Sinclair...Again

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Chris Vanocur was promoting a story he did on the radio yesterday. He flew out to Denver to interview Ohio transplants who moved out there in order to be able to give medical marijuana to a child with severe epilepsy.

 

It seems to me that when you have as many stations in mostly the same geographic area as Sinclair has, it seems that feature stories like this one can be shared between the stations. Why shouldn't this story air in Dayton, Toledo, Cincinnati, Steubenville and maybe the Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia stations?

 

If they can figure out a way to leverage this critical mass, I don't see why they can't use the resources of their bigger stations to bolster stations like WNWO. Think of it as a more localized version of News Central maybe.

 

None of this changes the fact that a low-rated TV station should not be demanding rates higher than its more successful competitors. This is just common sense.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

None of this changes the fact that a low-rated TV station should not be demanding rates higher than its more successful competitors. This is just common sense.

 

Agreed, just thinking out loud.

 

Look at all the hours of news on local TV. They start at 4 or 5 and it seems like the same stories get regurgitated. A concerted effort to share stories like this could make all the hours of news more of a "must see" experience.

 

If you don't have enough feet on the ground to provide a true variety of stories to make each half hour unique on a local basis, maybe you can have those resources if you do things on more of a regional basis?

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Chris Vanocur was promoting a story he did on the radio yesterday. He flew out to Denver to interview Ohio transplants who moved out there in order to be able to give medical marijuana to a child with severe epilepsy.

 

It seems to me that when you have as many stations in mostly the same geographic area as Sinclair has, it seems that feature stories like this one can be shared between the stations. Why shouldn't this story air in Dayton, Toledo, Cincinnati, Steubenville and maybe the Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia stations?

 

If they can figure out a way to leverage this critical mass, I don't see why they can't use the resources of their bigger stations to bolster stations like WNWO. Think of it as a more localized version of News Central maybe.

Toledo can only really support two news departments (especially in the shadow of Detroit), and WTOL and 13abc have ruled the market for decades. Neither WNWO, nor its' predecessor WDHO, have ever been a factor, regardless of ownership, network affiliation, or practically anything else.

 

S!nclair can synergize all they want with WNWO, but no one will watch. And their criminally stupid stance against Buckeye takes away any incentive for people to watch the station right out of the gate.

 

S!nclair is in a lose-lose scenario right now with WNWO, and they are too blind to see that it can not only get worse, but potentially damaging to the station. And if this a precursor to other retrans battles, then a whole lot of markets will lose S!nclair stations on cable systems for a very very very long period of time.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Agreed, just thinking out loud.

 

Look at all the hours of news on local TV. They start at 4 or 5 and it seems like the same stories get regurgitated. A concerted effort to share stories like this could make all the hours of news more of a "must see" experience.

 

If you don't have enough feet on the ground to provide a true variety of stories to make each half hour unique on a local basis, maybe you can have those resources if you do things on more of a regional basis?

If WNWO continues to be off of Buckeye for a long period of time, then there will be NO news on WNWO. And most people would not notice the difference.

[tyrannical bastard 3953]

WNWO's odds are heavily stacked against them. WTOL and WTVG eat them alive in the ratings and have done so for their entire existence...NBC affiliates WLIO and WDIV are on close proximity.....NBC sucks in the ratings....Windsor CBC affiliate CBET is readily available both over the air and on cable...providing a superior Olympics experience!

 

I wonder how much longer NBC is under contract with WNWO. Since Block has run WT05 as a cable only WB and CW affiliate for almost 20 years, why not secure NBC? It actually may help WNWO's fortunes like it did in Raleigh-Durham when WYED (now WNCN) yanked NBC from WRDC.

[tvjay 6]

 

I wonder how much longer NBC is under contract with WNWO. Since Block has run WT05 as a cable only WB and CW affiliate for almost 20 years, why not secure NBC? It actually may help WNWO's fortunes like it did in Raleigh-Durham when WYED (now WNCN) yanked NBC from WRDC.

