mrschimpf

I continue to be amazed by WDIV; still carrying This on their DT2 after all these years, but they took it for their MeTV channel instead. And I'm guessing Adell probably played hardball as usual and they were like 'nah, we don't need WADL' in Detroit.

And if you absolutely bet on KUSI taking the rights you would be rich...it's the least-shocking result with that station.

The thing forgotten is that there's still a regular news division, it's just that the radio newscasts and the 24/7 headlines channel on SiriusXM are carrying that 'news' water, along with the short news briefs that now remind me how MTV used to have their 3-minute newscasts at 50 past the hour. So they still have a news operation, but it's been de emphasized so much (along with Fox Business, which just now seems to be FNC2), that only the most knowledgeable about the operation would be able to cite it at all these days. And even the radio news division is now built basically to tee up whatever is about to be talked about on conservative talk radio.

3 hours ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

Another thought I had is since Harvey Levin is part of the People's Court, could Harvey find a way to have FOX take over rights for the show from WB just like he did for everything related to TMZ?

It's possible as Ralph Edwards/Stu Billett Productions is still independent of any studio, so it could be done and easily be rescued by Fox First Run (and they'd be happy to move it to Georgia for tax purposes like DC is).

But all I keep thinking with all these syndication departures is the inevitably of K-LOVE moving into television the same way they did with commercial radio, or TCT/3ABN getting even more stations.

18 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Judge Mathis will live on in canned lawyer commercials.  He used to do ones for Morris Bart.

 

Even Judge Joe Brown is part of an agency's rotation of celebrity endorsement of local law firms alongside William Shatner, Eric Pierpoint, and the late Robert Vaughn.

The same agency often uses "you mean business" and has a dramatization of a legal situation that ends in

"Who are the lawyers on this case"  

(insert law firm here)

(surprised reaction)

"Let's settle this one"

I love to play the game of 'which law firm's line is so obviously dubbed in three years later' with those ads. It's always so awkward.

8 hours ago, NewEgg00 said:

I have alot of mixed feelings. On one hand, I feel like it's good because of high production quality for the address, and a smooth transition to the Democratic response, etc. On another hand, I feel like it is weird to have a local media outlet produce a Government address, or anything like that matter. Yes, they allowed both sides of the aisle to address Texas, but at the same time I feel like there's a bit of a violation of journalistic ethics. But what I'm also wondering, has a State Government partnered with a local media outlet to do something like this?

This is what they had to do before the C-SPAN model spread to state government coverage where stations not owned by one company had to pool as affiliate stations into mini-networks, so it's not so unusual in the least. The debates being limited to NN, that's one thing, as it's ultimately the state party that controls where they put their content, but it's public domain for government events, so NX did the proper thing in allowing other stations to carry it through the state. It would certainly be an ethics violation if it was exclusive to Real America's Voice or another one of those one-sided news sites and the Democratic response had to be done with Steve Bannon yelling at their every point.

Let's not forget that State of the States and the State of the Unions started as perfunctory text reports, so none of the requirements of video (or even an opposition response) are required by any law.

WBAY has been going through a major computer crash since yesterday afternoon; socials are down, along with prompters and graphics outside the T&T and Gray ticker, and packages have been rolling off a video player with obvious syncing issues and lives have to be done on-set. Weather is completely separate and okay, being presented as usual, so outside of having to ad-lib, everyone's reading off paper, and the big screen is down.

It feels like watching a TikTok that's so professionally edited it really has no life (yes, I use TikTok). I understand the point of it in keeping you informed, but if you've watched it, you've gotten the entire newscast. You're not sticking around for whatever geriatric health news Norah mentions at the end and the geriatric drug ads in-between.

What this tells me, along with watching NBC and ABC, is that the days of 'the world in 26 minutes' and giving breathing room to stories are long gone. If you want detail beyond a newscast, a subscription to the Washington Post will do much more than a TV newscast. I knew things weren't looking good when the early morning newscasts and First Look abandoned the format, and now even the evening shows are done with tradition.

5 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

The article’s wording is obviously misleading, considering this confirms that the CBSNS-owned CW affiliates won’t carry LIV tournament coverage, and the Nexstar stations summarized to have cleared the tournaments (except for WCCT) aren’t the CW affiliates in those referenced markets (and of those referenced, only WGN has previously been a CW affiliate). So really, LIV has been cleared on (maybe) 85-90% of CW affiliates, and received time-buy clearances on Nexstar-owned MyNetworkTV affiliates and independent stations in about 10-15% of the remaining markets.

