TEGNA Broadcasting and Digital General Discussion

[tylerSC 61]

Disappointed Tegna NBC affiliate WCNC Charlotte has cancelled their Sunday morning political program Flashpoint. It was an informative program with newsmakers and political leaders that aired after Meet the Press, as sort of a local version. Good program, sorry to see it go. Victim of cutbacks, I suppose. They are now airing infomercials in its place. WSOC still airs its Political Beat program on Sundays on the Cox ABC affiliate in Charlotte, and the Hearst NBC affiliate WYFF in Greenville-Spartanburg still has their Sunday news and public affairs program.

[TheRolyPoly 2480]

One of the oldest OTA TV sports partnerships will continue... WKYC and the Guardians.

 

https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/wkyc-cleveland-guardians-extend-broadcast-rights-agreement/

[TheRolyPoly 2480]

Aaron White left the evil empire that is AMG and KIMT some time ago and has now landed in TEGNA country at WBNS 10TV.

 

https://www.facebook.com/GarofaloWX/posts/pfbid02NijYQh1wjaCAoNa2woAXMHDo3xyb1NrVMyVTFXTjJ6VKJq3ZxsUKmE3CvANfS3myl

[TheRolyPoly 2480]

It's rare to see any kind of ratings news but I found one...

 

WGRZ Buffalo who, according to ComScore in four different demos, is #1 in the morning, 5, 6 7, and 11pm.

 

My guess is that Noon and 4pm went to WIVB but it's only a guess.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremysettle_teamtegna-ugcPost-7316174833556353028-wVp6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAABqGw-0BrOQ_9csrv95OAtvM37gqLkE_dSc

[MD TV 267]

WTHR has signed a 2-year extention to continue to air Indiana Fever games. 14 games this season will air on WTHR and 4 will air on WALV:

 

https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/wnba/indiana-fever/wthr-metv-local-tv-home-indiana-fever-2-year-deal-2025-broadcast-schedule-game-players-standings-coach-roster-caitlin-clark-aliyah-boston/531-b9654a0b-602e-4f7b-9e84-70d7f8336811

[norcalTVfan 17]

TEGNA is taking a page out of the Scripps playbook now. In Spokane on KREM 2, the weeknight 11pm broadcast is now a replay of the 10pm they produce for their sister station. The main channel doesn’t even air live news at 11. No disclaimer on the TV that it isn’t live, but the app lags a few seconds behind the on-air feed and they match up word for word. Interestingly enough, the app has a “previously recorded” tag but keeps the 10pm time/temp bug. The on-air rebroadcast has the right bug. Seriously cheap as this is a mid-60s market. 
 

Is this happening elsewhere in TEGNA-land?

[Greggo 358]

On 4/18/2025 at 1:30 AM, norcalTVfan said:

TEGNA is taking a page out of the Scripps playbook now. In Spokane on KREM 2, the weeknight 11pm broadcast is now a replay of the 10pm they produce for their sister station. The main channel doesn’t even air live news at 11. No disclaimer on the TV that it isn’t live, but the app lags a few seconds behind the on-air feed and they match up word for word. Interestingly enough, the app has a “previously recorded” tag but keeps the 10pm time/temp bug. The on-air rebroadcast has the right bug. Seriously cheap as this is a mid-60s market. 
 

Is this happening elsewhere in TEGNA-land?

This is just … odd. What good does this do? They pay people for one less hour? How much does that save? It’s a piddly amount. KREM used to be strong and Tegna has destroyed it. 

[MediaZone4K 2200]

On 4/13/2025 at 8:51 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

It's rare to see any kind of ratings news but I found one...

 

WGRZ Buffalo who, according to ComScore in four different demos, is #1 in the morning, 5, 6 7, and 11pm.

