Nexstar...again

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

7 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Does Gray still start at $18 an hour?

Sinclair starts at $15 IIRC....

 

If that's true, that's bleak.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

On 4/26/2025 at 3:50 AM, TheRolyPoly said:

 

If that's true, that's bleak.

Why I don't work in TV anymore....

12 years at the same station and don't even crack Gray's minimum wage...

[MediaZone4K 2661]

On 4/26/2025 at 4:50 AM, TheRolyPoly said:

 

If that's true, that's bleak.

It must be. New York is decent about salary transparency so I screenshot stations in upstate.

 

DMA #160 Binghamton...

29 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Why I don't work in TV anymore....

12 years at the same station and don't even crack Gray's minimum wage...

Nexstar is just as bad.  Elmira DMA #178...

 

Edited April 27, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[EVVTV12 204]

WTWO announced today it has hired former WTHI anchor Patrece Dayton as a part time reporter. Dayton was part of the massive layoffs at WTHI/Allen Media earlier in the year. 

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Nexstar caves to a hollow demand of the FCC...

https://thedesk.net/2025/05/nexstar-ends-dei-programs-policies/?utm_source=mailpoet#038;utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=Nexstar DEI Pullback

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

More Nexstar stations are adding "Plus" apps to Roku, Amazon and Apple TV including WKRG, WDTN, WJBF, WKBN, WTAJ, WHNT, WIAT, and other middle-market stations.

Still some laggards like WGNO and KOLR.

 

Even through the web sites still seem to indicate "delayed streams" of newscasts, they appear to be live now on the apps.  About time!

 

Now the question is, will Nexstar put their stations on another app like LocalNow, NewsON or Zeam?  They're very much behind the curve in this regard. 
Sinclair is a little better with total reach on NewsON, and some reach on LocalNow and Stirr, the app they used to run but sold off last year

The other groups and even the single stations / small companies like WFMJ, WRAL, WBRZ/KRGV, and KTVN/WRCB also have their stations on standalone apps and stream on sites.

 

Nexstar is getting better but still has a ways to go.  So many of the Tribune and Media General stations had better streaming options before Nexstar took over.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Boy is Nexstar reversing so much from the past two years. It sounds like a pause back in 2023 to figure out their streaming strategy before resuming within the past couple of months.

 

Still a long way to go, yes. Still waiting for the KTVX/KUCW version on Roku.

[Bill McDonnell 3]

KTVX's App is available at Roku.  I looked at it this morning.

[DENDude 259]

KDVR & KFCT celebrated 25 years of "FOX 31 NEWS" last night.

 

• 25 Years & 4 different owners in that time.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/768329848963791

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

3 hours ago, DENDude said:

KDVR & KFCT celebrated 25 years of "FOX 31 NEWS" last night.

 

• 25 Years & 4 different owners in that time.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/768329848963791

 

Two things...

 

• Kim Posey and Shaul Turner are the last two originals left.

• Highest-rated news operation in Denver? Hmm...

[nathannah 2792]

On 4/24/2025 at 10:59 PM, Bill McDonnell said:

On NFL Draft Night, I wanted to check out WFRV's 10:00 Newscast.  Not only is WFRV's Streaming App (as in Roku and similar Streaming Players) unavailable, their web site does not stream Newscasts (not even with Nexstar's "infamous" two hour delay)!!  The anticipation of the Rest of Nexstar's Stations joining the Streaming Player App World is building up greater every day!!

Hell has frozen over..WFRV has finally joined this entire 'cyberspace revolution' and has a 'WFRV+' TV app...while somehow doing absolutely nothing with the 2013-vintage iOS app that is under the same code .

 

At least now I finally can stop having to spoof Paramount+ into thinking I have a cabin in Valders just to watch their newscasts. That it took Nexstar this long to livestream newscasts seamlessly is unacceptable.

[Megatron81 343]

Daybreak has a newcasts at 8AM on WOODTV+ seen promos for it, always surprised that they never put a morning newscast on WXSP with then owners LIN TV/Media General/Nexstar I wonder if it has to do that, they didn't want to go up against the cash cow that is Today?

