Boston TV crisis: WHDH and WNEU

[NEOMatrix 1295]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

So, in other words, NBC is going to destroy a number one news organization to fulfill its O&O fetish?!? Is your friend on that stuff?!?

[CircleSeven 1945]

So, in other words, NBC is going to destroy a number one news organization to fulfill its O&O fetish?!? Is your friend on that stuff?!?

 

That's what I was thinking.

[NEOMatrix 1295]

CHCH in Hamilton ON had about 83 hours per week (the vast majority on the weekdays; it was all-news from 4am to 7pm).

 

I say HAD because last December, CHCH News' owners, Channel 11, LP, declared bankruptcy, fired the majority of reporters/anchors, cancelled all of the rolling news blocks and set up a different shell company to run the station... now they only run 20 hours of news on weekdays and is managed by Channel Zero itself.

 

Now, most of the Tribune stations lead the pack with overall news output per week... especially WGN-TV, WJW and WXIN/WTTV. WJW has close to 67 hours per week.

FIXED!

[A3N 996]

That Hearst rumor seems possible, but IMO would cause a lot of problems for both companies--and others as well. All for what? An O&O in Boston? Who knows, maybe it's a negotiation tactic by NBC to get Ed to sell WHDH... Then again, knowing that WCVB would flip to NBC, would only lead Ed to wait things out to snatch the ABC affiliation for WHDH.

 

There are some simpler ways that NBC can go, in order to get that O&O in Boston. Not sure why they would take the path to most resistance...

[TheRolyPoly 1847]

Okay... that's new but I won't freak out just yet since nothing is confirmed. Until something IS confirmed, then I'll just let this go through.

[mardek1995 200]

Okay... that's new but I won't freak out just yet since nothing is confirmed. Until something IS confirmed, then I'll just let this go through.

You know, I get tired of rumors on this site, but seeing as how it has little influence in the tv industry, there's really little to no other choice

[mre29 1345]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

 

That....makes absolutely NO sense at all. Why would Hearst let go of one of its HIGHEST-RATED stations (and in a top-10 market, to boot), let alone trade it for stations in two smaller markets that aren't ratings leaders?

[mardek1995 200]

You know, I get tired of rumors on this site, but seeing as how it has little influence in the tv industry, there's really little to no other choice

 

That....makes absolutely NO sense at all. Why would Hearst let go of one of its HIGHEST-RATED stations (and in a top-10 market, to boot), let alone trade it for stations in two smaller markets that aren't ratings leaders?

See what I mean?

[The Frog 396]

See what I mean?

 

You sure as hell aren't contributing anything better.

[Rusty Muck 4251]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

The water down there in Rio must be really f***ed up. (Kidding! Kinda...)

 

I won't dismiss it, but golly... that would be along the lines of dropping a Fox-New World sized bomb on the national television scene.

 

Here are Hearst's ABC affiliates:

WTAE Pittsburgh

KOCO Oklahoma City

WISN-TV Milwaukee

KHBS/KHOG Fort Smith

WAPT Jackson, Mississippi

KMBC Kansas City, Missouri

KETV Omaha

KOAT Albuquerque - Santa Fe

WPBF West Palm Beach

WJCL Savannah

... and the aforementioned WCVB, WMUR and WMTW.

 

Plus, given the major financial issues surrounding ESPN (due to nationwide cord-cutting trends) it's possible that Hearst might want to finally cut their 20% stake.

[Rusty Muck 4251]

So, in other words, NBC is going to destroy a number one news organization to fulfill its O&O fetish?!? Is your friend on that stuff?!?

Look at how they forced the infamous KYW trade. And their purchase of WCAU that forced them to give up KCNC, KUTV and WTVJ's channel 4 license just to satisfy tax considerations. And buying WTVJ a full 18 months before their CBS affiliation (and, concurrently, WSVN's NBC affiliation) could expire.

 

So, yes, it is possible. Not probable, but possible.

[TSSZNews 1046]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

 

....

 

Nope.

 

Even if this made sense, Tegna is *the* largest owner of NBC affiliates and screwing WCSH (and I imagine WLBZ down the road) would be a very, very bad thing--to a point where I think they would consider courting ABC to flip KARE and KUSA.

 

Not to mention this would almost certainly mean a painful talent cut at CVB in favor of NECN talent/production, the likes of which I doubt either end could recover from.

