carolinanews4

5 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Soo Kim couldn't afford Tegna on his own so he had to sell two of their prime Texas stations just to cover the balance, and they give him a turd in WFXT. Tell me how that's a good deal.

I wasn't attempting to convince anyone that this is a good or bad deal. I was just sharing some additional details I found in a couple articles. 

So there are a few new details today from Broadcasting + Cable. It appears that Apollo won't be involved beyond the Texas and Boston station transactions. From B&C:

"Originally, Standard General planned to acquire Tegna in partnership with Apollo Global Management. That deal proved too complicated and it was decided that Standard General go it alone partly to smooth the regulatory review process."

Apparently the money from the Texas cluster was the financial kickstart for Standard to go it alone. With Apollo not involved in ownership, that would seem to eliminate the ownership conflict many folks are speaking out against.

Unlike TEGNA's current structure, the new company will be private. 

Lastly, I originally found the whole WFXT transaction odd. But the NY Post (surprisingly) cleared it up for me.  It is all about retransmission money. Cox gets higher retransmission fees so by owning just one current Cox station, the new TEGNA can charge a higher retrans rate for the entire group. Plus, Cox unloads an underperforming station. So now that part makes sense. 

1 hour ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

I'm surprised there wasn't more in addition to this. There are still conflicts in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Seattle, and others. 

There aren't conflicts as Cox Media Group and Standard Media Group are not merging into one company. Yes, it is a bit muddy consider that Apollo will be a banker for each (a non-voting, non-controlling part in the case of Standard General which is the private equity firm that owns Standard Media Group). Since technically CMG and SMG are two separate broadcasting companies there's no need to spin anything off at this time. So in Atlanta CMG will continue to own WSB while Standard will own WXIA/WATL.  

Interestingly enough there are some swaps in this deal. They don't seem to be included to jump over regulatory hurdles so I find them curious. 

• Cox Media Group acquires Tegna's major market stations in Texas
• Standard Media Group acquires WFXT Boston
• CMG acquires current SMG stations WLNE Providence, KLKN Lincoln, KBSI Cape Girardeau, and WDKA Paducah 

And at least one division will be spun off. Premion, Tegna's OTT sales arm, will become a stand-alone company. 

2 hours ago, TheSpeedKing said:

On a partially related note, I also have a feeling that WNCN is at risk to lose its CBS affiliation.

This seem a bit random. What makes you think WNCN is going away from CBS??? 

On 1/3/2022 at 10:52 AM, tylerSC said:

They should remain FOX46 as that is a strong and familiar branding.

If FOX46 was such a "strong" brand then the station wouldn't be doing so poorly in the ratings. I get that people don't like Queen City News, but let's not pretend like FOX46 was a powerhouse brand. The station has struggled since the day their news operation went on air. There is no doubt that their product has improved tremendously but there's still a stench associated with the FOX46 brand. This was a market research based decision. If the research shows your brand is strong, you don't change it. If your brand has a negative perception then you try to reinvent yourself...quickly.   

1 hour ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

BTW, If I was vacationing from Cincinnati OH or Buffalo NY, The Other Queen Cities, I would be very confused here.  

Hi Kenneth, as someone who lives in Charlotte I can tell you that Queen City is a well known name for Charlotte.  QC or Queen City has been used heavily for decades. WBTV has two daily shows with Queen City in the title (QC Mornings and QC@3) plus an entire digital initiative called QC Life. WKQC-FM put QC in their calls way back in 2003. There's more examples but you get the point: Charlotteans are very familiar with Queen City. Besides I don't think out of town visitors are a factor in developing a brand geared toward locals. I'm not defending what I view as very messy branding...just sharing some background from a local on the Queen City nickname.

14 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

Isn't "Queen City" also a nickname for Cincinnati?  That could confuse people.

I think this might be stretch. Yes, both cities are called the Queen City but I don't think any viewers will be confused. There's "Eyewitness News" in Los Angeles and New York. Does that confuse people?

7 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

That would also affect WCNC and WFMY…can’t see WSOC giving up Entertainment Tonight, and can’t see Gray paying for it for WBTV…so I guess it would go to WJZY in Charlotte. Maybe it ends up on WXLV or WGHP in the Triad…

Could somebody explain this to me because I don't understand how a potential ownership change would impact KHOU, WCNC, WFMY or any other Tegna station that airs Wheel and Jeopardy. Seems like random conjecture to me but perhaps I've missed a story somewhere.

15 hours ago, CalItalian2 said:

You are comparing Dog the Bounty Hunter with LIVE PD? LOL!!!!! You clearly don't understand a thing.

NewsNation is beyond struggling and will never amount to anything. It has nothing redeeming about it. It's the biggest loser in tv news history.

Live PD is the only show that can give it ANY exposure. 

It would be ideal if we could express our opinions without making a personal attack or judgement. I find posts from @mrschimpf to be knowledgeable and extremely sound from a business perspective. Not everyone may agree but to say someone "doesn't understand a thing" seems unnecessarily personal. 

For example, I don't know how one can predict that NewsNation "will never amount to anything" and I think it is overheated rhetoric to claim it is "the biggest loser in tv news history." MSNBC had a decade of failed shows before they hit their stride and the basement dweller that is the CBS News morning show certainly has to be in contention...both are still in business by the way. Lastly, I can't believe that one single show, Live PD, is the ONLY show that could deliver exposure. That seems extremely limiting. It is a wide world, there must be other ideas out there. My point is while I do not agree with your point of view, I do respect you as a person and your right to feel differently than me. 

For the record, I don't know mrschimpf. Just didn't like what I perceived as an attack. They might not even have noticed or cared.  

On 10/11/2021 at 7:53 AM, MorningNews said:

Does anyone know the reason GMA seems to prerecord so many of their first hour interviews? Whether it’s a medical expert or today’s William Shatner interview, it always seems to be prerecorded. 

It started out of necessity back when GMA was in second place but the show then, as it still does, believes a taped newsmaker interview is better because they can edit it down to keep the best parts. As someone else has mentioned, GMA puts a high value on story count. 

From NY Mag in May 2005: Ben Sherwood says. “We don’t have the luxury of doing live interviews as often as they do.” As a result, GMA often pre-tapes interviews, then edits the segments; on a recent morning, Gibson taped an interview with the parents of children who had been roughed up by a school-bus driver—Couric went live with them later. “They’re getting a more lively pace by cutting out the deadwood in an interview,” says Andrew Tyndall. “It’s more about getting sound bites than the interaction between the interviewer and interviewee.”

The taped newsmaker segments became part of their culture and 16 years later they would still prefer to tape an interview at 6:50 so it can be chopped down to air at 7:15. Viewers don't care whether it is LIVE or not, as long as it is an engaging interview. (They also aren't watching all three shows simultaneously to see that one person is commonly on two shows at the same time)

21 hours ago, newsfan6 said:

YES! Broadcast syndication fees can be enormous and if you're not yielding a strong enough rating to recoup station loss then you might as well run news since you have salaried employees there (anyway). Most stations get away without hiring additional staffing. The state of linear TV is NOT good in case you've been living under a rock .. 

@newsfan6 is spot on that the salaried staff is already on the payroll. I would add one more thing. A station keeps 100% of the commercial time in their local news. The spot load is usually heavier in a newscast vs an off-network sitcom or other syndicated show and all the inventory is local. So they don't even need a great rating for a news expansion to make financial sense. 

The RSN business is collapsing faster than the core cable bundle. The problem traces back to when teams and media companies got greedy in forming channels. Everyone wanted their own channel because you could get X dollars a month per subscriber from the cable company. Teams shifted away from broadcast partners to join RSNs. The result became a glut of channels with limited rights to fill 24 hours of airtime. Now comes streaming and that subscriber money is drying up. RSNs are like that children's game of hot potato, where you don't want to be stuck with the potato when the music stops. The music is about to stop and Sinclair has the RSNs with ever-shrinking value.

In my opinion, the problems are rooted in the "old school" culture of CBS News. CBS has always prided themselves on valuing substance over style. The presentation - graphics, sets, even the on-air talent always play a distant second to the storytelling. On one hand, I applaud the commitment to substantive enterprise reporting. However, they are competing in a visual medium.  The reason why their primetime has done well is because it entertains. CBS News doesn't care to entertain. Content with no frills. It worked for Cronkite in the 60s and that's where their culture still exists...even if the world around them has changed. 

On 10/23/2021 at 1:03 AM, Wildish said:

Also, I hope it takes the spot of fs2. A mobile only weather channel is a disaster and many of us don’t have access to ota sub channels.

I wouldn't hold out hope for a linear version of FOX Weather replacing FS2. Cable companies won't carry it if the feed is the exact same content that is available for free elsewhere. Its why you see CNN+, MSNBC's "The Choice" on Peacock, and Fox Nation. Plus with the direct-to-consumer model, Fox can determine how many actual viewers they have. That data is much better than Nielsen's "estimates" on viewership. 

On 10/5/2021 at 1:27 PM, Nelson R. said:

https://pagesix.com/2021/10/01/nick-cannon-may-take-over-wendy-williams-time-slot/

This Page Six story sounds like nothing more than guessing from "sources". (Much of Page Six is a lot of uneducated guessing) Contractually what they are suggesting would be extremely difficult - if not impossible - to pull off this fall. Yes, Wendy and Nick are produced by the same company but they are separate shows with separate advertising and station contracts. Let's use a different example, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are both produced by Sony. If one was to suddenly go off the air, they couldn't just offer up the other as a replacement. Wheel and Jeopardy are separate shows as are Wendy and NIck.  Plus there is the fact that there are two separate productions crews these shows employ.

IF Wendy does not return, the more likely scenario would be that Debmar-Mercury would use guest hosts to fill out the rest of the season. This would fulfil their commitment. In fact, considering they are contractually obligated to deliver stations a set number of weeks of first-run programming to their affiliates, they may have to utilize guests hosts until Wendy is able to return. 

On 9/25/2021 at 8:27 AM, wabceyewitness said:

what is the point of their testing program if the results aren’t returned before they’re on air, or why are they allowed on air with results pending? That could’ve avoided all of this.  

I doubt this was part of ABC's standard testing program. More than likely the Secret Service administered tests to anyone that would come in close contact with the VP. Those tests would have been administered as close to airtime as possible.  

On 9/17/2021 at 8:41 PM, MikeBucc said:

I honestly don’t understand why they don’t try to put more News Nation programing on FOX/CW affiliates that Nexstar owns. Wouldn’t it be the best way to promote the network?

While this is a great idea, I believe it would run afoul of cable exclusivity contracts. It would be difficult to lift News Nation programming off the cable network and put it on a broadcast channel because the cable operator would complain that a program they charge customers to watch is being given away for free simultaneously on a broadcast channel. A few select simulcasts to create awareness at launch? No big deal. A regularly scheduled broadcast? A much bigger challenge.

It is the same reason why so many on-demand apps used to require you to authenticate that you were a cable customer before you could watch shows from channels like USA or TNT. Cable operators didn't want the content being given away for free which is why they developed TV Everywhere. Now, of course, cable operators are being cut out of the content ecosystem as Peacock and HBO Max offer those USA and TNT shows direct to consumers. (Just using two random channels as examples)

In a pretty lengthy interview with Deadline, MSNBC President Rashida Jones said that Rachel Maddow's show "will continue as she's doing it now." Jones seems to be positioning Maddow's new contract as one that allows Maddow to expand her interests while keeping her nightly gig. 

https://deadline.com/2021/09/msnbc-president-rashida-jones-interview-rachel-maddow-future-network-plans-1234823243/

