Sinclair Broadcast Group - General Discussion

[NewsMaster 226]

On 6/23/2021 at 9:43 PM, TheRob said:

https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/television/alan-pergament-wutvs-new-newscast-will-rely-on-news-weather-and-sports-anchors-outside-of/article_eab8dbce-d355-11eb-860c-efa3ef5a1292.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

 

WUTV's new 10:00 show debuts tonight (it'll be here to watch most likely). To save you all the click, here's the anchor lineup: WTVH news anchor Michael Benny, WHAM chief meteorologist Scott Hetsko, and WHAM sports director Mike Catalana. It's kinda interesting considering WHAM produces a 10:00 show for WUHF at the same time of WUTV's new show, so I wonder if Hetsko's and Catalana's segments will be pre-taped. That is a pretty good anchor lineup though.

[SoFloTVClassics 972]

So, no one is gonna give KDNL or even WTWC a chance. Name any Sinclair sister station willing to produce a newscast for them. Speaking of, how is WXLV doing as of this post?

Edited July 2, 2021 by SoFloTVClassics

[TexasTVNews 1377]

WTWC, WXLV, and KDNL deserves better station owners than that s**thole company they called Sinclair.

[SoFloTVClassics 972]

34 minutes ago, TexasTVNews said:

WTWC, WXLV, and KDNL deserves better station owners than that s**thole company they called Sinclair.

Yeah, E.W. Scripps is a good fit.

[JCB4TV 347]

7 minutes ago, SoFloTVClassics said:

Yeah, E.W. Scripps is a good fit.

Probably, but Scripps is already in all three of these markets.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

57 minutes ago, SoFloTVClassics said:

Yeah, E.W. Scripps is a good fit.

Scripps can't own WTWC unless they get a waiver. 

[dman748 1256]

3 hours ago, SoFloTVClassics said:

Name any Sinclair sister station willing to produce a newscast for them.

Truth to be told. Absolutely no one.

 

In the age of streaming and all of that I believe the only way how stations like KDNL and WTWC ever sees newscasts again on their stations is through regional consolidation of TV stations.

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

On 7/2/2021 at 12:33 AM, dman748 said:

Truth to be told. Absolutely no one.

 

In the age of streaming and all of that I believe the only way how stations like KDNL and WTWC ever sees newscasts again on their stations is through regional consolidation of TV stations.

I'm surprised that Sinclair dropped out of the outsourcing venture with WTXL years back right after they gave up trying to do news on WTWC.

 

The only news that the Tallahassee Sinclair stations carry is the FOX 49 newscast inherited from New Age produced by WCTV.  Other than that, WEAR over in Pensacola produces their weather cut-ins.

[Nelson R. 569]

On 5/4/2021 at 3:53 PM, T.L. Hughes said:

The National Desk is already getting a prime time edition. Sinclair has announced it will add an evening version of the program (airing live from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. ET) starting September 27, primarily airing on the 68 CW and MyNetworkTV stations already showing the morning edition as well as on STIRR and Sinclair station websites. It will likely act to compliment existing prime time newscasts on some of the slated carrier stations.

 

It should be noted that some of the CW stations slated to carry the evening National Desk are in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones, where it will air from 7:00-9:00 PT/8:00-10:00 MT; this means, since parts of the program will fall into The CW’s designated prime time slot, Sinclair’s Pacific Time CW affiliates will only be able to air the first hour (as hour #2 runs into the first hour of the network’s prime time lineup there) and its Mountain Time CW affiliates will only be able to carry the second hour (as hour #1 runs into the second hour of the network’s prime time lineup there).

 

Ironically, The CW Plus (from which a few of the company’s small-market CW affiliates source the network’s programming) doesn’t currently allow local programming opt-outs for news on weekdays. (It does have an early evening local news opt-out slot on weekends.) Something might have to be worked out there, given Sinclair’s CW Plus stations in the Pacific Time Zone will be carrying it as a network prime lead-in.

Just now seeing this. Can’t see WMYA airing all two hours, as it already airs a 10pm news produced by sister WLOS. I could see them airing 30 minutes of it or an hour. I could see WMYV and WRDC picking up the whole broadcast.