 

As FOX17 is the only morning newscast at 7AM although I think the 5AM to 7AM is anchorless and just do news stories other than weather. I don't know that as I don't watch the morning news as I'm not a morning person.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

2 hours ago, nathannah said:

Hell has frozen over..WFRV has finally joined this entire 'cyberspace revolution' and has a 'WFRV+' TV app...while somehow doing absolutely nothing with the 2013-vintage iOS app that is under the same code .

 

At least now I finally can stop having to spoof Paramount+ into thinking I have a cabin in Valders just to watch their newscasts. That it took Nexstar this long to livestream newscasts seamlessly is unacceptable.

 

I have 42 Nexstar stations (not counting WFRV) that are left in launching their own OTT apps.

[KS-IL-IA 63]

I live in a 120+ market where the Nexstar affiliate(s) has fallen apart, especially on weekends. Aside from weather, NO local stories on weekend evenings. Right to network or Nexstar reports. Maybe some sports, since we're adjacent to pro teams. They were running with one MMJ for months, until he went on to a bigger market. Currently, it appears to be interns.

 

Anyone else seeing this in small market Nexstar stations?

 

 

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

I'm taking this from a user on RadioDiscussions, so take it with a grain of salt, but here it is, word for word...

 

Quote

In a development that has not been announced or reported it appears that the CW is moving their Charlotte affiliation to WMYT in September. Hulu has started sending out notices that they will drop WCCB September 1 and that subscribers will be able to find the CW on WMYT. This has got to be devastating to WCCB who had lost Fox a dozen years earlier. It makes sense for WMYT since they are owned by Nexstar who also owns the CW.

 

If this is true, Nexstar gains another CW O&O (in a major market nonetheless), WMYT receives a genuine network affiliation, and WCCB will become an Independent station after 12 years with The CW, and for the first time since 1986.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

6 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

I'm taking this from a user on RadioDiscussions, so take it with a grain of salt, but here it is, word for word...

 

 

If this is true, Nexstar gains another CW O&O (in a major market nonetheless), WMYT receives a genuine network affiliation, and WCCB will become an Independent station after 12 years with The CW, and for the first time since 1986.

If this comes to fruition, WCCB is well-suited to become a news-intensive independent station. 

Somehow, Bahakel soldiers on despite the likely overtures that Tegna or Gray could easily swallow the station as duopoly bait and subsume their news operation.

[Nelson R. 585]

8 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

I'm taking this from a user on RadioDiscussions, so take it with a grain of salt, but here it is, word for word...

 

 

If this is true, Nexstar gains another CW O&O (in a major market nonetheless), WMYT receives a genuine network affiliation, and WCCB will become an Independent station after 12 years with The CW, and for the first time since 1986.

 

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

If this comes to fruition, WCCB is well-suited to become a news-intensive independent station. 

Somehow, Bahakel soldiers on despite the likely overtures that Tegna or Gray could easily swallow the station as duopoly bait and subsume their news operation.

WCCB’s CW contract runs out at the end of August and from my understanding it is/was going to be expensive to renew it.

[Rusty Muck 4688]

If this is true, we'll likely see WCCB shutter their operations entirely and become a diginet coatrack. And Bahakel will likely liquidate their TV stations to Nexstar.

 

There is nothing stopping Nexstar from Mission-ing WCCB so they can have a Charlotte triopoly.

Edited July 29, 2025 by Rusty Muck

[Nelson R. 585]

1 minute ago, Rusty Muck said:

If this is true, we'll likely see WCCB shutter their operations entirely and become a diginet coatrack. And Bahakel will likely liquidate their TV stations to Nexstar.

If they liquidate their TV stations to Nexstar then they could just keep the CW on WCCB

[Breaking News 888]

Even though Bahakel isn't some family owned company rolling in money.  Charlotte is their largest market and they seem to be frugal or shall I say spendthrift. I see them going down with a fight. Isn't Charlotte their HQ too?  

