tyrannical bastard

Another thing that helps MeTV is (was?) their national carriage on AT&T's UVerse system. (Given the mess that is AT&T's pay tv platforms, there's no telling if that's still the case. Basically UVerse is for existing customers anymore and the only option is the inferior AT&T TV platform or DirecTV.) The Scripps and Sinclair networks could be kicked off the Nexstar stations, especially the former Tribune ones, who filled out their diginets with the readily available on digital Sinclair ones (TBD and Charge!) Scripps seems to be doing the same with their networks, and Nexstar, tied to their airwaves, could have plenty of room for both channels in many of their markets once the dust settles.

Looks like what Nexstar is doing is splitting Antenna TV as we know it into two networks. Antenna TV will have the older shows and Rewind TV will have the newer shows (from the 80s and 90s) along with some additions Antenna TV hasn't had on yet. Another casualty could be MeTV, especially since we're nearing the decade mark where Media General purged out RTV in favor of MeTV in many of their markets. I"m sure Nexstar would rather carry an owned network over someone else's when the contracts expire. Now the question is, will this harm MeTV if this is the case? I'm told MeTV does VERY well in the ratings in certain markets, with some key demos.

It needs to happen. Yesterday. Back in the day, Warner Cable in Akron used to charge extra for Sportschannel Ohio to watch their Indians and Cavs games. Let the fans pay for it. It's making pay TV way too expensive and the OTT services aren't going to budge to their demands.

MyPanhandle.com (wmbb.com), but the WMBB.com no longer works. This was one of the Hoak stations they picked up because Gray had WJHG in the market, which they have owned since the 50s. I think some of the assets did end up with Gray, like the WMBB transmitter stick, which WJHG now operates from as well.

Some of the prior moves by Nexstar just defied common sense of websites. These unwieldly names buried the branding and identity of the stations, while simple and short addresses. The smart thing to do is keep the old address around for redirecting purposes, and some (now part of Nexstar) got smart, and did like WJW and adopted Fox8.com, ditching the myfoxcleveland.com instituted by Fox earlier. Going into the mobile era, these shorter websites are much easier to type than the longer unwieldy ones. In the breakup of Newport, Inergize was one of the divisions that became part of Nexstar and ended up taking a lot of the old websites with them. This was a problem for some of the stations that were not picked up by Nexstar but spun off to other owners like Sinclair. Stations like WHP got burned and ended up with Local21news.com, as opposed to what they had before. As a side effect of the reallocation in Columbus, "Fox 28" still has the myfox28columbus.com while WTTE itself now has WTTE28.com, which was the original address that Sinclair started for them and basically used the same pattern for most of their stations at the time. Nice and simple. Essentially going forward branding is going to be anything these stations have, channel numbers aren't going to matter (especially on OTT services) Catchy and easy to remember is going to be the key, and so is a long established brand to a legacy product.

If anything, it's to make a handsome return on their investment when they flip the station down the road.

With broadcasting, you take one stream (or multiples) on a piece of frequency and anyone within the signal contour can receive it. Broadband allows for an infinite number of streams to be sent from point a to point b wherever they are connected. In terms of a multi-channel universe, broadband is scalable because you can pick and choose what you want to watch and the provider has the ability to infinitely expand what they provide. All that is being transmitted is what the user requests to watch, and the data is sent. Whereas other providers are given a set bandwidth and have to shoehorn their content to it. Digital means have stretched this, but it is still a defined limit to how it can be sent, bandwidth-wise.

Another consequence of Nexstar's past digital mishaps, their unwieldy, hard to find, and god-awful website names they launched at many of their stations pre-Media General merger. Even worse, in some cases they let the original, simple, call letter websites lapse so either they are now orphaned or have been swallowed up by cyber squatters. And to add even more insult to injury in Green Bay, their website is still WeAreGreenBay.com. WFRVLocal5.com appears to be available, why not consolidate everything under the same name? Oh wait it's Nexstar....nevermind....

If I had a nickel for every time this has been brought up... It seems they have even squandered all of the efforts they've absorbed. Media General/Lin Digital? Hyfn? Lakana? (the former IBS and Inergize websites) All it seems to have produced is some new websites for the group and squandered any other opportunities to expand digitally. If they should learn anything from Sinclair, it's not to rely on cable and satellite to build your audience, and try and squeeze the pennies out of the digital end. At least WGN/NewsNation is minimal in value compared to the albatross that Bally Sports has become....

If all of the "Tegna-fication" is rooted in these allegations, then they certainly need to be undone. And if this damaged the company's value, then there needs to be a change of ownership. Get new people in there who not only can run the business effectively, as well as re-tooling the product back to it's core audience without patronizing to a particular group. A lot of us here can't stand the Tegna approach to local news, but these comments put a new stain on it that's deeply offensive to what could be their core audience in many places. It works in places where the product is halfway decent, but it's also trashed good stations and made bad stations worse.

Ouch! Especially why they claim to be using their current music and purple in their graphics.

A brand new station shacking up on an existing frequency. Certain markets seem to be maxed out on the UHF frequency, but they'll probably have to settle for VHF unless they can make a deal with an existing licencee. It may have to happen with the low-power holders especially if someone like Weigel wants to move in to a market where HC2 wants to stay and they split a channel. Then again, it's probably easier to buy or sell rather than trying to apply for a new license in the first place...

Here's a question.... Since the Spectrum Auction, have there been any licencees that have applied or been granted a license to operate a channel on an existing frequency shared with an existing licencee? It seems like the modern equivalency of the stations that shared a frequency during different day parts in the early history of broadcasting....

MyNetwork is essentially a brand for an independent station with some syndicated repeats in prime time. Sinclair has mostly kept the branding intact, aside from WPNT (22 The Point) in Pittsburgh. They serve as duopoly partners to their primary stations in markets such as Pensacola, Asheville, and with the Allbritton merger, serve as the host station in Birmingham (hosting a full powered feed of 33/40) and Charleston (WMMP becoming the new WCIV, with the old "WCIV" on the .2) Other places like Norfolk, it's just a standalone station that bet against Fox years ago, and is a subchannel in others like Columbus, Chattanooga, and have taken over the primary stick of WRGT after the former "Fox 45" moved to WKEF. While some have a strong lineup in their own right, many are just pass-through operations for ThisTV or other networks during the day aside from MNTV programming, especially the subchannels.

Sinclair was all-in for their stations getting MyNetwork. Their only CW pickups were in markets that didn't have Tribune/CBS, no other willing takers or another netlet station in the same market (like WRDC). Mobile/Pensacola was very peculiar since they aligned WFGX, then a half-market station that was also a WB affiliate for a time, but lost out to upstart WBPG (now WFNA) in 2001. They later got CW under Emmis, and WJTC, the UPN station went independent as UTV44, then owned by Clear Channel alongside WPMI. WFGX later became a full market digital signal in 2010 and finally had a market-wide MyNetwork station, even if it was padded out initially with This TV during the day and JTV at night. They've picked up more syndicated programming over the years, especially since WPMI and WJTC were Sinclair-ized.

I like the new MSNBC look. It's more refined and unique than the other one, that seemed like a giant CNN ripoff. It also ties in better to NBC News Now. I would imagine format-wise the main news is going to be covered on MSNBC while the NBC News Now is watered down as it is with breaking news and repeats of other NBC news shows.

Logistics plain and simple. Also, the cost of doing business in a smaller market may be much cheaper than a major market, especially if an area is more business-friendly tax wise. Let's say an ABC station that doesn't have a duopoly partner does a full slate of newscasts (AM 5-7, midday, 5,6, 10/11) They then have the time and space to do a Fox/CW newscast from 7-9 and a 9/10 show. Factoring in time zone changes, there are other windows to keep the crew and studio in use for other markets in different time zones.

That makes sense since many of Sinclair's stations dumped UPN for WB around the same time, and WRDC even dumped the network for a few months until both sides made up? Vegas sent UPN packing and that's why 33 became an independent IIRC... And since WRAZ was tied to WRAL, it was a dream duopoly in the making. I believe CBC even gave WRAZ a lot of independence from WRAZ unlike most duopolies with a separate facilty in Durham along with separate staffing. IIRC, that has changed in recent years and more functions have moved over to WRAL's facility.

It's never good to balk to FOX whenever the question is "what to do in the 10pm hour".....and if the answer is not "News", that's probably why FOX bolted for WRAZ. Even though the news department was intact, it lasted until the demise of News Central in 2006 and has been farmed out to WTVD ever since...

Despite the troubles that WNCN has had over the years competing against WRAL and WTVD, they pale in comparison to the disaster that WRDU/WPTF/WRDC was as the market's NBC affiliate. And these all predate their takeover by Sinclair.

Now these arrangements seem to be under the radar as these "new newscasts" are being done in another station's "spare time and space". South Bend's WSBT seems to have additional capacity since they not only do their own shows, but shows for WNWO and WOLF (which can be done in the same space and with the same crew). The others I"m aware of include Macon doing news for Albany, Myrtle Beach doing news for Savannah, and of course San Antonio doing WXLV's newscasts. Decommissioned news operations (like in Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Champaign, St. Louis, Tallahassee) could be put into play as well with the proper upgrades as well.

Seeing as how they already provide news for WUHF, unless they have an alternate studio space and control room, they would have to be pre-taped. Syracuse is a possibility since they produce both WSTM and WTVH's newscasts, and only the CW has a 10pm show, i'm assuming it's done on the WSTM side? That leaves the WTVH side open for doing newscasts for Buffalo, potentially.

Looks like Buffalo's WUTV is attempting to start their "own" newscast, and break away from having WGRZ produce it. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2021/3/26/sinclair-station-to-go-it-alone-with-late-newscast And since this is Sinclair we're talking about, I wonder what station or cluster will be responsible for the studio portion? The others in the region seem to have their hands full or like WOLF are coming out of others like South Bend....

Yesterday's weather was very close to home, literally, for ABC 33/40's James Spann, as one of the tornadoes damaged his house and property as he was on the air covering the storm. Meterologist Taylor Sarallo took over as Spann was able to check in with his wife Karen, who was able to shelter in their storm shelter, and is ok. https://abc3340.com/news/local/alabamas-chief-meteorologist-anchors-storm-coverage-as-a-tornado-bears-down-on-his-house Despite this news, he kept on covering the storm and thanked viewers for their concern, and told them to instead to help those in need who lost their houses and loved ones.

Word out of WNEP is that both the longtime General Manager and News Director are retiring in the next month. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2021/3/18/and-now-the-news-director-is-leaving Both have been around a long time, going all the way back to the original MCTYW.... It does beg the question if whoever comes in could change the music? Or will they hold their ground against Tegna and take the side of the viewers who may revolt if such a change is ever made?