NewsMaster

I'm a few days late to this but I'm not surprised at all; WBUP/WBKP fits relatively well with MMM's Wisconsin duo of WISC and WKBT. Can't wait to see MMM give these stations the overhauls they BADLY need. Also I don't want to speculate too much here but I wonder if MMM goes after the Rockfleet stations next; WJFW kinda fills in a hole in north-central Wisconsin created by WISC to the south, WKBT to the west and now WBUP/WBKP to the north.

Gray has renewed its CBS affiliations.

WUTV's new 10:00 show debuts tonight (it'll be here to watch most likely). To save you all the click, here's the anchor lineup: WTVH news anchor Michael Benny, WHAM chief meteorologist Scott Hetsko, and WHAM sports director Mike Catalana. It's kinda interesting considering WHAM produces a 10:00 show for WUHF at the same time of WUTV's new show, so I wonder if Hetsko's and Catalana's segments will be pre-taped. That is a pretty good anchor lineup though.

A legend of Dayton TV news is retiring: longtime WHIO sports director Mike Hartsock. He's calling it a career after nearly 40 years at channel 7.

I really hope Comcast at least partially reverses some of these drops, or else they're probably going to lose some subscribers in Bristol County and NH's Upper Valley. In Bristol County's case, even though it is part of the Providence metro area for Census purposes, the majority of the county (save for the I-195 corridor in the south) is Boston through and through. And none of the Burlington stations cover NH very much, if at all. It is also worth noting that in significant parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, they're dropping WGAL and WBAL so that viewers will be forced to watch NBC on O&Os WCAU and WRC. You can't tell me that wasn't a factor.

Here's more from the Anchorage Daily News. On a related note, I wonder what impacts this will have on Southeast Alaska. Did Gray also acquire the CBS affiliation for Southeast Alaska as well, or does GCI still own it? I have a feeling we will know more once Gray's acquisition of KATH/KSCT closes, which I have a feeling will be followed by an acquisition of the CBS Southeast cluster (KTNL Sitka / KUBD Ketchikan / KXLJ Juneau). KTUU has dominated Alaska news for as long as it's been around.

Welp... can't say I didn't see this coming... https://www.newsbreak.com/oklahoma/oklahoma-city/news/0PW5GhWH/oklahoma-station-tweets-misleading-headline-about-wearing-masks

Definitely possible. It's also worth noting that Gray is by far the largest company to ever own a Juneau television station, so for the first time, there's a company that at least appears to have the resources needed to start a news operation in the market. We shall see...

As far as I know, there are no local inserts on any of the SE Alaska stations of any kind; all of the news comes from each of the stations' corresponding network affiliates in Anchorage (KATH/KSCT from KTUU, CBS Southeast from KTVA, and KJUD from KYUR/KTBY). There is one other significant factor that probably prevents a local news operation in SE Alaska: the region's geography. Getting between Juneau and anywhere else requires boat or plane. On top of that, there are no cities and towns in the region that are accessible from the rest of Alaska or Canada by road, except for Haines, Skagway and Hyder.

I really hope so, but I think that KATH/KSCT will probably just continue with the KTUU simulcasts that they currently have, at least in the near term. But this does make a lot of sense; now Gray has an NBC monopoly in Alaska. One thing I know that Gray will do: fix the stations' websites! EDIT: Paperwork is up. Purchase price: $1.5 million.

Little off-beat, but since we're talking about the ABC O&O's, I'll put this out: most of the ABC O&O's meterologists met for a summit in NYC: https://twitter.com/abc7dallas/status/1220061479715721216?s=20

WPLG has an agreement with Graham so that they are able to continue using Graham's graphics and website.

Scripps is beginning to integrate KASW into KNXV; there is now a KASW section of abc15.com. Looks like they will change from "The CW Phoenix" to "CW61 Arizona". However: Nexstar's KASW website is still active, KASW's public files and children's programming files are not on KNXV's website yet, and KASW has not moved into KNXV's studio yet, although I bet that will come soon. Also, none of Scripps' other new stations have switched to their website styles yet.

What is Gray up to in New Hampshire? They are buying WYCU-LD in Charlestown, NH (currently owned by Greg Uhrin) for $75,000. https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/240353/station-trading-roundup-6-deals-2175000/ My only guess is that they'll use WYCU as a translator for WCAX, but Charlestown is at the very southeastern tip of the market. It could also be an attempt to get WCAX coverage in southeast Vermont without irking WBZ. Stay tuned...

TV3 New Zealand is in serious trouble. Its parent, MediaWorks, is selling its TV business, but there's a big possibility that it will not find a buyer, possibly causing TV3 to shut down. https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/240199/tv-business-struggling-in-new-zealand/

Cincinnati is probably the biggest problem; DirecTV customers won't be able to watch most Bengals games.

Add John H. McConnell there (the man who brought the Blue Jackets to Columbus)

Stations owned by 7 companies have gone dark on DirecTV over retrans. What do these owners have in common? They're all Sinclair shell companies.

WFTS will be adding 7 hours of new newscasts beginning on the 3rd of June. The catch? Much of it will be streaming only. Say hello to ABC Action News Streaming Now. https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/234783/wfts-tampa-announces-local-news-expansion/

Sad news coming from Guam. Rex Sorensen, the owner of KTGM and KEQI (the ABC and Fox affiliates on Guam, respectively) and several radio stations there, passed away on Sunday. He was 73. Employees sharing their memories.

Forget it. NBC will never return to WHDH.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone at KVII and the Montgomery family. I would also like to make very clear that now is not the time to make any comments about Sinclair regarding this situation. This could have happened anywhere.

Interesting that KGUN has a new Scripps website when it still doesn't have the Scripps on-air graphics AFAIK.

The situation was a hoax.

Interesting timing: just after the Gray-Raycom deal was announced, KGMB/KHNL sports anchor Taryn Hatcher announced that she is leaving the station. No word on why she is leaving, but to me it is not connected to the deal.