kdex86

In Boston, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, a CBS O&O competes with a Hearst owned station. Boston and Pittsburgh are unique in the fact that both markets have CBS O&O's, Hearst owned ABC stations, and a Big 4 station owned by Cox Media Group. WBZ has actually fared well in Boston TV news ratings. I haven't seen any official press releases for Boston station ratings in recent years, but they've consistently been #2 behind WCVB, sometimes winning a timeslot here and there. The fact that WBZ has been around since 1948 also helps it be a strong station in the market.

Cindy, Mike, Kelly Ann, AJ, and David all appear in the station's on-air weather promos. Michael does not, and Harvey retired in 2022.

I find them annoying AF. Is there any way I can get them nuked into oblivion?

Isn't WBZ a CBS owned-and-operated station? Why would they air Saturday morning editions of "CBS Mornings" at 9 AM Eastern, when its larger-market siblings in NYC and Philadelphia (WCBS and KYW) air the program at 7 AM?

For some inexplicable reason, at least 4 of the 5 Boston local news stations play musical chimes whenever the "7-day" weather graphic appears. WBZ, Boston (plays a "DUN! Da-dun-DA-dun" sound. Didn't do this annoying thing until 2022, when they started branding their weather forecasts as "Next" weather): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aLpr5HCjwg&t=180s WCVB, Boston (plays a "dah-duh-DA-duh" sound): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_bmPxJ8Ao&t=188s WBTS, Boston (not as intrusive, but plays a 3-note, "dun-DUN-dun" sound): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVBqyCZfbSY&t=178s WFXT, Boston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjBi6i9bAC0&t=208s I could not find any recent weather clips from WHDH on YouTube. Last time I watched that station (probably when it was still NBC, it wasn't playing any stupid musical chime). But WHY do the stations play them? It's SO annoying and unnecessary!

First it was Nexstar. Then is was Tegna. Now Cox Media is the next station group to potentially have a dispute with DirecTV. Source: https://www.nexttv.com/news/directv-and-cox-media-look-set-for-another-retrans-standoff-as-station-group-accuses-pay-tv-operator-of-attacking-local-journalism WFXT was running a ticker during syndicated programming alerting viewers of a potential blackout:

I tuned into the Today show this morning for the first time in quite a while. I have some questions: Why is there both a “cold open” AND a “warm open” at the very start of the broadcast at 7:00 AM Eastern? It seems rather redundant. From 8:00 AM to the first commercial break, all of the news headlines are accompanied by a graphic that reads “the news at 8”. Why is this? Doesn’t the viewer know it’s 8 AM? It seems kinda tacky to me.

I'm sorry, but this is "one step forward, two steps back" for Nexstar and DirecTV. The "Mission Broadcasting owned" stations have been dark on DirecTV (satellite and stream) for almost a year now, when it's obvious that Nexstar "operates" these stations. Nexstar is clearly double-dipping with TV providers when it comes to retransmission fees, and the FCC should really do something about it.

Now WFXT is starting their weekday morning news at 4:30 AM again. Boston is an unusual TV market where you have five local news stations, when some markets ahead of them (in terms of DMA rank) have no more than four. All five local news stations were airing live local news at 4:30 AM, until a few months ago, when WHDH decided to move their morning news start time back to 5 AM.

In my area, the CBS, ABC, and NBC affiliates in both Boston AND Providence are all airing local news at 10 PM tonight. While WBTS is still fairly new, I’ve never seen WBZ, WCVB, WLNE, or WJAR air 10 PM news on their main channels. Even WPRI is airing local news at 10 PM tonight, when their sister station WNAC usually airs local news during that time. The program guide reads “WNAC 10 PM News”. Very weird. I have 2 questions: Are local TV stations (at least in the Eastern time zone) saying bye-bye to 11 PM news in 2023? Why is my program guide displaying listing these broadcasts as 11 o’clock newscasts? 11 PM ≠ 10 PM.

Lol, this commercial is coming from WPRI in Providence. The city of Providence itself (along with the rest of Rhode Island) is served by Cox. Comcast only transmits WPRI in Massachusetts, and they also carry WBZ out of Boston everywhere they carry WPRI. If this station goes dark nobody will be missing CBS programming in Massachusetts.

Mission (and Nexstar) stations are still on Cox cable. I can confirm WPRI and WNAC are still on Cox in RI. But Mission Broadcasting stations are still off DirecTV (satellite and stream). Is there some sort of loophole that Nexstar is exploiting by "directly owning" one station in a market and "Mission Broadcasting" owning a different station in the same market? For example: in Providence RI Nexstar owns WPRI (CBS) and Mission owns WNAC (Fox). WNAC airs local news at 10 PM that has the same graphics and on-air talent as WPRI. in Burlington VT Nexstar owns WFFF (Fox) and Mission owns WVNY (ABC). WFFF airs local news at 10 PM that has the same graphics and on-air talent as WVNY. in Albany NY Nexstar owns WTEN (ABC) and Mission owns WXXA (Fox). WXXA airs local news at 10 PM that has the same graphics and on-air talent as WTEN. Currently DirecTV subs in Providence and Albany don't have their local Fox stations but still get the other station in the duopoly. Burlington market DirecTV subs lost Fox but still have ABC. And during the Nexstar/Verizon Fios dispute, these markets kept their Fox stations but lost WPRI or WTEN. This seems very weird and confusing to me.

Can confirm - I drove by it a few days ago.

I think they're doing it to bully residents of Bristol County, MA. Also, if someone decides to cut the cord and use an antenna to watch TV in that area, they may see NBC on Channel 10, only to find out it's WJAR, "NBC 10 Providence".

WBTS is back to having the NBC peacock cover part of the number 10 in their logo. Side note - when WBTS launched, it was known simply as "NBC Boston", and had a logo very similar to KNTV. Why did they abandon that logo/branding in favor of being called "NBC 10 Boston", especially when there is a very close by NBC 10 in Providence?