WGCL management changes...AGAIN.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

KEYE42 (KVBO) CBS switched from KTBC on 7/1/1995 from the top station in the market and 42 was once the FOX affiliate again not sure of their history, but I know they had a news outlet, but over the years many ownership changes and on- air talent changes. Now it a Sinclair station.

CBS actually set up a news department for KEYE upon the switch.

 

KEYE has had its set of challenges (Newport curtailed the stations' news output considerably; those cutbacks were eventually reversed) but is likely in much better hands with S!nclair.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

I think Time Warner (Turner) is going to end up selling WPCH before WGCL ever changes hands. And if Meredith grows big enough that it has to divest properties to get choice opportunites, AND WGCL is STILL in the toilet, then WGCL could be sold.

 

Sometime, WGCL is going to get their groove. But in the case of WOIO rising to prominence, they have the success of CBS and the misfortunes of WEWS to blame as well. WXIA's recent stumbles could play a factor, but unseating WSB is going to be extremely difficult in Atlanta.

It's pretty evident that whenever Turner sells off WPCH, Meredith will formally buy it. Effectively, it IS a Meredith station in all but license only, and should be recognized as such.

 

An owner rarely, if ever, sells off a station because of poor ratings or constant turnover in their news department. The only exception I can think of is NBC's divestiture of WKYC back in 1990, but that was also attributed to NBC's obvious disinterest in being in Cleveland, plus they got an O&O in Miami two years earlier (affiliation contracts aside).

 

Also should be noted that throughout the 70s and 80s, KYW was a distant third behind WPVI and WCAU, and had their share of problems. But the station was still seen a crown jewel for Westinghouse. I'm pretty sure Meredith sees WGCL as a prize station in their own right.

[TresGriffin 138]

Yup. He's gone. Looking for a job here and the the GM job popped up on my Indeed.com search. Lol

[tyrannical bastard 3488]

 

 

KEYE has had its set of challenges (Newport curtailed the stations' news output considerably; those cutbacks were eventually reversed) but is likely in much better hands with S!nclair.

 

KEYE was never a Newport station. CBS sold KEYE (and KUTV, WTVX and WLWC) to Cerberus (Four Points), who ceded management to Nexstar after a short while. Sinclair then purchased the stations from Four Points.

Newport was Providence Equity's television ownership arm.

[LTSC1980 99]

If WPCH sell to CBS, what will they do with Canadian viewers? WPCH has available in Canada because TBS not available in Canada.

[scrabbleship 427]

If WPCH sell to CBS, what will they do with Canadian viewers? WPCH has available in Canada because TBS not available in Canada.

Probably just discontinue feeding it to Canada, similarly to how KTVT gave up their superstation status when they went CBS. It isn't like most Canadians would notice or care.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

 

If WPCH sell to CBS, what will they do with Canadian viewers? WPCH has available in Canada because TBS not available in Canada.

 

When Ted Turner set up the then-WTCG to be beamed nationwide via satellite, the CRTC license was specifically for WTCG-TV as an Atlanta station. What would become the TBS network (of which WTBS-TV was effectively a simulcast of in a wag-the-dog setup) didn't come into existence until 1982. (That happened in part so the TBS network could sell more direct-response ads, of which WTBS-TV could opt out for local ads.)

 

Thus, the Atlanta station had always been carried in the Great White North, including the cutaways for Atlanta-only programming and CNN Headline News simulcasts. Only no one noticed until TimeWarner spun off WTBS-TV from the TBS network.

 

In the (VERY) unlikely event that TimeWarner sells WPCH to CBS (and I put that possibility at -99% because Meredith has been running the station anyway and clearly has the inside track at any future purchase), the license to transmit WPCH in Canada would end.