 

The only part of this that could remotely resemble truth would be Hearst selling its stake in ESPN, but I think they can just do that anyway, independent of any deal (and they probably will down the road if cord-cutting becomes big and ESPN doesn't figure out how to play well in OTT delivery.)

 

Hartford and San Diego are strategic secondary markets for NBC that I can't see them letting go.

 

Just pay Hearst what they want for 5.2, NBC. Really.

[mrschimpf 2070]

I can't see Hearst undercutting many of its ABC affiliates just to give up its Boston crown jewel. Remember, they definitely exercised the right of first refusal with Metromedia so we never even got anywhere near Fox 5 Boston. And Scripps is just beginning to repair the damage Journal did to their flagships in Milwaukee and Green Bay; with NBC they get guaranteed in-season Packers games and with WLUK taking the ESPN games for multiple seasons, giving up NBC to WBAY for ABC would kill WGBA and WACY with them praying every year for 10-6 seasons so the Pack gets an ESPN wild card game (they're major anomalies among the ABC-heavy Scripps slate, but still). WISN is so wed to ABC that most viewers have never even known it was a CBS affiliate in the 60's, and NBC cutting a gold standard charter affiliation with WTMJ? It would make the New World switch in the Milwaukee market/WDJT look like a switch with This for H&I in comparison.

 

I agree; lease a subchannel or just pay spectrum ++ for WBPX or WMPF. If Fox was almost willing to do it in Seattle with a literal infomercial pipe near Vancouver, it shouldn't be an issue with NBC. Don't put the future health of Hearst or Scripps in danger because one market can't decide where to put an affiliation.

[mardek1995 200]

You sure as hell aren't contributing anything better.

Neither are you or anyone else, and that's why I tried to start an activist blog for the tv industry, but I had to cancel all plans for it once I found out that none of us can do anything about the tv industry, so to any outsider reading this, its up to you to make the difference for we can only gossip and go insane from the m&a craze (this thread being one of the examples)

[Rusty Muck 4251]

Having thought it over for the past few hours... that scenario makes even less sense than before (not that it made any sense).

 

Hearst selling off their stake in ESPN is probably going to happen at some point in time, but that is nowhere near going to compensate Disney/ABC for the potential damage inflicted on ABC with the wave of affiliation switches nationwide. The list of affected stations is pretty darn long... it's not like Hearst only has just five ABC affiliates. Even with giving up KNSD and WVIT this deal is ridiculously lopsided in NBC's favor.

 

ABC doesn't buy stations, but they are exceptionally protective of their affiliates. That's why they forced Scripps to affiliate most of their legacy stations with ABC so WXYZ and WEWS didn't defect to CBS. If this rumor is true, I would expect them to respond somehow (assuming some right of first refusal doesn't exist in the current contracts). They will not tolerate losing WTAE, KMBC and WISN, let alone WCVB et al.

 

Either the source drank tainted water in Rio... or the source drank tainted water in Rio.

[mardek1995 200]

Having thought it over for the past few hours... that scenario makes even less sense than before (not that it made any sense).

 

Hearst selling off their stake in ESPN is probably going to happen at some point in time, but that is nowhere near going to compensate Disney/ABC for the potential damage inflicted on ABC with the wave of affiliation switches nationwide. The list of affected stations is pretty darn long... it's not like Hearst only has just five ABC affiliates. Even with giving up KNSD and WVIT this deal is ridiculously lopsided in NBC's favor.

 

ABC doesn't buy stations, but they are exceptionally protective of their affiliates. That's why they forced Scripps to affiliate most of their legacy stations with ABC so WXYZ and WEWS didn't defect to CBS. If this rumor is true, I would expect them to respond somehow (assuming some right of first refusal doesn't exist in the current contracts). They will not tolerate losing WTAE, KMBC and WISN, let alone WCVB et al.

 

Either the source drank tainted water in Rio... or the source drank tainted water in Rio.

How would you know that? Do you work in the tv industry?

[Eat News 4738]

How would you know that? Do you work in the tv industry?

 

You should google his last name. It might give you a BIG clue.

Sinner.

[cna247 173]

ABC doesn't buy stations, but they are exceptionally protective of their affiliates. That's why they forced Scripps to affiliate most of their legacy stations with ABC so WXYZ and WEWS didn't defect to CBS. If this rumor is true, I would expect them to respond somehow (assuming some right of first refusal doesn't exist in the current contracts). They will not tolerate losing WTAE, KMBC and WISN, let alone WCVB et al.

