mrschimpf

5 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

I can’t believe Dish Nation hasn’t been cancelled. How is it still airing at 7 on WAGA? I thought YBYL would’ve taken that time slot in the fall. 

Rickey Smiley is based in Atlanta, thus they feel it's good for the timeslot. And for all that's said, it's very cheap (a few robo-cams with a Tricaster-like setup) and requires little time in the edit bay, fills a half-hour, and branding it as gossip makes it easier on the lawyers. Sometimes, that's all that's needed for a show to survive Fallout-style immaterial.

On 2/2/2022 at 11:14 AM, detroiter313 said:

I highly agree, he may never work at another broadcast network or cable channel ever again.

I would love to say that's true, but if Nexstar would love to go the 'confidential settlement' direction with Michael Corn to get him out, NewsNation would take Jeff in a heartbeat.

39 minutes ago, mre29 said:

 

You know what's also a shell of its former self? HLN. Whoever ends up in charge at CNN either needs to do something about it or let Discovery flip it into something else.

HLN is surplus thanks to ID, so I fear another tax purpose sellout to Bill Abbott to bump up GAC Family's carriage (even though it seems like he has no damned idea what to do with his own channel outside Christmas and Valentine's Day; airing 80s sitcoms on loop the rest of the time and trying to start a 'culture war' against your old bosses at the Hallmark Channel isn't a programming direction, Bill!).

And I really am not loving that CNN+ is becoming 'where the real news is'; they're giving Sanjay Gupta a show there, though he used to have a show on CNN on the weekends, another thing I hate because CNN used to have a varied non-news schedule on weekend of lots of niche shows they got rid of for docs and murder repeats. Why do they need to launch a streaming channel when they have plenty of surplus time on the main network and HLN?!

Also everyone's said it; their coverage of Zucker's firing makes it seem like they lost William Randolph Hearst in a mysterious airplane crash, in his prime. They didn't help their 'pop news' rep at all this weekend.

Just in case anyone was interested in what happened if a Scripps station decided to choose the oddest colors possible for their graphics...here's WCPO with orange and black Bengals colors in their L3's. Be glad Seattle doesn't have a Scripps station or a team in the Super Bowl; they could be worse. 

1 hour ago, TheSpeedKing said:

If they were trying to do that, Gray would be doing a non-license assets “reaper strike” rather than going through the trouble of FCC approval. WGCL has a more than adequate signal, so translators are generally not needed.

WKTB has had full-power standard definition simulcasts on WPXA, and now WSB because the range of the WKTB signal is anemic. But important here; they do have an existing news operation which has done well in the awards department, so Gray is smart to snap them up at that price and give them a true HD simulcast in the market, along with a local ad agency targeting minority audiences, so it's more a $15/$15 million deal for both items, not overpaying for a station on autopilot without local deviation (and which has had solid local ownership before this point willing to pay for subchannel simulcast deals to better the hand they've been dealt).

Of additional note...this WGCL news share deal made with Univsion's WUVG in 2017 will likely come to an end, suggesting that it's possible the WKTB buy-out came as a result of the new TelevisaUnivision deciding to put actual resources into the WUVG news department and kill the Meredith agreement.

34 minutes ago, Samantha said:

I'd like to induct a new Canadian member of the Worst News Opens Club... Bad 3D, vapid music... Earl Mann's VO is the only good thing about this. What was WIC thinking!?

In 2022, that 'falling windows and breaking building' open does not look well at all.

ShopHQ was killed ASAP, and they plan to re-launch the station as it was this month, with its pre-RNN and ShopHQ management intact (see comments). Right now it seems to be carrying a simulcast of their Vuit channel, including newscasts and skycams, and extended newscasts will be naturally a part of the new KIKU schedule.

I do think they should take the opportunity to take their current physical channel number and brand WWJ by that. "CBS 21" would be a much better branding and outside a very few in the Toledo Strip who might get confused by WPTA, there wouldn't be any other objections.

CBS has an odd non-holiday Friday golf day this afternoon with the Famer's Insurance Open from San Diego; it's the third round today rather than the second, thanks to Sunday's AFC Championship (Jim Nantz will be calling the tournament from the GEHA Field at Arrowhead pressbox in Kansas City), which means everything from 5pm-8pm ET (minus an hour each time zone) will get pre-empted. 

