mrschimpf

17 hours ago, doublejman69 said:

TV listings indicate WTMJ has dropped the 4:30am newscast, likely a combination of being short staff and lack of ratings. at the moment WTMJ only has 3 meteorologist and each month the morning newscast rating are sinking and are approaching CBS58’s type ratings. 

WISN and WITI pretty much have all the momentum now and there's no stopping them. The 4:30 half-hour was only two-staffed anyways and never could justify itself.

And it took them about nine years to get to it, but Scripps finally covered up the Journal Broadcast Group logo label scar that's been on the front of Radio City for years and was never replaced; this flat sign just felt like they could've done MUCH better, but it feels like the least they could've done was light it (even for a basic lightbox sized to the logo LEDs are nothing now). Were they seriously waiting for the radio side to move out before finally replacing it?

Watching the WGBA version, it comes of as 'thin-staffed small-market Gannett newspaper operation' where only weather has money put into it instead (as it should, it's their main and only strength) and they're reporting about evergreen topics like 'how did my high school mascot get their name' rather than anything investigative or current-day, and like the Gannet example, struggle to fill 35 minutes the same way they struggle to fill twelve pages (and ten of them are pre-filled with USA Today filler and one page of classified/legal notices). It's fine for what it is, but if what it was was already kind of a mediocre product to begin with, it's just making it even more unremarkable. 

I'm wondering if they're just testing for now so they don't run into the situation they did when WIFR-LD shifted and had to deal with WISN's interference; plus it is on VHF in a UHF-heavy area so they may have an educational campaign to ramp up before shifting CBS there. Only a few people will be concerned with the CW going away on UHF.

26 minutes ago, The Frog said:

Looks like CW may have quietly expanded Sundays to 7/6c. There's network repeats scheduled in that timeslot starting on 10/1.

Did they look at the negative ratings records they set with CW Now before they ditched that timeslot and decide 'we can do much worse'? 

6 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

I was in RI where Nexstar controls three stations.  Only one was restored - the CBS affiliate.  The Fox and CW were still off the air (owned my Mission on paper).  

For all the criticism we throw Sinclair, at least they began to consolidate their Fox/MNTV/CW stations on their own signals so that what are now subfarm husks aren't really painful losses if the lawyer stuck doing the Vaughn or Cunningham negotiations gets a hair up there and the customer loses TBD or Dabl. Nexstar really needs to get these companies in order and on the same page, or the FCC will do it for them.

If you're not an ABC affiliate who was supposed to carry the local Monday Night Football game in syndication you're not a happy camper today after it was announced the entire season will be simulcast on ABC. I don't expect this is 'temporary because of the writers strike' either and will become permanent.

(makes way for the Wheel and Jeopardy watchers and agrees that there's no need for a 7:30 pregame show either).

I'd say she bowed to the pressure of Paramount Global to keep the show on the air in the first place in business as usual mode rather than the strikes.

The problem here was PG forcing the show back into production without writers and a limited guest pool (pretty much Broadway and unscripted, along with PGs deal of the day hucksters, the exact same as The View minus politicos). This is all on them and she's the front liner to take the blame while Bob Bakish would prefer she come back (and hired the goons to take away WGA buttons from audience members) and gets none of it.

ETA - The Talk will also stay dark. My point stands; CBS's executives and Bob expected the talent to take the brunt and it was clear they would give with pressure because it should not be an exec's choice to force them to come back.

1 hour ago, AmericanErrorist said:

 

KMCC's inaugural prime time slate: endless cycling through of the Knights' Stanley Cup Final games from last season. At the very least, there were other playoff games from that campaign that could've been used.

I mean they won, so I feel that's still better than the Ion Episode Picker 9000 choosing what episodes of Criminal Minds to run that night (and the problem is trying to get both ESPN and TNT's permission for earlier rounds). If it's fine for the NHL Network to do, why not their broadcaster until games start?

40 minutes ago, NWA_TV_guy said:

Skyline issue for WLBT was quickly corrected by 4pm. 

Gotta assume the iStock search for 'Jackson skyline' came up empty, so they Fiver'ed a quick fake while they had to dig it up on another stock photo site.

1 hour ago, Megatron81 said:

Aaron Rodgers locked the door and only unlocked it when a deal was reached LOL .

He locked them in his darkness retreat and told them to come out when they had a deal...or else they'd have to do Pat McAfee's show.

As for the 700 Club, with Pat gone, you bet Bob Iger is pressing his son to give up the slot for less than $40 million now. With Grownish almost at its natural conclusion, the network is pretty much in winddown mode, and it's only been a question of if, not when, Disney XD is wound down either since it's down to two markets worldwide. Same with the extra FX channels, which basically telegraphs a move of Sunny back to FX sooner than later.

Paramount Global has this huge library of shows to draw on, but they go with a show they literally have to pay nothing for moldy standup programming that hasn't been updated since like 2009?

What, did Rob Dyrdek somehow reject them playing Ridiculousness repeats? You might as well just give the time back to the affiliates for 1am news or informercials or something.

2 hours ago, Abraham J. Simpson said:

Ultimately, the benefit of MNF across the network far, far outweighs a couple preempted game show episodes. 

But when the same network partners with you on primetime episodes there should be some basic considerations made to make both camps happy. At the very least you can bump up Kimmel a half-hour currently with no issue, so why not do that to get WoF in a viewable time slot?

Official Disney PR.

They'll no longer carry a number of networks whose content was already on D+ and Hulu anyways, so put Freeform, FXX/FXM, Disney Junior/XD and Nat Geo Wild on deathwatch as far as other providers. In return, Spectrum customers will eventually get D+ and ESPN+ included in their subs and the ability to have an ESPN-free cable package.

