Samantha

On 3/7/2023 at 10:39 AM, GoldenShine9 said:

They did nothing to solve the 2 critical issues:

 

1) Apollo is bankrolling both companies and essentially has Cox and Tegna as subsidiaries of the same company. As a result, there are five markets where both companies are in place, and no effort was made to adjust for such. Graham made that clear last year in a petition to deny.

 

2) There is too much foreign money involved, coming from the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos (I believe). As a result, it is illegal on that alone. In addition, they failed to disclose such.

I am far from a Standard General defender, but Team Telecom reviewed the deal on the foreign investment/ownership issue and found no national security risks. It's become routine at the FCC for details involving Caribbean foreign capital (and from other countries with which the US has good trade relationship) to receive approval. Some large radio companies had to ask for declaratory rulings on foreign ownership because of actions outside its control (e.g. iHeartMedia when US-based OppenheimerFunds was acquired by Bermuda-organized Invesco in 2019).

Apparently they began broadcasting in HD today, but Cox is not carrying the service in HD. Gray is probably gonna want that to change...

On 2/16/2023 at 3:03 AM, T.L. Hughes said:

Could you clue me in? ‘Cause my only conclusion with the Flagstaff purchase was in the same vein of KNAZ’s relationship with KPNX: to act as a satellite of either KTVK or KPHO. Same with the Winnemucca purchase in relation to KOLO, since what is now KWNV was once a KRNV satellite.

Sorry about not seeing this until now.

On March 1, Gray launched the Arizona Family Sports and Entertainment Network on KPHE-LD here in Phoenix. It airs almost all of the KTVK/KPHO newscasts as well as sports programming from Gray's library and the rights to Phoenix Rising FC (USL) soccer and Arizona Interscholastic Association high school championships (PRFC was announced alongside the launch of the channel).

KPHE-LD had spent most of the last 15 years as a Spanish-language station. It was the last TV station owned by Lotus—which is primarily a radio operator in the West and has clusters in Las Vegas and Tucson, but not Phoenix. They had intended to sell to Phil Falcone's Sovryn Holdings, but the deal fell through. Gray then spent $1.75 million. Gray also secured a low cable position (13) for it, though it is still broadcast in SD.

When Gray filed paperwork in re: what's now KAZF, they went out of their way to note that the station has no contour overlap with KTVK or KPHO—in other words, that it can be programmed separately. I expected them to illuminate at least Flagstaff with this new service, and Yuma is very possible now that I see the content on it.

Also worth noting they added a subchannel to KPHE-LD containing Fido TV, which is a niche cable channel about dogs. This must be their first OTA exposure. They also still have two subchannels of infomercials. LATV has disappeared.

I think those call signs explain the intended programming in Flagstaff and Yuma...

And I think at this point with the WPGA-TV swap (which will likely give them WPGA-LD too, as that was hived off in the same "Marquee Broadcasting West" subsidiary for the purposes of the trade), we have to start thinking about what a Georgia Sports and Entertainment Network may look like...

On 2/12/2023 at 7:43 AM, iron_lion said:

True. The reverse has happened happened over time. Fox stations used to be my fox (insert city.com) now they've opted to do it by channel number: fox5ny.com. Fox Chicago is now Fox 32. NBC and CBS are the only o&o with consistent network-city website brands. 

 

Removing the channel number branding should be easy for CW stations though as thats already the case in several markets. 

It's interesting to see the website URL evolution. Pre-MyFox, KSAZ was fox10.com and still owns that domain. I was baffled when they decided to become fox10phoenix.com post-MyFox. It then occurred to me that it was probably an SEO move.

2 hours ago, RaleighTVBOI1 said:

I used staggered wrongly… WWJ is going quicker than all of them. It crazy WPTY took a decade. But you forgot Jax and WJXX they did a full-slate of newscasts on the first day they were not in a new world market but you know what I mean. KEYE did so also.

Yeah, I should have thought of that. WJXX was full force at news launch, but the caveat was that the newscasts launched 10 months after the station. Allbritton had its launch priorities all the wrong way with that station (having had to get it on the air much sooner than anticipated at ABC's behest).

1 hour ago, RaleighTVBOI1 said:

It’s a staggered approach then launching all newscast like station in 1995 with new news departments did. They trying to be new kids on the block but hitting the ground running, try to catch up with the pace of the D.

Having recently done extensive research into the histories of a number of the biggest post-New World station builds, they mostly were staggered over a period of months.

KSHB had an existing 9pm news which moved to 10 at the time of switch. A 5 was added in October 1994, a 6 in March 1995, but mornings had to wait until the summer of 1996.

