TVIntheDesert

It finally happened. KLAS in Las Vegas has been sold. But, the surprise buyer is Nexstar. I expect things to remain status quo at the station (except, of course, for its domain name).

This will compliment the southwestern cluster they're building very well.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/81015/nexstar-buying-klas-las-vegas-for-145m

I'm still convinced that "Today" needs a major overhaul in order to regain the morning crown. And, if that means shuffling anchors and reporters, so be it. The viewers have decided that they'd rather see George and Robin than Matt and Savannah (for now).

 

I agree with Raymie -- there really is no place for him in Phoenix right now. KTVK/KPHO is full. ABC15 seems happy with Steve Irwin. Fox 10 has a bunch of senior people. KPNX seems happy with Mark Curtis. No room in Phoenix at all...

 

He had a brief stint with KNXV right after 9/11 occurred. I'm not sure he left the station on amicable terms.

 

A new crime-mystery related digi-net entitled, the "Justice Network", will be launching in January on the Gannett stations.

 

I wouldn't be shocking if it launched, at the same time Live Well shuts down completely.

 

Goodbye to the only weather subchannel in Phoenix that I actually used on occasion.

These media companies should not be coming up with new and redundant diginets until ATSC 3.0 is reality and there is enough bandwidth for them all.

 

Looks like it'll air as a paid advertisment. To be fair, this doesn't seem like the standard "mandatory" airing like Sinclair does with some of their other political programs.

 

But I agree, I imagine Sinclair will give Armstrong a good rate to air this documentary on their stations.

 

And, since Carson's technically not a candidate yet, they don't have to file it with the FCC as political advertising.

They're not disclosing any stations, but since Armstrong Williams is involved, I suspect this will air on Sinclair stations:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ben-carson-tv-documentary-set-to-air-across-country/

 

 

So where was KSWT being master controlled from? KDBC??

 

I'm guessing it was one of the centralcasting-for-hire hubs in the DFW area.

 

I wonder how much the satellite equipment costs?

 

Also I don't have access to the site.

 

I'm not sure what the satellite equipment costs. But the NPG facilities don't look too spacious, so I bet the engineers there are experiencing major logistical nightmares. However, I don't see why they'd have to use an separate antenna to receive NBC...they're on AMC 18 just like sister net Telemundo (which has been carried by a KECY subchannel for years).

 

Yeah, I kinda threw Tribune in as the clubhouse leader for whatever reason. But indeed, WEWS will be losing Live Well on 5.2 (if ABC hasn't already shut down the network) and WKYC 3.2 has been in an eternal radar loop since 2009, with PSAs thrown in almost at random.

 

Out of all the potential buyers, Raycom is, far and away, the least likely to get WBNX.

 

Maybe WKYC is like KPHO, that they want to somehow keep the weather loop even though there are better things to use that bandwidth for in this day and age.

 

I really hope that they hire a good news director, and bring back "9 eyewitness news".

 

Is 'JLA's old ND still looking for a new station? It's possibly the easiest route, though not many ND's move from one station to another in the same market.

I believe KDNL is still making money for Sinclair. It may not be raking in what KSDK or KMOV (or even KTVI) is making, but Sinclair would have been clamoring for KMOV back in December if KDNL was considered a "failing station."

 

Probably won't shock anyone but Sinclair renewed their affiliation contracts with ABC until 2020:

 

http://rbr.com/sinclair-re-ups-with-abc/

 

Looks like ABC is stuck with KDNL for 5 more years.

 

Sinclair probably used strong-arm tactics in their negotiations: "we won't re-up our other stations if you don't re-up St. Louis."

 

I agree completely, as they look like they would be a natural fit for Gannett.

 

I feel that, despite being a CBS affiliate (even though they've came to terms with them for the most part), KLAS is a better fit for the newly-merged LIN/Media General than Gannett.

 

 

I know that!!!