And the social person too; last post was on Saturday on both Twitter and Facebook, and they seemed to be one of the few TV stations that took EM-era Blue seriously with bolding and extended posts (all very editorialized). The Herrings are probably getting HR ready for a few OAN interviews as we speak.

On 9/2/2023 at 1:12 PM, T.L. Hughes said:

I believe YTTV carries some (if not all) of Sinclair’s MyNetworkTV affiliates. Someone CMIIW, but I think WPNT was among those that it carried even before the station switched to The CW. So, it’s very possible nothing changes as far as KOCB’s carriage goes.

It's doubtful anything changes, as most providers just seamlessly transitioned to the new Fox subchannels a few years ago when Sinclair transferred affiliations from their shell company stations while dumping whichever subnet was the new primary affiliation on the shellco which was mainly used as an ATSC 3 lighthouse (though some like Dabl already have carriage on the services). Same with WCGV when it became WVTV-DT2. I wouldn't see KOCB removed at all at this time.

It's too bad KBCB got TCT'ed after Fox's attempted purchase during their triennial fight with Tribune over KCPQ's affiliation.

What I'm more surprised about is that Nexstar didn't make a modest attempt to get it on KFFV or KVOS, or they did and Weigel shut them out entirely, saying 'why? We're losing CW in Chicago no matter what, why should we help you out and lose viewer goodwill from Me or H&I prime being pre-empted?'. This has to be on par with WJMN being dumped from CBS in big L's for Perry.

So this should be a big issue...WABC along with all other Disney networks are off Spectrum.

9 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

I guess it’s better than the butchered KCAL logo, but geez that looks awful. I know these stations are far from CBS’ priority, but you’d think they’d put a little bit of effort here.

The station was won for a golf club membership so ANY effort is better than none. 

15 minutes ago, atlnews2 said:

I’d be really interested to know what kind of viewership WPCH gets in Canada….I doubt it significant. 

WGN had the same issue until it dumped the CW, so I don't see why this is so panic-inducing, and Gray already sends a different feed to Canada of WPCH which fills in local advertiser content that isn't relevant in Saskatoon with extra runs of the shows they have rights to. I'm sure Gray and Nexstar do have plans for that feed and whatever allowances Bell and Shaw need to keep the feed going (expect LOTS of domestic paid programming blocks on the weekends).

The other thing...are we just all allergic to "TV" branding now? "TV-50" is a lot more remembered than "Detroit 50", along with "KSTWashington".

The growing trend is that it seems very few of Dr. Phil's affiliates decided to take the reruns as intended (Weigel Milwaukee is downgrading it to 6am on WMLW), so I would say that while it can be done for a court show, it's a no go for talk shows and they were better off just creating a Pluto TV channel instead. The five plays a day on OWN certainly didn't help at all.

An addendum to WDJT/WMLW; they are expanding the noon show, but cutting the 8am part of the WMLW show to plant the second ''Dateline'' rerun as ''48 Hours'' gets the 8pm timeslot. Meanwhile in technicality, nothing changes in the afternoon except Millian and Mathis's ESTV shows are on from 2-3 while their old WB/Telepictures shows stay at noon-2.

On 8/22/2023 at 1:51 PM, Spring Rubber said:

It's been such a pain for the last 7 years that The Weather Channel brand is used by two separate companies. While the TV network technically has its own website, they almost never refer to it because they know people will inadvertently go to IBM's TWC website instead.

 

I kinda wish the tech assets and the TV network could get sold to the same owner and unified again.

I just want to be able to use my TVE credentials to watch the channel but they have about four different sites and now under ES, it's gotten much worse.

And the same confusion exists for Weather Underground, which is both a 'wacky off-the-cuff weather show' on TWC...and a completely boring weather site run by IBM. 

2 hours ago, Matt S. said:

WFTV - same shows except it’s just 1 iCrime run - this time at 9:30am instead. also they stole all of hot bench from 27 - full hour at 10am. they had a chance to get ET, they chose….court cam. whatever makes overnight ad sales I guess 

Do we have any intel that they're being sold to HC2, because that's embarrassing (both for them and syndication...COURT CAM, really?!).

7 hours ago, Glimmer said:

Access Hollywood is moving back to WISN, joining fellow newcomer Daily Blast Live in the 12:05am hour replacing Rachael Ray starting 9/12.  Kinda surprising, since I just assumed they’d bump the ET encore up an hour.  This means that in Milwaukee, Access Hollywood has been on…

 

WITI>WTMJ>WDJT>WISN>WTMJ>WITI>WISN

DBL previously aired on WTMJ from 2018-2020 (at 1:35am so few ever noticed), and Access continues to not air on the date it was produced and before primetime; I think outside WTMJ during their post-Sony game show schedule flailing, it never has, though Access Live/Daily is now a noontime staple on WVTV.

41 minutes ago, newscopter7 said:

Pittsburgh’s WPCW is set to be branded as KDKA+. 

 

Seems contradictory to the push to deemphasize legacy brands. With Neeraj Khemlani out the door, does this mean the end of “CBS News+City” branding? 

Pittsburgh and KDKA as long discussed is an exception using "KDKA News" because that's how they've been for decades, and to fight off Audacy's well-poisoning on the AM side. It's also appropriate here because channel 19 had no history in Pittsburgh before the move from Johnstown to Jeanette, so it's a clean slate to work from for them. It also doesn't have a market-wide pay TV channel number, so branding it as "Pittsburgh 19" would be senseless.

One of the WDJT mets just dropped that their noon show is expanding to an hour; The Bold and the Beautiful goes to 2pm, Inside Edition and Daytime Jeopardy fill the former Phil slot, and the second half hour of Drew likely goes to 12:37am.