Rusty Muck

I get that they don’t want to confuse themselves with WCBS NewsRadio 88 or 101.1 CBS-FM, but this is why you don’t even bother with the black box. Good grief.

That’s literally what PBS does on a daily basis.

I’m trying to understand the logic of debating the importance of channel numbers when they’ve been falling into irrelevance since the DTV switchover… and will further become irrelevant as ATSC 3.0 is rolled out. This isn’t 1994.

Even if it is just that, I highly doubt that you’ll see a branding disparity between OTA and streaming last for long. For one, February sweeps is forthcoming. No better time for the CBS Los Angeles name to be gradually phased in with the KCAL name so OTA viewers can connect the two brands.

Gee, it’s like I might have been on to something… Ready to claim my prize lmao

KCBS-TV hasn’t been relevant since Bill Applegate made it an über-tabloid schlockfest in the early 1990s. “CBS 2” only serves to remind of how they’ve been trapped in mediocrity ever since. Just because a station “revolutionized local news” — and the term is fairly subjective and varies wildly on a per market basis — doesn’t mean that branding should be trapped in amber and prevented from evolving.

A station logo that doesn’t look like it’s been trapped in amber since 1993 or looking like a generic McStation, what a concept!

Or even in the case of WCCO-TV, KDKA-TV and WBZ-TV, the mere fact that they have to share their call letters with unrelated radio stations. For KDKA-TV, it’s already shown to be a liability.

WWJ has one of the biggest signals of any full-service television station in Michigan and they have good cable placement. They don’t need a superfluous LPTV. They just need investment. Weigel has “CBS 58” Milwaukee and “ABC 57” South Bend and you don’t see them being embarrassed about those numbers because they invested in the stations and have tried. CBS never did that with WWJ for a garden variety of reasons, and wound up making “62” a tainted brand by negligence and inaction.

WWJ is simulcasting the streaming service CBS News Detroit, which will ultimately be in operation from 4am to 11:30pm every day. The original and current plans are to offer up to 40 hours of simulcasts a week on channel 62 (and presumably WKBD can also simulcast in other hours. Supply chain shortages delayed everything and resulted in a soft launch so a presence of some sort could be had for the February sweeps. Even with just a 6 and 11, it’s still far more local news than anything CBS has ever done with the station and the most local news output on 62 since labor unrest shuttered Big City News on WGPR in 1991. This brings up a point @Weeters has raised before and I agree with. It’s 2023. What good is it to identify your news operation with EWN or Action News, which date back to 1959 and 1970, respectively? Plus “CBS 62” has long been a negative and a liability and an embarrassment for the network—they were basically forced into buying an obscure indie from the Free Mason that was the first-ever Black-owned TV station in the mainland, and because of continued upheaval at the network and it’s corporate parents, couldn’t do anything with it.

Fox is basically a sports programming service with a forgettable primetime block of crappy reality shows—including 33 different shows that Gordon Ramsey can scream in and 9 different iterations of The Masked Singer (a fad that has long passed its expiration date)—and The Simpsons and Family Guy, two shows that will never die. That might be the goal Nexstar has for the CW, but they’ll never get anything close to the NFL or MLB. So why NOT turn the station into a O&O for a sports programming service that you own?

He’s also the father of CBS Weekend News anchor/senior correspondent Jericka Duncan.

"Why do people want those darn videotape players? It's stealing our content and a chance for us to make even money" -- Perry Sook, found of Nexstar International Telephone, Telegraph and Phonograph

WOIO-WUAB's MyNet contract is the Bobby Bonilla of Cleveland television affiliation deals. Moving the CW to a WJW sub would be smart. Unfortunately, this is Nexstar, and they'd probably wind up dumping the Fox affiliation for the CW.

There actually exists legitimate provisions in affiliate contracts in case the network was ever sold (no, I do not have them on hand, but it was discussed on Discord a few months ago). Despite the nominal 12.5% stake, Paramount really doesn’t need the CW anymore.

What’s to say they can’t do the Memorex treatment like Scripps is?

Gray CW affiliates could plug in whatever’s airing on Circle or go the local news route, depending on market size. Or backfill with cheapo syndication like MyTV as an interim.

I’d be surprised if you don’t see Gray, Scripps, Sinclair and CBS just cut ties with the CW outright. Not because of LIV but because those groups all have their own in-house options to replace the primetime block. LIV merely greased the skids.

Be there!! Huh … yeah.

tbh, it’s a near certainty that Nexstar will kill off the app outright. It’d fit in with their “streaming bad, excessive retrans fees good” digital strategy. Ever wanted to see a cheapo small-market broadcast chain that lucked itself into getting all sorts of high-profile properties squander it all under antiquated thinking? Well now’s your chance!

Wouldn’t be surprised to see affiliates owned by Gray, Scripps, Sinclair and CBS just refuse to carry any NewsNation cramdowns over the CW by Nexstar. Scripps can simulcast Scripps News, CBS has the “Now” hybrid newscasts, Sinclair has TND and Gray stations have a sizable commitment to local news.

NewsNation reached that when they trotted out “Truck Week” twice like it was supposed to be a Late Night with David Letterman running gag.

How'd you like to be at WPIX, WJW or WGN and see that KTLA can still stream live? That's really gotta do wonders for morale. It's obvious why they exempted KTLA. Because the second they order KTLA to delay by two hours, KCBS-KCAL would eat their lunch.

KTLA is controlled by a cheap company run by a Luddite who sees no value in streaming platforms. They won't be solid and dominant for too much longer.