Gray Media - General Thread

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

9 hours ago, PTVNews said:

 

I'm not sure if this was ever confirmed or not, but after reading this when posted, I've been on the lookout on KPTV for signs of change.

 

This past week they debuted new mic flags with the brand of "12 News", which is definitely new for them. Still uses similar styling. No other graphical or audible changes. Everyone is still tagging out with "FOX 12 Oregon". I'm guessing this probably is an indication of a larger branding change, (and in my opinion dumb), otherwise why the new mic flags? Maybe trying to introduce it slowly and fade out "FOX" slowly?

 

 

 

They do have an awkward and unwieldy logo (the "12" is much wider than the "Fox") so simplifying it for the mic flag was a good idea.

Portland may also have a strong "anti-Fox" sentiment as well, so the less ties to the national news channel, the better.

 

But if Gray is separating network identity for their affiliates, it may be a very tough sell, especially for their longer-tenured affiliates that have co-branded for decades.

[LTSC1980 114]

When did WPCH-TV launched separate SD feed on 17.4? According to Wikipedia it aired almost same 17.1 content with no local news and CW programming, which is as same as the Canadian cable viewers gets.

Edited June 1, 2024 by LTSC1980

[nathannah 2493]

On 5/28/2024 at 10:41 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

They do have an awkward and unwieldy logo (the "12" is much wider than the "Fox") so simplifying it for the mic flag was a good idea.

Portland may also have a strong "anti-Fox" sentiment as well, so the less ties to the national news channel, the better.

 

But if Gray is separating network identity for their affiliates, it may be a very tough sell, especially for their longer-tenured affiliates that have co-branded for decades.

As someone in a "12 News" in my town with WISN, I can't object to this, it was known as Channel/TV 12 a whole lot longer on Fox, and as you said it's branding poison. At least for their roster of stations that moved to the Fox with the NFL in the 90s and the charters this might be harder to stomach like KVVU, WXIX and WHNS, but after 2000'ers like KPTV with that longboy logo are probably happy to let it go. They've done a great job transitioning WBRC to call letters first so I expect the same care to be taken with some of these stations, though the subs like WGGB-DT2 and WOVA-LD will be a bit harder to reconcile.

[GodfreyGR 685]

As of July 1, Gray seems to be merging their brands in Rapid City. KEVN has dumped "Black Hills Fox" for "KOTA Territory Fox". Both websites redirect to KOTA's which remains unchanged sans any network logo along side it.

 

Honestly thought they would have merged the two brands years ago... Gray has had the duopoly for a decade.

Edited July 2, 2024 by GodfreyGR

[GoldenShine_10 98]

It seems the company has changed its name from "Gray Television" to "Gray Media" - is that an official change or just a branding change?

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 947]

2 hours ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

It seems the company has changed its name from "Gray Television" to "Gray Media" - is that an official change or just a branding change?

Seems to be an official change.  Their website may be gray.tv, but all over the website, they refer to themselves as Gray Media. Not sure when this was done though...

[ABC 7 Denver 1729]

1 hour ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

It seems the company has changed its name from "Gray Television" to "Gray Media" - is that an official change or just a branding change?

 

Late to the party. Should have changed from Gray Communications Systems to Gray Media.

[MD TV 277]

Gray stations in South Carolina are launching Palmetto Sports and Entertainment:

 

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2024/08/01/palmetto-sports-entertainment-launch-statewide-gray-media-stations/

 

Interesting for a state with no major pro sports teams.

[channel2 982]

On 7/20/2024 at 1:36 AM, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Seems to be an official change.  Their website may be gray.tv, but all over the website, they refer to themselves as Gray Media. Not sure when this was done though...

 

Legally they've been "Gray Media Group" for years.

[GoldenShine_10 98]

11 hours ago, MD TV said:

Gray stations in South Carolina are launching Palmetto Sports and Entertainment:

 

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2024/08/01/palmetto-sports-entertainment-launch-statewide-gray-media-stations/

 

Interesting for a state with no major pro sports teams.

 

It might be a boon to get the minor sports, smaller college and high school sports noticed.

 

I wonder how many more of these networks they may launch? And how they would handle states where they are one market short (i.e., Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, West Virginia).

[nathannah 2493]

1 hour ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

It might be a boon to get the minor sports, smaller college and high school sports noticed.

 

I wonder how many more of these networks they may launch? And how they would handle states where they are one market short (i.e., Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, West Virginia).

I still remember when the independent Wazoo Sports Network in Kentucky existed and how that seemed creative back in the late 2000s...but sadly the low-effort Luken networks at the time made subchannel sports coverage seem like a money pit, so they went bankrupt

 

I do like this though, especially as public access stations begin to wind down operations as cable moves to IP-based distribution, and it's become a maze of other online networks and high school YouTube feeds to find games, and as Awful Announcing has cataloged, some of those online networks have personnel with few background checks that seem to hate the teams, sports, or women's sports they're assigned to cover and disregard 'the mic is always hot' liberally. Allowing local sports teams who know broadcasting inside and out and the teams to carry those broadcasts just makes more sense overall.

 

South Carolina is a good high school sports market, so this will work naturally and it's one less repeat feed to have to pay revenue to.

