tyrannical bastard

Not missed by me, like the RSNs. Let the sports fans pay for their own games.

Google has always been a good "cable" operator. They told Diamond to take a hike with their RSNs and have had relatively few disruptions. The only notable one I can recall was the Disney one in 2021 that took down their channels for a day or two.

A "short-term deal extension" was granted for continued negotiations between Paramount and YouTubeTV. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2025/02/14/youtube-tv-paramount-cbs-deal/78594063007/

Paramount may yank all of their channels (including ALL CBS O&O AND affiliates) from YouTube TV tomorrow if they don't reach an agreement... https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/youtube-tv-dispute-paramount-cbs-comedy-central-mtv-1236306040/ UPDATE: If a deal is not reached, the channels are set to go dark tonight at 11pm ET. And if there is an extended outage, YTTV customers can get an $8 bill credit...

A major loss for sure and one of the legends of the Columbus TV market. I still think he was pushed out at WCMH and his return to TV was as soon as he was able to. One of the many reasons ABC 6 & FOX 28 have become the new stations of record after NBC4 and 10TV's missteps and selling out to the highest bidder.

WKBN has been "FirstNews" for over 30 years, well before they even started WYFX, and when they were still locally owned and operated by the Williamson Family. If anything, I think they should have separated the branding a little more rather than using the "27" for both their CBS and Fox newscasts. Nexstar uses "Fox Youngstown" for general promotion, but their newscasts are all lumped into the "27 FirstNews" brand with the CBS look and CBS eye.

Seems weird that they dumped their prior package for one that's just as old. If memory serves me correctly, they were one of the first if not the very first ones to get the CBS package that many of their stations use.

It's almost like it's 1993 and Fox debuted these as a test before landing the NFL rights a year later. Because back then, it was basically text on the screen with the score coming in and out of break.

Sort of a lateral move for them since the other set was on the "blah" side. I think the lighting will be better on this one since you could see the glare of the lights on the monitor array during dark images. At least it's not the bus-station/bank branch look of some of their past sets....the "Gray-Hound" look....

Glad the branding ended up here instead of Mobile & Pensacola. I figured this could be an eventual game plan with Sinclair if they ever totally merged their Pensacola and Mobile operations into one.

Color me shocked. 2015 has finally rolled around for Nexstar. I just downloaded the Fox 8 CLE+ app. Hell has finally froze over. Looks like it's the major markets that are receiving Roku apps. And yes, they do have live streaming. (And why 2015? Because it seems that Nexstar is a decade behind the times with everything. I bought my first Roku 10 years ago!)

Several Nexstar stations do a lot of digital efforts (i.e. WKRGNow) which amount to a totally separate set of newscasts at different times of the day when their main ones are not broadcasting. It's a lot of effort that's stuck in an archaic method of delivery (web streaming) and can be leveraged through OTT platforms. And many of the stations Nexstar took over (especially Media General and Tribune) had robust efforts that were squandered in favor of broadcast-only methods and trying to squeeze every penny out of the pay-tv companies. Media General had a large presence on NewsOn before Nexstar took them over. Many Tribune stations even had their own streaming Roku and FireTV apps.

Maybe Nexstar is finally starting to realize the game they started is finally catching up to them. The more people that cut the cord, the less money they can extract from the pay TV companies and viewers.

It looks like Sinclair is turning the keys over in Albany, Georgia with WFXL. According to FCC filings, they have established a JSA with Marquee Broadcasting (owners of WSWG and WSST) and their "main studio/control point" is now at the same address as WSWG's studios in Albany. This was one of the stations decimated in the 2023 layoffs. It was already being run largely out of WGXA in Macon which itself was decimated as well. These cuts left it without any local newscasts of any kind, aside from The National Desk. Sinciair looks like they will still own the station, Marquee will likely be doing the legwork with it.

That's a start. Now they need to get on OTT platforms.

https://www.kentucky.com/entertainment/tv-movies/article299429119.html Morris is getting rid of News Directors at their stations, vowing to replace them with "local content managers" All of their news departments will report to a news operation manager based out of WTVQ in Lexington.

Unless we totally destroy our democracy, the worst that can be done is to cut the federal funding to NPR and PBS. When it comes to the content that NPR and PBS put out, it is not under the FCC's jurisdiction, period. The only way if it's a violation of sponsorship (overtly commercial content) or something profane or indecent during regular hours. If this comes to pass, it will be fought in court and NPR/PBS SHOULD prevail, unless our system of government totally goes off the rails.

This is so bad that Jerry Springer and even Morton Downey Jr. are rolling in their graves.

It goes back to the 80s-90s....if you think it's bad now... Now their WLBT simulcasts will blend right in....

Another major loss in Cleveland. "Big Chuck" Schodowski, has passed away at the age of 90. https://fox8.com/news/fox-8s-big-chuck-dies-at-90/

Most of their stations ended up with Gray while a select few ended up fading into oblivion under Chelsey (eventual SSA bait) and WTRF ending up under West Virginia Media Holdings. In the early days of broadcasting you saw stations outright fold (mostly UHF ones) and certain others here and there. Equity was probably the most notable failure of late with their properties essentially dissolving under the digital transition and being totally rebuilt mostly by Daystar as totally new stations under the existing license. (Because Equity had not constructed the digital facilities in most places at the time)

Gannett definitely planted of the seeds of decline in the 2000s as they shifted towards centralized graphics. It made for easy assimilation of the Belo stations and any others that were purchased before Tegna was split off. Meanwhile, Gannett has continued the decline on the newspaper side as they've grown to become the largest "publisher" of "newspapers" in the country. (I use the quotations because the actual act of printing a newspaper is becoming rarer and rarer.)

It sounds like the Allen stations are so leveraged that they literally own NOTHING and everything has been sold and leased back to the company. The doomsday scenario is the true owners taking back their stuff and running it themselves or entrusting it to another party of their choosing.

If all of the meteorologists at Allen stations are history, a boneheaded move will be if it goes down at WTVA. Not only is it an established station in a place known for severe weather, but is in Mississippi State's backyard, where MANY meteorologists get their degrees from. Allen better have a good plan for their chief Meteorologist (Matt Laubhan) since he's very well regarded (and almost like a James Spann Jr. even down to the suspenders!) or this station is toast.

Could Allen become the first company to ever have its stations seized or shut down involuntarily by creditors? That's what it seems like where things are heading... I think it's happened in select cases but never on a grand scale like this.