New CBS O&O Look Coming Soon?

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

33 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Not unless you have plans to expand your presence... and there's a bunch of CBS affiliates owned by one company that doesn't want to exist in places like Houston, San Antonio and Tyler.

 

CBS isn't looking to expand in Texas or Colorado.

[Horizon 235]

30 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

CBS isn't looking to expand in Texas or Colorado.

 

Obviously, with TV stations. But online digital coverage, why not? 

Edited February 17, 2023 by NewEgg00

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

46 minutes ago, NewEgg00 said:

 

Obviously, with TV stations. But online digital coverage, why not? 

 

When have you seen a TV group invest in that at all in a thorough and effective way?

[Horizon 235]

33 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

When have you seen a TV group invest in that at all in a thorough and effective way?

To be honest, I don't know any station group that did it. But CBS did so a time ago with their CBS Local brand. They actually did it for some places not O&O, for example they did CBS DC, even though WUSA is not O&O by them. 

 

Was it effective? I don't know. Maybe not, as the CBS affiliate that's not O&O would get more attention automatically as it's a station that can get more ad revenue, unless CBS Local did heavy promotion themselves, which I doubt they did back then. 

[ByChaseMcP 4]

13 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Next week apparently, but I highly doubt it. I haven’t seen any signs of transition on KTVT recently.

FWIW, I just punched in www.cbsnewstexas.com and it redirects to CBSDFW.com.

[sfomspphl 453]

8 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Not unless you have plans to expand your presence... and there's a bunch of CBS affiliates owned by one company that doesn't want to exist in places like Houston, San Antonio and Tyler.

 

CBS is making a hail mary effort with local news on fringe strength stations.  They’re a long way from wanting to deepen their broadcast license exposure. 

 

Maybe they picked Texas precisely because they have no licensed station presence outside DFW with no plans to add one and want to see how many more of the Pluto streamers they catch via the name when scrolling the program guide. Pluto is company owned and a “network” audience of its own.  Then maybe build some non broadcast license ops if there’s traction. 

 

Ironically Pluto is one of the most if not the most broadcast like of the streamers…cable channel program guide like interface by default. Made it easier for linear TV viewers to adapt. 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by sfomspphl

[Rusty Muck 4165]

54 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

 

CBS is making a hail mary effort with local news on fringe strength stations.  They’re a long way from wanting to deepen their broadcast license exposure. 

Who said anything about owning television stations? I betcha there’s a group or two in Texas willing to take quick cash from CBS and convert their stations into a full-power KTVT repeater or semi-satellite. They don’t even have to be the market’s existing CBS affiliate…

Edited February 17, 2023 by Myron Falwell

[sfomspphl 453]

34 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Who said anything about owning television stations? I betcha there’s a group or two in Texas willing to take quick cash from CBS and convert their stations into a full-power KTVT repeater or semi-satellite. They don’t even have to be the market’s existing CBS affiliate…

 

TEGNA is the topic of the original mention. Their ownership will find something more than that kind of deal for their CBS affiliates. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by sfomspphl

[CircleWXYZ 173]

37 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Who said anything about owning television stations? I betcha there’s a group or two in Texas willing to take quick cash from CBS and convert their stations into a full-power KTVT repeater or semi-satellite. They don’t even have to be the market’s existing CBS affiliate…

Similar to how WLNS from Lansing MI works with CBS O&O WWJ for coverage coming out of the state capital.  CBS News Detroit does cover Lansing.

[Rusty Muck 4165]

18 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

 

TEGNA is the topic of the original mention. Their ownership will find something more than that kind of deal for their CBS affiliates. 

Soo Kim’s buyout attempt happened right before the prime rate was raised multiple times, killing off this M&A “rolling thunder” of the past decade. And there’s a good chance it’ll be raised again in the coming weeks.

 

Even if Tegna doesn’t want to exist, their options are extremely limited.