WDJT added two newscasts at the same time in its March 1996 news debut and then a third shortly thereafter. Weekend news was added the next year. Took them until 2001 to compete in mornings.

KNXV started news at 10 on August 1, 1994. They added a 6 in about October, 5 in December, and mornings and middays in January 1995 when the remainder of the ABC programming moved over.

WFTS aired its first news on December 12, 1994, but only at 6 and 11. The remaining newscasts showed up in the first four months of 1995.

WGNX was not like many of the others. They were not producing a full line of newscasts until the new millennium: just noon, 6, and 11. It was not until Meredith took over that they added morning and 5 p.m. newscasts.

WPTY went in all at once in evenings. When they debuted, they had 5, 6, 9 (WLMT) and 10. It took them at LEAST a decade to start a morning newscast!

WWJ started with 6 and 11 (not including streaming hours) and has added a newscast in each of the two following weeks. Mornings do seem like they will take a little longer, and I'd expect that because of the time slot. Evening news additions tend to be more incremental, while mornings require a whole other team of on- and off-camera personnel.

10 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Back in the analog era, the signals used to overlap a lot more between Dayton and Cincinnati (and even Louisville).  IIRC, stations like WSTR and WXIX even had translators in the Dayton area. 

 

Dayton, in reality was the market that Akron/Canton never was, since they were blessed with VHF allocations from the get-go, while Akron never got theirs mostly because Pittsburgh was under-stationed, and didn't sign on most of their stations until the late 50's.  And other market's tom-foolery with their daytime schedules made alternate affiliates a nice thing to have if they wanted to see a network show that another affiliate pre-empted. 

 

Digital-wise, when the stations shifted to UHF,  the contours shrank, and likely in the repack,  shrank even more because of close-spacing of frequencies.  This makes DXing virtually impossible, because what was once likely a distant station, is on the same frequency as a local one, and when the skies act up, can cause havoc.

Then-WBTI's Dayton translator was more about increasing the coverage area of their subscription TV service. WXIX never had one, as far as I know.

KTAS in San Luis Obispo, California, is being sold by the Palazuelos family to International Communications Network, Inc. for $4 million. ICN owns KSDY-LD in San Diego.

Worth noting: the Telemundo affiliation agreement is excluded from the sale!

There is a message on their site stating Telemundo Costa Central is moving to KCOY 12.1 + KKFX-CD 24.2 on February 1. These channels carry Dabl. Some years ago KCOY (VistaWest Media) was replaced with a KEYT-CBS subchannel.

Quote

A partir del miércoles 1 de febrero Telemundo Costa Central estrenara una nueva casa. Podrás seguir disfrutando de tu programación favorita por KCOY en el canal 12.1 en alta definición. La señal de KCOY también estára disponible en el canal 24.2 en San Luis Obispo.

Back in October, Produ (a Spanish-language TV news site) announced that Azteca América would close at year's end.

And indeed, it has happened.

Some stations have announced replacement programming. Others have become blank subchannels. None of the ones we know of are the HC2 transmitters which had become the primary carriers.

El Paso KVIA-TV 7.4 — blank screen, infomercials

Fresno KMSG-LD 43.2 — LATV (as of December 20)

Monterey KMCE-LD 43.1 — Telemax

Phoenix KEJR-LD 40.1 — MeTV+ (// 40.2)

RGV KRGV-TV 5.2 — "Noticias RGV". This channel will retain its live newscasts at 7am, 12pm, 4pm and 9pm. Caught them running Novelísima (I think that's its name) on their web stream.

Sacramento KSAO-LD 49.1 — something called Visión Latina, apparently, and it's religious.

Tijuana/San Diego XHAS-TV 33.1 — LATV

Tucson KUDF-LD 14.1 — Estrella TV, as of January 2. This station also has some substantial local programming.

Yakima KYPK-LD 32.1 — TeleXitos, as of December 26

The length of time this deal has taken to be considered would be a factor.

Should this deal fall apart or face federal (DOJ/FCC) opposition, the investment climate is a lot colder than it was when Tegna was soliciting buyers. Higher interest rates, less froth, lower stock prices, etc.

If I went to a focus group and played them the Enforcer theme, I bet only one person at most would recognize that as "the theme for my local newscast" or know that it (in most of the country) has anything to do with CBS. I said in Discord on March 8, 2021, "honestly? I bet Average Joe Viewer couldn't make the connection between Enforcer, CBS Local and...CBS." I later called it "some ditty that most people don't even realize is associated with CBS local news for reasons far from them in time and space". And I stand by those words.

