If the company is going to be in an impediment to carrying its programming based on their decisions, then the network is well within its right to terminate any contracts and move elsewhere. If it were to happen to Nexstar, they've played hardball and lost a few times before they grew into a mega company. The most apparent was when they lost a bunch of FOX affiliates in 2011. Then when they lost CBS on WJMN. If these shenanigans continue, expect to find network affiliates in weird places when they have to shack up on somebody else's subchannel.