TVIntheDesert

 

I just wrote about this here: http://jmanmediazone.blogspot.com/2014/05/could-katie-couric-be-headed-back-to.html

 

There's no way Couric replaces Guthrie even if she brings the ratings up, NBC has already learned their lesson about uprooting talent. Guthrie is the future of the show.

 

If the ratings do skyrocket while Guthrie's gone (which I believe they will), then I would say if she's the future of "Today," the person who hired her to replace Curry needs to be fired (if he/she hasn't left already).

 

 

Here we go again. Just because the editorial page of a newspaper swings one way or another doesn't mean the newsgathering and reporting also swings that way. Have you ever watched a Sinclair newscast? It is just about like any other newscast. Actually, depending on the market, it might even be a cut above most other newscasts.

 

 

It depends on how the competition fares. In a small market like Medford, Oregon, where the Sinclair station has more resources than the locally-owned competition (KOBI), that may be the case. This may change once Prather takes control of KDRV and if he invests in making that station competitive.

 

TVNewsCheck state this afternoon that KSAZ Fox 10 is expanding its weekend morning offerings.

 

It will add is Saturday Morning news by an hour. It will air for three hours between 6-9am. It will also air a two hour Sunday Morning news show between 6-8am.

 

The changes will be in effect the weekend of April 26.

 

KSAZ has got to be the most understaffed news operation in Phoenix (technically), so I can't see them expanding an hour on Saturdays without it being a disaster.

 

Could KAZT make a play for The CW, perhaps, and the syndicated inventory? I agree that KASW would be a valuable property for someone wanting to launch a Spanish-language operation.

 

I don't know if KAZT would want The CW, especially if the contract terms aren't in their favor. They're a standalone independent, and the CEO of the family company that owns the station just passed away while the patriarch/chairman is getting up there in age, so they may be sale bait too...especially for the Class A in the Metro.

 

Another issue with the list.

 

WTLV/WJXX and WRAL/WRAZ are both commonly-owned duopolies that were created within the first year or two of legalization of duopolies. They were permissible because WJXX and WRAZ were new stations that had just recently acquired network affiliations.

 

They'll stand. KPHO/KTVK would also be an owned duopoly like this; the snarl in that case is the JSA with KASW.

 

KASW is most likely to be sold separately if Wheeler gets his way. And, the most likely buyer that could make a standalone KASW successful is a Spanish-language broadcaster. The CW may have to go to a subchannel in Market 13 (I doubt Meredith would want to put underperforming CW programming on KTVK).

 

It's sad to see another local establishment fold, on the accountance of this growing consolidation. Let's see how Prather can do in Oregon, competiting with Sinclair & COBI.

 

I'm interested to see which stations Prather could get into next. The article states that he's in talks to possibly get two or three more stations (let's see if that happens). Although I would've liked to see him acquire WBNG, which would be closer to his soon-to-be closed Utica station WKTV, beyond that, he probably may not get anymore stations, unless one of the bigger groups divest some of their stations. And that's likely not going to happen.

 

He shouldn't have a problem competing with KOBI (which LOOKS and FEELS small market), but KTVL might be a little more challenging. The one good thing Sinclair brings to small market like Medford is a bit of a larger-market feel.

Sinclair worshipper Harry Jessell of TVNewsCheck (who named SBG his "Group of the Year" this week) is back with a new "save JSA's" editorial (I wonder if he's getting paid by the large JSA-abusing station groups to write this???):

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/74516/the-dojs-antijsa-arguments-are-so-1997

 

Raycom has cancelled "America Now" after four seasons.

 

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/74216/raycom-says-no-more-america-now

 

They'll probably upgrade "RightThisMinute" into those slots next season (in the markets which they don't compete with Scripps).

 

After 39 years in the business and more than 25 years in the Phoenix area, KTVK reporter Steve Bodinet has retired as of December 31st.

 

I wonder if he made his decision before or after the announcement of the sale to Meredith?

Followup to my replies this week: According to the TitanTV Listings of KNXV, they are dropping LiveWell for Antenna TV on their 15.2 subchannel on Midnight, January 1. And KPHO is still wasting their 5.2 away.

 

So let me get this straight. This GM doesn't want add another sub channel for fear of degrading the main channels PQ? And, this GM doesn't want to put any programming of real value on the .2 for fear they may need to discontinue the .2 down road for a bunch of additional mobile TV channels? You can do both subs (even multiple subs) & mobile. There are plenty of examples of this across the country. It's even more ridiculous when you take into account they have figured out how to use variable bitrates. Not trying to argue with you, I'm just trying to understand this GM's logic. It doesn't make any sense to me.

