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nathannah

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Everything posted by nathannah

  1. nathannah
    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.
  2. nathannah
    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).
  3. nathannah
    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.
  4. nathannah
    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).
  5. nathannah
    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.
  6. nathannah
    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.
  7. nathannah
    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.
  8. nathannah
    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.
  9. nathannah
    I wonder if McKinnon bought out the lease other part of their building they're in then and there's a commitment to remodel it in full (the other side was formerly another business).
  10. nathannah
    Most of the lingering of 'My' just seems to be more around a united brand and schedule graphics imaging than anything else. With station autonomy in chains pretty much gone, having a fallback brand to group the low-tier stations is better than having to pay someone to create, then maintain, your own station's imaging (see Sinclair's rough Raleigh-Durham duopoly). WVTV tried to go with "Super 18" again for a couple years, but eventually fell back to "CW 18" because Sinclair corporate wanted simple promos with the same design language across all their CW affils they could plug any channel number into. Then you have the HC2 stations that just fit MNTV in so Fox can get some revenue even if the station and subchannels around it are unmanaged and literal digital junk. If it was unprofitable it would have been gone a decade ago, but it seems to be worth it to grab some library content, pump out show promos to feed out and some blue JPEG/Adobe graphics, and call it a day.
  11. nathannah
    NBCU licenses all ten hours of the lineup in the form of reruns, so it's on them for their continued existence...despite indies themselves often programming two hours of Dateline on weeknights at the same time, and True Crime Network and ID carrying reruns, along with the Dateline Peacock channel itself! It borders on either non-sensical or roadblocking Dateline on everything they can.
  12. nathannah
    They're not the only ones; the shopping networks offer their own toll-free number/website link QR code designed for that broadcaster on-air, and the station group gets a cut of every sale made under that number or link. It's like the DRTV model, but with an entire network rather than commercials during shows. That's why the HSN and QVC over-the-air feeds specifically are called "Over the Air" rather than just a feed from a Dish box or direct consumer web feed. The other thing is it's both SD and the content most of the time is nearly static of the product, so it's barely a drain on overall station bandwidth. The days of it being a kiss of death because all 6 MHz of spectrum/168 hours had to be devoted to it are long over; it's like the saturation strategy with cable where 17 channels are these same few channels all through the dial.
  13. nathannah
    KSWB has a much larger and more modern plant overall and there's been stories out there about how KUSI's shared building (it has another tenant but it looks like the other part is vacant) needs severe maintenance. There's two miles and roads between each studio, so there's not much complication to merging them together.
  14. nathannah
    The only thing these dumb local newspaper 'best of the best' polls show is that there's both unchecked ballot stuffing from the few old people who care about this, and monetary contributions from advertisers that influence the 'winner'. Gannett is horrible with these things (I'm sure the only reason Patrick Soon kept it from the Platinum Equity days is because some local advertisers treat it like a drug high and toss money to keep their titles and plaster their front walls with these tacky trophies; it's free money to throw up some Survey Monkey polls, put in a bulk order of some plaques, and call it a day) and I can expect once Nexstar is in charge, their winning streak will end because the U-T is competition.
  15. nathannah
    Does anyone really pay attention to the bottom ticker these days though? Outside snowbird closing reports (or I guess 'snow eye' for CBS stations) and specific city weather and your road in, you know the game score (there's six possible local(ish) teams) and the tickers have repetitive and dull news anyways. You can look up scores and the Dow easily with a smart speaker. The ticker is more a public environment utility in muted environments than actually useful to a viewer, and if they only have weather and traffic, it does serve its purpose perfectly. Maybe if this new ATSC 3.0 standard actually includes interactive features that are cross-platform and not just half-assed implementations that depend on proprietary systems, the ticker becomes useful. For now though, it's just full of 'why is this news' stories rejected for the actual show that don't need elaboration.
  16. nathannah
    I have to assume part of the reason for McKinnon getting out is because of KUSI's physical studio deterioration; with Nexstar in control they can vacate them and have a much more state-of-the-art building with KSWB. I also have to think these talks were happening even before LIV was a factor and Tegna is having second thoughts about the renewal with the decline of syndication being more of a yoke than a complement to 8.1.
  17. nathannah
    Nexstar is paying $35 million for KUSI in San Diego. They already have KSWB, so expect a lot of changes out of this move (including a CW move if Tegna backs out).
  18. nathannah
    There is, but it would be downright embarrassing (and would get all the FCC action, especially in Atlanta) to sell out to someone like HC2 or TCT. I will say Cox having 2 and 69 in Atlanta would be amusing just to see if their creative department would come with a slogan for being on both ends of the dial. Their only non-Plus main channel affiliates (all from the Cordillera deal) are one legacy Journal station, and two former Tribunes and a Nexstar divested as part of that merger (not counting the WPIX stewardship). They have never taken a CW affiliation on their own volition, and I don't think they'll start adding new stations now.
  19. nathannah
    Scripps dumped MNTV clearly to extend WXYZ's news reach and flee from a filler network in MNTV and the station's Granite-era failures post-WB. They're not going to abandon that strategy if there's a shot to get the Pistons, Red Wings and/or Tigers on their air to boost their own news product, and I think Nexstar will end up sucking it up and dealing with WADL because it's that or HC2 in the Detroit market for them. I can definitely see a fair battle between Scripps and CBS to get the Red Wings/Tigers and/or Pistons though (Red Wings and Tigers will not be separated by Illich Holdings).
  20. nathannah
    A little less important thing here is with the 'Columbia' part of the 'Columbia-Warner Network' out of the equation (at least station-wise), do we see a rebrand coming for the network itself like The NX, NexTV, or SookNet (I'm not serious on the last one)? As for the ratings outside whatever Nexstar keeps out of this year's schedule (so far just All-American and the Saturday/Sunday night reality filler blocks), it doesn't really matter. Whatever Nexstar throws on, it's basically just going to be like Heartland, which fills any timeslot without a pulse on weekends and has no particular loyalty outside a small viewerbase that finds handholding to be a break of morals, or CanCon/international content that most anyone who was already a fan long ago found much easier/ad-free (or with more interesting ads) via a VPN. CBSNS will not only be fine, but likely to be glad to be rid of the branding yoke. And Hearst will likely offer additional Go Time filler to help these stations, as CBS made the contract for OMM, not Nexstar.
  21. nathannah
    And that answers the question about why KMCC hasn't gotten rid of those old calls for KINV or something like that since the Scripps purchase. The Golden Knights are the true local and homegrown team, so this is nothing but good news for Scripps and viewers; within the ATTRM territory, SLC, Montana and Boise have Scripps stations to spare, and it won't be hard to find a Reno affiliate (Wyoming may be an issue because that market is a complete mess of distant uncaring owners outside of Gray, though there for not of lack of trying).
  22. nathannah
    The only issue that lost WPGA its affiliation in the first place was a knob of an owner who wanted the pre-Three's Company ABC on his station (as in culturally stuck in 1978, and maybe even earlier) and terrible cable negotiation skills. He also expected Big Three RTC rates for his ego-stroke of a lazy morning radio show simulcast, Telco crap, and Retro TV at its most flailing state, and to the end when he was arrested for equipment theft after his radio stations were taken over by a debtor-in-possession who sold it off, was completely insufferable. Full network carriage, a proper newscast, no crazy old man as an owner, and calm RTC negotiations may be enough for ABC to move here.
  23. nathannah
    They moved to KPTH as part of SInclair's 2021 shell game to move affiliations off sidecars, so at least for that station (the only CBS sidecar move), that bill could come due one day. KBOI will likely stay if only because that is truly the reddest market SBG does have; poorly in Boise itself where the numbers are, but they figure the outstate does just fine with those must-runs.
  24. nathannah
    It's like those dumb "Brand Power" ads...the segments don't feel natural, don't match the tone intended, and are usually just a signal to roll around the channels for a bit while some guy in suburban Maryland tries and fails to appeal to someone who just wants to know the local news, not some minor thing on the other side of the country they don't care about.
  25. nathannah
    Also don't forget that the Suns/Mercury had to go through an acrimonious ownership change this winter, so there may have been a nullification clause that Mat Ishiba exercised to build overall market goodwill; before Bally, the Suns had been associated with Fox (including their UPN/MNTV station, KUTP) for years, and they were likely unhappy that their viewership didn't have any increase (and BSA lost carriage) even after a Finals run under new management.
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