tyrannical bastard

Looks good. If anything, the supers sort of have a Graham-like vibe to them.

They can blame COVID all they want, but these layoffs are a direct result of the RSN bubble bursting, not to mention the $48 MILLION fine levied against them for their business practices, namely the bungled Tribune merger and their failure to properly disclose sponsored content. it was bound to happen eventually and I imagine it's going to get a lot worse in the weeks and months to come.

I wonder how much longer Lockwood is going to keep the old Gray looks around. It's like they're still owned by them. WCAV has the WBTV package, and KAKE still has the look about to be dumped by WSAZ and WTVY. WFXG still has the old Raycom look to them, and the other Raycom castoffs are letting Nexstar (Dothan and Panama City) and Tegna (Knoxville) do their news their way. KTEN is really the only one doing something different, and it's sort of the Bayou City look that Meredith used to use before they got their own centralized package based off WSMV's look.

WTVY is revamping their look on Thursday. This includes a refreshed logo, new graphics and a refreshed set. https://www.wtvy.com/2021/03/01/wtvy-introduces-new-branding/ Graphics-wise, they have a similar package to the one that's about to be replaced at WSAZ, and their set is about a decade old, and is one of the standard-issue Gray ones from that era. I'm sure any updates will also extend to WRGX, their low-powered NBC station.

I hope whatever WVUE gets, it's a package with a twinge of customization to it, like WBRC had their own spin on the so-called "over-used" variant that WRDW/WAGT just got. Even if the main color is purple, it's New Orleans, and it will work there. The WBTV package is good. The only problem is that it looks so similar to the KOIN Nexstar package that WGNO just got (especially with the lower thirds). Except that Gray does a much better job overall of executing it. It would take a lot to screw up WVUE. And since their competition has crumbled before them, WVUE has the clear advantage no matter what they end up with.

I recall a side-effect of the implementation of retransmission consent. The stations began running joint ads telling consumers to urge their cable companies to keep their channels on cable. This was at least a decade before Perry Sook starting directly shaking down cable companies for money. For whatever reason, WEWS which was on channel 9, got moved to 11, and WJW moved from 11 to 9. WOIO and WUAB traded spots as well on 6 and 13. Poor shielding was why 3, 5 and 8 were on 2, 11 and 9. 3 was WDLI, 5 was WVIZ, and 8 was WBNX. On the flip side, WOAC was added on channel 12 and several years later, WQHS was added to channel 7 (replacing QVC) and WAOH got a full time slot on channel 15 (after part time carriage on the access channel). These latter moves were part of must-carry, except for WAOH, which was low power. Years later, these were all changed after Time Warner took over the Adelphia systems in Cleveland, and the lineups were more standardized. Spectrum has really made things worse with their packages and poorer service than Time Warner had.

Remember the stations Comcast wanted to kick off their system and changed their mind? Well, some are still going away after all... Despite all of the options out there, there still seems to be no perfect TV option. Going way back into the dark ages of cable tv (for me) was the 40-channel Warner cable lineup that split CNBC with WKBN out of Youngstown and C-SPAN 2 with BET. That soon expanded to 70-ish channels with a new fiber optic platform, and to the temporary disgust of their customers, a cable box REQUIRED for any channel above basic. They soon relented, and moved the expanded basic back to unscrambled, and kept the higher tiers on the box. This was a good 15 years before the cable companies decided to "box" everything, and when they could do so, completely scrambled their content by going full-on digital. I've said it a million times. It is entirely possible to make the system a-la-carte. But no company wants to because they will lose the goldmine of fees they "must" charge the consumer for the privilege of being their only choice.

The groups should still be at an impasse. Trying to watch this game, they wouldn't have been missing much.

Definitely the dark side of having ONE company controlling all of the major affiliations in the same market. It seems like if it were the case, then at least ONE of them should be must-carry and carry a basic load of newscasts (since most are likely simulcasted anyways.)

That would wipe out the entire market in Greenville/Greenwood, MS since Cox legally owns all 3 stations (WABG with ABC and FOX, WXVT-LD with CBS and WNBD-LD with NBC)

I wonder how much longer Nexstar is planning on running WJZY under the FOX O&O branding. Will it be like WJW where it took a good seven or eight years before they even tweaked the brand long after Fox had sold them off? The current WJW look would look good on them.... as opposed to what happened at WXIN which got the current Nexstar FOX package.

Sinclair is "sort of" bringing news to it's remaining stations via Stirr... https://www.cordcuttersnews.com/stirr-adds-six-new-stirr-city-channels-for-local-coverage/?source=home Even St. Louis got it's own. Have KDNL and WTWC picked up The National Desk, to air as a "morning newscast" before GMA or Today?

