WHDH, "Independent" edition

[nomadcowatbk 144]

[nomadcowatbk 144]

Extra seems like another show that the peacock may try and pluck away from WHDH.

 

Ansin should take a page from KUSI's playbook and apply that model if he wants to be a successful independent. He could start by having increased High School sports coverage...

 

high school sports might work as cheap filler but are high school sports really that popular New England like they are in small town Kansas?

[nomadcowatbk 144]

That explains Trump.

 

you would think the Fox stations in the small markets that where Trump won the biggest would get many viewers hoping for "fair and balanced" local news

[A3N 996]

high school sports might work as cheap filler but are high school sports really that popular New England like they are in small town Kansas?

Well it's certainly worth a shot to try. Many people didn't think that KUSI's Prep Pickskin Report on Friday nights would be so popular, but close to 20 years later, the program is going strong and virtually every high schooler in the county knows about it.

 

Ansin's problem is that he's too stubborn. Instead of coming up with a strong contingency plan for losing the NBC affiliation, he decided to fight Comcast, knowing full well that it was a long shot. He took the easy way out in programming more news for his station. He's known for almost a year now that he was losing NBC, why didn't he boost his syndication acquisition in early 2016 to get WHDH ready as an independent? If he starts to lose a lot of money and viewers, it won't all be because of the lack of an affiliation, rather due to his stubbornness and inability to adapt to changes.

[bostonmediaguy 123]

high school sports might work as cheap filler but are high school sports really that popular New England like they are in small town Kansas?

 

No. Professional sports rules here. High school is nothing like it is in the south. Even college sports are not as popular as elsewhere even for the higher-ed mecca that is Boston. (There are two exceptions, both specific events: The Beanpot hockey tournament in February and the Harvard-Yale football game in November.)

[newsbot 269]

high school sports might work as cheap filler but are high school sports really that popular New England like they are in small town Kansas?

Mike Lynch on Channel 5 does his weekly "High 5" stories about local high school teams, but you don't see WCVB covering HS sports beyond that.

[GroupWBZ 73]

(There are two exceptions, both specific events: The Beanpot hockey tournament in February and the Harvard-Yale football game in November.)

 

And even then that's still a niche following on both accounts. Neither are appointment television like Patriots are every Sunday.

[ABC 7 Denver 1562]

you would think the Fox stations in the small markets that where Trump won the biggest would get many viewers hoping for "fair and balanced" local news

 

Those stations are typically Sinclair and Nexstar owned.

[newsbot 269]

Well, WHDH has something to crow about - solid ratings on January 2nd in the money demo. Can't read too much into the numbers, of course; this is the very definition of "small sample size."

http://www.newenglandone.com/news/local/boston/strong-start-for-whdh-as-independent-news-station.html

[mre29 1343]

Am I the only one who's noticed that WLVI still has the 10pm news, only now it's simulcast on WHDH? I wonder how long that's going to continue. I imagine the folks at WFXT are not happy about it, since it looks like WHDH is cheating at ratings.

[TheRolyPoly 1847]

Am I the only one who's noticed that WLVI still has the 10pm news, only now it's simulcast on WHDH? I wonder how long that's going to continue. I imagine the folks at WFXT are not happy about it, since it looks like WHDH is cheating at ratings.

 

Don't worry, I've noticed as well. I guess its to keep up with tradition of having a 10pm newscast on WLVI since its been around on that station since forever it feels like.

[nomadcowatbk 144]

Those stations are typically Sinclair and Nexstar owned.

 

do they have FNC style "fair and balanced" news?

[mrschimpf 2065]

Don't worry, I've noticed as well. I guess its to keep up with tradition of having a 10pm newscast on WLVI since its been around on that station since forever it feels like.

 

I wouldn't doubt that if it doesn't do well during this month and February even with the Pats that we'll be seeing a whole lot of 'special' notations in the Nielsens to try to muddy the waters. If there's one thing that annoys me about local Nielsens is how liberal stations can use that 'special' notation to exclude bad days.

[Rusty Muck 4225]

Here's an answer to the original question, "why is WSVN able to continue calling its morning newscast 'Today in Florida?'"

 

Turns out it was a preemptive strike by Ed Ansin during Sunbeam's nasty breakup with NBC that spilled out into the courtroom months after the fact.

 

NBC GETS PETTY

 

There's no excuse, however, for some of the petty moves NBC has pulled since the divorce was finalized. Just as WSVN was getting on its feet as an independent, it received a letter from NBC ordering it to cease and desist calling its morning wake-up show Today in Florida.

 

The network contended this infringed on the good name of its Today Show, and could confuse the audience. Sure, and people take vacations to Hollywood, Fla., all the time thinking they are going to visit studios and run into movie stars.