[channel2 982]

Is that why local TV stations hardly ever seem to promote the diginets on their other subchannels?

[NYAZSporty 141]

18 hours ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

It might be a boon to get the minor sports, smaller college and high school sports noticed.

 

I wonder how many more of these networks they may launch? And how they would handle states where they are one market short (i.e., Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, West Virginia).

In regards to Arizona, they do have a station in the one market without a presence, Yuma, KAZS 27. https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/arizonas-family-sports-launches-on-kazs-yuma/

[Megatron81 278]

On 8/1/2024 at 10:08 PM, channel2 said:

Is that why local TV stations hardly ever seem to promote the diginets on their other subchannels?

 

Nexstar when they have Rewind TV never aired promos did for Sportsgrid which only lasted for 13 months fall 2021-2022 on DT3 also just said check local listening's for cable didn't give the channel number. Nexstar doesn't promote the subchannels for Wood TV, WOTV, or WXSP. They did do it when they put The CW on WOTV DT41.2 but I haven't seen it since Jan.    

[Georgie56 3318]

The New Orleans Pelicans are leaving Bally for Gray/WVUE.

[T.L. Hughes 900]

3 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

The New Orleans Pelicans are leaving Bally for Gray/WVUE.

So, that means Bally Sports New Orleans will go bye-bye, since the channel was built around the Pelicans.

 

Since the Oklahoma City Thunder are also among the five NBA teams that it is/was considering dropping before the 2024-25 season starts (the Pelicans were among them), it wouldn’t be the last Bally Sports network centered around a single local major league team that will be on the chopping block, as Bally Sports Oklahoma will likely follow suit, if Griffin becomes the Thunder’s long-term broadcast partner (a couple of Gray stations, including KSCW and KSWO, were among those that carried the games sublicensed to KSBI/KOTV-DT2).

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

I would imagine Gray would start their own regional sports subchannel in Pelicans territory since they have a station in every market that it covers.  This would include the entire state of Louisiana, Coastal and South Mississippi and Mobile.

[T.L. Hughes 900]

12 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I would imagine Gray would start their own regional sports subchannel in Pelicans territory since they have a station in every market that it covers.  This would include the entire state of Louisiana, Coastal and South Mississippi and Mobile.

The Times-Picayune article linked above indicated this is in the works:

Quote

Furthermore, the Pelicans and Gray are in discussions to launch a sports-only, over-the-air TV network on substations in 11 different markets. The Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network could feature live sports programming — not just Pelicans games, but Birmingham Squadron and high school games, too — in addition to other New Orleans Saints and Pelicans digital content.

 

[GoldenShine_10 98]

1 hour ago, T.L. Hughes said:

The Times-Picayune article linked above indicated this is in the works:

 

 

Lafayette is the one market in Louisiana that they are missing.

[nathannah 2493]

16 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

So, that means Bally Sports New Orleans will go bye-bye, since the channel was built around the Pelicans.

It was truly the most pointless of the Bally channels outside of when FSN had the Carolinas channel around the Bobcats/Hornets. That team HAD the best arrangement by having their games fill time on News 14 (now Spectrum News), but of course RSN greed had to get in the game. And it was likely in that Cox-dominated market that the Pels saw the writing on the wall and that Bally had much less leverage with Cox.

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

WTVG has carried The CW for a decade as of next month. However, it has NEVER carried an exclusive newscast from WTVG. It has aired simulcasts of WTVG's Noon and 4pm news but no exclusives there... until now.

 

WTVG's second subchannel finally gets a 10pm newscast starting September 16th. Daily, and an hour long.

 

https://www.13abc.com/2024/08/13/13-action-news-launch-10pm-newscast-this-fall-cw13/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wtvg

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

18 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

WTVG has carried The CW for a decade as of next month. However, it has NEVER carried an exclusive newscast from WTVG. It has aired simulcasts of WTVG's Noon and 4pm news but no exclusives there... until now.

 

WTVG's second subchannel finally gets a 10pm newscast starting September 16th. Daily, and an hour long.

 

https://www.13abc.com/2024/08/13/13-action-news-launch-10pm-newscast-this-fall-cw13/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wtvg

I wonder how much traction stations like these get from simulcasting their parent station's newscast when they're on.  But glad to see that viewers will get a second option against WUPW at 10pm.

 

Meanwhile, Sinclair is too cheap to import a newscast from South Bend and chose to air TND instead, giving up WNWO's local newscast share once and for all.

[Georgie56 3318]

Another Gray OTA sports network has launched: Matrix Midwest. 
 

Maybe St. Louis Blues rights is in their future?

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

1 hour ago, Georgie56 said:

Another Gray OTA sports network has launched: Matrix Midwest. 
 

Maybe St. Louis Blues rights is in their future?

 

For the record, this is a Sports and Independent station while also retaining the MyNetworkTV affiliation for primetime so you'll get a mix of everything here.

[GoldenShine_10 98]

3 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

 

For the record, this is a Sports and Independent station while also retaining the MyNetworkTV affiliation for primetime so you'll get a mix of everything here.

 

In the markets without Gray in Missouri (other than Joplin), the two News Press and Gazette-owned stations are adding it according to the link.