[sfomspphl 453]

17 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Soo Kim’s buyout attempt happened right before the prime rate was raised multiple times, killing off this M&A “rolling thunder” of the past decade. And there’s a good chance it’ll be raised again in the coming weeks.

 

Even if Tegna doesn’t want to exist, their options are extremely limited.

 

SG didn't close in 2022 - they could have chosen to not make concessions like promising to not cut any journalism jobs for two years or pursue their lobbying efforts if they were scared by the financing environment.

 

Instead they keep pressing. Whether they're being prudent is a whole other matter. 

 

https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/standard-general-asserts-tegna-deal-nears-finish-line

 

The CBS O&O exercise is a grand experiment from a position of weakness and not much more. 

 

 

[Rusty Muck 4165]

1 hour ago, sfomspphl said:

SG didn't close in 2022 - they could have chosen to not make concessions like promising to not cut any journalism jobs for two years or pursue their lobbying efforts if they were scared by the financing environment.

 

Instead they keep pressing. Whether they're being prudent is a whole other matter. 

 

https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/standard-general-asserts-tegna-deal-nears-finish-line

Soo is delusional and so is the Tegna board. It’ll be extended for a few months in a vain attempt to keep it alive but it’s already failed. Contrary to the occasional pieces of hopium published on some financial websites, the DOJ and FCC are literally sitting on their hands and refusing to weigh in or indicate they’ll ever do anything about it. Which is worse than actually voting the deal down.

 

Apollo-SG didn’t close on the Tegna deal in 2022, nor will it ever close. All parties are now wasting their collective money and time and Tegna—itself too big to fail—will be left holding the bag on assets they won’t be able to sell the way they want to.

 

1 hour ago, sfomspphl said:

The CBS O&O exercise is a grand experiment from a position of weakness and not much more.

Why is doing a branding convention implemented practically everywhere else on this planet a position of weakness? Because they aren’t using archaic brands like “Eyewitness News” or channel numbers or (with one current exception) call letters?

 

They’re actively targeting an audience Nielsen has been struggling to adapt and measure properly—which is not that radical when you notice that Gray has done the same thing at WOIO, which has also been implemented at WANF (and they aren’t even using call letters or channel numbers in their branding). CBS’s future is both in streaming and OTA and they’re betting on it being successful on free  providers like their in-house PlutoTV. In fact, CBS News Detroit is pushing their Pluto channel a lot since it came online.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Myron Falwell

[sfomspphl 453]

12 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Soo is delusional and so is the Tegna board. It’ll be extended for a few months in a vain attempt to keep it alive but it’s already failed. Contrary to the occasional pieces of hopium published on some financial websites, the DOJ and FCC are literally sitting on their hands and refusing to weigh in or indicate they’ll ever do anything about it. Which is worse than actually voting the deal down.

 

Apollo-SG didn’t close on the Tegna deal in 2022, nor will it ever close. All parties are now wasting their collective money and time and Tegna—itself too big to fail—will be left holding the bag on assets they won’t be able to sell the way they want to.

 

Why is doing a branding convention implemented practically everywhere else on this planet a position of weakness? Because they aren’t using archaic brands like “Eyewitness News” or channel numbers or (with one current exception) call letters?

 

They’re actively targeting an audience Nielsen has been struggling to adapt and measure properly—which is not that radical when you notice that Gray has done the same thing at WOIO, which has also been implemented at WANF (and they aren’t even using call letters or channel numbers in their branding). CBS’s future is both in streaming and OTA and they’re betting on it being successful on free  providers like their in-house PlutoTV. In fact, CBS News Detroit is pushing their Pluto channel a lot since it came online.

 

Which has nothing to do with interest rates. 

 

The position of weakness isn't the branding convention. It's being the 3rd or 4th player in very competitive markets and having a management scandal on top forcing them to take more risks on the format of the product, and also giving them 'less to lose' than incumbents who have more at risk if the experiment has unintended negative consequences. Incumbents with more to lose tend to iterate their way into change. 