 

You see Sinclair wanted this from the jump. I'm asking why she would be so asinine to give in to these Heathens of Hunt Valley, after going out and saying "this station was NOT for sale", and turn around and sell the house that Jim built. I don't care if she was so tempted with their money.

 

She made a huge mistake. This is a sad day in Southern NV. Channels 5, 8 & 13 should be celebrating in jubiliation.

 

 

You may not like what I'm about to say. But I wouldn't be shocked if they keep that VHF 2 frequency & give one of those channels to a speculator. Think about it. The UHF discount ruling is coming soon, if not in a not-too-distant future. And if the ruling includes a possible "VHF discount", they'll probably going to take advantage of it. Now I'm not for any TV station going to the VHF-low frequency becaause it's exceedingly difficult to get a signal and such.

 

Also, those auctions are coming up next summer, and many of the speculators want to buy more UHF airspace before they can resell it for those Wireles fools. And you know how I am about this "pet project" broadband plan.

 

But with all of that being said, I wouldn't be shocked if both CW & MNT share one stream, and the new GetTV would be on either be on the same stream with the CW or move to KSNV. I wouldn't be shocked if they kick Estrella to the curve, and maybe one of the subs that KSNV currently have.

 

Sinclair LOVES it that Sony is paying them to air GetTV, so they're definitely not getting rid of that. Estrella, IIRC, is carried by both cable and satellite providers (which the classic diginets aren't). So, I'm thinking that Antenna TV, ThisTV, COZI, and ZUUS Country will need to find new homes.

 

I was told she made the announcement to staff this afternoon. I wonder how long before it becomes official and hits the industry websites/blogs?

 

It's official. I wouldn't have thought Beverly Rogers would have sold the station to a company whose mission is completely the opposite of what her husband stood for, but $$$ talks.

Most likely, NBC moves to 21.2, with Estrella and GetTV moving to 33.x. What they bought was the intellectual property of KSNV, they're going to turn around and resell the license.

KVVU and KTNV have the most to gain from this acquisition. I bet you the celebrating will begin at those stations, as well as KLAS.

Sad news from the Phoenix TV front: Bill "Wallace" Thompson, one of the hosts of KPHO's iconic "Wallace & Ladmo" children's show that ran from 1954 to 1989, has passed away at 82. And, KPHO is still planning on moving out of 4016 N. Black Canyon, where the show was taped from 1971 to 1989, in what is now the "CBS 5 Newsroom," in the near future.

 

If that happens, that means that NPG will control every commercial station in the Bend, OR market.

 

I could imagine them coming up with a Yuma-El Centro like scenario in Bend. Only problem is that Bend doesn't have the luxury of having independently-owned Spanish-language stations.

 

And missed this one too. The FCC greenlighted this eight days ago (7/15).

 

And NPG will take over operations of these two stations in 3....2....1

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/marketshare/2014/07/18/fart-story-from-fox-in-charlotte-stinks/

 

Our favorite O&O from Charlotte is at it again....

 

It's not the story itself...but the snark is a total ripoff of WCCB, and to some extent WCNC. And what's the deal with this Jon Dick?

 

It looks like Cox Charlotte's sales department posted WJZY's story on YouTube to tell their advertisers not to buy time on WJZY!

 

The Times-Picayune is stating that WWL will be adding its newscasts.

 

No longer WDSU will be the sole news club on weekend mornings, WWL will be adding newscasts on Saturday Morning from 8-9am and on Sunday Mornings from 6-7am. Eyewitness Morning News reporter Antwan Harris will anchor the weekend morning shows. That will start August 9th.

 

Also, on September 9th, WWL will add a new 6:30pm newscast that will air on WUPL 54. This will be the first newscast on WUPL since it ended its 9pm newscast in April 2013. Natalie Shepard & Thanh Troung will anchor the new 6:30pm show.

 

That's surprising...Gannett ADDING newscasts!

