mrschimpf

Why do I get the feeling Zazlav watched NBC Nightly News and threw a tantrum that his graphics '(censored) (censored) (censored)' compared to their 'new (censored) package)' and told everyone 'start (censored) over' after who knows how much work was done? I would not be shocked if CNN's graphics department hates him just as much as those at TCM right now (and since CNN+ was scuttled, it trebled). The only time I can really think of a reverse being done was WPVI (we all know THAT story), or probably in the 70s or 80s because a newer machine just didn't work with the news department's ENG conversion yet and had to be back-burnered until it was fixed, or more rarely, a network switch forced an old system to be implemented as they were no longer licensed to use the network's software and devices (a la CBS).

You see this all the time on Fox station morning shows like Good Day. Most of the segments are paid for by the business being promoted and aren't just the reporter just coming into a business looking into something new at random, but coordinated in advance (you don't see a trampoline park open at 7am or a restaurant with their dinner menu at breakfast, usually). This is downright tame, especially for a Saturday morning show. At least they were completely transparent about it being a sponsored segment; most in smaller markets just aren't.

It would have made natural sense if WANF let CBS go because of the SEC...but really, that was the only reason I could've seen them bailing. CBS's other event programming, the Masters across the state in Augusta, and the Falcons no longer stuck to WAGA most of the season because of the end of 'conference exclusivity' deals? That easily sweetened the pot for Gray to pull the trigger on renewal. The big Atlanta unknown now is where the CW goes, but I don't see it going on a prime station without compromising on NXT's end or time-buying being the result; it isn't going to be on WPCH though just because of Gray's current overall Atlanta blueprint.

They're throwing all the money at one creator (Taylor Sheridan, who refuses any script help and writes nothing but worn-down tropes) towards one demographic (which mostly watches INSP and FNC) while starving promotion from their other shows and creators outside the SpongeBobs and South Parks, and like any PG cable channel has been for the last ten years, you have to watch the content at the time it comes out before they pull it back because they refuse to let it thrive or give unknown creators security (the Heathers situation). Their model is unsustainable, and that their cable portfolio is now in the infomercials and home shopping level of filler nobody actually watches...they're lucky they have CBS primetime and Tom Cruise, because everything else they've touched is just not doing well.

Bill Steffen winding down his schedule to emeritus status times out to when they came there and I'm beginning to wonder if there might also a component to that, along with the change to a more generic image/theming away from its longtime 'good friend to the community' framing.

I really do like that the graphics finally acknowledge that most TV's/smart screens show every bit of data and no longer really need a safe zone designed in the 50s, and actually show most of the entire picture, so it's an out of the way graphics package unlike many noisy sports and news packages which overload you with statistics or information (still waiting on DraftKings to officially sponsor presidential odds and polls ). But yes, 'breaking news' has become just as bad a term as the George Carlin Seven to me. It's overused and 'Developing Story/News' carries the story just as well.

It fills two hours and provides a common branding to stations whose creative department simply does not exist any longer and are usually paired with Fox or the CW, or going at it alone. The days of Malrite, Gaylord and Grant's originality are long over.

I'm assuming this is the team actually purchasing time on KJZZ rather than Sinclair having the direct rights (though still holding marketing rights), which allows much more flexibility with the contract overall than they had with AT&TSN.

They have different commercial break structures for one, along with an entirely different structure to their unions and they're royalties overall, so unless it's packed into an ad-friendly format like Benny Hill and Monty Python were, it's usually passed on. There's also 'oh no scary accents!' syndrome that makes them a hard sell (though all those Discovery reality shows with bad mic work needing to be subtitled/lots of mumbling are much worse). But the other thing is a lot of folks have long figured out VPNs to watch direct from overseas without the obnoxious sell-throughs many syndicated shows have now (theme weeks and 'special offers'), and UK-specific streaming services now exist in the US, so that's where their focus went long ago, along with public television. It's also why BBC America is just an American rerun farm now, because AMC's budget cuts have killed their acquisition budget.

They have part of it already (the NFL Films content), they just need the hosts to wrap around it. This I can't criticize them for outside if they don't get a good panel of hosts (shh don't tell Antonio Brown).

Personally I really miss good investigations of consumer issues like pricing and grocery store issues, but Food Lion and Pink Slime pretty much scared ABC and NBC into full time crime on their newsmagazines, and you don't see CBS even cover many of those stories any longer.

I still don't understand what they're going to merge...the team golf concept nobody understands or has any loyalty to, or making LIV a part of the FedEx Cup? The Champions Tour just being yeeted out of existence? I am just left with more questions than answers about what this merger will do except confuse the rights holders, the PGA loyalists, and the clubs that host events already on the edge (your BC Opens) who may lose their tour stops. Maybe this is more PGA tossing money at LIV to just go away and get back to normal than anything.

Certainly the best thing at this point would be for executives to stay 100% behind the scenes. If I never have to know a TV station/network's executive or general manager outside the context of image campaigns or editorials, that is a very good thing. This is 100% junk news about people we'll never see on-screen yelling at the people on-screen (except with payroll screws to turn rather than just pointless yelling).

I get the feeling that the VPN routing traffic within team territories for MLB.tv is much more than the number of BS+ subscribers. I'm sure the numbers for Tennis Channel Plus are also miserably low and starving that sport for exposure they've been losing for over a decade.

Who wants an L3 that fits more words in it?!?! Who? That seems to be the big change out of this; more wordy L3s, which this seems to be designed for (they were bad in the old package...and this now looks even worse). I know cable news is trending older and these graphics seem to now be designed as a mobile-first experience, along with being designed to be stripped down for FAST experiences, but the only people that like these graphics are political spokespeople who can have CNN crunch even more inaneness onto the screen. Glad the ticker is gone though; remember they did have a really nice flipper back in 2013, but Zucker had it removed on his day one for the ticker because he was that much of an egomaniac. It has to flash to prevent screen burn-in, which I can predict will be now really obvious for the old package on public TVs that never switch off CNN.

At least there's only two-three stations (KBCW, WPCW, and maybe WUPA) that ever specifically ID'ed as CW in the calls, so there's not much FCC legwork to do regarding any call changes, and a few like WPSG already have brands like 'Philly 57' that easily adapt to the box (no need to change a call with 'Paramount' in it already).

Look at the sidebar and ticker with extremely inane and degenerate gambling figures and statistics from Bally. Outside of direct friends or family and university students that are only there to watch the game, their viewership is either the lowest of the low bettors, oddballs who refuse to watch paid sports networks for some reason, or sports bars that need to fill one of their eighteen screens during the day.

WSJV's transmitter was relocated to the WSBT tower several years ago (and will serve as an upcoming 3.0 lighthouse), so it's been extraneous real estate for Gray for that long outside lease money they get from WBYT (WSJV's former FM sister).

Another factor for the sale; WFLA and WTTA share UHF High 9. WSNN is on UHF 26. You move that transmitter to Riverview at the same height as the full-powers, and you've got a solid UHF signal serving the most important parts of the market to simulcast WFLA and WTTA and can keep WSNN's main signal in 720p (safe bet they dump all the Scripps subchannels which already air on WXPX). WSNN already news-shares with WFLA, so there may be no on-air changes outside a transmitter move and having WSNN cover the non-prime slots (including the presumptive 10pm WTTA show) in lieu of WFLA.

And no more pre-emptions. In this case the move was needed, and eventually CBS and ABC will have to make the same decisions because if you have news content on and news breaks there's no one to really anger outside the few people who did a feature and didn't see it on TV. It's stupid because press conferences were designed to digest events during the day and be part of a rundown later instead of being covered live, but it's too late to go back to that form of distribution.

Much different as it's across low-powers, unlike the Anchorage situation. And those are pretty much 'RTC affiliates' merely existing to Hoover up RTC revenue, not Anchorage where there should be competition.

Understandable for some affiliates above market 100 (the most prominent is WISH unless WTTV-DT2 gets it as originally planned), but... Why would any Plus group affiliate opt their stations out of this?! Maybe your Coastals and Allens will consider it, but most of these groups grab The CW affiliation mainly to have a respectable backup in case of breaking news and not have to bother with scheduling much. Why would they want to opt out on that coverage and deal with the VMVPD's alone? For most of these affiliates below 100, The CW+ sub is a rounding error.

I did see it on in a public setting last week (the 3rd St. Market Hall in Milwaukee), but it seemed more to have golf on next to the TopGolf as visual noise more than anything else.

They could've noted that before they made the music final, and get a custom cut then. When you go with random themes based on 'vibes' you lose the trust of those who build the newscast out and the average viewer who is just over every time period having to lead off with doom and gloom because of one guy's decision to be out of compliance.

Egos. It's always egos hurt because corporate decided on something they hated, so they're like 'you want the viewers happy? Screw that, I'm gonna make them feel depressed and gloomy!' This is just like the Scripps stations that decided the breaking news-only theme IS the only theme they'll use because the ND makes Lou Grant look like a hippy and because of that choice, now there's no real way to alert viewers to actual breaking news outside violating CALM with a louder version of the same theme.