tyrannical bastard

It's probably been brought up in this thread already, but is there any difference between CNN on cable/satellite and their "Max" feed other than the CNN bug and ticker? Pretty sad that CNN has slipped to this, but it was inevitable to it being nothing more than added value to Max, which I still get for free via my AT&T internet service.

I'd be very, very surprised to see if Gray drops the "Fox" branding from their stations. I don't think Fox would stand for it, and the way that most Fox stations are branded, anything else would be very disorienting to a lot of viewers.

Gray likely saw what happened to Nexstar when they caved in to CBS in their last deal, so they didn't take any chances should NBC have pulled their affiliation from a station or two, or 53. We're probably at the point where existing piecemeal deals are about to be all entire group deals that line up to the point that affiliation switches could be done much easier.

There are actually cases where an existing competitor would serve the market BETTER by picking up another affiliation than letting it be run by another party. Case in point, Mobile & Pensacola. Since WPMI has been gutted by Sinclair, both WEAR and WPMI have suffered. Mobile is having to pad out their newscasts with Pensacola stories, and on the weekends, WEAR produces and simulcasts their weekend shows. Deflating the argument that Mobile and Pensacola are better served by separate stations, even WEAR is watering down their shows to air Mobile stories on a regular basis. Now if WALA is granted the NBC affiliation as a subchannel, Mobile viewers would have a more-local option, plus the option of having a dedicated 6pm newscast since Jeopardy! is on at 6 on WALA's main feed.

Maybe for the New Orleans Pelicans, but Biloxi-Gulfport is also in the middle between the Mobile-Pensacola and New Orleans TV markets. Could also be for the Tampa-Sarasota area as well, but I haven't heard anything about the Tampa Bay Rays deal with Bally being in trouble.

...and NBC has an agreement with Gray "in principle" to renew all of their stations' affiliations. The current agreement expires at the end of this year. https://tvnewscheck.com/business/article/gray-television-renews-all-its-nbc-affiliations/ Despite what people have been saying, I really think this was all a scare tactic by Gray to force a renewal, or to be ready for NBC to pull up stakes if a deal wasn't made. Now how long before the peacock starts showing up again on all of these stations?

Is Gray still planning on keeping their stations logos as they are, or was their network logo "purge" a ploy by Gray to hardball their networks into renewals? Based on my observations, ALL of their NBC stations removed the NBC logo, and some of the CBS stations no longer have the CBS eye as part of the logos. ALL of the ABC and FOX stations owned by Gray have the network logos intact. Same with any CW or MyNetwork stations. Any market where Gray has NBC along with other networks also stripped the network branding for most all the other ones they carry as well.

For a second I thought this was the "Channel 1 News" that provided TVs to schools free of charge while pumping students full of advertising.... But they've been defunct since 2018.

Rough estimate, CBS is the largest affiliate member of Gray's stations. IIRC, Gray is also the largest affiliate group of CBS as well.

What's their largest affiliate base?

WVUE in New Orleans is moving to a new building, which formerly housed WLAE and a housing authority. https://www.fox8live.com/2023/12/21/wvue-fox-8-is-moving-new-building/ Back during Katrina, WVUE's existing building was flooded, requiring it to be fully renovated and the station had to be operated out of Mobile at sister station WALA (when both were owned by Emmis) for a time. The current facility is surrounded by Xavier University, and Xavier will be acquiring it once WVUE vacates.

Aside from MyNetworkTV, that has to be a first...a broadcast network airing repeats of another network's show.

Great...more things for David Zaslav to run into the ground.

As long as Paramount is the surviving company. Warner Brothers should have been killed off a long time ago, even before AT&T ran them further into the ground. If they somehow get their hands on MGM, they can re-label all of the stuff Warner took over from Ted Turner when he kept their pre-1986 library.

My only issue with the "stripping" of affiliate logos from these stations is that these affiliations lend a form of credibility to them. Bad actors have been lifting and creating fake logos for use on illegitimate "news" sites for the sole purpose of spreading disinformation. Even with FOX affiliates, despite any link to their affiliates and "news" channel. The link between them is minimal and any well-educated person should know that. Being a heritage station and Raycom's idea to use their highly visible longtime neon sign as their main brand is a brilliant branding move. Same with WAVE in Louisville resurrecting their "WAVE" logo from years past.

Someone actually created an ESPN graphics overlay and tried to sync up the Wyoming radio feed to drown out the "noise" from the actual game.

...Yet... Columbus/Auburn/Opelika could become the only market where the CW has passed through each owner. It started on a Pappas station and lost it to SagamoreHill and now run by Gray on WLTZ 38.2 after they took over through an SSA.

I tried to watch this game, which was on their app last year, it was dreadful. Here are some of the highlights ... Standards and practices (if they even have one) will have their work cut out for them. Expect Perry Sook's swear jar to be overflowing...

More Nexstar CW pickups beginning January 1st.... WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids (as a subchannel) displacing Sinclair's subchannel on WMMT. KELO-TV in Sioux Falls (as a subchannel) displacing Gray's subchannel on KSFY. WMBB-TV in Panama City (as a subchannel) displacing Gray's subchannel on WJHG. https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/three-more-nexstar-stations-becoming-cw-affils-on-jan-1/ Aside from Panama City, these new CW affiliations will likely replace MyNetwork channels, or shift their programming to a later hour.

With the runaway costs of programming, much of the blame lies with the content providers (station owners).

Apparently, Danita Harris is moving to another station in Cleveland, according to tipsters to FTVLive.... https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2023/12/13/another-scripps-anchor-leaving

In recent years, the talent pool has really dried up, and the broadcasting companies' only way to recruit employees is to hit up the college campuses to staff their newsrooms and sales departments. So basically, it's one giant revolving door of college grads..when their contracts are up, they recruit a new bunch to take over. It's rarer and rarer to see new employees move on to a second or third station or renew their contract, unless they are highly specialized or well liked at their station. On the sales end, broadcast airtime is a fraction of what it used to be. With all of the extra selling for the other platforms (web, ott, etc), the companies also carve out their own slice of airtime to sell their own "national ads" as well. And with all of the consolidation of things, local ad sales is much more fragmented, with a lot of "one offs" and clients you never thought you would see on TV....think "Ferryman Funeral Homes" and "Red Wigglers...the Cadillac of Worms!"

Wow, this has to be the biggest departure from WEWS since Ted Henry retired back in 2009. I'll have to catch some of their newscasts in the next few weeks to see how "Scripps-i-fied" they've become. A sad transformation for a station built and put on the air by Scripps to become what it is today.

Or even....when MTV was still somewhat relevant?

I"m sure they'll be pre-taped and run whenever on KTUL. That would seem to make the most logistical sense especially if both ABC and FOX are running sports that pre-empt the usual news times. Still an absolutely pathetic move for a station in a market of Tulsa's size. Shame on Sinclair.