 

I think you have your history wrong. Back when WJBK switched to Fox, CBS was left without an affiliate, and began wooing other stations, including WXYZ (hence why ABC bought WJRT in Flint and WTVG in Toledo as backups). Scripps told ABC if they wanted ABC to stay on WXYZ, they had to agree/allow all of Scripps stations (with exception of KC and WPB) to affiliate with ABC.

Scripps strong armed ABC, not the other way around (think about it, why would ABC downgrade in Baltimore and Tampa).

[mre29 1345]

So, here's a thought I had: What if all of this started not because NBC wanted an O&O in Boston, but because they simply wanted to get off of WHDH?

[BostonMediaWatch 1]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

 

Absolutely 0 chance of this happening. ABC and WCVB have a long term affiliation deal until 2020. It's also been made clear that NBC wants an O&O in Boston, not another affiliate. So having WCVB on NBC would be an affiliate not an O&O. Plus, WCVB is Hearst's top station, no way they would sell it.

[PAnderson1 27]

Yeah I can't really see NBC giving up WVIT and KNSD especially since they invested so much money in the two stations within the last 10 years. They've both gotten new buildings, WVIT has gotten 2 new weather vehicles, and WVIT still is creeping up on long dominant 1st place station, WFSB.

[Rusty Muck 4251]

So, here's a thought I had: What if all of this started not because NBC wanted an O&O in Boston, but because they simply wanted to get off of WHDH?

NBC would never say that publicly. But given the long track record with Sunbeam and the lack of any other station in the market to affiliate with or purchase...

 

The second that Ed Ansin threw up the court challenge, NBC should have gone upfront to the general public and explained why they made this move, and that "although WNEU's signal has flaws, we will work with those affected to make sure you won't risk losing NBC programming." Something ridiculously simple, no?

 

Instead they let Ansin take the PR offensive, just like WSVN in 1988 (to the point where WSVN celebrated their NBC disaffiliation as "our independence day"). Even though he has little chance to replicate his success with WSVN at WHDH, this court fight he can't win and won't win is making him look like a hometown hero.

 

Again, there was a reason why NBC bought a long-standing CBS affiliate in WTVJ with a full two years remaining on their affiliation contract with WSVN. They really wanted off of WSVN that badly.

[Rusty Muck 4251]

I think you have your history wrong. Back when WJBK switched to Fox, CBS was left without an affiliate, and began wooing other stations, including WXYZ (hence why ABC bought WJRT in Flint and WTVG in Toledo as backups). Scripps told ABC if they wanted ABC to stay on WXYZ, they had to agree/allow all of Scripps stations (with exception of KC and WPB) to affiliate with ABC.

Scripps strong armed ABC, not the other way around (think about it, why would ABC downgrade in Baltimore and Tampa).

CBS also was wooing WEWS. The deal was made to keep both WXYZ and WEWS in the ABC fold. And to a point Phoenix could be considered a downgrade.

 

The deal did come with a pretty hefty price for WEWS... they could no longer air "The Morning Exchange" from 8a-10a, which slowly killed off the genre-defining show that was copied by ABC to create GMA. It's arguable that WEWS has never recovered from that.

[mre29 1345]

Again, there was a reason why NBC bought a long-standing CBS affiliate in WTVJ with a full two years remaining on their affiliation contract with WSVN. They really wanted off of WSVN that badly.

 

I'm amazed they stayed with WHDH this long.

[atlnews2 563]

Saw this on Facebook this evening from a gentleman who works in television and is at the Rio Games.....

 

"What I am hearing in Rio is the NBC/Hearst deal is very close to reality. Hearst would swap WCVB to NBC in exchange for San Diego and Hartford and also would make WMUR and WMTW NBC's affiliates. Other markets are involved as well but Hearst in recent years has tended to affiliate with NBC instead of ABC. Gracie this would also mean KMBC becoming the Kansas City affiliate.

 

That would be crushing to Portland, Maine's WCSH which has one of the original NBC chime boxes in their lobby.

 

A major part of the deal is Hearst selling their 20% ownership of ESPN to Disney in return of making all the Hearst ABC stations NBC.

 

I am hearing this from the Hearst people down here."

 

that's more crazy then some of the speculatron stuff I see on this site. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN