mrschimpf

1 hour ago, TSSZNews said:

So the question becomes, do the savings realized from centralizing weather outweigh any loss from the overall product of local news not having a local WX presence? For the FOX stations, it might - I don't know many O&Os currently that have an enormous investment in WX save for maybe Tampa. But for other stations and other owned groups who have firm stakes in weather - and the talent and tech to back it - that decision is much more difficult.

 

 

WITI came in with half of their branding around their weather and personnel, but the market's patterns justify the investment. Fox's O&O footprint outside Orlando, Milwaukee, MSP and Tampa right now (and to a smaller extent the Texas Triangle) doesn't really have the need for huge weather resources by design.

Also I'm in a market where TWC STILL has never put in an HD local unit, so I have to keep the SD channel on my channel map for local conditions (and the Milwaukee feed I get on the Spectrum app for some godforesaken reason advertises businesses from Cleveland on the local ticker). NBC basically ruined the network, and Allen's 'LOL Weather so funny!' clip shows from their library have not helped their reputation at all.

8 hours ago, caliwxdude said:

 

If that's the case, it's time to figure out how to differentiate graphics feeds for mobile app streaming vs. TV. This sucks.

I'm just glad they haven't begun to stack scoreboards in the vertical video space to solely appeal to social media users.

26 minutes ago, Mrtraveler01 said:

 

This just a bad idea all around. I can only imagine what the sport teams who had no say in this decision are thinking (especially the Cubs since they jumped in late).

The Brewers current FSN deal apparently just ran out, but they're in a rock and a hard place (Sinclair also owns the WVTV CW/MyNet feeds, and Weigel's WMLW is on a low-power stick). Their literal only other move would be to the local Spectrum News 1, so I would expect the deal to be renewed by default. But since the team's major sponsor is an area Native American casino and there's no sports betting in the state, they will push back hard against branding with some out-of-state entity Wisconsinites still associate more with pinball and fitness centers in the past than gambling.

8 hours ago, Samantha said:

I have no idea why WAOE wants to change COLs (there's no facilities change and it's in the same DMA, allegedly).

Likely a bump into the Chicago market...they'll keep the facility, and then spring an application to transmit from Willis or one of the western Chicagoland AM towers once it's approved. Currently they're just north of that little jut of La Salle County where WWTO fought for years to get Chicago cable access before eventually getting a spectrum share in town to get it.

Yet more unshocking hijinks from Venture Technologies (note WAOE dumped its MyNet affiliation and shows to go paid 24/7, so it's literally a non-factor in Peoria right now).

Ted Perry is back on WITI as of the Packers halftime report tonight, so the corporate-induced suspension is over for him; no return to socials yet (not linking to his Twitter, but Dan O'Donnell is...bitter he didn't win a firing).

41 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

WCCB also did the Sun-Thur schedule when they first launched their news department. Never understood why.

Sunday is an NFL gameday, thus they got a Panthers halo effect on that night, and Fox Friday is traditionally a dead zone, so it was smart to just skip Friday until they had enough ratings (a lot of local stations in NFL markets, CBS, Fox, NBC, and even ABC have their main teams Sunday–Thursday for the same reason, with them both or one off on Friday nights).

39 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Well crud, I was looking forward to "Alexander Shunnarah Sports South" and "Back & Knee Brace Hotline Sports Midwest!!”

I would have thought since he owns 60% of Fox Sports Wisconsin's ad inventory, David Gruber's "One Call...That's All! Sportsnet" was a virtual lock.

30 minutes ago, LoadStar said:

I have thoughts about what Dan O'Donnell and the rest of the WISN lineup can do... I'll let you use your imagination as to what. IMO, they're all repugnant.

Considering those folks at WISN killed any effort by my county to reduce COVID-19 through inane 'but muh freedoms' protests against the county government (a county that isn't even covered in their news unless their 'outrage of the week' occurs here), it's no wonder WISN-TV long ago burned all bridges with them.

On 11/9/2020 at 8:31 PM, Georgie56 said:

 

Corporate has now suspended him for the week...or longer.

On 10/29/2020 at 10:37 PM, CircleSeven said:

Also, going back to that 6pm vid from last night, Is the vamp music (after the open) is one of the themes from Arnold's Extreme? So, this is a modern-day Magnum, huh?