 

And yes Pluto is a factor of the CBS decision making - they got something right with a service that was as 'cable like' in interface for people who are used to broadcast/cable, and giving them broadcast like libraries, vs being a splashy "everything is change" approach. 

Edited February 17, 2023 by sfomspphl

[Rusty Muck 4165]

13 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

Which has nothing to do with interest rates.

It does because once the Apollo-SG bailout officially dies, Tegna won't be able to find a sucker buyer for their group as a whole. They barely did when Apollo stepped in as a not-silent partner, enabling SG to "outbid" Byron Allen. But tbh, Byron dodged a bullet not getting Tegna.

15 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

The position of weakness isn't the branding convention. It's being the 3rd or 4th player in very competitive markets and having a management scandal on top forcing them to take more risks on the format of the product, and also giving them 'less to lose' than incumbents who have more at risk if the experiment has unintended negative consequences. Incumbents with more to lose tend to iterate their way into change.

Being successful breeds complacency. Look at the ABC O&Os. They are poorly positioned for a digital environment and are in a bad position in the world of social media. "Channel 6 Action News" and "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" are successful despite their names being forever stuck in the 1970s, and their formats are not really any different from any other newscast in the country. WABC and WPVI's main draw is ... rusted dial syndrome? Because people like musical cues unchanged for nearly 28 years on both stations? Because they're the local ABC station? Because they like the main anchors? Because they still call themselves "channel 6" and "channel 7"? Because Disney treats the stations like a budget line item and appears to be wholly disinterested in running a TV network?

 

That's all fine and good until you realize that less and less people are watching OTA news nowadays--especially in the lower parts of the 25-54 money demo and especially the 18-25 demo--because they opt for online sources. CBS and Gray are approaching fertile ground. If WSVN could remake themselves from being a sleepy NBC station to the king of sleaze and trash in a matter of months in 1988 and transformed the industry, there's no reason why it cannot happen again in the present day.

 

And yes, this would have been unnoticed by the previous three stooges that ran CBS, Moonves, Friend and Dunn.

[sfomspphl 453]

34 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

It does because once the Apollo-SG bailout officially dies, Tegna won't be able to find a sucker buyer for their group as a whole. They barely did when Apollo stepped in as a not-silent partner, enabling SG to "outbid" Byron Allen. But tbh, Byron dodged a bullet not getting Tegna.

Being successful breeds complacency. Look at the ABC O&Os. They are poorly positioned for a digital environment and are in a bad position in the world of social media. "Channel 6 Action News" and "Channel 7 Eyewitness News" are successful despite their names being forever stuck in the 1970s, and their formats are not really any different from any other newscast in the country. WABC and WPVI's main draw is ... rusted dial syndrome? Because people like musical cues unchanged for nearly 28 years on both stations? Because they're the local ABC station? Because they like the main anchors? Because they still call themselves "channel 6" and "channel 7"? Because Disney treats the stations like a budget line item and appears to be wholly disinterested in running a TV network?

 

That's all fine and good until you realize that less and less people are watching OTA news nowadays--especially in the lower parts of the 25-54 money demo and especially the 18-25 demo--because they opt for online sources. CBS and Gray are approaching fertile ground. If WSVN could remake themselves from being a sleepy NBC station to the king of sleaze and trash in a matter of months in 1988 and transformed the industry, there's no reason why it cannot happen again in the present day.

 

And yes, this would have been unnoticed by the previous three stooges that ran CBS, Moonves, Friend and Dunn.

 

And Tegna is an example of product change gone too far, costing market leadership of the Belo stations like WFAA.

 

The WABC/WPVIs (WFAA before TEGNA) bring in more cash than any competing stations in their markets by a large margin. As a viewer their differentiation seems to be a consistent on air product while other weaker stations more regularly toy with formats.

 

Like all market cash cow leaders in business they face the innovators' dilemma of having a cash cow at risk, and the more radical product change tends to be done naturally by new entrants or the less competitive players with less at risk. Just like the WSVN example. 