 

Let's just suppose NBC was within its rights. Considering the circumstances of the breakup, wouldn't it have been big of the network to say, "Hey, WSVN was always square with us, and it really got shafted in this deal. Why don't we just let this slide. How much harm can them calling their show Today in Florida do us?"

 

But NBC chose to be small.

That's what made it all the more delicious when it turned out WSVN had a trademark on the name of its program, and didn't have to surrender it.

And now you know.

[TriangleTriadMediaNews 267]

Wonder if WHDH would pick up some BoSox games this year?

[GroupWBZ 73]

Wonder if WHDH would pick up some BoSox games this year?

 

Unfortunately for 'HDH this will never happen because NESN is owned by the Red Sox so they're give up any games outside of the ones that get broadcast nationally.

[TheRolyPoly 1847]

Here's an answer to the original question, "why is WSVN able to continue calling its morning newscast 'Today in Florida?'"

 

Turns out it was a preemptive strike by Ed Ansin during Sunbeam's nasty breakup with NBC that spilled out into the courtroom months after the fact.

 

 

And now you know.

 

Wow! That's interesting. Thanks for finding that! I never knew that and now I know. Love finding tidbits about WSVN (that's why I'm WSVNFan. I love The News Station).

[nomadcowatbk 144]

Unfortunately for 'HDH this will never happen because NESN is owned by the Red Sox so they're give up any games outside of the ones that get broadcast nationally.

 

when does the deal end?

[A3N 996]

when does the deal end?

The deal doesn't end. The team owns the network, thus can continue to air the games until they either sell the channel or sell some games out to a different entity (not likely to happen). The Red Sox/NESN will be very reluctant to sell some games to another entity as that will definitely reduce the amount they can charge the tv providers for the channel.

 

and I believe Comcast and FOX have offered to buy NESN in the past, but Werner/Henry refused.

[TriangleTriadMediaNews 267]

[quote name='GroupWBZ']Unfortunately for 'HDH this will never happen because NESN is owned by the Red Sox so they're give up any games outside of the ones that get broadcast nationally.[/QUOTE] Even in terms of a simulcast? Here in DC, WUSA has rights to about 15 Nats games a year that still get aired on the main MASN feed, I believe WJZ has a similar deal w/ the Orioles. @rkolsen it's still WJZ that has it, right?

[rkolsen 1679]

[quote name='TriangleTriadMediaNews']Even in terms of a simulcast? Here in DC, WUSA has rights to about 15 games a year that still get aired on the main MASN feed, I believe WJZ has a similar deal w/ the Orioles. @rkolsen it's still WJZ that has it, right?[/QUOTE] As far as I know.

[GroupWBZ 73]

[quote name='TriangleTriadMediaNews']Even in terms of a simulcast? Here in DC, WUSA has rights to about 15 Nats games a year that still get aired on the main MASN feed, I believe WJZ has a similar deal w/ the Orioles. @rkolsen it's still WJZ that has it, right?[/QUOTE] I've never seen it happen. The last time I remember anyone outside of NESN or the national networks (FOX, TBS, etc.) broadcasting Red Sox games locally was when WFXT produced a handful of games, but that hasn't been for at least 10 years.

[kdex86 48]

I've never seen it happen. The last time I remember anyone outside of NESN or the national networks (FOX, TBS, etc.) broadcasting Red Sox games locally was when WFXT produced a handful of games, but that hasn't been for at least 10 years.

 

The last time Red Sox games were available OTA was in 2005, when WSBK aired Friday night games. Starting with the 2006 season, all non-national games moved to NESN:

http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/01/29/for_unlucky_ones_sox_out_of_sight/

[A3N 996]

[quote name='TriangleTriadMediaNews']Even in terms of a simulcast? Here in DC, WUSA has rights to about 15 Nats games a year that still get aired on the main MASN feed, I believe WJZ has a similar deal w/ the Orioles. @rkolsen it's still WJZ that has it, right?[/QUOTE] They can simulcast, but why would they? It will only dilute viewership from NESN, thus affecting how much they could charge for the channel. Also, the situation with MASN is different since the Orioles and Nationals co-own the network, with Baltimore having a controlling interest in it. Orioles owner Peter Angelos purposefully keeps the channel price down for MASN in order to pay the Nationals less money... basically, he's not looking to extract full monetary value from his network, the Red Sox (and every other MLB team are).

[newsbot 269]

WHDH took full advantage of its independent status in coverage of the Ft. Lauderdale shooting this afternoon. They talked to local officials about the implications of the shooting and preparedness in handling a similar scenario at Logan or some other regional airport. And of course, the shooting happened in sister station WSVN's backyard.