MD TV

Bill Ritter is anchoring this morning with Chantee Lans. That's even more unlikely than working a weekend night, imo.

Here’s an interview with Dagmar. Sounds like she really needed to leave tv: https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2023/10/08/marketink-tv-weathercaster-dagmar-midcap-survives-cult-boyfriends-suicide-now-unemployment/

Yeah, hearing the backlash to her first couple of weeks it seems like the problem wasn’t merely Chuck.

Up to 40 have been laid off across News 12: https://tvnewscheck.com/journalism/article/altice-lays-off-up-to-40-at-news-12/

WDVM was finally added to YouTube TV a few months after they said it was coming. Wondering if other missing Nexstar stations were just added.

WLNY (at least the Long Island feed) was allowed to air Oprah at 7PM during her run. They somehow got the rights to air quite the number of high-profile syndicated series before CBS bought them (ie, Jeopardy and Wheel aired at 6pm, and I think before the sale they were airing at 5pm). One relic from that era that still exists is that they air an hour of Judge Judy at 10pm.

I swear it's a Hearst thing. WBAL and KCRA also don't air Hoda and Jenna, and those are two market-leading stations.

The Nexstar-Directv dispute is completely over: https://deadline.com/2023/09/directv-nexstar-restore-stations-nfl-football-carriage-deal-1235548791/amp/

On the same WNBC Live at Five newscast, a Sue Simmons 20th anniversary tribute and a farewell to Al Roker, who stopped doing local forecasts on that same day (January 7, 2000):

Nexstar stations are temporarily back on DirecTV while they hammer out a final deal: https://deadline.com/2023/09/directv-nexstar-restore-stations-nfl-football-carriage-deal-1235548791/

I mean I laughed when they decided that Maryland-Charlotte would be on NBC (and I’m a Maryland resident).

Especially since much of NYC is served by Spectrum, so if it wasn't resolved those customers couldn't even watch it on WABC-TV if they wanted to.

The Disney-Spectrum dispute is over: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/disney-spectrum-new-carriage-deal-espn-abc-return-to-lineups-1235580344/ Of interest is that certain cable channels won’t be available anymore.

And I thought WDCA (which is the WWOR of DC) now airing Feud 7 times a day was obscene. Once again, it shows how dire syndication and linear tv is.

Yep, KOTV has aired it late at night for quite some time.

They went dark right as Florida/Utah was starting:

So much for the 8-10pm local programming/newscasts on WPCH. I have wondered why WANF still airs Big Bang Theory reruns at 7:30, that’s ripe for another half hour of news, especially as WPCH scales back.

Would you believe tomorrow is the 24th anniversary of when they first used the current theme. That’s some low-key longevity.

Plus KDVR (which last I checked beat KCNC and KMGH) opts to air Jeopardy! and Wheel at 6pm Mountain rather than air a newscast.

Plus WXIA already announced the same plan.

Yep, it’s starting September 6th. Funny how WUSA had the 4pm news in DC for a few years in the 90s and now they’ve playing catch-up with the other major stations.

Big Bang Theory reruns are moving from WDCA to WDCW starting September 4th. WDCA will fill the missing hour with Extra and the Simpsons (currently Extra airs at 9:30 AM and noon) while WDCW will air only one rerun of black-ish and The Neighborhood daily instead of two.

I believe WABC considered making 9/11 memorial coverage online-only one year about a decade ago but there was enough backlash to nix that idea.

So the UFO stuff has helped ratings. But obviously at a cost: