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WCSH/WLBZ anchor Lee Nelson is retiring this week after 31 years with the stations.

In fairness, there have been a lot of questionable WHDH firings over the years (most notably Boston TV legend Randy Price) so this is very much in the Ed Ansin mold. Both Amaka Ubaka and Polikseni Manxhari have posted words of praise for Alaina, so it's clear that there is blowback inside 7 Bulfinch Place. Independently owned TV stations are often easier to support in theory than in actual practice.

The virtual MVPD business is dying. Sony pulled the plug on Playstation Vue. The remaining services are in a war of attrition, hiking rates and slashing content even as subscribers flee. Not offering the very content that subscribers have demonstrated a willingness to pay for is suicidal.

WPXT has launched WMTW News 8 @ 6pm on Maine's CW for conflicts with college football; previously these newscasts aired in the 7PM time period. In housekeeping notes, WPXT also moved Total Maine with Steve Minich from 7PM on Saturdays, the time slot occupied for many years by crosstown rival WCSH's Bill Green's Maine (no longer in production due to Green's retirement) to 10:30PM on Saturdays (following WMTW News 8 at 10pm on Maine's CW.) The news theme is a variant of the corporate "Strive" package from In the Groove Music not previously heard in this market. The premiere was, shall we say, sloppy in its execution. Here's the first minute or so: WMTW_News_8_at_6pm_Saturday_(1)_edit.mp4

WCSH/WLBZ have changed out the generic TEGNA ident at the end of the newscasts to an Election 2020 themed one with the identity of the local station. Are other Tegna stations doing this? Default_20200917_17001830.avi

Indeed that seems to be the big issue with ATSC 3.0 - getting a tuner that will be economically viable out to the mass market.

News Center Maine is teasing upcoming stories on its 11PM newscasts to entice viewers to watch more political ads keep watching a while longer.

And their CBS affiliate in Portland, ME (home market for Dielectric as well as David Smith's seasonal residence) just won a New England Emmy for best Medium Market evening newscast.

New England broadcasting legend Dick Gosselin has passed. He worked for all three Portland, ME stations, most notably for WMTW where he was both a reporter and videographer. He also did a stint with WCVB in the 1980s. He even hosted the quiz show "So You Think You Know Maine" for WCBB. He was 72 and suffered from Parkinson's/Lewy Body Dementia. https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/richard-gosselin-obituary?pid=196442397

WFXT has cut down their hour-long 6PM weekend newscasts to a half-hour; the second half hour has been turned over to their "In Depth" series of prerecorded news specials. A similar cutback has hit the Sunday 10PM newscast.

Former WCVB/WFXT anchor Bianca de la Garza sued to recover $15 million in (allegedly) embezzled funds. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2020/06/16/alden-shoe-bianca-de-la-garza-lawsuit

In other words, she's getting a promotion within Nexstar.

Open for the first News Center Maine at 4. It didn't go well... (social distancing alert: Lee Nelson and Cindy Williams are married) wcsh-2020-jun1-4p-HD.mp4

In advance of News Center Maine's launch of their 4PM newscast on Monday, WGME has changed how it starts its 5PM newscast. Instead of a tease before the last segment of Judge Judy, the tease has become the intro for the newscast itself. (Edit: It was a one-day fluke)

Lipof is strongly hinting at a return to New York. Side note: regarding his stint at WBTS, he said "I did everything I could." Hmm...

Phil Lipof is out at WBTS https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/nbc10-boston-anchor-leaving-years-after-launching-stations-first-newscast/221776/

I wonder what the degree of disclosure was for the local stations. Some hefty fines could be forthcoming. Todd Walker "reporting..."

Shades of Sinclair? 11 local TV stations aired Amazon-scripted propaganda as news https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4ayvwb/local-news-stations-run-propaganda-segments-scripted-and-produced-by-amazon

Ad-supported media is getting hammered across the board. Merging into a larger entity with the same vulnerabilities isn't going to fix that problem.

Meredith's financial problems are not on the broadcast side primarily but the print side, particularly the ex-Time properties. That said, all media that rely on advertising revenues are going to face near-term issues. Based on their decision to develop an in-house syndicated show based on their People Magazine property, it seems they're trying to monetize the print side to the maximum extent possible.

DBL is already airing at 12:30PM, and I don't see it on the schedule in any other time period on TitanTV. (Attached 4pm news promo starts about a second in...) wcsh 4pm news promo 2020.mp4

They're promoting it on-air. In fact, TitanTV jumped the gun a bit and starting listing the 4PM newscast a couple of weeks ago. And I agree that WGME will join the 4PM news sweepstakes once Judge Judy ends.

If you go to work for WGCL, rent, don't buy.

News Center Maine (WCSH/WLBZ) is adding a 4PM newscast starting June 1, replacing Daily Blast Live. Hearst's WMTW was first Maine station to start airing news in the time slot in September 2016. No Bangor stations currently air news at 4. In Portland, Sinclair's WGME will be the only Big 3 station not airing news at 4 (they run Judge Judy.)

Former WBZ and WCVB producer Donna Morrissey is dead of coronavirus at 51 https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/05/23/donna-morrissey-american-red-cross-dies-coronavirus-wbz-tv-pr-spokesperson-boston-archdiocese/ The Boston Globe obit focuses on her much higher-profile positions in PR for the Boston Archdiocese and the American Red Cross https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/23/metro/donna-m-morrissey-whose-headed-pr-boston-archdiocese-american-red-cross-dies-51-covid-19/