ScottJ

2 hours ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

An argument needs to be made that people who use Cable, Satellite, and Streaming need to be allowed to carry local channels with fair deals that need to be set by the FCC/NAB and NOT individual station owners so the rates don't jack up to profit status. If these companies fail to reach a deal, the STELA act gets reinstated and Syndex gets voided for the Cable, Satellite, and Streaming provider and may use an alternate station of the provider and owners choosing. I can see since we now have a Democratic congress, If the idea gets brought up on the floor, gets to vote and let the FCC take over if the amendment passes.

The station groups are all for-profit companies. Assuming they're not engaging in monopolistic practices,  there is no reason for the government to step in and create unnecessary rules to lower those profits. It is a free marketplace the broadcasters can charge what the providers will pay for the stations. The providers haven't done enough to keep retransmission fees low. The government shouldn't do it for them. If they try that,  broadcasters would probably sue and would probably have a strong case

Cox and AT&T have reached a new agreement, and the CMG stations are back on AT&T's platforms. https://www.whio.com/news/local/whio-tv-is-back-attdirectv-ahead-big-game/CDRWXSP74BCJNNDMPY2FHC66AE/

It's premature to say it's it's confirmed that he'll be gone at the end of the year. This is his exact quote: "So, as a result, I am going to stay and finish my current contract — which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At that point, I do expect to move on." Saying he expects to move on isn't the same as saying he will move on. Is it likely? Seems like it, but he does appear to be leaving some wiggle room to stay on longer if he decides to.

9 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Definitely the dark side of having ONE company controlling all of the major affiliations in the same market.  It seems like if it were the case, then at least ONE of them should be must-carry and carry a basic load of newscasts (since most are likely simulcasted anyways.)

Which would take away most of the owner's leverage in negotiations, which is why it won't happen short of the FCC regulating such a thing in markets where one company has a monopoly on the major affiliates.

All of these carriage disputes are money grabs by the stations and/or providers. All these companies care about are their bottom lines. Nobody is moving the Super Bowl off of any CBS affiliates, which would violate affiliation agreements. Even if it didn't, there's no need to. The dispute involves one provider, Cox's CBS affiliates are still available OTA (to those who receive the signal) and other providers. It'll also be available to stream for free online. And if someone misses the game because DirecTV is their only option to receive their local Cox-owned CBS affiliate, it won't be the end of the world. I'm sure this wouldn't be the first time people missed the Super Bowl because of a dispute and it probably won't be the last. Those people will live despite not watching the game.

6 minutes ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

This is the end of an era as Fox was the name for decades, using names like Fox Sports Net and FSN.

I was thinking about that today. The RSNs were first rebranded as Fox Sports Net on 11/1/96. So the networks used the Fox Sports/FSN branding for just shy of a quarter-century. An entire generation of viewers know the networks as only that, having never experienced the SportsChannel/Prime Network brands that preceded FSN. Once the rebrand officially happens it really will be the end of an era in sports television.

1 hour ago, mightynine said:

I think this is the first time we've seen the "local" versions of the Bally Sports logo. Pretty basic.

Which makes sense. I'm sure Bally's wants its name front and center in the logos and to stand out from the rest of the words since the company is paying for the naming rights.

It's already been announced. Here's the release from Sinclair/Bally's.

On 1/13/2021 at 6:21 AM, Georgie56 said:

 

Talked about this on the Discord, and I'll share it here. Nexstar could launch an airport network consisting of NewsNation content (live broadcasts, highlights from the show, national travel forecasts, NewsNation Now, and the soon-to-be-launched Banfield) and local content (live newscasts, local forecasts, and other local programming) from the Nexstar station in the airport's DMA.

CNN is shutting down its airport network because people don't pay attention to it. Many airports offer free Wi-Fi now so travelers are watching what they want on their devices. I imagine the days of an airport news network like that are over. People have other entertainment options that they didn't have before, and the idea of such is a network seems obsolete now.

Bill Lambdin, who spent most of his 41-year career as a reporter for WNYT in Albany, died from cardiac arrest yesterday at age 69. According to the linked obituary, he "was said to have covered more stories for [WNYT] than any reporter in its history." He worked at WNYT from 1980 until he retired in 2014.

Here's a (short) story from the station reporting on his death.

Just weeks after Jim Kambrich retired, WNYT is losing its 11pm female anchor. Karen Tararache's last newscast is January 8. She is returning to Spectrum News to work behind-the-scenes as a senior managing editor.

12 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

I’ve always found it weird and a bad fit that NBC and Fox use their business networks for overflow sports programming. 
 

