T.L. Hughes

I'm guessing WLTZ is the .5% of that minority still using the Peacock because of the SSA?

Gray shut down KNEP's news department and laid off staff in certain other departments on the same day the Marquee swap announced. Since February 2, the station's in-house newscasts have been replaced by simulcasts of KGWN/KCWY's Wyoming News Now broadcasts.

Of course, had Rupert Murdoch not sold 20th Century Fox and the FX Networks, National Geographic Channels and Fox International Channels properties to Disney (along with the Fox Sports Regional Networks that became Bally Sports under Sinclair), they likely would have had a robust SVOD platform instead of relying on Hulu and the in-house AVOD service Tubi (which Fox Corporation bought in 2021 to have some mainstream streaming presence). I honestly think it was a mistake on the Murdoch's part to not keep those properties, because it robbed them of creating a strong streaming competitor, because it turned the successor Fox Corporation into a runt while giving Disney bigger market share in TV and film production and distribution as well as linear distribution, and because all that sale did was make Fox Corporation defined in the public by Fox News instead of the more reputable and less controversial properties it used to own and still owns.

From what I took of it, the service in concept seems like a hybrid of Fubo (with far fewer entertainment-based networks with little or no sports content, seemingly what it would have been if entertainment networks weren't bundled into its carriage contracts) and DAZN. On top of it, they apparently plan to incorporate ESPN+ content onto the service. That said, even though ABC and Fox are among the networks whose sports content is being offered, I'm not sure if it's planning to run their full linear feeds or just the sports events they air (a la Max's Bleacher Report add-on, which is basically one to four part-time feeds only active when simulcasts of sports events from TBS, TNT and truTV and original daily sports talk shows air). There's also the matter of whether this replaces ESPN's original plan to offer an expanded standalone streaming service (mixing programming from the ESPN linear networks and ESPN+), and if ESPN/Disney partnering with Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery (which was done very much on the DL since there were no scoops on this partnership before the announcement) was its way forward to getting a service along those lines off the ground. Also, it's National Amusements, not Capital Amusements.

Kind of a good point, actually. While Morris' shifting of Fox programming to WCBI-DT2 technically violates the new Top-4 regulations (this move likely would have required a waiver to allow it under the new rules, and there hasn't been enough time since the ownership rules were passed to get approved for one before WLOV came under Morris' control), keeping the status quo under Allen was risky too. Until Morris took over the SSA, Allen (like Heartland and the Spains before it, dating to WKDH's shutdown after its LMA with WTVA was terminated in 2012) had control of three Big Four affiliations between two stations: Fox on WLOV, and NBC (main channel) and ABC (on DT2) on WTVA.

FTR, WLOV had been managed alongside WTVA since 1992, when the SSA was first established by the Spain family to take over operating the weakest of WTVA's two Big Three competitors. (WLOV was Tupelo's ABC affiliate at the time, and would switch to Fox three years later, leaving the market without a local ABC station until the now-defunct WKDH signed on in 2001.) The problem here is, considering the FCC recently approved an update to its broadcast ownership rules that closed the loophole allowing station operators to put a Big Four network on a multicast channel (including through the acquisition of another station's primary affiliation), Morris might be looking at a fine soon thanks to its decision to move Fox to WCBI-DT2 after the fact.

Diamond Sports has secured deals to televise Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins games for the 2024 Major League Baseball season, keeping all 12 remaining teams that it held broadcast rights in the fray; however, it still does not have rights to stream games from those three teams over Bally Sports+. (The Twins deal had expired before the start of the year, while the other two teams were being renegotiated.)

Aside, how does that work? It makes sense for its newscasts, other local shows (L.A. Unscripted, Off the Clock, California Cooking with Jessica Holmes, Frank Buckley Interviews and Inside California Politics) and Clippers games, but the bulk of KTLA's local programming airs between 4:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. weekdays. The rest of the station's schedule (outside the weeknight 10:00 and 11:00 p.m., weekend morning and evening newscasts, Sports Final and a few of the above-mentioned non-news local shows) consists of CW shows, syndicated and paid programming, and I doubt those shows are given audio simulcasts on the iHeart feed. Radio simulcasts of local TV newscasts have been a thing for about 35 years or so, but usually have been limited to evening broadcasts—usually during drive time—on a news/talk or music station. (There were also a few cases like the arrangement that KPRC had with KLAT radio in the early 1990s, where a Spanish-language station ran a translated simulcast of the English broadcast.)