 

I don't see NBC wanting to be cable only. Plus, IIRC the NBC contract requires you do news. WTO5 is ran out of the same very automated room that runs 3 sports channels. Also, I don't see them adding news as they don't even have a studio, they use WTVG's currently.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

If SBG has such exorbitant demands, these blackouts and carriage disputes will become the norm, and they won't be on any provider...but then again Block and Sinclair are not friends at all (consider the posts in the UHF discount debate, they took fighting positions against each other).

[tvjay 6]

 

If SBG has such exorbitant demands, these blackouts and carriage disputes will become the norm, and they won't be on any provider...but then again Block and Sinclair are not friends at all (consider the posts in the UHF discount debate, they took fighting positions against each other).

 

I think others may have already agreed to contracts like this. The difference here is Buckeye is only in this market and Sinclair only has one station in this market therefore it is 1-to-1.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

WNWO's odds are heavily stacked against them. WTOL and WTVG eat them alive in the ratings and have done so for their entire existence...NBC affiliates WLIO and WDIV are on close proximity.....NBC sucks in the ratings....Windsor CBC affiliate CBET is readily available both over the air and on cable...providing a superior Olympics experience!

I wonder how much longer NBC is under contract with WNWO. Since Block has run WT05 as a cable only WB and CW affiliate for almost 20 years, why not secure NBC? It actually may help WNWO's fortunes like it did in Raleigh-Durham when WYED (now WNCN) yanked NBC from WRDC.

Shoot, NBC would be better served by being on a WTOL or WTVG subchannel. Now that WTVG is no longer an ABC O&O, it's feasible (and it would reverse in part the 1995 affiliation swap). Either station can simulcast their news offerings on said subchannel and fulfill the news commitment easily.

 

If I were in S!nclair corporate, I'd be terrified at such a possibility. A defection by NBC would be lethal to WNWO.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

If SBG has such exorbitant demands, these blackouts and carriage disputes will become the norm, and they won't be on any provider...

That may not necessarily be a bad thing. I give a lot of credit to Block/Buckeye for holding firm.

[rkolsen 1684]

Couldn't theoretically NBC threaten to pull their affiliation given the length of time this has gone on?

 

Update: I just read the standard affiliation agreement the only thing referring to cable companies is that it can only air in your respective DMA.

[tvjay 6]

 

Shoot, NBC would be better served by being on a WTOL or WTVG subchannel. Now that WTVG is no longer an ABC O&O, it's feasible (and it would reverse in part the 1995 affiliation swap). Either station can simulcast their news offerings on said subchannel and fulfill the news commitment easily.

 

If I were in S!nclair corporate, I'd be terrified at such a possibility. A defection by NBC would be lethal to WNWO.

 

I just heard some rumors that Sinclair is trying to beef up WNWO. They recently purchased 75 new computers and have been holding meetings in closed conference rooms for about a month now. They also demoted their ND/lead anchor to just an anchor. I have to ask though, does Sinclair really care about a 4th place station in Toledo not being on cable? I mean aren't they more interested in buying station groups like Allbritton?

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

I just heard some rumors that Sinclair is trying to beef up WNWO. They recently purchased 75 new computers and have been holding meetings in closed conference rooms for about a month now. They also demoted their ND/lead anchor to just an anchor. I have to ask though, does Sinclair really care about a 4th place station in Toledo not being on cable? I mean aren't they more interested in buying station groups like Allbritton?

 

Could this have anything to do with taking Allbritton's news channel national?

[tyrannical bastard 3953]

I think the only thing Sinclair can do better than driving good stations into the ground is taking bottom feeders like WNWO and KDNL and driving them into the ground FURTHER....

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Could this have anything to do with taking Allbritton's news channel national?

 

Coincidentally Sinclair's offer consists of Buckeye being required to carry this new channel in addition to the re-transmission rights to WNWO (At least according to Buckeye, Sinclair hasn't denied it though).

 

So yeah, probably.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

Coincidentally Sinclair's offer consists of Buckeye being required to carry this new channel in addition to the re-transmission rights to WNWO (At least according to Buckeye, Sinclair hasn't denied it though).