 

With Scripps converting KNXV's 4pm show to its The Now hybrid format (a BBC "Sixty Minutes" for America in 2014, I suppose), KNXV has balanced the lost local news by announcing it will expand to 6:30pm on July 7. The new hour-long 6pm show will mark the first time any newscast has attempted to compete with KPHO at that half-hour.

 

4pm has the potential of becoming very vacant. KTVK is at 4:30 for who knows how much longer, 12's 4pm local hour is less of a newscast, and Cronkite NewsWatch won't move to 8 until the fall IIRC (it has aired at 4:30 for most of its run).

 

I expect KTVK to expand to 4pm, with "Inside Edition" moving to 5pm.

 

Well he didn't have to go too far.

 

B&C states that former President & GM of WMYD, David Bangura, will become the President & GM of Independent statiion WADL.

 

Of course this comes after WMYD's completed acquisition by Scripps yesterday.

 

 

I wonder how soon Mr. Adell will sick his personal bodyguard---er, spy--on Mr. Bangura?

 

Can't say I didn't see this coming. A subchannel that primarily airs repeats of their programming more times than having original programming, that drive folks to watch other programs. Although the concept was good, a heavy amount of other diginets are obviously getting more viewers.

 

 

The writing on the wall was when the Scripps stations started to drop LWN one-by-one. They (Scripps) still have a few affiliates left, but I suspect we'll see them being replaced by Bounce, Me-TV, Antenna TV, or Cozi TV.

 

 

CBS's old Saturday morning block, Cookie Jar TV, was pretty bad. The block's namesake and programmer was a Canadian outfit that cranked out cheap garbage primarily to sell to broadcasters outside of Canada and collect Canadian content tax incentives. At least one of the shows, Liberty's Kids, wasn't made by them, though; they inherited it from US-based DIC, which they bought out in 2008 (and gained the rights to program the block from). I've always loathed that one...

 

The syndicated E/I product from Cassie Yde's TVS is pretty bad, too. I can't imagine how some of the shows her company distributed to stations in the past ten years ("Ultimate Choice"; "What's Up? Que Pasa?"; "Jane's Sew and So") ever made it to air.

That's all I'll say about E/I on this thread. Let's get back to "regularly scheduled posts about anchor/reporter moves!"

 

From what i've heard about Gina D. here, that's something i should stay away from at all cost, including searching on youtube and the lampooning from the soup i might add. BTW has 'Gina D' herself ever appeared on the soup since and/or does she know her show is getting a funny shellacking from the soup? *haven't watched the soup in a while btw*

 

When the producers of "Gina D" were originally syndicating the show in the mid-2000's, they reveled in the notoriety they got from "The Soup," but Gina D never stopped by the show. IIRC, the show was owned by some penny-stock company that morphed into some phantom TV manufactuing firm, and the distribution rights have jumped a couple times. I don't know who owns the show now or why some stations still air it, given the producer's prior shady dealings.

 

E/I requirements are pretty much useless these days anyway. They get brutal ratings compared to cable and Internet programs, and those are not necessarily limited to a certain time of day (usually Saturday mornings). Also, a lot more people work on weekends these days so the definition is somewhat blurry...

 

Most E/I shows don't make money for its distributors. They're usually mom-and-pop companies that make money selling programs overseas. I believe the only ones that do are the Litton-produced shows, and that's because they're good at sponsor integration in each show.

 

Honestly, do we even need the E/I requirements nowadays? I don't see where they serve a purpose now, even in low-income households, the majority of PBS affiliates operate a 24 hour kids programming subchannel that is usually more entertaining than your average 7am cartoon on a MNTV station that no one watches.

 

I thought most programs considered "E/I" outside of NBC's block are live-action shows, most notably wildlife- or career-related.

Slightly related, for some reason, Fox Business airs an E/I compliant cartoon regarding childhood financial education on Saturday mornings called "The Centsables," and it's pretty bad. Not "Gina D's Kids Club" bad, but almost there! I believe the producers are buying time on the cable channel.