Samantha

That is huge. For 1983 that open exudes the pride that Belo put in WFAA as its flagship.

Fox's streaming service *is* coming...soon. I think it may be working for some but is in the new carriage deals. Unfortunately my cable provider isn't in there yet—the only two large ones they have are Comcast and AT&T.

The part at :23 of this WBNG 1996 open sounds too familiar to me, like it's in another news theme. Can someone help me identify it? This theme is in the NMSA as WBNG 1996 but we haven't had anything but a talent open for it prior to today. It almost sounds a bit like WRAL 1988 but that's not a perfect match.

Exactly. Not only is he too late, he has no experience operating a network-affiliated television station.

That is just sad. Recently Pappas's liquidation trustee changed again (instead of Shubert, it's now David Stapleton; this change happened right after the letter). I don't think this guy will get it—though the fact that there seems to be a second interested owner could affect one of the claims of the failing station waiver.

Here's another great one: . On the eve of a general strike, the five-minute program runs through the open and closed services. RTVE is at the end; their normal programs will run without advertising, but watch at the end. "Y en cuanto a los infor(mativos)—" (With regard to the news(casts)—). The program cuts off at the stroke of midnight, and after a few seconds it's a test pattern for the transmitter.

Even more bizarrely, it's based out of Columbia, Missouri. Why? Does it have something to do with Mizzou's journalism school?

Over the weekend, the Seattle Times issued another editorial urging the FCC to hold off on approving more TV station acquisition deals:

This open is simultaneously really good and really bad. For TeleXornal, Galicia (Spain), 1992. So hilariously of-the-era and so horribly dated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQYyjVRqSFU

That certainly would be a possibility particularly if Nexstar can actually get ComCorp. WTVW is a station with a much stronger market identity than WEVV (which most people at least on this board remember for its failed attempts at a local newscast).

Roberts must have been real desperate. Then again they were debtors in possession so they needed to sell to appease creditors.

WKAQ, Puerto Rico. Speaking of which, I just made a find of a 1991 theme that is not in the NMSA (Puerto Rico stations evidently have full NMSA listings): That's a great compilation. Probably wouldn't have seen most of those (a few, like the Seven National News/1983 open, I've seen). *** Also, KING 5, 1992. Two straight hours: a full 5pm newscast with commercials, NBC Nightly News and 6:30 Evening Magazine! The Internet Archive hasn't turned up anything new like this in some time: https://archive.org/details/Tobacco_egy27a00

An SBT (Brazil) news program apparently targeted toward São Paulo, "Noticidade", 1998. The theme appears to be Edd Kalehoff (it's at 0:36):

A settlement has been reached in an anchor discrimination case at WGME/Portland. Former longtime anchor Doug Rafferty claimed that after he suffered a stroke, he was discriminated against by being removed from his job and getting his pay cut. The settlement was reached on Friday, four months before the case was to head to federal court.

Nightcap, the current and anemic news effort from KDAF in Dallas, is likely on its way out. The replacement? A Dallas version of the NewsFix format already at sister KIAH in Houston.

Time Warner Cable and the ACA are now challenging Nexstar's purchase of stations from Brian Brady. They see rising retrans fees if Nexstar can claim the three-of-four.

I think some Raycom operated stations are owned by Southeastern Media anyway.

Dude, your timing is so good that I think TVNewsCheck is coming here now to get information on station prices when they break... (TVNewsCheck posted this story 57 minutes after you did.)

Except ComCorp is on a much tighter budget and has often hubbed/pre-taped local news for its stations. They are similar in their mastery of virtual duopolies but not in the budget. If Nexstar buys ComCorp, I'd expect to see some freshness added to the Baton Rouge and Tyler clusters.

Unfortunately, the federal government has canceled the layoff of 1,000 workers, which would leave the government with debt it cannot take up. They're closing effective immediately, I think.

The FCC has approved the acquisition by Alaska telecom GCI of one CBS and two NBC affiliates, giving it TV reach across the entire state.

Jim Heath strikes again! KOOL News 10 10pm open and close, 1982 with the 1981 theme:

with a newsbreak, news open and close. The news theme is in the NMSA as KTVK 1987. A major find indeed. Also, that is one ugly set.

What an upgrade for KTVK. Also, that's the first time that the Spirit signature has been used in Phoenix—and Belo has owned KTVK for 14 years. 3 is coming a long way.

Wow. Comparing this to the current sites azcentral.com (Arizona Republic + KPNX) would have a very hard time switching to this layout. It's Gannett's only newspaper-TV duopoly IIRC.