Boston TV crisis: WHDH and WNEU

[scrabbleship 429]

I find it a bit interesting that Ed is saying that moving the signal to WNEU will violate Comcast's agreement with the FCC with serving the community of license by citing the loss of signal coverage. If that's the case WHDH isn't serving its DMA as its signal isn't good in New Hampshire.

 

Hopefully you'll understand what I'm saying. I wasn't sure how to articulate my thoughts.

 

The kicker is does Telemundo really serve Merrimack, NH, all of 1.08% Hispanic of which the population that is Spanish speaking is negligible at best. I know to get the Lowell/Lawrence/Haverhill corridor WNEU makes sense as Telemundo but that audience crashes north of the MA/NH line.

 

It gets oddly awkward in Cheshire County and Windham County, VT where WNEU is on basic from its days as WGOT and WPXB but Univision is on a Spanish language tier.

[Breaking News 829]

"Will Fox should dismantle the name....." -- what does that even mean? If you mean dismantle the service, then the stations that carry the MNTV programming are no longer affiliates and they can do as they wish (they do not need Fox to "let" them run whatever they want).

 

What I meant to say is why is MyTV still in service? The affiliates that are mytv should go being an indy outlet, and those stations have control of their own programming. Back before The WB, UPN, CW, MyTV etc many indy outlets ran movies, action pack programs, sports. Of course tv has change, so some MyTv affiliate run Big Bang Theory back-to-back at 8pm, and TMZ Live at 9pm.. Just an example per say not saying they should, and look at WUAB in Cleveland.

[Rusty Muck 4378]

MyTV hasn't been a network for six years now... it only provides additional programming inventory for stations that are independent in all but name. Think of PTEN from the early 90s, only with reruns instead of original dramas. The service also exists so as to provide a unified branding and prime time programming for Fox's junior duopoly partners (sans KCOP) that won't cannibalize Fox's prime time lineup.

 

MyTV wasn't what Fox and the affiliates originally envisioned for it to be, but it does serve a purpose.

[Mrtraveler01 738]

Remind me again how NBC is going to be relevant in Boston? It's not going to work with a Manchester, New Hampshire signal. They are wasting their time and money.

 

You'd think they'd learn after what they did to KRON in the Bay Area. They were the #1 station in the market until NBC bailed on them for KNTV. Now KNTV and KRON are toward the bottom in the ratings.

[mardek1995 200]

You'd think they'd learn after what they did to KRON in the Bay Area. They were the #1 station in the market until NBC bailed on them for KNTV. Now KNTV and KRON are toward the bottom in the ratings.

KNTV's ratings have improved since then. The same can't be said for KRON, in fact, their viewership dropped tremendously since then

[caliwxdude 254]

They were the #1 station in the market until NBC bailed on them for KNTV. Now KNTV and KRON are toward the bottom in the ratings.

 

Ugh, the KRONic topic...

 

KRON is irrelevant. KNTV is not. NBC is fine in the SF market.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

In my opinion, I would rather see WHDH as NBC O&O. Ansin better work it out with NBCUniversal otherwise there's going to be a lot of angry viewers in the

months to come.

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/boston-stations-cover-nbc-affiliation-change/161425

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/ed-ansin-nbc-boston-not-in-the-publics-interest/161427

[mardek1995 200]

In my opinion, I would rather see WHDH as NBC O&O. Ansin better work it out with NBCUniversal otherwise there's going to be a lot of angry viewers in the

months to come.

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/boston-stations-cover-nbc-affiliation-change/161425

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/ed-ansin-nbc-boston-not-in-the-publics-interest/161427

I'd rather WLVI be an NBC O&O than WHDH or especially WNEU. Then WHDH can become the nation's most successful independent station

[24994J 5585]

Seeing as I have no horse in this race (like most on here, actually), I'm going to put my hard-earned internet funny money down on NBC pulling this off. Don't ask me how, I just think they'll figure this all out.

[News 9 Viewer 100]

Ugh, the KRONic topic...

 

THIS

 

Why the fuck does everybody on this site obsess over KRON? Everybody acts like what happened to KRON was a great tragedy. It wasn't. KRON was merely a good station, not a great one. With their roots in the city's leading newspaper and being locally owned by the DeYoung family, they should have been the market's uber dominant station, the west coast's answer to WSB (long owned by Atlanta Journal-Constitution publishers Cox Enterprises). But they were only #1 when NBC was #1, having neither the no nonsense approach of KGO, the happy talk of KPIX, nor the localism of KTVU.

 

When Young Broadcasting overpaid for KRON in 2000, eventually leading to them going bankrupt, they signed both their death certificate and that of KRON.

 

NBC, on the other hand, paid a fraction of what Young paid for KRON to take KNTV off the hands of absentee owner Granite Broadcasting and built it up from a station focused on the South Bay to a station that serves all of the Bay Area.