 

So yeah, probably.

 

That's what I was thinking. They are spending heavy money lately on news. I bet it'll be news on a subchannel and it will be OTA. Maybe it's like the ABC strategy of using Toledo and Lansing (Flint) to cover Detroit and Cleveland?

 

I also wonder if UHF 31 now goes back to WKRC since Sinclair owns them along with Lexington (which has it due to a channel change). Sinclair likes strong signals.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

Could this have anything to do with taking Allbritton's news channel national?

Is the Pope Catholic?

 

Taking NC8 "national" was S!nclair's pipe dream the second they announced their purchase of Allbritton. Which is laughably absurd. I actually want the Smith family to pursue this and lose hundreds or millions in the effort.

 

I just heard some rumors that Sinclair is trying to beef up WNWO. They recently purchased 75 new computers and have been holding meetings in closed conference rooms for about a month now. They also demoted their ND/lead anchor to just an anchor. I have to ask though, does Sinclair really care about a 4th place station in Toledo not being on cable? I mean aren't they more interested in buying station groups like Allbritton?

They don't care about WNWO. All they want are the retrans fees. So any effort to 'beef up' WNWO will fail, as no one can - or will want to - watch it.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

That's what I was thinking. They are spending heavy money lately on news. I bet it'll be news on a subchannel and it will be OTA. Maybe it's like the ABC strategy of using Toledo and Lansing (Flint) to cover Detroit and Cleveland?

What the what?

 

ABC only bought WTVG and WJRT because they were in legitimate fear of losing WXYZ - an ABC affiliate since ABC built and signed it on in 1947 - to a CBS affiliation. As it was, Scripps clearly took notice and cut a group-wide affiliation pact with ABC. There was never any effort to cover Cleveland with those two channels.

 

Of course, S!nclair is too tone deaf not to notice that such an effort to "beef up" news on WNWO will fail because no one can watch the damn channel on cable. And viewers will not want to tune into a third-rate news channel on OTA when multiple options for news already exist. Thus, their extortion attempt with Buckeye to goose up the value of WNWO. It is extortion and S!nclair will lose this disastrously.

 

Sinclair likes strong signals.

WNWO isn't one of them.

[DirtyHarry 727]

Is the Pope Catholic?

 

Taking NC8 "national" was S!nclair's pipe dream the second they announced their purchase of Allbritton. Which is laughably absurd. I actually want the Smith family to pursue this and lose hundreds or millions in the effort.

 

 

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. If you look at the OTA landscape, a news subchannel is an opportunity I'm surprised nobody has pounnced on. And with a gazillion stations and your operation already in place it also makes sense since you don't have to pay to have it carried. If you subscribe to cable for news another reason to cut the cord.

[Rusty Muck 4374]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. If you look at the OTA landscape, a news subchannel is an opportunity I'm surprised nobody has pounnced on. And with a gazillion stations and your operation already in place it also makes sense since you don't have to pay to have it carried. If you subscribe to cable for news another reason to cut the cord.

But forcing cable providers like Buckeye to accept higher retrans fees for stations like WNWO AND a must-carry for said news subchannel is just as bad as ESPN (all the ESPNs), Fox (Fox Sports 1 and 2, all Fox RSNs, BTN), CBS (CBS SN) and NBC (NBCSN, all Comcast RSNs, Golf Channel) forcing higher retrans fees so they can afford their absurd play-by-play packages. And I know you are opposed to that, no?

 

Inevitably, the consumer itself pays in the end with higher fees. It's fairly elementary here.

 

I betcha Dispatch didn't try this when they launched ONN; of course, WBNS-TV has always been tops in the Columbus market, so they had credibility in pitching ONN to cable providers around the state. But even with all the credibility and cache behind ONN, it still ceased operations as a TV network after a 15 year long effort.

 

Extorting Buckeye to must-carry a niche news subchannel AND getting rights fees for the worst station in the market that dwarf the actual market leaders is akin to a suicide mission. There's nothing vague or unsubstantiated here. If S!nclair intends to look good before the FCC so their purchase of Allbritton can go through, they are doing a craptacular job at it.