 

 

There is another forum/message board full of videophiles that monitors the PQ on the HD stations in town. They were the ones that pushed KPHO to become the first Meredith station to broadcast in HD approximately ten years ago--the last station in town to do so (they had been broadcasting in SD only on their digital channel)--when the company was dead set against upgrading and instead considering buying devices that would "speed up" the commercials so they could run more of them. The AVS crew have the phone number for the "Viewer Relations Director" (basically, the program director) on speed dial. That's one of the reasons they're not budging on the HD bandwidth. Hey, I believe the bandwidth they're currently dedicating for the .2 is enough for a network like Antenna TV. I hope someone at the station is reading this, because there is no good explanation why they haven't switched, and Dyle is flopping (according to the electronics rankings on Amazon for the Audiovox receiver).

 

Man looking through the data over on Trip's site I can see why you have a frustration with lack of subs and underutilized bandwidth in your market. What's up with that Belo duopoly? Only One subchannel and one mobile channel between those two RF channels?

 

I don't know what the Belo (soon to be Sander) stations' plans are. The Program Director of the stations told me that they had plans for the KASW bandwidth, but didn't give me any specifics, but maybe they could squeeze in a 3.3. Given that it took them over three years to get cable carriage (which is important to the subchannel networks) for 3.2, it will take them that long to do the same for a proposed 3.3.

 

So it sounds like Meredith leaves it up to the individual stations on what to do with subchannels and KPHO's GM just doesn't want to dump the weather channel.

 

I doubt if anyone at KPHO, whether it be the GM or the News Director (by the way, did they ever hire a new one?), would care if the weather channel went away, the way they don't promote it and hastily program the "three-hour rule" E/I shows. I do believe the GM's word that it's a placeholder until they know if Dyle is a flop or not.

 

EDIT: I see you were talking about KPHO not KPNX. Either way my point still stands. The "Dyle/Mobile TV" excuse has little leg to stand on in my eyes.

 

I believe the GM is trying to defend his earlier decisions, how obsolete they are (EDIT: the weather channel was put online by their previous GM, who is now running WBNS, which has--surprise--Antenna TV!). Their sister station in Hartford is running 1080i HD, a weather subchannel, and another SD CBS simulcast, and Meredith's Nashville station has 1080i HD, a widescreen SD subchannel network (Heartland), and ATSC M/H. Me-TV is a bona fide hit in the Phoenix market, and now with Antenna TV now airing more traditional classic shows and not just the Norman Lear "urban" sitcoms (which I do enjoy personally), it would be a winner here too.

KPHO has a pending application to maximize their OTA signal (being held up by government shutdowns and Mexican authorizations--it's been almost two years since they submitted the application), and that's where (I believe) the ATSC M/H signal comes into play. KPHO is already using variable bitrates for their HD channel, there is no excuse for not doing so on the .2 subchannel.

 

I think I know who you're talking about.

 

Exactly.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but does Dyle TV not work with subchannels?

 

Dyle TV uses a portion of the 19.5 MBps bandwidth of a station's data stream. Many stations have a 1080i primary HD channel, a .2 subchannel, and ATSC M/H DTV (such as the Dyle system). The GM's logic was having enough room for Dyle to grow and add more channels if it became successful, and that would mean dropping the .2 subchannel entirely instead of degrading the PQ of the primary HD channel.

 

Resistance to programming sub channels has to end sometime. Even Fox got into the game with Weigel (Movies!) and AccuWeather (in some markets). It's an additional revenue stream and I think it can be pretty well argued that it's a negligible ratings drain on the main channel (especially in large markets where each network and netlet has a full-power affiliate).

 

If viewers aren't watching the main channel, they're aren't going to watch. But they might stumble onto the sub while searching through the cable listings. Might as well capture the ratings and ad revenue instead of giving it up to the cable company. As long as the sub offers good programming (and ABC I'm looking at you as an example of crappy subchannel programming) the viewers might stick around.

 

Hopefully, the sales of the Dyle TV tuner will be disappointing. In my chat with the GM of one of our local (non-O&O) stations which is underutilizing its subchannel bandwidth, this is what is holding them up from putting a service like Antenna TV on their .2 subchannel which currently runs an automated weather loop (and E/I programming at the worst possible time any station could schedule it).