 

To put it briefly, KRON was a good station that became irrelevant, unable to endure their owner's self inflicted financial troubles and the loss of a major network affiliation. Unfortunate? Yes. Tragic? Hardly.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

WHDH pulls out the big guns in bid to stay on NBC.

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/whdh-pulls-out-the-big-guns-in-bid-to-stay-nbc/161486

 

And while we're on the subject, this is just like ABC pulling the affiliation from Jacksonville's WJKS (Now WCWJ) in the late 90s.

[johnothy 43]

The over the air argument doesn't really work. WJAR NBC 10 in Providence has a signal that decently covers Boston and south, so NBC will still be available over the air despite WNEU's signal location. WJAR broadcasts at nearly 1,000kw UHF, while WNEU is only 80kw. I can't think WNEU would be easily picked up at only 80kw...regardless, according to FCC digital coverage maps, NBC would be provided over the air with a signal.

[rkolsen 1684]

THIS

 

Why the fuck does everybody on this site obsess over KRON? .

 

You know I rarely see KRON topics. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention.

[mardek1995 200]

THIS

 

Why the fuck does everybody on this site obsess over KRON? Everybody acts like what happened to KRON was a great tragedy. It wasn't. KRON was merely a good station, not a great one. With their roots in the city's leading newspaper and being locally owned by the DeYoung family, they should have been the market's uber dominant station, the west coast's answer to WSB (long owned by Atlanta Journal-Constitution publishers Cox Enterprises). But they were only #1 when NBC was #1, having neither the no nonsense approach of KGO, the happy talk of KPIX, nor the localism of KTVU.

 

When Young Broadcasting overpaid for KRON in 2000, eventually leading to them going bankrupt, they signed both their death certificate and that of KRON.

 

NBC, on the other hand, paid a fraction of what Young paid for KRON to take KNTV off the hands of absentee owner Granite Broadcasting and built it up from a station focused on the South Bay to a station that serves all of the Bay Area.

 

To put it briefly, KRON was a good station that became irrelevant, unable to endure their owner's self inflicted financial troubles and the loss of a major network affiliation. Unfortunate? Yes. Tragic? Hardly.

It's because what happened to KRON was a great tragedy. And it was the west coast's answer to WSB, and unlike what you said, KRON wasn't only #1 because NBC, as a network, was, though that was one of the main reasons (and the most well known one too). However, WJXT was the real answer to WSB because even without an affiliation it still stands strong and fared better than KRON did. And I'm willing to bet that WHDH will be a as strong of an independent station as WJXT is and not as weak of one as KRON was before affiliating with mynetworktv.

 

The over the air argument doesn't really work. WJAR NBC 10 in Providence has a signal that decently covers Boston and south, so NBC will still be available over the air despite WNEU's signal location. WJAR broadcasts at nearly 1,000kw UHF, while WNEU is only 80kw. I can't think WNEU would be easily picked up at only 80kw...regardless, according to FCC digital coverage maps, NBC would be provided over the air with a signal.

When you put it that way, WNEU can be an NBC O&O and brand itself as NBC New Hamshire, and NBC can go ahead and buy WJAR back and either keep the NBC 10 branding or rebrand it as NBC Southern New England. I still prefer NBC buying WLVI over WNEU though.

[A3N 1002]

It's because what happened to KRON was a great tragedy. And it was the west coast's answer to WSB, and unlike what you said, KRON wasn't only #1 because NBC, as a network, was, though that was one of the main reasons (and the most well known one too). However, WJXT was the real answer to WSB because even without an affiliation it still stands strong and fared better than KRON did. And I'm willing to bet that WHDH will be a as strong of an independent station as WJXT is and not as weak of one as KRON was before affiliating with mynetworktv.

 

 

When you put it that way, WNEU can be an NBC O&O and brand itself as NBC New Hamshire, and NBC can go ahead and buy WJAR back and either keep the NBC 10 branding or rebrand it as NBC Southern New England. I still prefer NBC buying WLVI over WNEU though.

Please stop with these far-fetched scenarios. The new station will be branded as NBC Boston, not NBC New Hampshire. Go back a few pages so you can see what the new logo will look like.

[mre29 1537]

Please stop with these far-fetched scenarios. The new station will be branded as NBC Boston, not NBC New Hampshire. Go back a few pages so you can see what the new logo will look like.

 

That shouldn't stop us from having a bit of fun with the idea.

 

A honest question: Considering that WNEU's signal does mostly cover New Hampshire (regardless of its studios being in Newton), could there be pressure on NBC Boston to provide greater coverage of New Hampshire news than an NBC-owned WHDH would provide?

[24994J 5585]

That shouldn't stop us from having a bit of fun with the idea.

 

A honest question: Considering that WNEU's signal does mostly cover New Hampshire (regardless of its studios being in Newton), could there be pressure on NBC Boston to provide greater coverage of New Hampshire news than an NBC-owned WHDH would provide?

That's definitely something they could look into, which would certainly help their numbers in that region.

