Regarding Tegna and the Tribune stations, there are several they could pick up easily as duopoly pieces without touching the cap and at a fairly low price, in Washington DC (although it breaks up a news partnership), Houston, Dallas and Portland OR (if the FCC permits such).
Also, for weather at least, markets in the west are generally smaller than their number appears compared to eastern or central markets due to much less in the way of demanding situations. Many western stations have non-meteorologists on their weather staff, while that is increasingly rare even in small markets in eastern and central states.
I'm defining "western" as west of the Rocky Mountains.
WNTZ would give KALB some competition finally, although ratings would be a challenge since that station absolutely dominates. Likewise, WWTI would give WWNY some competition...being a pseudo-satellite doesn't preclude news operations (look at WKYT and WYMT, for example).
Way too big of a jump to be competitive. Going from weekend mornings at DMA 106 all the way to DMA 9 shows weakness at the station for sure. You'd expect at least 2 or 3 positions in between
It's definitely a very distant 4th place station in the market. Then again I'm not sure if there is enough money and viewers available to compete well with WWL, WVUE and WDSU.
From my count, Gray and Nexstar have 12 conflicts:
* Dothan, AL
* Grand Junction, CO
* Panama City, FL
* Rockford, IL
* Alexandria, LA
* Monroe, LA
* Bismarck - Minot, ND
* Midland - Odessa, TX
* Killeen - College Station - Waco, TX
* Roanoke, VA
* Charleston, WV
* La Crosse - Eau Claire, WI
Considering they have to go up against 10-ton gorillas in WDAM and WTOK, if they make a weak first impression they will get absolutely nowhere and get virtually no ratings.
I always hated the 2001 WFMY logo (the current one), but the new one makes it look like an O&O...is this a new trend from Tegna? Taking a page from Meredith?