WDJT in Milwaukee is thus airing the J!/WoF block at 3pm (yes, WoF at 3:30pm. Someone on Twitter expressed skepticism that this will actually happen but it's scheduled so...), while this time Dr. Phil gets the 2am shove-off. Before you ask about Boston (which may not actually happen because of this year's Noreaster of the Century about to sweep in), they're both on WSBK instead at their usual time tonight.

ETA - And yes, it did air at 3:30 on WDJT.

The comic book look is so...overdone. It just feels like they wanted to have their own 'image trademark' like their buddies at Dow Jones have with their 'hedcuts' in the Wall Street Journal...but it turned out looking like a bad educational comic.

I don't understand why they never beta-test these fonts either, they're too bold, and the small-caps cause eye-strain as you try to figure out what letter each is.

Notably, they aren't showing any graphics involving FoxBet or their Super 6 contest in that article. One day, sports betting will be inescapable on Fox Sports, and like college rankings (I will never care that someone ranked a team #17!), they'll just add more unneeded visual clutter.

On 1/23/2022 at 7:46 PM, TVIntheDesert said:

I've looked at the TV schedules for KTVK and KPHO for the next couple weeks, and it appears that they are slowly adding home-grown Gray programming ("Investigate TV" and "The Song") to the weekend lineups. No sign of the "Power Nation" automotive block yet. The Meredith mistakes of the past couple years ("People" and the like) have still yet to be downgraded or removed from the schedule.

 

"Full Court Press" is still airing on TEGNA's KPNX overnights on Sunday morning, due to a previous syndication contract.

PowerNation usually doesn't air OTA outside the old Raycom base, so probably don't expect it to come there.

And it's unlikely PTTVS! will be gone before September at the earliest since they still have talent contracts to fulfill on the publishing and broadcasting sides and to give Gray time to figure out if it makes more sense to keep the show as contracted, expand it chain-wide, and stop carrying ET and Access, along with fitting the existing Meredith advertorial shows more into Gray's verticals like Moms Everyday or Ask the Expert. Also to be noted; it airs on several ad-supported streaming services as part of People's "People TV" channel, so DdM might be willing to keep it going to have content for that.

On 1/22/2022 at 3:53 PM, TVIntheDesert said:

I highly doubt it. They're still owned by the same Pentecostal family that thinks CBS is "immoral" and "too liberal."

They did sell out WCVI to Lilly for $85k, so they must've needed some quick cash to fight some immorality, or gave up their battle against Satan in the Virgin Islands.

But I do suppose you're right there, but still, looking at others like VCY America that took full advantage of the spectrum auction, if it gives them lots of money, they'll take that to spread their message over standing still in their home market.

4 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

I just remembered that VCBS owns WBXI 47 in Indianapolis. They could have told Perry, “we’ll screw WTTV over and make WBXI the new home for CBS in Indianapolis if you don’t cave immediately”.

 

And Perry folded like a cheap suit.

I think of that every time there's a CW or CBS dispute; CBS Corp. kept that station after the first Viacom split for some reason, and it isn't to give Start TV main-channel status or for their morning weather block.

Also in the digital age, LeSea/Family might be a little more willing to take a major network affiliation than they were in the 90s since they can just move their main channel schedule to DT2, so WHMB could have also been a last-second candidate.

50 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I have to wonder if there was something egregious that WJMN (or Nexstar) did that killed the affiliation.

 

Excessive pre-emptions?  Co-branding violations? 

It seems that some of the Nexstar stations test to see how far they can go to "locally sponsor" things like college or NFL games. 

Can't be pre-emptions, because most of the specials in the UP are pretty much WLUC's provence, and there's no real football or basketball team which would require special coverage. But going too far with sponsorships definitely seems like a good reason, as WFRV is very apt to do that. Green Bay has really taken to sponsorships of individual news and sports segments, but most of the stations manage to keep a good line about their 'non-official' Packers shows, while "Green and Gold Nation" is very close enough to get NFL scrutiny if they go too far.

Another possibility? The market is very heavy with casino ads the numerous for regular/Native American gaming options throughout the UP and Northern Wisconsin, and with sports betting in Michigan legalized, they may have taken a few too many risky ads and sponsorships during CBS Sports coverage in local time that made CBS uncomfortable.

6 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Taking a look at the schedule, there is no Rewind TV programming on WJMN, just Antenna TV programs.

My error in haste; I have no idea what Rewind's schedule looks like since there's no affiliate I can get in my area (I only get WFRV through Paramount+ since CBS only assigns WDJT to cable), and that entire network launch itself was confusing so I didn't know what was Antenna-exclusive or Rewind-exclusive.

