broadcastfan9751

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't WPTZ the only Hearst-owned station that's still in that 16:9 widescreen format?

IIRC, WMTW is still in 16:9 SD as well. There may also be a few other Hearst stations still not in HD.

At least with WDLI, this means that they're going away for good. Ion is getting the license and the ability to take back WVPX to themselves, essentially.....unless they want to air even MORE Ion subchannels on zombie station WDLI!?!?!?!?

 

Had the auction not happened, I bet WDLI and other TBN's would have sold out, eventually. The only beneficiary of the proceeds is the bankrupt owners of TBN probably throwing the money at their debtors.....

They'll probably just use WDLI for Ion Life, just like WLWC.

Could KFOR had chosen to decline the request to air the ad and if so what would be the consequences from the FCC for not airing the ad?

For ads run by candidates themselves, FCC rules require stations to accept those ads if they make time available to at least one candidate in the election. If it was a third-party ad (like a Super PAC ad), the station could decline to air it, but in this case they have to accept it.

If a station fails to comply with the rules for candidate-run ads, the candidate could file a complaint with the FCC and they could issue a ruling requiring the station to run the ad or the station could get fined.

The deal was greenlighted on a SUNDAY?!!! (4/22).

Might be a mistake since the FCC website says there was an amendment to the application submitted on the 26th, after it was supposedly granted. They might have approved it sometime this week but put the wrong date somehow.

KLAS and WATN/WLMT/WJKT updated to new websites; no URL changes.

KLAS could probably get by with its current URL, since LasVegasNow.com has at least some tie-in with the "8 News Now" branding.

I'm getting back on-topic now...

 

WNVC and WNVT Channel 30 are scheduled to go off-air April 1st. MHz Worldview will remain on cable in D.C., but the OTA signals and the international news networks carried on the subchannels are scheduled to go off air as well.

 

https://mhznetworks.com/hello-world/

WNVC and WNVT are going to be channel-sharing with WHTJ and WCVE, respectively.

They also changed the website URL to CBS17.com, instead of one of Nexstar's portal-style URLs.

As reported, Telemundo completed its acquisition of all ZGS Communications' TV properties.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/110882/nbcu-completes-zgs-stations-buy

 

Now with ZGS finally sold its only radio property:

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/122862/station-sales-week-2-2/

 

you can officially say

ZGS.

Not quite. They still have to transfer the Raleigh and Providence stations to NBC, which they have to enter into channel-sharing agreements for. After that though, ZGS will be officially gone.

The FCC is planning to fine Sinclair $13.3 million for failing to disclose that "news stories" about the Huntsman Cancer Institute were actually paid advertisements.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sinclair-fcc-exclusive/exclusive-fcc-plans-to-fine-sinclair-13-3-million-over-undisclosed-commercials-idUSKBN1E92C7

UPDATE: The FCC has officially issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) to Sinclair.

Is that even legal? Could Hearst sue them for trademark laws?

They could. For example, a few years ago CBS went after a radio station with the callsign WWBZ and referred to itself as "WBZ" on air.

The FCC is planning to fine Sinclair $13.3 million for failing to disclose that "news stories" about the Huntsman Cancer Institute were actually paid advertisements.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sinclair-fcc-exclusive/exclusive-fcc-plans-to-fine-sinclair-13-3-million-over-undisclosed-commercials-idUSKBN1E92C7

As per WPXT’s Wikipedia page, Ironwood is in the process of selling WPXT to Sincair, which would pair it up with WGME & WPFO, but there was no citation or other sources.

It was originally posted by an IP address editor, so it may be false.

Is WPXT going with it? Or is WPME going alone?

 

More importantly, if its the latter then what happens? Does My Network simply go to a WPXT subchannel?

The purchase agreement says that the sale does not include WPME's existing programming contracts and that Ion will have to change WPME's call sign, so it seems that MyNetworkTV will be moving to a WPXT subchannel. Interestingly, there's also an SSA in which Ironwood will continue to provide Technical services to WPME after the sale.

