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WRAL loses CBS affiliation effective next month


bostonmediaguy

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You are going to see a wave of this as agreements expire. All details will be withheld from you except for what is required by the FCC filings....and that is not much.

 

Stations and networks are going to be playing hardball as the tides are turning.

Wow, CBS is going to be biting themselves after this...and really WNCN was the only place they could go, since Fox was already with WRAL's sister station and ABC has an O&O. Unless Media General pulled a fast one and snatched the CBS affiliation away, knowing MG is one of CBS's strongest owners.

 

As for WILM-LD, I'm thinking it disappears. Does WECT have room for CBS on 6.2?

The question is....who made the deal go through.....Media General using their muscle (as a larger company) to steal away CBS, or Capitol to finally give NBC a strong affiliation (after the decades of disaster they dealt with WPTF/WRDC and NBC ITSELF upending the affiliation over to WYED to become WNCN...)

 

Personally, unless WRAL was muscled out of CBS, I think WRAL screwed up royally and CBS will suffer the consequences of losing one of their top affiliates.

Man..with all of the big stories that's been happening, case in point, WKPT losing ABC affiliation, WHDH losing NBC, Media General soon to merge with Nexstar (unless Meredith has anything to say about it) and above all else, the upcoming spectrum auction, there's no telling what the future of broadcasting would be like as 2016 gets under way.

The question is....who made the deal go through.....Media General using their muscle (as a larger company) to steal away CBS, or Capitol to finally give NBC a strong affiliation (after the decades of disaster they dealt with WPTF/WRDC and NBC ITSELF upending the affiliation over to WYED to become WNCN...)

 

Personally, unless WRAL was muscled out of CBS, I think WRAL screwed up royally and CBS will suffer the consequences of losing one of their top affiliates.

 

Media General is one of the top CBS owners, especially after any deal with Meredith, meaning they would have a lot more clout in the market, despite having a 3rd place operation versus the dominant one.

 

Maybe MG and NBC are having trouble right now?

Media General is one of the top CBS owners, especially after any deal with Meredith, meaning they would have a lot more clout in the market, despite having a 3rd place operation versus the dominant one.

 

Maybe MG and NBC are having trouble right now?

Isn't TEGNA also one of the top CBS owners?

 

And if wouldn't KXAN switch to CBS sometime soon as well?

Isn't TEGNA also one of the top CBS owners?

 

And if wouldn't KXAN switch to CBS sometime soon as well?

 

That's correct. Not sure how well their relationships are, I know NBC and Tegna get along well. CBS has poor relations with Scripps and Hearst though...

FWIW Poynter put out an article titled "WRAL drops CBS affiliation as networks put the squeeze on local markets".

And that article says WNCN is in Greensboro. It's actually licensed to Goldsboro.

That's correct. Not sure how well their relationships are, I know NBC and Tegna get along well. CBS has poor relations with Scripps and Hearst though...

About NBC and TEGNA getting along well, this even extends as small as the Waco/College Station market. And ABC has a surprisingly good relationship with Sinclair, and so does Fox.

TVNewsCheck is reporting that it was Capitol's inability to renew with CBS.....

 

This is an interesting 180 considering their pre-buying spree station (pre-2013) affiliations were almost entirely CBS and NBC stations (except for WJBF)....and that they purchased FOUR O&Os....and the only one that is still with NBC (for now?) is WCMH (since WVTM and WJAR have been sold off or swapped).

That's correct. Not sure how well their relationships are, I know NBC and Tegna get along well. CBS has poor relations with Scripps and Hearst though...

Until last year's merger with Journal, Scripps had ZERO CBS affiliates in their portfolio.

Media General is one of the top CBS owners, especially after any deal with Meredith, meaning they would have a lot more clout in the market, despite having a 3rd place operation versus the dominant one.

 

Maybe MG and NBC are having trouble right now?

 

Media General renewed it's NBC affiliations (except WNCN) today.

 

That said, WBNS isn't safe from losing their affiliation... it just got punted another year. WTTE's affiliation agreement with Fox expires at the same time as WBNS's with CBS, Next December, and that is the kind of thing Sinclair (or "Cunningham") would do.

I'm not sure if this has changed but is WILM still simulcasting some newscasts while they produce weather segments aimed at Wilmington and how will that affect them?

 

Yes... sales is handled locally, while WRAL's morning, 6:00 and 11:00 news are simulcast. Wilmington weather inserts and CBS This Morning news cut-ins are produced by WRAL.

I wouldn't be surprised to see WBNS switch with WCMH after hearing this....

Given the histories of channels 4 and 10 (which have had the same affiliations since day one) that would be much, much bigger than this affiliation switch is.

Media General is one of the top CBS owners, especially after any deal with Meredith, meaning they would have a lot more clout in the market, despite having a 3rd place operation versus the dominant one.

 

Maybe MG and NBC are having trouble right now?

 

IMO this has everything to with CBS and little if anything to do with NBC. NBC is just collateral.

 

CBS likely wanted to strong-arm WRAL into more money, hoping WRAL would blink. It didn't. So it rang up MG and they probably jumped at the chance to have the higher-rated network on WNCN (really CBS's only choice in that market). So it was only logical for NBC to move to its only viable choice...WRAL.

 

Remember: MG is the one who got screwed out of CBS on WISH. Clearly no hard feelings in business...

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