3 hours ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

According to Lilly Broadcasting's main office in Erie PA, WZMQ found out about the switch on Tuesday and had to switch on Friday. They are still trying to figure out what to do with WZMQ. Expect the CBS Network to switch to 19.1 soon and MeTV to go to 19.2. It won't stay the way it is. There Isn't a direct number for the Station but there is an online contact fourm. 

That they were able to get anything as far as unique logos and the tech equipment to get it done in only three days is yeoman to me, even with P+ just being the CBS East Coast feed for Marquette right now (still remember WDJT's quick run-up in '94). Meanwhile, you could sense the shock from WJMN's news staff, and that their logo was so wed to CBS, Nexstar never thought of having a network-neutral version, where most station logos can easily have the network bug easily excised with a click...just so badly done.

I also figured the .2 was the easiest place to put it for now, as Weigel was just as in the dark and has to do their own changes on the MeTV, H&I, and Start websites (along with social media notices), so Lilly gave them some time to make sure their side of the transition was clear. There's also getting streams up, both on the website and through Vuit (which means that Marquette can access their news streams outside WJMN on one website).

30 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

They renewed after CBS made a power move on them. Make no mistake, WZMQ was a total power move. They proved Perry Sook has a glass jaw and it shattered into a million pieces.

With WTTV in that group, imagine that Tribune spent all that money to take the affiliation away from WISH...and CBS could have taken it away yesterday and went back to WISH by this morning. This is the poker game they played and lost, AND they also lost most of their staggered contract expirations throughout the country having to accept a bulk agreement.

I'm not the biggest VCBS fan, but even if broadcast television is allegedly 'declining', the networks still have all the leverage against station groups.

1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

So 1.) Lilly was desperate enough to make WZMQ a CBS affiliate and 2.) Nexstar just let them have it because LOL market #180.

 

This is an FTV scenario on an acid trip. A BAD acid trip.

From the sounds of it, VCBS was hours or minutes away from giving a 'take it or leave it' offer for negotiations that had gone to overtime, and Nexstar tried to see how far they could go...and once they took it from WJMN, they cried uncle.

Seeing all the well-in-advance 'we've renewed' agreements for other groups, then this rushed announcement where most of their CBS affiliate body was day-to-day since New Year's...not a good sign for Nexstar.

57 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Caught the end of WJMN's newscast on YouTubeTV.  They mentioned the changes happening at midnight.  Rather than going into The Late Show, they went to another program about Wisconsin Tourism.

I'd say the CBS era on WJMN has ended.  Now how long will it take for YTTV to take them down and put up WZMQ's CBS feed.

As for the CBS/Paramount+ feed (thanks, Chrome sensor coordinates!), if you're in Marquette, you're seeing the raw network feed, PSAs and all for now there, including dead air. Still with the WJMN logo.

51 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

WJMN losing CBS is absolutely no indicator of Nexstar’s chances of buying The CW or a stake in it, or of Nexstar’s relationship with CBS anywhere else.

 

There are a few questions I have about this:

* 1) Even with the issues mrschimpf outlined, you would think Nexstar of all companies would have a lot more leverage to keep CBS on WJMN, while agreeing to address the technical issues that became such a bother. The fact that Nexstar lost CBS to a station with no history as a Big Three station (and which hasn’t been a major network affiliate since it lost Fox to WLUC-DT2 in 2009) is odd to say the least.

* 2) Why did WZMQ decide to put CBS on its .2 instead of putting the network on its main channel and bumping MeTV programming to 19.2? Effectively, WZMQ will likely be the first subchannel-only Big Four affiliate to have a primary affiliation with a network that is commonly distributed via subchannels.

* 3) Why the short notice? Unless the affiliation contract was already set to expire on January 21, common sense would be to at least wait until February 1, so that viewers could acclimated with the changes. That just causes viewer confusion for no reason.

At least for question #2, it's likely that Weigel has a rock-solid contract for the DT1 channel, but I would think there's wiggle room on that. But more than likely, it seems likely they wanted to keep their MeTV carriage as-is on cable and satellite, so they agreed to put it on DT2 and take new channels for that, though they are taking over the HD channel of WJMN on Spectrum (so yes, they'll have in HD by the morning; it looks like a hasty Wiki edit just to get it in the article).

But I think for 1 and 3...at least with WFRV and WJMN, Nexstar has struggled with those stations, and there have been long-simmering transmitter issues going back to the digital transition, with WJMN having an unusual number of CP filings.