 

The MT and PT stations should have the option to air a repeat at 9 or 10pm their time after CW primetime. As much as a laughingstock as NewsNation is, at least they air a repeat on the West Coast.

Edited July 4, 2021 by Nelson R.

[Megatron81 258]

I think CW7 will air just a half hour of the prime time National Desk after the news at 10:30PM. Move the repeat of Jeopardy to 11PM as that comes on at 10:30PM. That will not be known until about 2 weeks when online schedule comes out on TVPassport Titan TV etc. TVpassport is better than Titan TV when it comes to schedule. Which will be 2 weeks before in Mid-Sep.

[CircleSeven 1955]

On 6/3/2021 at 11:38 AM, tw-804 said:

Sinclair Broadcast Group is getting out of the radio business. They are selling its four Seattle radio stations - all-news KOMO-AM ("KOMO NewsRadio") and its FM simulcast, hot adult contemporary KPLZ-FM ("Star 101.5") and conservative talk KVI-AM ("570 KVI") - to Lotus Broadcasting for $18 million.

 

Lotus Broadcasting Acquires Sinclair's Four Stations In Seattle - RadioInsight

 

Follow up. The FCC has greenlighted the Lotus acquisition today (9/10).

 

This approval comes with a condition:

Quote

Grant of this application is subject to the condition that the transaction proposed herein be consummated by October 1, 2021. If consummation does not occur prior to October 1, 2021, the transaction may not be consummated until after the license for the station has been renewed.

 

So close this deal by three weeks from now (10/1). Or you won't be able to until after the FCC renews your license.

 

I've never seen this kind of stipulation before.....

[AaronQ 281]

So not sure if anyone saw this, but longtime WJAR NBC 10 meteorologist Kelly Bates is no longer working for the station, and it brought some outrage in Southern New England. NBC 10 claims that she turned down her contract, and there's a petition out to call NBC 10 to reinstate her.

https://www.golocalprov.com/business/wjar-10-general-manager-say-kelly-bates-turned-down-a-new-contract

 

https://www.newsweek.com/viewers-launch-petition-reinstate-meteorologist-kelly-bates-teary-video-1627352

[NowBergen 681]

8 hours ago, AaronQ said:

So not sure if anyone saw this, but longtime WJAR NBC 10 meteorologist Kelly Bates is no longer working for the station, and it brought some outrage in Southern New England. NBC 10 claims that she turned down her contract, and there's a petition out to call NBC 10 to reinstate her.

https://www.golocalprov.com/business/wjar-10-general-manager-say-kelly-bates-turned-down-a-new-contract

 

https://www.newsweek.com/viewers-launch-petition-reinstate-meteorologist-kelly-bates-teary-video-1627352

 

Another degradation of WJAR's news by Sinclair.  Her Tik Tok video says it all.  I think everyone on this board can guess what kind of contract Sincrap gave her that she refused to sign.  It is clear she had no desire to leave.

[Yankees4life 558]

4 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

 

Another degradation of WJAR's news by Sinclair.  Her Tik Tok video says it all.  I think everyone on this board can guess what kind of contract Sincrap gave her that she refused to sign.  It is clear she had no desire to leave.

I wish MG and NBC kept this station. RI deserves better than Sincrap

[NowBergen 681]

Just now, Yankees4life said:

I wish MG and NBC kept this station. RI deserves better than Sincrap

 

I find I can no longer watch them.  It's the little comments and other stories pushing Sincrap's agenda.  The mostly young untested talent.  When I visit RI at least monthly, I have to watch another station for news or stream my local NBC flagship station.  Too many watch WJAR out of habit, and its time they get a new habit.

[AaronQ 281]

3 hours ago, NowBergen said:

 

I find I can no longer watch them.  It's the little comments and other stories pushing Sincrap's agenda.  The mostly young untested talent.  When I visit RI at least monthly, I have to watch another station for news or stream my local NBC flagship station.  Too many watch WJAR out of habit, and its time they get a new habit.

I usually prefer WPRI/FOX Providence anyway. 

[tyrannical bastard 3948]

5 hours ago, NowBergen said:

 

I find I can no longer watch them.  It's the little comments and other stories pushing Sincrap's agenda.  The mostly young untested talent.  When I visit RI at least monthly, I have to watch another station for news or stream my local NBC flagship station.  Too many watch WJAR out of habit, and its time they get a new habit.

