tyrannical bastard

More Nexstar stations are adding "Plus" apps to Roku, Amazon and Apple TV including WKRG, WDTN, WJBF, WKBN, WTAJ, WHNT, WIAT, and other middle-market stations. Still some laggards like WGNO and KOLR. Even through the web sites still seem to indicate "delayed streams" of newscasts, they appear to be live now on the apps. About time! Now the question is, will Nexstar put their stations on another app like LocalNow, NewsON or Zeam? They're very much behind the curve in this regard. Sinclair is a little better with total reach on NewsON, and some reach on LocalNow and Stirr, the app they used to run but sold off last year The other groups and even the single stations / small companies like WFMJ, WRAL, WBRZ/KRGV, and KTVN/WRCB also have their stations on standalone apps and stream on sites. Nexstar is getting better but still has a ways to go. So many of the Tribune and Media General stations had better streaming options before Nexstar took over.

Aside from the Astros, Houston is not a market that Fox has a vested interest in sports-wise. The Texans are an AFC team that's had some better years but that's CBS's problem in their eyes. Wonder if the same will happen in Orlando? Austin seems to hold on despite it not having any teams of their own, but feeds on the surrounding markets like DFW, Houston and San Antonio.

Wouldn't be the first time. The Washington Post traded them for WWJ/WDIV. I think Sinclair would be more likely to sell WJLA, with their flagship up the road in Baltimore.

At the rate CBS is heading, WANF and Gray are the winners in that they don't have to pay CBS anymore for less and less content. CBS has done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot for the last several years, especially on the news side. Losing the SEC was another blow, and primetime keeps getting worse and worse. Now that WXIA gave up on the primetime news on WATL, I totally expect WANF to bring it back. And given Gray's great OTT platforms, the reach is far beyond Atlanta as cord cutters and watch WANF virtually anywhere. Since ratings and revenue don't matter anymore, CBS took their ball and went home. They'll be the 5th place operation but as long as people are paying for CBS somehow (through cable, satellite, OTT or Paramount+), they'll get all of the money from that now.

2028, for all of Tegna's CBS affiliates.

Bonus points if it ends up back on WUPA as 69.2

We have a CW55 logo!

If CW moves from 17 to 46, WPCH is one step closer to returning to it's "Superstation" roots...

WANF and Gray aren't wasting any time on the news either. I hope this is a good thing for the Atlanta viewers and not a way for Gray to assume more control of other market's stations. Many in the region were decimated in favor of regionalizing newscasts. But this was clearly an expected outcome that they've been planning for years. WHEN this happens to other stations, they may not be so lucky when they realize they have more hours of programming to fill when their network walks...

The way CBS is going now (especially with their "bombshell" in Atlanta)....Nexstar and others could be a victim of CBS pulling up stakes for whoever pays them the most.

More proof that CBS is following the money, regardless of ratings or market share. They must really be hard off thinking they can do better on their own station rather than having to extort be paid by Gray in Atlanta. Had they waited a little longer, they could have made a deal with WSB or WXIA when their deals were up. But yay! another soul-less CBS (insert city here) newscast. Maybe this time it will actually come out of Atlanta. Gray has probably seen this coming since the last renewal. And it may have been the reason they have stripped affiliate logos from many of their stations. At least they're making the effort to make something out of WANF. As for Tampa, it looks like WTSP (and all of Tegna's CBS affiliations) are locked in through 2028. Since "Coxpollo" is private, this information is not available through their annual report, so there's no word on KIRO's contract.

The true test of when CBS crosses the line of no return is when the CW overtakes it in the ratings. CBS is not what it used to be, but at least the CW under Nexstar is fading even faster towards oblivion trying to be a "catch all" network as opposed to the niche one it used to be under CBS and Warner Brothers.

It's good to see a sign of life from Scripps, especially over the last two years. Has the industry declined so far that I'm actually excited to see this package? So many of the group packages introduced over the past few years are well past their prime already, and groups like Gray haven't even finished yet....

Nexstar caves to a hollow demand of the FCC... https://thedesk.net/2025/05/nexstar-ends-dei-programs-policies/?utm_source=mailpoet#038;utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=Nexstar DEI Pullback

Even sadder if they cave towards the Trump administration by "bribing" them the 20 million dollars in his frivolous lawsuit against their news coverage. If that happens, CBS may as well be done for as a credible network and news organization. Even though ABC caved as well, Disney is in far better shape overall.

There has to be some dirt between Byron Allen and CBS. It's like he's extorting them to air his garbage shows on a network timeslot. After all, if his stations are now all leased down to the coffee maker and toilet paper....

As long as Matt Laubhan is still there. He's literally the James Spann of the market, even down to the suspenders! I refer to him as "James Spann Jr."

Hopefully this fixes the stations that cram entirely too many words into one super. These are the ones that have the constant L3 that switches from the story, to the person on camera, back to the story. With text sizing, these supers are downright unreadable. Wish a group would bring back a form of "Texta", this was the non-obtrusive lower graphic that summarized a story that was introduced by WKRC in Cincinnati. It lasted through Citicasters into Jacor, Clear Channel and Newport, and Newport rolled it out to many of their stations. Some Nexstar stations (post-Newport) even used it and it survived on several ex-Newport Sinclair stations until the respective Sinclair package was introduced.

We have another meteorologist coming to WEWS.... Frank Marzullo, most recently at WXIX in Cincinnati and worked at WTAP and WFMJ in the past, has been hired by WEWS part-time. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2025/05/25/wews-adds-meteorologist-after-firing-mark-johnson/83851974007/ This may be a temporary gig for the Cleveland native, as he appears to be contemplating his next move in Cincinnati.

You bring up some very valid points with the way ownership has transpired over the years there. Making matters worse is the consolidation that brought in WXVT and allowed the creation of WNBD-LD, bringing all locally owned television under one roof. Would you agree that it would have made more sense to pipe in distant affiliates of networks not already there? This would have preserved more diversity in voices, and has been an issue in smaller markets that have had the ability to bring in local affiliates, at the expense of out-of-town stations that the local viewers have relied on for years, if not decades.

Longtime WSFA-TV anchor Bob Howell, who anchored at WSFA from 1976 to 2012, has passed away. https://www.wsfa.com/2025/05/24/longtime-former-wsfa-news-anchor-bob-howell-has-died/

I still can't wrap my head around how Gray has decimated this uber-dominant station. Have they really fallen that far to where the once non-existent WDHN is actually making a dent in viewership? Then again, I realize that it's probably a true dollars and cents move since ratings and revenue don't matter. Gray just thinks the station costs too much money for the retransmission revenue it brings in and the viewers of Dothan be damned....

With those moves, it's more sameness and centralization. Even Cox introduced a centralized package to their ongoing stations. Gray stripping stations of network logos takes out even more, but it's a good preemptive move once the networks start walking away...

When was the last time a station or group actually introduced a new package? That's how stale and boring everything is right now. The industry is stuck in 2019.

Or in 47s case, try and flood the room with chaos that has nothing to do with him because it's all about him. Someone remind me...who is Skydance and why should they buy Paramount? This and all of the other chaos is driving CBS/Paramount into the ground faster than Jeff Zucker did with NBC and CNN, combined.