 

WTOL and WTVG are both laughing their butts off at seeing an alleged "competitor" literally taking itself out of contention.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

But forcing cable providers like Buckeye to accept higher retrans fees for stations like WNWO AND a must-carry for said news subchannel is just as bad as ESPN (all the ESPNs), Fox (Fox Sports 1 and 2, all Fox RSNs, BTN), CBS (CBS SN) and NBC (NBCSN, all Comcast RSNs, Golf Channel) forcing higher retrans fees so they can afford their absurd play-by-play packages. And I know you are opposed to that, no?

 

Inevitably, the consumer itself pays in the end with higher fees. It's fairly elementary here.

 

I betcha Dispatch didn't try this when they launched ONN; of course, WBNS-TV has always been tops in the Columbus market, so they had credibility in pitching ONN to cable providers around the state. But even with all the credibility and cache behind ONN, it still ceased operations as a TV network after a 15 year long effort.

 

Extorting Buckeye to must-carry a niche news subchannel AND getting rights fees for the worst station in the market that dwarf the actual market leaders is akin to a suicide mission. There's nothing vague or unsubstantiated here. If S!nclair intends to look good before the FCC so their purchase of Allbritton can go through, they are doing a craptacular job at it.

 

WTOL and WTVG are both laughing their butts off at seeing an alleged "competitor" literally taking itself out of contention.

 

Now that part I agree with. But since cable doesn't have room for another news channel, I'm surprised either CBS or ABC hasn't jumped into the OTA world as a back door into cable news.

 

I think the analogy here is MeTV. My understanding is that networks like MeTV actually pay to be on a subchannel. CBS would be in a better position to try something like this since they own more stations and have the news infrastructure already in place. Roll out the channel to CBS O&O's (for free) and grow it from there. Likewise CBS/Viacom was in a good position to be the MeTV of OTA,(because of TV Land and Nick at Night) but they didn't jump on the opportunity or maybe didn't want to cannibalize their cable stations.

 

Since neither CBS nor ABC is jumping on this opportunity, I don't think it's a bad idea for Sinclair to use NewsChannel 8's infrastructure in the nation's capital as a springboard for their "MeTV news channel".

 

By the way, ONN sucked. They had a few good shows but it was generally boring and it had poor production value. ONN also didn't really work well here because there are something like 10 media markets serving the state and there wasn't a lot of commonality in terms of what interests viewers except when it comes to sports. Nobody really cares what the mayor of Toledo is doing unless it's a sex scandal. Sinclair should also be able to do something a little more lively than ONN.

 

So here's how I see it. Sinclair automatically can throw News Channel 8 on in 70 markets. It doesn't have to pay to be carried on those stations, so start up costs are virtually nil. It also has news gatherers all over the country. They should be able to dredge up enough compelling content from around the country. And you grow it from there.

 

And like I said in another post, you throw NewsChannel 8 on WSYX 6.2, with local breaks interspersed throughout the day, and you become the defacto news leader in each and every market you;re in.

 

It may or may not work, but it's worth a try. You might as well use those 70 markets for something. And it is innovative you have to admit.

[sanewsguy 511]

 

And like I said in another post, you throw NewsChannel 8 on WSYX 6.2, with local breaks interspersed throughout the day, and you become the defacto news leader in each and every market you;re in.

 

In terms of amount of local news, maybe. As far as ratings, doing that will have zero impact. So you can't really call them the news leader if they were to do this.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

 

Now that part I agree with. But since cable doesn't have room for another news channel, I'm surprised either CBS or ABC hasn't jumped into the OTA world as a back door into cable news.

 

I think the analogy here is MeTV. My understanding is that networks like MeTV actually pay to be on a subchannel. CBS would be in a better position to try something like this since they own more stations and have the news infrastructure already in place. Roll out the channel to CBS O&O's (for free) and grow it from there. Likewise CBS/Viacom was in a good position to be the MeTV of OTA,(because of TV Land and Nick at Night) but they didn't jump on the opportunity or maybe didn't want to cannibalize their cable stations.