Media General simply traded up to WPRI/WNAC for the same reason NBC dumped WJAR in the first place....it was a solo station without a duopoly opportunity, (and one of their smallest markets at the time). 

 

Even though it was a heritage station, the allure of having a grandfathered duopoly persuaded Media General to sell out.  I believe it was part of a trade between Sinclair & Media General as well.  Maybe when WTTA was traded to Media General after being Tampa's lone Sinclair property?

[NowBergen 681]

4 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Media General simply traded up to WPRI/WNAC for the same reason NBC dumped WJAR in the first place....it was a solo station without a duopoly opportunity, (and one of their smallest markets at the time). 

 

Even though it was a heritage station, the allure of having a grandfathered duopoly persuaded Media General to sell out.  I believe it was part of a trade between Sinclair & Media General as well.  Maybe when WTTA was traded to Media General after being Tampa's lone Sinclair property?

 

Thing is when NBC sold the station in 2006, the Telemundo  stations were operated independent of any NBC O&Os, they merged many operations later on.  The sale was more of NBC getting out of smaller markets, essentially reversing the merger with Outlet 10 years earlier.   NBC does not operate any fully English speaking duopolies.  Even here in the NY area, most of Telemundo' 47s operations are completely separate from WNBC.  It is not the same as CBS owning WCBS and WLNY.  At the time when Nexstar bought MG, it was mentioned a key driver in Providence was that both WNAC and WPRI carried Sunday football, which was a major money maker.  It outweighed WJAR's then significant dominance in news.  Sadly, Nexstar sold WJAR to one of the worst options out there.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 708]

On 9/11/2021 at 11:50 AM, NowBergen said:

 

Thing is when NBC sold the station in 2006, the Telemundo  stations were operated independent of any NBC O&Os, they merged many operations later on.  The sale was more of NBC getting out of smaller markets, essentially reversing the merger with Outlet 10 years earlier.   NBC does not operate any fully English speaking duopolies.  Even here in the NY area, most of Telemundo' 47s operations are completely separate from WNBC.  It is not the same as CBS owning WCBS and WLNY.  At the time when Nexstar bought MG, it was mentioned a key driver in Providence was that both WNAC and WPRI carried Sunday football, which was a major money maker.  It outweighed WJAR's then significant dominance in news.  Sadly, Nexstar sold WJAR to one of the worst options out there.

That was MG/Lin, not MG/Nexstar. 

Hearst should have taken WJAR, honestly. 

[nathannah 2428]

Watching The National Desk in primetime for the first time; I think it'll take a bit to get used to the format, but things like having weathercasters in each region do the weather instead of just one guy is a unique feature, and it seems a lot more focused on basic news (with the caveat of Hunt Valley's interference) than NewsNation, which is starting to feel like HLN when they began to slip away towards 'big news only'.

 

And while we're here; Sinclair's out of the radio business with the Seattle stations officially sold off.

[dman748 1256]

Sports Business Journal is reporting that Fanatics is looking to enter the sports media spector, specifically with the Regional Sports Networks

 

What's really not necessarily mind-boggling is that Sinclair's Diamond Sports unit could be heading towards bankruptcy according to that same SBJ report.

[GoldenShine9 1513]

While other companies bring up vaccine mandates, the general consensus is that Sinclair will not. 

[Breaking News 826]

On 9/11/2021 at 7:11 AM, NowBergen said:

 

I find I can no longer watch them.  It's the little comments and other stories pushing Sincrap's agenda.  The mostly young untested talent.  When I visit RI at least monthly, I have to watch another station for news or stream my local NBC flagship station.  Too many watch WJAR out of habit, and its time they get a new habit.

Maybe the new habit could be WLNE ABC 6. Give em a chance..

[Kenneth Kissel 281]

1 hour ago, Breaking News said:

Maybe the new habit could be WLNE ABC 6. Give em a chance..

For sure. I don't like WPRI either in addition to WJAR. One of my favorite personalities from Altoona PA is WLNE's new morning anchor (KC Kantz). 

[TheRob 937]

Rumor is SBG stations were hit with another cyber attack this weekend. I don't know if it will affect newscasts.