@JackityJack there was nothing about my post that I consider to be rampant speculation. In fact, I've pushed back hard on speculation in this thread and others. It is difficult to detect tone via a written message so I'm going to hope you meant your message in a constructive manner.

foxcharlotte.com was indeed a Bahakel thing. (By the way, if you are going to try to "school" someone on facts, you might want to spell the name of the company correctly)  WCCB also owned foxcharlotte.tv along with myfoxcharlotte.com which they used when they moved to the "myfox" platform from Fox Interactive Media.  I only mentioned the foxcharlotte.com URL because it was mentioned that WJZY would be adopting "Fox Charlotte" as a brand. But in case you are interested the myfoxcharlotte.com URL also now redirects to WJZY's site.

As for my comment about not liking the Fox Charlotte brand. That's my opinion, not speculation. I'm aware that WCNC went by NBC Charlotte. Just because the #3 station in the market did it, doesn't make it the right thing to do. There are business reasons for and against it, which I laid out.

Now, as for the whole Fox buying back a Charlotte station. That is unfounded speculation that I personally have tried to tamp down before. I always try to back up my claims with fact and separate factual statements from opinion. Speculation is something I do not take part in. The O&O chatter comes from one source in this thread and there is no evidence to support this person's claims.

foxcharlotte.com already redirects to WJZY's website. So evidently Bahakel sold the domain to Nexstar. I personally don't care much for the Fox Charlotte branding since it seems to ignore the other 21 counties in the market. Granted the lion's share of population - and ad revenue - is in Charlotte, so that's where you can make headway. The branding made sense for WCCB because they historically did well in the city itself and had limited viewership in the suburbs and mountain counties. WCCB's news product all but ignored anything outside of the city limits. It looked like Nexstar was going for a more regional approach like WSOC and WBTV have utilized to their advantage, but now it seems like the will focus on the core of the market. 

3 minutes ago, Nelson R. said:

That answers my question. I figured that was the case and the network was giving the affiliates some leeway since the Saturday night programming doesn’t start until Saturday October 2.

Yes, I believe it was designed to give affiliates flexibility in adding syndicated product. Waiting until October to give back the daytime hour would have made acquiring new product difficult since you couldn't clear it until several weeks into the new season.

On 8/28/2021 at 10:48 AM, Nelson R. said:

I know but I thought they might be running the CW Springer temporarily at noon for a few more weeks since the CW Saturday night doesn’t start til October 2.

The last CW Springer will feed on Friday, September 3. The network will no longer provide the daytime hour as of Monday, September 6. So whatever WCCB is doing, they are doing with syndicated product.

8 hours ago, Nelson R. said:

This is the first affiliate I have heard of to move LMAD to the afternoon. It makes much more sense at 10/9, unless an affiliate airs a game show after it at 4/3. But is Drew live at 10/9?

CBS affiliates have the choice to air Let's Make a Deal at either 10A Eastern / 9A Central or at 3P Eastern / 2P Central. While most choose to pair it with The Price is Right, there are plenty of stations that choose an afternoon run. For the most part, the scheduling harkens back to whatever timeslot the station was using to air Guiding Light. That show was also permitted to air in the mornings or afternoon, and was ultimately cancelled to make room for Let's Make a Deal.

Thanks for the update @Nelson R..  I had heard rumblings that they were doing some structural improvements beyond just dropping in a new set. I heard that expanding the footprint of the building was a potential. It will be interesting to see what they come up with this fall.

8 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

Better question would be how does NN's numbers compare to once upon a time when WGNA just simulcasted WGN's Noon and 9pm news?

Not really a relevant comparison. As @mightynine mentioned, many years have passed since that simulcast was aired. In that time, the cable ratings landscape has radically diminished. It is also not a great comparison from a revenue standpoint as you can't generate national ad buys in the national simulcast of a local newscast. So even if NewsNation's ratings are not as good (and they probably aren't), the revenue is much improved.