In Green Bay, WFRV is well stuck in third place behind the WBAY/WLUK horserace, with WGBA/WACY well behind (at least news-wise, but they have the official Packers deal and NBC's ratings), which Scripps seems to be content with, and WFRV was the odd station out; it and WJMN should have gone to Four Points, then to Sinclair, but CBS sold it alone to Liberty, then to Nexstar, and since then the situation has been unsettled, especially with a lack of investment in syndicated programming for both stations.

And though this belongs in spec, really, though WBAY is doing just fine with ABC, Gray would be happy to get those CBS Packer games back on WBAY and take back the Eye. With Sinclair having leverage with ABC, them taking it for WCWF wouldn't seem out of left field to me at all, leaving WFRV with either The CW or trying to go it alone as an indie news-heavy station (wholly unrelated to the CW sale). I don't want to say WJMN is making me nervous about moves in Green Bay, but the haste of the WJMN pulling suggests there might be some horse-trading or discontent between Nexstar and VCBS.

As to WLUC not getting CBS; it would likely be an FCC no-go, and CBS would not want to be third priority on one station. For WBKP/WBUP, they're probably just fine with ABC/CW and saw no need to change affiliations.

13 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

Since they haven't posted a "News Director" job (It's usually the first position stations list when they want to start a news op), I assume WICU is producing the newscast with a skeleton crew in Marquette. We still have many unanswered questions just hours before WJMN is set to lose its CBS affiliation.

At least they're seeking a local met there too.

But it looks like even with Nexstar behind it (and its O&O past, even as a satellite), going by Twitter, CBS just had enough of WJMN's major issues during their programming and wanted a station in Marquette itself again; the issues with its news department we've talked about here before certainly did not help.

For WZMQ/Lilly though, if this is all true...it's a major vindication for them, as they built a station up from the literal ashes Equity left behind in their bankruptcy, helped by the Green Bay ownership that got things right before they sold it off.

2 minutes ago, TheSpeedKing said:

Does this station have a news updates like seen on WRDC?

They currently have weather segments daily done by the WICU/WSEE mets in Erie.

Tried out https://www.cbsmarquette.com. Redirects to WZMQ's website. It was created around noontime, just today. They used privacy tools to obscure who registered it, outside the usual Tucows anonymization address in Toronto.

3 minutes ago, sanewsguy said:

Starting tomorrow, January 21st. No word on where CBS is going to in Marquette.

https://www.upmatters.com/news/wjmn-local-3-becomes-independent-news-station/

Looks like a mix of MyNetworkTV and Antenna TV/Rewind TV. I'm wondering if Lily was able to grab the CBS affiliation for WZMQ as part of their regular CBS renewal for WSEE and WENY-DT2.

And...I really don't expect that news department to last much longer. No more morning news and just two hours, 6 and 10 on weekdays? That would be a 'why bother' opportunity for most candidates.

From WSAZ this evening; presented without comment outside I hope she is OK once the adrenaline wears off.

Anyone see any signs or promotion of the planned O&O subchannel launches? I expected the switch at least by 1/3, but WITI still has Antenna TV (and picked up HSN OTA on a new subchannel because free $$$), and I don't see that any other FTS stations have done it...maybe they pushed it because of the current staffing situation?

40 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

But what's the point in having this LP when WAFF's main signal is already on the UHF dial (RF 15)? Unless that part of the viewing can't get WAFF's main signal.....

Channel 15 is shared with land mobile radios and hospital radiology equipment, and because of that they have the lowest full-power signal in the market.

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Should this deal happen and the divestitures be required, this is where Byron Allen could benefit....getting stations like WXIA/WATL, WCNC and WFOX/WJAX.

I wish I could assume spin-offs here, but knowing how Tegna has played with things in each market in the past, it's possible under Standard that Sinclair-style 'subchannel mergers' will see WATL-DT1 moved to WXIA-DT2 and WJAX-DT1 being DT2'ed onto WFOX, leaving subchannel network farm husks behind, along with the WFAA and KHOU moves onto their sister UHFs being executed to take advantage of the UHF discount (a major Biden disappointment; it needed to be taken care of at 12:01 p.m. 1/20 last year, along with appropriate FCC nominees).

They've started to become more common after being tested out on MyNet/CW stations with no provider, regulatory or consumer pushback, Sinclair barely had any notice of their Fox moves from the shell/sidecar stations last year, and I'm afraid it'll become standard (no pun intended) as time goes on.