3 hours ago, NewEgg00 said:

Can't wait to see the major backlash 

Most of the stations seem to be of the 'it's better than Byron' mindset where most of the coverage is overlaying weekend content or infomercials and treated like filler, but it's telling that WCCT (which is de facto an over-the-air CW+ affiliate with its site hosted there) and Tegna turned it down. If its ratings get above, say, what Raycom historically had with ACC sports outside its territory, I'd be very surprised. The PR doesn't mention what time-buy affiliates there are, by the way.

24 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

The Movie Channel and Flix have been the Meg Griffins of the Showtime Networks family since shortly before the 2005 CBS-Viacom split. Neither TMC, TMC Xtra nor Flix are even available as live feeds on the Showtime streaming service, or on the Showtime add-ons sold through channel stores (Apple TV, YouTube Primetime Channels, Roku and Prime Video) and live TV streaming services (Hulu, YouTube TV, Philo, etc.); this is likely also true on the Paramount+ Showtime tier.

They're simply an artifact of the late 90s when we thought multiple networks and pay-per-view movies with staggered start times were the future, not realizing we'd need all the bandwidth they took up for on-demand services where waiting for "VCR Theatre" would be pointless because the movie could be accessed at 2:47pm in a few remote commands rather than 1am on a VHS tape set on a timer. They remain only the same reason we still have an MTV2 or Nicktoons Network; PG won't pare them out until they have to capitulate to provider demands. Nobody needs a live and streaming version of Flix because their movies are already in the Showtime streaming tier.

41 minutes ago, mre29 said:

You can actually get all of those?

On their apps they offer all Spectrum News channels to Spectrum subscribers in the 2200's.

Was using the Spectrum App today and noticed these new SN1 network channel logos with a unified look...I think a new graphics package is in the making . This will also foretell something new for SportsNet LA's Dodger package (and the Lakers in 2023-24) is also in the works.

On 2/11/2023 at 4:58 PM, NewEgg00 said:

The streaming service? Cool. The premium cable channel? There's no way they'll rebrand to such a long name like that. 

"Honey, you want me to tape that movie on Showtime Extreme on Showtime with Parmount+?"

On 2/8/2023 at 10:45 PM, TheRob said:

I noticed Gray is starting to hire for its "daily magazine show," which I presume will begin airing in September at the latest. They say it is not a newscast, but it sure looks like a newscast from the description.

And there's your Dr. Phil replacement for Gray stations at least.

As for KCTV...like many AFC market stations, a good football teams=good news ratings, even if you don't have the 'official station' tag. It makes sense that they'd struggle in the morning for sure.

A WPLG photographer has been fired for side-hustling off the job with an Instagram/YouTube 'breaking news' channel using company resources.

No link to the YT channel here, but it is cringe and I see why The One and Only never allowed him in front of the camera.

1 hour ago, ATLNewsExpert said:

Maybe this needs it's own thread but Fairbanks Ak NBC affiliate KTVF has announced they are upgrading their graphics system and hence getting new graphics through commercials and asks for viewers patience. They seem to be getting the WMC/WTOC graphics and a new logo (don't know what the name of it is) so at least it is not honeycomb!

So they're coming up on dogsled through the Iditarod...hopefully the dogs don't get tired delivering that flash drive.

(yes I do know Fairbanks isn't on the route)

All this work for a subchannel on an MNTV station.  

(because their DT2 is ABC due to the usual Sinclair regulatory hijinks and the actual channel 4 being a sidecar lighthouse)

But it is about time.

1 hour ago, KentBrockman said:

I guess it has to do with being HDTV, but I never understood why FOX did away with the box and went full-on bar. They invented the box, you’d think they would keep trying to make the box better and less obtrusive than trying to copy every other network with a score bar.

I assume they wanted to keep the box, but research shows older audiences need text in a large form; this is why golf fonts are absurdly large compared to other sports packages. Thus the bar was the compromise to both fit a 4:3 picture and accommodate text easily.

6 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

What the heck is "divisive" supposed to mean?

If they mean the full-screen bar with wasted space they've forced onto College Hoops/BTN, then yes, this definitely meets that definition; I can't stand that bar at all.

The other thing I'm thinking is AR perspective despite most everyone being done with AR as the only ones who have benefitted are advertisers on the field or on sidelines (this won't happen in the NFL for now due to specific field rules disallowing that).

4 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

My only issue with Demarco is he doesn’t seem to stay anywhere long. Not good if you’re grooming someone to eventually take over the mothership GMA. And not only does he not stay long, he’s been at all three networks on some level. Doesn’t scream loyalty either. 

This screams more 'a vacant white dude convinced the brass to get the promotion over him', or a bench with too much talent already (thus him being behind T.J.), rather than his talent being overlooked. I can't blame him; if a company doesn't respect his talent, he can go elsewhere, and that's something to respect.