[JRyan 694]

Assuming this is true, I don't believe it's the end of their news department - that is, if Bahakel allows it.  The CW, as with networks in general these days, only add so much value to a station - which arguably is the actual priority access to certain streaming platforms.  They are more than capable to continue operations without a network affiliation provided that Bahakel is on board with it.  People can spin this how ever they want, but The CW is not the major player as a network they want people to believe them to be.  And sometimes the cost-benefit analysis is just not favorable for continued affiliation.

 

WCCB is the only truly "independent" station (affiliated or not) in Charlotte at this point.  All the others are owned by corporate conglomerates.  I wish WCCB the best as they navigate this next chapter.

[nathannah 2792]

57 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

 They are more than capable to continue operations without a network affiliation provided that Bahakel is on board with it.  People can spin this how ever they want, but The CW is not the major player as a network they want people to believe them to be.  And sometimes the cost-benefit analysis is just not favorable for continued affiliation.

 

WCCB is the only truly "independent" station (affiliated or not) in Charlotte at this point.  All the others are owned by corporate conglomerates.  I wish WCCB the best as they navigate this next chapter.

With the way the CW's sports pre-emptions feel poorly communicated and thought out on the weekends (for instance a polka show on WVTV in Milwaukee has to constantly update viewers on when they air because they scheduled their show after CW prime thinking that it would be a rerun dead zone pre-Nexstar), this is only a positive for WCCB because the CW has no real identity outside 'Cancon shows, pointless NewsNation simulcasts  occasionally, and leftover sports' any longer.

 

Scheduling instability is a terrible problem to have for any station with a news operation, which will never be a problem for WMYT, which I will be honest, I forgot all about because it's just another channel among others on WJZY's spectrum and has long suffered from 'reheated stepchild' syndrome, even with Fox AND Capitol. WCCB probably has planned this since Nexstar took over the CW and purchased WJZY, just as Gray has prepared WUAB post-CW with WBNX taking over.

 

And I don't feel like these will be the last channel changes this year for CW stations as other Nexstar stations take over affiliations in other markets.

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Sooner or later, Nexstar is going to put the CW wherever they can in the markets they serve.  And if it's not a large company like Gray or Sinclair as the station owner, the contract will be toast when it's up.

Here's looking at stations like WFMJ 21.2.  An easy move to put the CW on "My YTV" and send MyNetwork packing or off to midnight.

 

And in the markets where Nexstar has O&Oed them as duopolies, they promote the HELL out of CW content during news and sports coverage.  Probably worse than Sinclair trying to ram tennis coverage down our throats.

 

The question is, which "other" network is going to walk first?  CBS seems the most likely once Skydance finishes driving them into the ground.

 

Perry Sook is turning more into George Newman by each passing day.  When will Stanley Spadowski get his own kids show?

3 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

If this is true, we'll likely see WCCB shutter their operations entirely and become a diginet coatrack. And Bahakel will likely liquidate their TV stations to Nexstar.

 

There is nothing stopping Nexstar from Mission-ing WCCB so they can have a Charlotte triopoly.

 

All they would have to do is sell off WJKT in Jackson, but it's probably in "Failed Station" territory since it's a low-rated FOX affiliate that simulcast's WREG's newscasts.

Montgomery would be complicated since they're already a virtual triopoly with WAKA, WBMM and WNCF with SagamoreHill owning the latter.

Edited July 29, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[l_miro 245]

WCCB is down the road from me, it looks like a ghost station even at high noon when we drive by. I don't see how they expand news. Beverly Bahakel had to borrow $60 mil 3 years go to roll debt over and have money to operate. She spent the change on new-ish morning set and they still have the same the guy doing 5am and 10pm weather 

[mre29 1967]

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Sooner or later, Nexstar is going to put the CW wherever they can in the markets they serve.  And if it's not a large company like Gray or Sinclair as the station owner, the contract will be toast when it's up.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the netlet's affiliation here moves from Tegna-owned WCCT to Nexstar-owned WCTX at some point in the not-too-distant future.