They occasionally still have a Magnum sting pop up here and there (mainly during the overnight rundown on WakeUp), and on the overnight news replay, the 'previously recorded' flag still is from the pre-WDAF graphics, along with a T&T bug during some live news events.

ETA - The late night newscast replay has the pre-WDAF T&T design wedged into the new graphics...along with an oddly-kerned Fox logo (note the 'X') which suggests they had to jerryrig the new logo design into the old 'FOX6 News/FOX6 Milwaukee/FOX6NOW.com' carousel logo template.

5 minutes ago, MarkBRollins88_v2 said:

I would just like to say that KYUR/KTBY barely qualifies as a legitimate news station.

 

and FTV reported the anchor told the Mayor she was gonna win an Emmy. Not a chance in the world. I’ve watched those newscasts. They’re BAD. 

I've seen better newscasts from the Atlanta-based American News Network (them of the same production music 'news theme' used by the GTA games).

Also it should be noted that clicking any of the social links on the Your Alaska Link page (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) now bring you to two 'this account no longer exists' pages...while the YT page was removed by that site as "we received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding material the user posted". Finally, I hope Dorene Lorenz (who seems to be the only one posting web content right now and the only employee left) is doing well despite all the dysfunction going on around her.

21 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I wonder how long WOIO/WUAB is locked into their home in Downtown Cleveland.   Any idea why they moved there in the first place?  It seems the WUAB building in Parma could have worked, but at the time, the area around it was booming and it gave way to an OfficeMax store, and it was "cool" to be in downtown Cleveland.

The Reserve Square space was formerly a twinned theater, and it was probably like all the other suddenly new CBS affiliates in 1995 which had no new building capital but the requirements to build out news; just find a huge empty space and make the most of it you could at the time (which is how WDJT ended up in a former industrial building where they could build what they needed to in its shell). I don't know what WUAB's building age/situation was at the time so I don't know if staying there was right at the time, but since their competitors were in downtown/thereabouts, it made more sense to be there than southeast in an area where expressway access was farther away.

And WOIO isn't optimum...but at least they are far away from the continuing disaster that is WGCL.

28 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

And who knows how many more who will drop them too.

As much as the industry would hate it...it may be time to go to a gametime-only model with these networks (or to just have league packages). The long pause between March and July showed that without any live programming, the FSN networks are a dearth of programming stuck with outdoors shows, senior tennis tours to justify the Tennis Channel purchases, and 43 golf tour shows.

On 12/21/2018 at 8:53 AM, cg41386 said:

Former WTAE news anchor Wendy Bell is joining KDKA 1020 as an afternoon co-host, while KDKA TV reporter Lynne Hayes-Freeland is joining as midday hostess.

https://kdkaradio.radio.com/articles/wendy-bell-lynne-hayes-freeland-join-kdka-radio-air-lineup

After a summer where she suggested park rangers shoot monument vandalizers and overall paranoid COVID skepticism, along with KDKA radio's management deciding to go all-in on conservative talk (and advertisers exited) while KDKA-TV had to 'they're in another universe and we washed our hands of them a couple years ago' people who called to complain about her, Bell is 'indefinitely suspended', though her bio and show page have been pulled (she also lost her Pitt Panther pregame duties on a sister station, which just seems like the most random of assignments).

Surprise from WBAY in Green Bay; as of the 14th, they will be launching a half-hour 9am newscast and filling in the space between 4:30-5:00pm to create a 90-minute news block, as I assume Family Feud wasn't content with the "mere" two timeslots it had on that station (both timeslots contain Feud episodes now).

7 minutes ago, CubsFan79 said:

I’m surprised that KTUU and Gray TV didn’t just stay with KTVA. Then Gray TV would have to sell KYES TV.

It's just faster and more efficient to assume non-license assets and IP than hassle with a COVID-hampered FCC at this point. Gray already had to deal with the Wyoming situation and does not want a repeat, and GCI has physical assets like cable headends and satellites (e.g. Time Warner/AT&T/WPCH) that would make a traditional sale/swap a major headache to deal with.

1 hour ago, ProButtonPusher said:

It’s hurting my head. I’m guessing the non-licensed assets of KTVA have been sold to Gray, and Gray is putting those non-licensed assets on KYES.

 

so, KTVA is effectively just a license and transmitter now, with no programming?