EDIT: According to Wikipedia, WPME is already carrying Ion on 35.2, so that will probably just move to 35.1 after the sale.

The Nexstar website names will always live on stations with consolidated news departments.

 

BigCountryHomepage.com for KTAB and KRBC.

 

There's no way they could be separated.

Actually, those could be separated for since the newscasts are separately branded, just like many other duopolies with separate newscasts have separate websites. As I mentioned previously, Nexstar already has a similar situation in Little Rock with KLRT having a separate website.

The KIEM deal was closed on Friday. And KVIQ has changed its calls to KJRW.

 

Not sure where Brady will place the KVIQ calls, since they did acquire some LPs with the KIEM purchase.

According to the FCC Database, the KVIQ calls have been moved to an LPTV formerly known as K10FS.

Maybe someone at Nexstar finally realized giving their stations' websites random names that don't really connect with the station itself is stupid, and are now "finally" trying to fix that mistake. Hopefully this means the end is nigh for sites like arkansasmatters.com and ozarksfirst.com.

In Little Rock, they already have a separate website for KLRT at fox16.com carried over from Newport. So hopefully at some point they'll change arkansasmatters.com to KARK.com or something tied to KARK.

January 8 is when WUAB and BounceTV both move to become two of WOIO's subchannels.

 

Info is on this link (don't let the website link title fool you):

 

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/35180056/cleveland-19-news-for-roku

WUAB is channel-sharing with WOIO. It will remain a separate station, but on WOIO's spectrum.

Are Sinclair must runs insterted into newscasts that are produced by 3rd parties ? (Like WRLH, KSAS, WDKY, etc)

I don't think they have any during the newscasts themselves, although they might still have to air the Mark Hyman commentaries either during a commercial break or following the newscasts. For example, according to Wikipedia WSMH, after having its newscasts taken over by WNEM in 2006 (WEYI took it over two years ago), continued to air The Point after the newscasts until it was discontinued.

Cox would probably be the only buyer that would keep the radio stations, if they were to be sold as a unit.

The radio stations are operated by a separate company (Local Media San Diego) these days. That company would probably get the radio stations in any sale.

With this deal done, I wonder what happens next, will KRNV and KRXI swap owners so that Sinclair owns the Channel 4 license while Cunningham owns the Channel 11 license; furthermore, with Elko actually in the Salt Lake City market, will KENV become a KUTV satellite and allow KSL to become the sole NBC station for the Nevada side to the market?

Probably won't happen, because KRNV and KENV are VHF stations, and thus would reduce cap space for Sinclair. Also, KSL doesn't really have coverage of Elko over-the-air.

Weigel making a play in the possibility that Sinclair is not allowed to have a triopoly with KTVI, KPLR and/or KDNL?

Or maybe they want to try to take FOX away from KTVI if it is kept by Sinclair?

What would WWOR rebrand itself as? Fox 5 Plus? Jersey 9?

Been wondering this myself. Probably something with a tie-in to New Jersey, so that they don't get more backlash from the NJ politicians.

Between the Nexstar WAVY-WVBT duopoly and whichever stations Sinclair keeps between WTVZ and the WTKR-WGNT duopoly they inherited from Tribune, I think Tegna (nee Gannett and Belo) waited too late to pursue a duopoly with WSKY and WVEC. Can't see another duopoly being allowed for Norfolk.

Actually, there would be enough stations for TEGNA to form a WSKY/WVEC duopoly if Sinclair sold either WTVZ or WTKR/WGNT.

2- UNC

3, 27- Sinclair/Tribune

4, 13- TEGNA

10, 43- Nexstar

15- WHRO

21- TBN

33- Sinclair

49- Ion

Nexstar is buying the non-license assets of WLWC from OTA Broadcasting for $4.1 Million. OTA had bought WLWC from Sinclair several years ago and sold its spectrum in the incentive auction.

Nexstar can't pick up WHDF - not enough full power stations in the market (unless they can pull a failing station stunt).

J

They'd probably have Mission acquire WHDF and then enter into an SSA to operate it.