 

I bet you WBXX in Knoxville is next....either Gray gets them through Excalibur to pair with WVLT...or Media General gets them to pair with WATE....either way, Lockwood's days are numbered!

 

The Lockwood business model is similar to a company that fell hard--Equity. Buy a bunch of independent or CW stations, run them from a centralcasting hub, and ????? I just don't see standalone independent or CW stations in mid-size or smaller markets as a good business model to begin with.

Good, I hope somebody decent like Sinclair buys them. I have video of them from August, let me see if I can get it up so you can see how bad this station is.

As far as their Chapter 11 filing, it was involuntary. The parties who forced the Chapter 11 own a couple of Spanish-language stations in the Western United States. For all I know, they could lose the FOX affiliation and go Spanish. If that's the case, where would FOX end up? A subchannel of KZTV (which is already operated by KRIS)?

 

I don't know where you got your info, but KGWN has dominated Cheyenne forever and KCWY passed KTWO several years ago.

 

The rise of KCWY mirrors that of KKCO in Grand Junction, CO, which was a new sign-on in the mid-'90s. Soon, they'll be sister stations.

KTWO was hampered by Equity ownership. They sold it a year before their demise, and management was outsourced to notoriously-cheap Wyomedia (owner of KFNB and also operates KGWC in Casper, whose GM was recently arrested for DUI).

 

Even though the previous sale hasn't closed, TVNewscheck is reporting that Yellowstone Television is selling KGNS, KCWY and KGWN, along with associated translators, to Gray.

 

Ironically, KGWN was not included in Gray's buy of Benedek over a decade ago. Things have come full circle.

That gives Gray a footprint of most of Colorado outside of Denver.

 

sanewsguy, on 31 Oct 2013 - 2:42 PM, said:

 

 

 

John Seabers, WOAI general manager, said: “We are saddened to lose such a quality professional as Elsa. ... Sinclair Broadcast Group believes family comes first, and we feel Elsa is doing the right thing for her family.”

 

 

Interesting.

 

If they believe in family values, then why do so many of their stations run those confrontational ("trash") talk shows?

 

At one time KLAS was KTUD's newscast partner.

 

It didn't help that Sinclair's station, with its far deeper leverage, was able to get the CW affiliation over KTUD, nor did it help that the recession probably hurt Las Vegas the worst of any major media market.

 

Also, KTUD was able to share the rights of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with KLAS until she left broadcast TV (ironically, the Greenspuns founded KLAS in the '50s and were successful with it until Howard Hughes purchased it as his personal late-night cinema), and they scored a coup in 2007 by winning the rights to off-network "Family Guy." However, the writing was on the wall when Sinclair kept getting bigger and were the go-to guys for program distributors, leaving KTUD with the leftovers, like "Community."

One more station bites the dust. Independent KTUD-CD Las Vegas signed off the air for good last night. The station was purchased by a partnership of the Greenspun family (who owns media and real estate holdings in LV) and a New York investment firm in 2004 for $18 million at the height of station values (a record that still stands for a low-power station), then everything went downhill from there (the closure of UPN, losing programming rights, the digital transition, one trip through Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection). To keep this slightly on topic, the station did air a nightly newscast from KSNV that barely measured in the Nielsens (just like the rest of their shows).

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2013/oct/11/declining-ad-revenue-forces-las-vegas-tv-station-c/?_ga=1.111614916.1114580799.1381537037

 

My strong assumption is that OTA is knocking on anyone's door to see if any of them are willing to sell their airspace. Just like NRJ & LocusPoint. Again, who would take the NBC affiliate show KMIR goes bye-bye. Do we have to see NPG running the whole market post-auction?

 

I don't like when stations that actually serve the public interest are sold to these folks, but maybe one of these days one of the speculators will make a deal in Detroit that Kevin Adell can't refuse. Talk about an incompetent owner that needs to be put out of the broadcasting industry!

 

Oh boy.

 

Here comes WeAreDesMoines.com and QuadCitiesProud.com.

 

Seriously though, having Nexstar as an owner would be an improvement for these stations.

 

It's only been a year since the Citadel stations started 24-hour operation. One positive that will come out of it will be that Nexstar will deep-six Live Well on its acquired stations. They're not too fond of subchannel-specific nets, but they've kept Me-TV on a few of the former Newport stations.