Basically sounds like a WSJV situation...except that KTVA's news department will likely be kept. WSJV still exists since it never got spectrum-baited, and is a non-competitive subchannel farm only existing to allow Quincy to collect free DRTV revenue, so this is likely KTVA's fate, in the same way KRDK ended up the same in Gray's Fargo shuffle.

44 minutes ago, Working4You said:

This is just a guess, but GCI is the major cell phone player in Alaska.... KTVA spectrum bait? 

Another likely fate.

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Looks like they are finally moving away from the livestream platform to the Syncbak standard that most of the Gray stations have been using.  The former Raycom stations used livestream.

Just going through SBTV, they've all finally hit that site, including VOD of newscasts.

Just got a scroll that Scripps stations may be gone from Dish at 7 p.m. ET Friday night if a new deal won't happen (and knowing Dish, it won't)...so that's also happening.

29 minutes ago, Gavin said:

 

I don’t know why they block it out anyway... There the home market that’s money on the table that how you force people to go that sounds like an action of a small market would do. That Like if the Green Bay Packers were playing in Green Bay that would be like no one in Green Bay can see it unless you come to the game while the rest of the country sees it. To help support attendance in a city that size for a big sports league that can even fit a city that size...

That's the way the NFL blackout policy worked until 2015...thankfully Green Bay always sells out so we never experienced a game blackout locally, but it always sounded embarrassing that a local TV station (this always occurred in bad Vikings years and for at least a decade, for the Lions) had to buy out blocks of tickets so they wouldn't have to carry TV offal instead of their local NFL game on a Sunday afternoon.

The main reason for the Indy blackout though is to make it an event you have to see, not just a distraction you can easily access on TV and have bars just Hoover up money with their watch parties that the track would rather have in their own pockets. This year though, you want home eyeballs live in Indy for sure on TV.

4 minutes ago, jbnews said:

Unique slogan replaced with a boring one. Also why "safe"? Safe from what?

Maybe a remit to keep 'bleeds it leads' crime roll stories to a minimum?

3 minutes ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

Anyone Else Noticing this on the recent CBS Evening News Broadcasts? Two here in PA, WTAJ and WYOU are putting their own logo next to the CBS Eye. Anyone else see this? I looked at KDKA (only in the beginning) and WKBN (none at all) too. 

Most of the O&O's are doing it, along with some affiliates (since at least late 2018); it works better with a one-numeral channel number for some reason than it does two (or here, eye-straining tiny calls). WDJT in Milwaukee tried to do so for a few weeks, but eventually dropped it because the '58' had to be much smaller and wasn't point-size perfect with the Eyemark. For some reason, the Eyemark is all over the place with its positioning in that bottom right-hand corner depending on news/sports/live/primetime presentations, unlike NBC, Fox, and ABC where news and primetime DOGs are pretty steady and the network affiliate can get their bug lined up perfectly with the network DOG. CBS has about four-five different positions for the Eyemark in a broadcast day.

48 minutes ago, tvtime07 said:

With Disney now having majority ownership of Hulu, I wonder if soaps can find new life on streaming, even with a half-hour format. They can have it premiere on ABC then have the episodes available on streaming. 

Their experience with The Online Network suggests that's not happening. OWN and BET have successfully boosted the profile of soap formats in primetime with much better production values (relatively speaking for the format), but the big issue is there has to be a consistent five-day audience for a return of soaps. Streaming has yet to even bother with any type of daytime strip half-hour format (and even the 'short-shot' 10 minute news/night in TV & late night shows haven't sold well to a broad audience), so it's going to be at least a decade before it's even a reality.

2 hours ago, CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI said:

So, I happened to turn on my Spectrum on my Apple TV, and noticed that Spectrum News (NC-Charlotte) is now Spectrum News 1. Anyone heard anything about this change? Everything else is the same, but after searching the internet, I didn't see anything about it. (I know it isn't earth shattering news, but I am extremely curious why there was a change!) 

There was a notice that they were moving the NC channel positions to 1 today and renaming it...seems like they're going to make Channel 1 corporate-wide the Spectrum News home.

With the way things are going, it just might become permanent by default, which is a good thing; news in the afternoon that doesn't have a 'deal of the day' or pundit battles going on is desperately needed, and it's going to be a long time before the NYLA film/TV/book junket tours that give these shows oxygen return, now that it's been proven you can do it a lot easier and personal through videoconferencing. You also can have a local station justifiably break in with news much better with a soft news show than a soap or talk show.