I agree that it's not necessarily a good fit, but it makes sense because FBN and CNBC rarely have live programming on the weekends so it's easier to pre-empt the repeats/infomercials  they air (which probably don't get many viewers) than whatever their sister networks are airing.

The Fiesta Bowl on January 2 is Mike Golic's final assignment with ESPN.

38 minutes ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

Ohio senator Sherrod Brown sent a letter to both TEGNA and DIRECTV as well as FCC chair Ajit Pai to end the dispute. It was sent about two weeks ago but I wonder if that's what it took to end it once and for all.

I highly doubt it. Politicians send those types of letters to make their constituents think they're trying to end the dispute, but I doubt they do actually do anything. It's mainly just for show.

Comcast and Hearst have reached a new retrans deal covering the entire group, including the out-of-market stations that were scheduled to be dropped later this month. Those stations will remain on Comcast systems in the affected markets.

5 hours ago, dombrown2222 said:

American sports graphics continue to get bigger and bigger...

It's to make it easier for people watching on mobile devices to be able to read the graphics better. Smaller screens need bigger graphics. 

18 hours ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

but, as I said eariler, WYOU and WFXP are off of Dish and they are Mission owned stations.

But those are separate disputes. The FCC does not allow station groups to include stations they don't own in retransmission negotiations, even if they operate the stations through sharing agreements. So Nexstar can't include the sidecars in their negotiations.

On 11/15/2020 at 9:09 AM, ScottJ said:

Jim Kambrich is retiring after 41 years in broadcasting, the last 26 years at WNYT; December 4 will be his last day at the station. His wife started a new job in NYC in July and has been going back and forth between there and the Albany area since, so they will be moving to NYC full-time.

 

Here's the video of his announcement via WNYT's Facebook page.

On Jim's last day at WNYT, reporter Mark Mulholland confirms he will slide into Jim's chair on the 5 and 6pm newscasts. I haven't seen information about who will take over the 11.

On 10/9/2020 at 6:35 PM, dman748 said:

Add Verizon FIOS to the list of cable providers all over the country that are dropping the RSNs, they dropped AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh a few days ago

https://triblive.com/sports/tv-talk-verizons-fios-tv-drops-att-sportsnet-pittsburgh/

ATTSN Pittsburgh is back on Fios as of yesterday. The sides have agreed to a "long-term deal."

14 hours ago, dman748 said:

Meanwhile on the same day Pai announced his departure, Jessica Rosenworcel is being pursued as the top leading candidate to lead as Chairman of the FCC.

 

Given Rosenworcel's past comments about Sinclair's antics with the Trib deal I just.. can't imagine this being good news for Sinclair.

 

There are much more important things to worry about than Sinclair, net neutrality being top of the list IMO.

11 hours ago, Yankees4life said:

TBF, the owner is a bit of a greedy idiot. Hes also in a dispute with Dish so...

I love how you just write stuff like that without anything to back it up. According to the lawsuit he filed against AT&T, DirecTV stopped paying retransmission fees as soon as Circle City bought the stations. If true, wanting to get the money the previous owner got for the same stations seems like being a good businessman to me, not "a greedy idiot."

Jim Kambrich is retiring after 41 years in broadcasting, the last 26 years at WNYT; December 4 will be his last day at the station. His wife started a new job in NYC in July and has been going back and forth between there and the Albany area since, so they will be moving to NYC full-time.

Here's the video of his announcement via WNYT's Facebook page.

13 minutes ago, patlovestv said:

I agree the omission of an Apple/iOS app is troubling. For what it's worth, users may not be missing much. It's been nearly a week and I have yet to find "News on Tubi" in the Roku or Google Play versions of the app. Curious if anyone has had success testing this out so far.

I also haven't seen it on Fire TV as of the last time I checked a couple days ago. It must be a slow rollout.

How was it a "big mistake" for the Royals to re-sign with FSKC? The team still gets paid its rights fees, even when providers drop the network. It's Sinclair and the rest of the ownership group taking all the risk regarding carriage.

As for the Royals having their own RSN, been there done that. It lasted four years before going dark and signing with FSKC.

On 1/7/2018 at 11:50 PM, hmaxhanson said:

It's Conneticuit News 30 from WVIT in 1997:

 

 

Just came across this video when going down a '90s WVIT rabbit hole on YouTube. Was going to post it here but I see I don't have to. I was shocked to see this totally random newscast today. The townhouse fire at the end of the clip was in the complex my family lived in at the time, we were two townhouses down from the one that caught fire. And that's my dad who Tom Monahan asked if the neighbor was a smoker. I remember that from when it aired back then, but I definitely wasn't expecting to see that clip on YouTube almost 23 years later. Pretty cool.