Demetrius Ivory has been named to succeed Skilling as chief meteorologist. Effective February 29, he will take over Tom's slots on the 6:00 p.m. hour of the WGN Evening News and the 9:00 and 10:00 newscasts, while ceding his own duties on the WGN Midday News.

Paramount likely figured the Nick simulcast would add viewership, boosting total ratings for the Super Bowl, rather than cannibalize the CBS viewership, given their different demographics.

WGN plans to commemorate Skilling's retirement with special events throughout February, leading up to his final day at the station: * On Friday (February 2), Tom will report from the Groundhog Day event in Woodstock, Illinois during the 7:00 a.m. hour of the WGN Morning News. * On February 20, Tom will be honored on his 72nd birthday during the WGN Evening News (4:00-7:00 p.m.) with special guests. * On February 22, a live celebration saluting Tom will air during the 9:00 a.m. hour of the WGN Morning News from the Music Box Theatre (near the North Center and Wrigleyville neighborhoods, not far from the WGN-TV studios). The event will be broadcast before a live audience of over 600 fans; free tickets are being distributed on a first-come, first-served basis as of 9:00 a.m. Thursday (February 1), and can be reserved at the theater's website. * His final day, February 28, will feature retrospectives and honors by WGN staff, friends and family during the WGN Evening News and the 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts.

Syncbak has announced the planned rollout of Zeam, a relaunch/replacement of its local news streaming service VUit, which will offer live and on-demand news, sports and lifestyle programming, carrying over the latter's existing streaming deals with stations owned by groups like Gray, CBS News & Stations, News-Press & Gazette, Hearst and Morgan Murphy Media. The marketing campaign for the (re)launch will include a commercial starring John Stamos that will air within local ad breaks during Super Bowl LVIII on about 100 of the CBS stations whose local content will be available on the service.

David Smith is financially involved in a lawsuit accusing Baltimore City Public Schools of defrauding taxpayers filed in 2022 by Jovani Patterson, chairman of People for Elected Accountability and Civic Engagement, a PAC funded almost entirely by Smith promoting ballot initiatives seeking to reshape the Baltimore city government. Apparently though, WBFF's news staff had no knowledge of Smith's involvement when it ran previous stories concerning the suit; the station now plans to add a disclosure notice to stories concerning the suit.

Neal Barton is stepping down as KETK's evening anchor and news director after 20 years with the station (the longest of any of his gigs during his 42-year career). His last newscast will be on Friday, January 26.

Mission's stations were pulled from Dish in early January 2023, so 54 weeks have passed between the start and resolution of the dispute. Mission's dispute with DirecTV began three months before the Dish dispute.

Mission Broadcasting stations will return to Dish Network about a year after they were pulled as the companies have reached a new carriage arrangement.

The announcement doesn't mention whether the games will air on any other stations in the Mavericks' broadcast territory, which is especially interesting given Tegna that owns four other stations (KYTX, KCEN and KXVA/KIDY) in the team's designated market.

Here are a couple of montages of the morning and evening opens: They employ cuts from at least three of the "Hello News" series, with Series 3 appearing to be the lone one left out. Most newscasts use the Series 1 primary open (the cut used during KWQC's first "Hello" tenure) for the intro, except for the 10:00 show, which uses the Series 2 topical instead. Bumpers, teases and topicals mainly use what may be the Series 4 cuts (I couldn't find the cut used in the topicals in the montages in the Series 4 cuts available on News Music Now, so I'm not entirely sure that it's from that track list or a previously unreleased cut).

Warner Chappell owns the Gari library.

Warner Bros./Telepictures has ordered True Crime News for 2024–25, with Fox picking up the show for its stations. The show's concept sounds a lot like the original 2015–16 format of Crime Watch Daily, which was also distributed by Telepictures/WBTD, when Matt Doran (who was replaced by Chris Hansen for its final two seasons) was the original host.

Allen Media has renewed affiliation agreements with CBS for five of its stations.

The Washington Post has an article about Smith's purchase and troubles he's already having with staff over his views about how the Sun papers (the flagship of which he admits to not have read since the early 1980s) should be run. For those who get a paywall:

Upon closer inspection, yes, that is the monochrome/print version of the logo's original 1962 design, with the minimal spacing between the "abc" text and the edge of the circle.

Sinclair has renewed its affiliation agreements for the group's 41 Fox stations.

A WHOI newscast from 1999, featuring what appears to be a knockoff of TVbD's "Balls and Walls":