Shelly Palmer and later Frank Gari sold that theme mostly to CBS affiliates because of the use of the theme at the CBS O&Os. (Of course, non-CBS affiliates have used the mnemonic—including WVIT and KRIV, O&Os of other networks—and even in some cases had their own versions made, like WHTM's Sheldon Elias-done remix.)

The whole point of a brand mnemonic is to provide that familiarity across platforms and expressions. It's really fitting for the News and Stations structure of CBS. This is the same network where the background of the CBS Evening News lists bureaus in Rome, Johannesburg, London...Sacramento and Baltimore.

By doing this overhaul in the way they have, CBS has

• Built on one of its few strengths in the area of local news, the streaming channels.
• Recognized (at least here with San Francisco) that the newscasts have been titled to be replayable in a loop on CBS News.
• Executed a brand hierarchy that is forward-thinking and geared to the content-flowing-like-water mantra of Adrienne Roark etc. At the same time, the call letters are being used to reassure viewers in certain markets with especially entrenched or viewed CBS local news brands that this is the same newscast they're used to watching.
• Brought the local stations news in line with the network news and the network as a whole. If the goal is to improve the reputation of the local product based on CBS News, this will help.
• Provided a much-needed visual rejuvenation to the local news product.
• Created an up-to-date look that should help the stations to at least some extent in ratings combined with other improvements to the news product.
• Broken with the look and feel that stagnated around the CBS stations chain in the Dunn–Friend era.

It looks like Gray's L3s with Arthouse Owned type for the Telemundo newscasts. (Arthouse Owned incidentally was based on Barlow)

Also worth noting: the open lists W33EU-D Athens, which was licensed to cover in August. RabbitEars lacks full info. Unsure if they're broadcasting the WKTB mux or the WANF–WPCH mux.

On 11/12/2022 at 11:28 PM, SoFloTVClassics said:

KMOX? or KMOV? Turn to News promo. "Watch for St. Louis, We are on the Move"

This was the image that was used when the call sign change happened in 1986. Looks like the whole thing was being phased in...the channel has a bump that's from May 16 (not 26) with this slogan and the KMOX-TV calls!

The set in the former Roberts building does indeed reuse many elements from the former set. They moved in April.

There is mounting evidence that this has been in the works for the better part of a year.

On November 1, 2021, Gray parked the WANF call sign by changing an LPTV in Tennessee to WANF-LD.

On April 25, 2022, Rick Folbaum welcomed a new employee with this tweet: "Welcome to the team! Let's get to work. @cbs46 @GrayTelevision #Atlanta #News #First"

There's a rumble in them there Rockies...

https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/cbs-news-colorado-announces-new-community-journalism-initiative

KCNC CBS News Colorado is:

* Shifting to the community journalism model (as is being implemented in Detroit and hinted at in New York)

* Adding a 9am and a 4pm news hour (the 9am is a half-hour on TV plus an extra streaming half-hour)

* Starting September 12

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/cbs-news-colorado-announces-new-initiative-additional-newscasts/?fbclid=IwAR1fZUYQHbzc1nUCY5vuxQqHsJiPJmpCvUTeEAaDL8qg5mPbYRydlSgM2sk

This is a large rearchitecture. The reason it has taken this long is simply because of how comprehensive it is.

Of the four O&O chains, CBS has the most problems ailing its. Most of the stations are ratings fixer-uppers and have spent two decades or more in such a condition. There was no news in Detroit. Post-Dunn and Friend, something radical needed to be done. And the investment in News and the fact that there is actual innovation and renewal in News are all to be hailed.

If you watched the first night of the new Evening News look, you might have noticed the text elements listing places where CBS News has bureaus. There's London...Rome...Johannesburg...Atlanta...oh yeah, and Sacramento and Baltimore. News and Stations in a nutshell.

There is a lot going on. A visual overhaul, the first top-to-bottom one at Stations in nearly a decade; a restructuring internally; the continued effects of the Paramount Global merger, etc.; the launch of news in Detroit; and the shift to a streaming-first or -co-first mentality at every outpost in Stations. This does not happen overnight.

Why are we so excited? Because there is a sense of renewal at CBS that is long-deserved and needed. Because they are fixing, finally on a comprehensive level, a historic inequity in Detroit, and they are making the right moves in doing it. Because there is a pathbreaking branding approach.