Basically, stations like WDLI exist in license-alone, since the spectrum was sold by TBN in the auction, and the station was physically merged onto WVPX's spectrum. Get rid of the extra license, and you can now legally have a duopoly with WEWS without endangering cap space. I'm pretty sure the Inyo deal was a stopgap in places like Cleveland where this situation existed, and the "triopoly" was in fact the shared spectrum of the former TBN station in license on the main ION station, plus the existing Scripps affiliate.

"Programming issues during the 10pm slot" was the apparent cause of FOX not renewing their agreement with WLFL. WRAZ was probably beginning to challenge them in the ratings (being tied to the uber-dominant WRAL), and Sinclair may have hinted at either cancelling the newscast or shortening it to a half hour. Being relegated to the "News Central" experiment was the beginning of the end, and when it was killed off, at least they were able to give WTVD a primetime option on WLFL.

I believe at the time NBC had such a good relationship with the Outlet stations, that getting WNCN (and the other future O&Os), the sale was sealed, especially for NBC to try and make something of themselves in the Triangle. A decade later, NBC cashes out these stations to Media General, and in 2016, WNCN (and Media General) swipe CBS from WRAL, and all of NBC's problems go away when they make their long-awaited return to WRAL.

Sinclair did the damage on WLFL by balking at FOX's demands to start a newscast, and by the time they agreed to it, WRAZ had been granted FOX, and WLFL had to settle for the WB. WRDC was already damaged goods since it was ruined by Brissette when they killed off WPTF and drove the station even further by killing off their news operation. Adding more insult to injury, when Sinclair got both stations, they set up in Channel 28's studios and WLFL's studios became home to WNCN, who through Outlet, wrestled away NBC because of Channel 28's disasterous tenure as an NBC affiliate at the time.

According to Rabbitears.info, WTTE's FOX feed is now on WSYX's feed as 6.3 (or 28.3, which is WSYX's actual channel....confusing, isn't it!) They're still on WTTE 28.1 as well, but for how long? WWHO 53.1 (still maps as such, is on WTTE 27.6) I sense a license separation coming between the two shells and Sinclair in Columbus.

Definitely 3.0 related especially if 28.1 remains as the PSIP assignment. Columbus could be all hands on deck since Sinclair, Nexstar and Tegna are all part of the same partnership. The question is, which station will be the 3.0?

Sooner or later, these companies have to go digital. It's out of the FCC's realm. And it's an area Nexstar needs to update itself on. Sinclair is at least trying with STIRR and willing to go DTC on their sports nets. Relying on websites and trying to tie their web streaming to cable providers is a bad idea in the works....

I fixed it.

Tons of conflicts.... Greenville/Spartanburg has WSPA/WYCW Mobile has WKRG/WFNA (along with Sinclair running every other station) St. Louis has KTVI/KPLR Portland has KOIN/KRCW (and Meredith owns KPTV and KPDX) Las Vegas has KLAS Springfield, MA has WWLP (and Meredith has the rest of the market with WGGB and WSHM-LD) Hartford has WTNH/WCTX Nashville has WKRN Kansas City has WDAF (and Meredith owns KCTV and KSMO)

From today's FTVLIVE... I could see the WDVM move-in, but would it affect retransmission consent with WDCW? Could the same owner opt for must-carry for one station and retransmission consent for the other? I highly doubt Meredith would part with WGCL, yet alone sell out entirely to Nexstar (or Mission). That would be a Sinclair-level shell game as there are many markets where Nexstar and Meredith compete, and the FCC would be amiss to allow some triopolies (along with the Sinclair/Deerfield cluster-f$#% in Mobile/Pensacola.) Atlanta may be a place to buy a stick and start anew. Maybe Meredith would be willing to sell WPCH? The irony in that is that the former W(TBS) and WGN (America) could all be under the same owner.

I totally expect WKRG and others who switched from Retro TV to meTV, to affiliate with Antenna TV this fall. The 10 year anniversary is this September. In Mobile-Pensacola, I don't even think the listed affiliate (WPAN 40) ever carried it. They ran into financial problems and ended up selling the station to a receiver, who resold it to the founding owners of WJTQ/WNGS-TV in Buffalo. The station was already off the air due to an issue with the transmitter site owner, and opted to build a new transmitter for their post-repack facility. When it signed on the air, it began airing programming from BLAB-TV, a local producer of program-length infomercials, which actually aired on the station years before. As for MeTV, unless Sinclair or Meredith picks it up, they could be without a home unless Weigel buys a station or two in the area. Several HC2 stations just signed on and the programming is worthless. Weigel getting at least one of them could fill in some major holes as we don't have the other Weigel diginets like H&I or Decades.

Props to them negotiating all the way to Christmas Eve.

Every time a bell rings, A station gets put back on Dish TV!