 

My guess is that Noon and 4pm went to WIVB but it's only a guess.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremysettle_teamtegna-ugcPost-7316174833556353028-wVp6?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&rcm=ACoAABqGw-0BrOQ_9csrv95OAtvM37gqLkE_dSc

why aren't local stations transparent about ratings anymore? Is it to spin the numbers in their favor to convince advertisers to agree to a certain price?

[tyrannical bastard 3971]

53 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

why aren't local stations transparent about ratings anymore? Is it to spin the numbers in their favor to convince advertisers to agree to a certain price?

Because ratings are even more irrelevant than ad revenue.  It's all about the retransmission payments they are getting from Pay TV providers lining their pockets.

[Recovering Producer 221]

29 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

why aren't local stations transparent about ratings anymore? Is it to spin the numbers in their favor to convince advertisers to agree to a certain price?

When the audience is a fraction of what it was a decade ago, there's no good way to spin them. Put out a press release that says "we won at 6pm with a 5 share!" means you're tacitly admitting at least 80% of people watching TV in that time slot are not watching local news over linear TV.

 

The sales model has shifted away from selling on past show ratings to actual ad impressions which means specific newscast ratings are less relevant to the financial picture for a station and ownership group.

 

In 2012, a manager at a station meeting said "flat is the new up" - I assume by 2025 it's now "not bleeding out viewers is the new flat" 

[TheRolyPoly 2480]

Gray usually launches 24/7 weather streams all the time (WOIO/WUAB and WLUC being two recent examples). However, I found another group that may do so as well... TEGNA and Weather Impact 24/7 streams.

 

I found WVEC and WXIA to be the first two clients.

 

WVEC: https://www.13newsnow.com/video/news/weather-impact-247/291-d223d83c-5a51-41d7-a209-d72fd28d6eb6 (according to this one, launched yesterday)

WXIA: https://www.11alive.com/video/weather/11alive-live-weather/85-e76bbb55-2d2b-4b71-90b9-4dce96553ce5 (according to this one, launched in early March)

 

EDIT: This is WXIA's first 24/7 weather stream in like around 5-6 years or so when they had that Weather Information Zone channel.

 

EDIT (x2): Pictures here to prove it (apologies for the first one of the NBC peacock: its from one of my monitors.)

Edited April 21 by TheRolyPoly

[Megatron81 264]

WZZM has had 24/7 weather channel since 2006 it isn't on any of the Pay-TV channels anymore, I don't get why they don't move it to DT6/7 and bump the diginets nets True Crime Network to DT2 & Quest to DT3 which Charter Spectrum airs both those networks and I'm sure Comcast does the same as well in West Michigan.

[TheRolyPoly 2480]

6 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

WZZM has had 24/7 weather channel since 2006 it isn't on any of the Pay-TV channels anymore, I don't get why they don't move it to DT6/7 and bump the diginets nets True Crime Network to DT2 & Quest to DT3 which Charter Spectrum airs both those networks and I'm sure Comcast does the same as well in West Michigan.

 

Yeah, true that. It doesn't stream, though, and it hasn't in a really long time. Same with WFAA Two.

[Howard Beale 58]

Two things of note involving TEGNA:

 

The company has a job opening for a “director of content” to oversee its Florida stations, WTSP Tampa and WJXX/WTLV Jacksonville.  FTVLive reported a few days ago that TEGNA planned to effectively merge both stations, so it looks like the company is making good on that plan.  Another interesting note: WJXX/WTLV GM Tim Thomas’ LinkedIn profile shows he is now the GM at WTSP as well.

 

Also, TEGNA CEO Mike Steib seems to be in a selling mood.  In a phone call with industry analysts, he said, “We are buyers of anything that’s a fit for our mission and our company.  And if there’s anything someone wants to buy from us at a price that is more than it is worth to our shareholders, we’re interested in selling it.”  TEGNA might be in a buying mood if the FCC does loosen or eliminate the ownership cap, but I think TEGNA knows it can make more money by selling stations to the likes of Nexstar or Sinclair.