[Weeters 1916]

The over the air argument doesn't really work. WJAR NBC 10 in Providence has a signal that decently covers Boston and south, so NBC will still be available over the air despite WNEU's signal location. WJAR broadcasts at nearly 1,000kw UHF, while WNEU is only 80kw. I can't think WNEU would be easily picked up at only 80kw...regardless, according to FCC digital coverage maps, NBC would be provided over the air with a signal.

 

That's a very poor argument. Just because a signal is "supposed to" cover an area doesn't mean it does. Besides, didn't everyone on here whine about NBC using this excuse to yank WMGN's affiliation?

 

Between this and WMGN, NBC is starting to look like a bully and worse, a monopoly. The government may not look too kindly on the fact they have now "ended" two affiliations in a way that would favor their own stations twice in two years.

 

I completely expect a lawsuit (if not some SEC investigation) to be brought against Comcast before this is over.

[RetroCirq 148]

Hope I don't get banned for it, but here's a video I did highlighting everything that has happened. Entitled my RET2 Cents.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTgTbJVheEA

[johnothy 43]

That's a very poor argument. Just because a signal is "supposed to" cover an area doesn't mean it does. Besides, didn't everyone on here whine about NBC using this excuse to yank WMGN's affiliation?

 

Most of the Providence stations easily reach Boston with city-grade coverage and vice vera with Boston reaching Providence with city-grade signals as well. Because of this and FCC ownership rules at the time, CBS/Westinghouse had to sell WPRI in Providence in 1996 due to the overlapping signal coverage with WBZ which became a CBS O&O.

[Rusty Muck 4378]

WHDH pulls out the big guns in bid to stay on NBC.

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/whdh-pulls-out-the-big-guns-in-bid-to-stay-nbc/161486

Don't dismiss Sen. Ed Markey's comments. Last thing you want is for the politicians (especially a formerly long-serving representative of the Boston region) to not be on your side.

 

I second with Weeters that this has the likelihood of blowing up in lawsuits and legal hell. While WMGM's owners didn't have the resources to put up a fight, Ed Ansin does, and then some. Remember how Ed forced NBC to run WTVJ as a CBS affiliate for 15 months because he refused to end WSVN's NBC affiliation early? NBC took him to court, and he prevailed!

 

It is also not the first time that NBC has come on the wrong side of an extortion case. KYW, anyone?

[MidwestTV 1232]

Frankly, this situation has become so dramatic and filled with so much contradictory information and so much "he-said-she-said" blabber, that I've nearly lost all interest in the story.

 

NBC is so obsessed with WHDH and Boston that it's unhealthy. Unhealthy to the point that if NBC was a person, it would be suggested that they go and get help for it. They're also acting like spoiled brats that will go out and make a brash, sudden, stupid decision for the sake of "showing them who's boss."

 

Ansin is more stubborn than a cat whose owner is trying to take it out for a walk on a leash.

 

The whole thing doesn't even concern me, someone who is half the country away from Boston. It's interesting to see it unfold, yes, but more for the drama of it all.

[ToriElectra 292]

Frankly, this situation has become so dramatic and filled with so much contradictory information and so much "he-said-she-said" blabber, that I've nearly lost all interest in the story.

 

NBC is so obsessed with WHDH and Boston that it's unhealthy. Unhealthy to the point that if NBC was a person, it would be suggested that they go and get help for it. They're also acting like spoiled brats that will go out and make a brash, sudden, stupid decision for the sake of "showing them who's boss."

 

Ansin is more stubborn than a cat whose owner is trying to take it out for a walk on a leash.

 

The whole thing doesn't even concern me, someone who is half the country away from Boston. It's interesting to see it unfold, yes, but more for the drama of it all.

Yeah, I'm on your side with the whole "not giving a crap" and "watch them fight like they're on Jerry Springer" thing going down.

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

KRON really set a precedent of a network's power to strip away an affiliation and to require somewhat extreme measures to do so....all while the affected station had no other network to turn to.

 

Now we could see the consequences of a network that's owned by a cable company that should have NEVER EVER have grown to it's size. Vertical integration at its finest. Broadcasting be damned....

[A3N 1002]

This whole situation was not concocted overnight. The sour relationship between Ansin and NBC goes wayyyyy back. The writing has been on the wall for YEARS. Ed shouldn't be surprised, he's known about NBC's plans/desires in the Boston market. Isn't that why he purchased WLVI from Tribune, to keep NBC from getting it???

 

It's easy to hate on Comcast because of the bad reputation they have. At the end of the day, they are a business first and foremost. If people want to stick to them, then the easiest way to do it is where it hurts them the most... the pocketbook.

 

People need to keep in mind that Comcast isn't eliminating the NBC broadcast network from the market. Will the viewing options change and be more difficult due to a change in stations? absolutely. But I can't imagine that they're not making contingency plans just in case they aren't able to purchase WHDH.

 

What will happen if/when CBS takes the CW affiliation in house to WSBK? Will people bitch and complain then, about a big network taking an affiliation away from a local owner as well?