ABC has too many successful news franchises in its markets to do this. NBC has too many, and it also has Telemundo; it's hard to have that sort of fusion of national and local news when there are two separate networks (with separate teams) to feed and all of the NBC newsrooms it runs are bilingual. Fox fundamentally cannot do this without compromising and tainting its local news product to a significant portion of the audience.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-659A2.pdf

We have Auction 112 results.

Weigel takes 6 stations: Ely, Tonopah, Carlsbad, Silver City (x2!), and Wittenberg

Gray nabs 5: Freeport, Winnemucca, Eagle River, Flagstaff, and Yuma

Marquee gets on the board with 3: Price, Walla Walla, and Sheridan

Radiant Life takes Alexandria
Sinclair wins Syracuse
BEK wins Grand Forks
Ventura Media nabs Vernal

On 6/11/2021 at 11:00 AM, CircleSeven said:

This is interesting here.

 

Remember back in 2017 when former Chicago PBS outlet WYCC sold its spectrum in the auction, and ended up channel-sharing with WTTW after the latter bought the former's spectrum-less assets?

 

Now the parent of WTTW wants to dissolve the channel sharing arrangement & relinquish the license of WYCC so that WTTW can use its full 6mhz channel capacity. 

 

I have a feeling this is nothing more than a cost-cutting move. Why pay license fees for two commonly-owned, separately-licensed stations that's shared on the same spectrum? 

 

They've filed to do this again as of June 1 after dropping the idea last year. https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/public/tv/draftCopy.html?displayType=html&appKey=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&id=25076ff37f8fa68f017fb2ee03ad295e&goBack=N

Meanwhile, WMEB Orono ME seeks to move from VHF 9 to UHF 22.

Renard is clearly in the game for Syracuse and nothing else. Similarly, BEK Sports Network probably only has eyes for Grand Forks.

Really curious what Estrella wants. I see only two channels they'd want: 11 Yuma and 32 Flagstaff. Maybe 9 Walla Walla. The Flagstaff station could be paired with KVPA-LD in Phoenix to force must-carry for Estrella TV. Not much else in this list that has a lot of Hispanics.

Weigel will want stations that attribute to large markets as part of its national mux growth strategy. Alexandria MN 7 sticks out to me here, as do the Silver City channels. They could also go for Eagle River 26 or Wittenberg 31, which are in the Wausau area. Tonopah 9 also could be used with them to get into Las Vegas, though Rxdio is clearly gunning for Tonopah. The other Nevada sticks would go into Reno (Winnemucca) and Salt Lake (Ely) DMAs.

Eagle River 26 is one of a handful of brand new allocations. It was sought by Gray shortly before Gray bought Quincy; it onsold WAOW but not WYOW, which gave it the Rhinelander-area transmitter it desired. (WMOW provides much the same service, thus why Gray hived WYOW off.) So there really isn't an obvious local bidder for it.

Freeport IL 9 could and probably should be used to revive WIFR as a full-power station. This allotment was also requested by Gray. You might recall WIFR was sold for spectrum and converted to an LPTV. Not much of this list coincides with Gray's portfolio of stations, though Sun Valley ID could be used to expand the service area of KMVT.

Sinclair's participation here is intriguing. Walla Walla 9 would not provide that much additional benefit to KEPR. Of the Montana stations on offer, one is in the NBC Montana service area (Butte 24) and the other two in the Great Falls DMA which has KTGF-LD as its NBC affiliate. Would they want to build high-power satellites in Price or Vernal, Utah?

The FCC released the list of 13 bidders (7 with complete applications, 6 with minor fixes needed) for TV auction 112 in a couple of months.

Complete

Gray Television Licensee, LLC
Major Market Broadcasting of North Dakota, Inc.
Marquee Broadcasting, Inc.
Radiant Life Ministries, Inc.
Renard Broadcasting Corp.
RxDIO.com LLC
TV-49, Inc.

Incomplete

BEK Sports Network, Inc.
Estrella Television License LLC
Sinclair Television Group, Inc.
SJL Television Inc.
Ventura Media Communications, LLC
Venture Technologies Group, LLC

A 14th bidder, Redwood Empire Public Television, Inc., was rejected.

Kent Dana has died. He was 80.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/media/2022/04/19/kent-dana-legendary-anchor-three-phoenix-tv-news-stations-dies/7362375001/

Quote

He developed an infection after breaking his hip in January, according to his son Joe, and his condition deteriorated after several weeks in the hospital.

It's real but they did a ton of really cheap station-side editing...

WJAR went into their news archives and dug up a rarity that lasted just 5 months... the WLWC TV 28 News at 10!