 

Since neither CBS nor ABC is jumping on this opportunity, I don't think it's a bad idea for Sinclair to use NewsChannel 8's infrastructure in the nation's capital as a springboard for their "MeTV news channel".

 

By the way, ONN sucked. They had a few good shows but it was generally boring and it had poor production value. ONN also didn't really work well here because there are something like 10 media markets serving the state and there wasn't a lot of commonality in terms of what interests viewers except when it comes to sports. Nobody really cares what the mayor of Toledo is doing unless it's a sex scandal. Sinclair should also be able to do something a little more lively than ONN.

 

So here's how I see it. Sinclair automatically can throw News Channel 8 on in 70 markets. It doesn't have to pay to be carried on those stations, so start up costs are virtually nil. It also has news gatherers all over the country. They should be able to dredge up enough compelling content from around the country. And you grow it from there.

 

And like I said in another post, you throw NewsChannel 8 on WSYX 6.2, with local breaks interspersed throughout the day, and you become the defacto news leader in each and every market you;re in.

 

It may or may not work, but it's worth a try. You might as well use those 70 markets for something. And it is innovative you have to admit.

 

You're really overselling the value of subchannels. Stations really don't make that much off of them. You only get stations like MeTV to work for a subchannel because they're cheap to run (it's basically just airing old TV shows). But in terms of advertisers, if you ever watch MeTV, it's basically a loop of infomercials. So obviously they're not making much in terms of ad revenue but since it costs practically nothing to run them, they're still profitable.

 

I think Sinclair would have better luck just reairing their newscasts on the .2 subchannels instead of building an entirely new operation for them.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

In terms of amount of local news, maybe. As far as ratings, doing that will have zero impact. So you can't really call them the news leader if they were to do this.

 

Don't you think there is a halo effect that goes along with being the local 24 hour news channel? I know there's more to it than that and you have to have substance and content. As you've said before, 6's content is actually pretty good and they now have a chopper. Content + constant exposure + constant exposure of your reporters on the radio goes a long way toward having the reputation of being THE news station.

 

Radio used to be the place to go to for breaking news. With a 24 hour news channel you automatically have a way to cover breaking news. Over time, you become the "go to" place for news.

 

I don't think it's a bad idea to follow the Fox model of news during the day and talk at night. I just hope they get better people than the Baltimore cheeseballs like Mark Hyman. I don't mind Hyman, but to me he looks like a cheap suit. They need people who are more polished, IMO.

 

I also hope they do it in 16:9 versus 4:3.

[DirtyHarry 727]

 

You're really overselling the value of subchannels. Stations really don't make that much off of them. You only get stations like MeTV to work for a subchannel because they're cheap to run (it's basically just airing old TV shows). But in terms of advertisers, if you ever watch MeTV, it's basically a loop of infomercials. So obviously they're not making much in terms of ad revenue but since it costs practically nothing to run them, they're still profitable.

 

I think Sinclair would have better luck just reairing their newscasts on the .2 subchannels instead of building an entirely new operation for them.

 

That's kind of my point. Think of how CNN Headline News does or used to do things (I rarely watch so I don't know if they still do it this way). They had local breaks where WBNS would provide local news. Since Washington is a company town, I'm guessing News Channel 8 carries a lot of political news. If they do that during the day, interspersed with local news breaks (that can be prerecorded) you might be able to get some traction.

 

It's one thing if you're starting this from scratch - huge risk. It's entirely something different if you have this already in place and you have 70 markets just begging for .2 content.

 

I still think it's a smart move.

 

You also underestimate the attraction of those .2 channels. MeTV ratings in Cincinnati came in fourth in some time slots. Many of the ratings looked near the range of getting just under a 1.0 rating. Maybe not a huge rating, but still better than some cable channels including most cable news channels.

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/tv/2011/10/27/cunningham-shot-down-by-the-big-valley/