DirtyHarry
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Sinclair Broadcast Group - General Discussion
DirtyHarry replied to Smitha A's topic in Corporate Chat
I don't know if this is just people blowing smoke, but it makes sense. My understanding was that NBC bought Outlet because they were trying to figure out if they could move WJAR to Boston. They didn't care about any of the other stations. Once they figured out they wouldn't be able to move WJAR, they sold. -
Sinclair Broadcast Group - General Discussion
DirtyHarry replied to Smitha A's topic in Corporate Chat
I don't think Media General was so bad. They had financial problems but their on air product was respectable, and they still treated WCMH and WFLA like their flagships. Outlet was a great owner. Everybody says the NBC years were good, but I wasn't a fan. When you're too cheap to build a new news set and have to get one second hand from Louisville, that's pretty shoddy. Likewise with their cameras. I think I remember them bragging about new cameras they were getting being used models from Rockefeller Center. LOL -
And furthermore, I can't think of any place other than Louisville, Birmingham and maybe Chicago where a UHF station has been able to drag itself out of the cellar it has VHF competition. By and large, low channel numbers are the most successful.
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What's not to understand? Cable TV used to have 90% penetration, now it's 50%. That means people are using good old-fashioned channel numbers. What's so hard to understand about making it easy for people to see you and get to you, instead of having to sort through a bunch of Mexican, home shopping and preacher channels to get to you all the way up where all the crappy TV stations are on the high end of the dial. What's so hard to understand that people like using channel up and channel down buttons to flip through TV channels but that their patience isn't endless? (Try flipping through a couple of those LPTVs with 12 sub channels of crap all fired up.) Finally, what's so hard to understand that by and large TV stations with VHF Channel numbers get better ratings than people with UHF Channel numbers? Programmers fight to get low channel numbers on cable, Sinclair fought to keep their low channel in Las Vegas, Block jumped through a few legal hoops so they could be Channel 8 in Lima, too, NBC tried to get the lowest channel number it could in Boston. If it didn't matter, people wouldn't be going through all this effort.
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Sinclair Broadcast Group - General Discussion
DirtyHarry replied to Smitha A's topic in Corporate Chat
Why when they are number one without her? Columbus was the second or third market Sinclair was in and they still treat it like a flagship. Next best thing to local ownership is a big corporate owner that hasn't forgotten its roots. Yeah, but now they have stations like KOMO and WJLA, so I am very surprised that it retains crown jewel status. My theory has always been that Columbus is a profitable Market because there are few overlapping signals that eat away at their viewership. That's been good for us. Even far-away corporate ownership has treated these stations well over the years. Oh, okay. I knew they were the WOLF anchors, but I thought they were based in PA. -
Of course, you have to have the product to back up the channel number. If you have a crappy product, channel number isn't going to help you But don't discount how helpful it would be, either. Especially if you have a crappy brand like Channel 62. It's like having a shop at a good mall, versus the plaza down the street.
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Sinclair thought it was important enough to petition the FCC to let them keep virtual Channel 3 for whatever signal they ended up being on in Las Vegas. I think CBS could probably make the same case and just buy the virtual channel number from whoever has that channel 3 signal. Or buy the station, take the channel number and then sell it back to whoever owns it. Lots of ways to skin this cat.
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15 isn't too bad of a number. You're still in the general vicinity of everybody else with 4 and 5 (and 25). But Channel numbers like 46 and 62 are problematic IMO, from the standpoint of making it easier for the viewer. Right, but we're talking about OTA here as well as branding.
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Think of it this way: you're sitting in your Laz-Z-Boy watching whatever channel. You're bored of it and you start flipping through other channels. Think of all the crap out there you have to flip through, all the infomercials, all the Mexican channels, all the preacher creatures, all the diginets and all the LPTVs with crap programming. And don't forget Canadian TV! Wouldn't it be nice to have good real estate right next to Fox and NBC? Wouldn't it be nice to just have to punch the number "3" on your remote to get to CBS?
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Like I said, it's real estate. Mcdonald's, Wendy's and Burger King all tend to be close to each other. If Hardee's is a couple of streets away, it falls off the map. You don't think about it. Same with the FM dial. Everything that's worth listening to around here is under 99.9. I don't even know what stations are on 100.1 and above for the most part. I simply don't get to that part of town. Also, just look around the country. Stations with the high UHF Channel numbers beating stations with VHF Channel numbers is still more the exception and not the rule. And if dial position doesn't mean anything, why do media companies still fight with cable companies to get lower channel numbers? Yes, people stream. But the thing about streaming is that you can't really flip through channels a lot. You're basically stuck with whatever you're watching. There's still value in a low channel number both from the standpoint of real estate, and simply from a marketing and image standpoint that you're not one of those UHF stations in the nosebleed section of the dial where all the crappy channels are.
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Sinclair Broadcast Group - General Discussion
DirtyHarry replied to Smitha A's topic in Corporate Chat
The Bally name certainly has the reverse Midas touch. It seems like everything with Bally attached to it ends up going bankrupt. I don't really care about this issue at all. I don't care that sports channels won't be around to gouge cable customers. I don't care that teams will get stiffed of their rights fees. They all deserve each other. -
Everybody says that, but it's about marketing. McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King generally locate near each other for a reason. The channel dial is real estate no matter what newfangled ideas people have these days. OTA parity is being right there with channels 2 and 4, instead of having to flip through dozens of stations to get to 62.
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I can be the fifth vote. Forum, thumbs up. It's a small market and it's silly to have so many competitors in a small market. They have to double up. It's a matter of survival. Tegna, thumbs down. Maybe people don't like Tegna that much, but it's still not a bottom of the barrel broadcaster. The last thing this country needs is to have foreign money controlling domestic media, not to mention one of the better than average broadcasters remaining.
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I'll gave them the solution. They could probably buy LPTV Channel 3 very cheaply. I doubt that anybody can even pick it up over there with rabbit ears. Once you have a virtual Channel 3, FCC rules say that every signal you own in the market can have the same channel number. They can become CBS 3 with a snap of the fingers, right along with Fox 2 and NBC 4.
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It's a small Market though. You would think the stations would be pinched unless they are allowed to double up.
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But why? What's the problem?
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I remember Ronnie Duncan from his WSYX days. He seems to be a lot smoother and low-key these days. The weather guy is also decent, I like his voice. Can't say the same about the anchors. They both have very annoying voices. Go out and hire a couple of smokers. The weather center is kind of clunky. They're going to have to do a better job with that. Otherwise, looks good.
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https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2023/01/23/detroits-cbs-affiliate-wwj-tv-news-broadcasts/69830403007/ Can't believe Ronnie Duncan is still bouncing around. What's with nobody there owning a necktie?
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Their promos are certainly a lot more interesting than anything on TV today. And I'm not talking about the comedic fake shows. I'm talking about production value of that commercial and even the graphics. I don't care about any of that. There are a lot of crappy people around the world, including us. Put it on TV and if people watch it, good for them. Let the people decide what they want.
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Think: USFL We'll see. Competition is good. One of these days, one of these upstart leagues will be successful.
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That's exactly what I'm talking about.
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Not bad, but it would have been better if they just started throwing chairs like they did on Springer.
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I've only watch News Nation once. It seemed like a decent product and it looked very professional, but there was no kind of a hook to get me to tune back in. At the end of the day, I need something a little over the top to keep my attention and there was nothing there to get me to tune back in again. My ideal news channel would be a Jerry Springer News Channel. That is, Jerry Springer with the fighting, not the new and improved Jerry Springer when they toned it down. I'm only half kidding here.
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I think that has to do with the intensity with which the product is used. I've just always felt intuitively that people tend to watch more TV in the cold weather parts of the country just because they are inside more than they are in warmer parts of the country. That's going to translate to more revenue and a lot of other things with a financial impact. Think of having a coffee shop in Duluth, Minnesota versus one in Havana, Cuba. Companies always do this. They will go in and buy a crown jewel asset and think they can cut the budget and still maintain it as a crown jewel. Maybe crown Jewel is an exaggeration when it comes to WBNS, but it's not that far off. If you buy an asset that is well taken care of, you better also take care of it as well.
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Most of the Cincinnati stations got shafted when it comes to spectrum. I think only WLWT and WCPO have good signals. Maybe they are just going to use it as a translator.
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