2 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

Because they want stability, and an 80-yr old isn’t gonna provide that. And a matter of correction, she works 4 days a week, as she has Mondays off.

It's also a news-focused program. If we were still in the Michael/Keke/Sara days, no brainer, go ahead and have Joy come in (not that any of those three had any scandals at all so this wouldn't even be happening without a pandemic forcing them off). But unless the only thing she's hosting is a "Joy's World" opinion segment or Steals & Deals...no, you don't want a comedian hosting a news show.

Demarco Morgan deserves the job, meanwhile. Been following him since his WISN days. Pay the man his due and let him lead a network show.

27 minutes ago, Glimmer said:

Dr. Phil to end after this season; CBS to offer a package of reruns with new wraparounds/updates for next season

OWN and YouTube carry multiple episodes/segment reruns both in authorized and unauthorized forms, so this isn't like Judge Judy where stations will easily capitulate because their only competition is Judy Justice or JJ reruns on Pluto TV most of the older audience doesn't know about to begin with.

Get ready for another gold rush of 3pm newscasts outside of CBSNS, because 'guest updates' and 'wraparound content' just feels like 'replacement for Rachael' content in deadzone timeslots where only the diehards will care (or the few who don't follow the 'cash me outside' girl online wanting their updates about her sanitized).

And I get the feeling the multiple investigative pieces about the show's BTS drama comparable to Ellen turned it into a lawsuit magnet neither McGraw or PG wanted to continue.

On 1/13/2023 at 8:04 PM, mrschimpf said:

I'm surprised it was Kelly who was open to it, though, probably because California's COL situation is overall painful, which is why she's in Montana when she can be.

And it seems we've found out the move isn't related to tax breaks or a change of environment; Kelly has a persistent LA stalker and just wants to get herself and her children the hell away from them.

1 hour ago, DJonNews said:

Do I dare repeat myself once more on the reality of the situation? I feel like with each passing day that this drags on, I feel more and more of an urge to belt out, "Just give it a rest!"

 

Two days of this was enough. That's all.

Yes, and putting on your breaking news banners that DirecTV has 'censored' the network is useless and annoying to other customers of other providers when those DTV/U-verse viewers can't even see the banner or your channel!

15 hours ago, DJonNews said:

Speaking of culture wars, guess what Newsmax also did?

 

They set up a website called IWantNewsmax.com (I'm not linking this). Here's what they want disgruntled DirecTV subscribers to do:

1. They want them to call DirecTV and demand that Newsmax be brought back, or else they'll drop DirecTV.
2. They want them to call their senators and representatives and stop the - ahem - "political censorship."
3. They want them to go to said website and sign a petition saying that they fully back Newsmax.

Nos. 1 and 3 are basically what every channel these days does; drop the service and move somewhere else (that'll invariably drop it when the network switches to an RTC model rather than 'we'll pay you' or leased access carriage), and show 'service loyalty' by signing a petition.

The second option isn't going to do anything at all except make the switchboard or social people miserable; they're the ones who get the 'tell Name McSenator not to support the Puppies Should Listen to Nothing But Screamo Act sponsored by the National Cat Association' calls from the dark money ad folks. Newsmax is a channel not originated as a broadcast network (despite some, again, paid broadcast carriage), so there's nothing they can do to pressure DirecTV to restore it.

On 1/25/2023 at 7:19 PM, Myron Falwell said:

Weigel has “CBS 58” Milwaukee and “ABC 57” South Bend and you don’t see them being embarrassed about those numbers because they invested in the stations and have tried. CBS never did that with WWJ for a garden variety of reasons, and wound up making “62” a tainted brand by negligence and inaction.

Since they added WDJT to my cable system, it's been just either '9' or '605' in the Roledex of my mind so I knew where to tune, and now it's just 'CBS 58' because that's what they've been every day since December 1994 and never changed the branding. Their first priority was to get established, then build a news division; on that front they've been very successful and now you nearly forget that CBS bounced around 6, 12 and 18 for so many decades, and they've got a good syndicated schedule.

Meanwhile, WWJ has just...kinda existed. They just pass through CBS-owned content in syndication and outside of a few Lions games here and there and watching CBS, there's really been nothing to keep you there because 2, 4 and 7 are always there in their niches. Same when they purchased WKBD and made it just another bland UPN/CW station. And it's either 62 CBS, CBS Detroit, CBS, WWJ, CBS 62...never any consistent branding. And it didn't help that CBSNS had old guard management at the Westinghouse stations that wasn't changing a thing any time soon, or dysfunctional idiots with battling egos who bought stations to get into a golf club, and in Detroit, just never really tried.

Still ended up a better result than getting WADL as an affiliate, though; that entire station is a headache and a half as it is now. Imagine having to fight them every few years on affiliation terms.