 

News in any form has always skewed older. Trying to please the 18-25 and even the 25-34 group with news is the fools game played by many losing stations during the days when formats changed every 2 years in the 80s and 90s. People age into news as a habit as their responsibilities in life grow and they spend more time at home. The ABC O&Os whether they knew it or not over the 80s to today did a good job of providing consistency for regular news viewers, the habit seekers who tend to be older. Easy to read and digest like an early dinner special. 

 

I do find it fascinating no digital first, digital only news production outlet has scaled nationally here. Buzzfeed...no. Vice...no. Huff Post...no. 

 

Yahoo news, Apple news, or the AOL news pages are the closest equivalent but they just aggregate legacy sources.

 

CBS is making a grand experiment, and it's just that - an experiment. It might be a home run. It might fall completely flat. But the market dictates they should be the first mover of this kind of product risk as those with much less to lose. This isn't a situation where more $$ invested necessarily is the differentiation, but the way the limited pool of $$ is allocated and used to shape the product. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by sfomspphl

[nycnewsjunkie 1405]

KYW hasn’t changed their graphics yet, but their newscasts are now officially called “CBS News Philadelphia.”
 

This intro is from Wednesday, and was taken from their streaming feed.

Edited February 17, 2023 by nycnewsjunkie

[Rusty Muck 4165]

2 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

And Tegna is an example of product change gone too far, costing market leadership of the Belo stations like WFAA.

How has WFAA "lost market leadership" when demos can be extrapolated and manipulated in such a degree than any station in the market can claim to be #1 because of one specific time period? Or that market ratings are no longer commonly available? Or that Nielsen's methodology looks to be increasingly flawed?

 

Or is it just a commonly held assumption with no factual backing because people on this board and in other places don't like Tegna?

7 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

News in any form has always skewed older. Trying to please the 18-25 and even the 25-34 group with news is the fools game played by many losing stations during the days when formats changed every 2 years in the 80s and 90s. People age into news as a habit as their responsibilities in life grow and they spend more time at home. The ABC O&Os whether they knew it or not over the 80s to today did a good job of providing consistency for regular news viewers, the habit seekers who tend to be older. Easy to read and digest like an early dinner special.

The younger demos today are not the younger demos of the 1980s. And guess what, those people will be in the 25-54 demo in a matter of years. Less and less people watching in the money demo is nothing but bad news and makes the local TV news business wholly unsustainable.

 

WFAA's management hasn't changed much since the Belo days, and maybe that's why they have been having issues finding ways to target younger demos. But guess what, you can't play to the same audience forever with the same, tired product that is not in any way distinguishable from any other station in the market. The people watching now will get older, less desirable to advertisers and the TV product will become less relevant to the general public. Cable news targets 65+ and up and is only profitable because of retransmission fees, not because it commands any actual blue-chip advertising. That can't work in OTA.

 

It's the age-old adage of "evolve or die". CBS stagnated under Moonves, Dunn and Friend, and it's a long-overdue makeover. Tegna has been doing it pre-emptively and whether or not they succeed or fail is still very much to be determined, contrary to many a popular opinion.

12 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

KYW hasn’t changed their graphics yet, but their newscasts are now officially called “CBS News Philadelphia.”
 

This intro is from Wednesday, and was taken from their streaming feed.

 

IMG_5800.MOV 43.56 MB · 0 downloads

Doing this mid-week is an interesting move, almost like they literally couldn't wait to get the renaming over with.

[nycnewsjunkie 1405]

1 hour ago, JosiahCubed said:

My goodness, why don’t we get back on topic? It’s not that hard, especially when your could be discussing this stuff in another thread and not in a graphics thread.

I started a thread in the Speculatron; hope this is more convenient.

[sfomspphl 453]

55 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

How has WFAA "lost market leadership" when demos can be extrapolated and manipulated in such a degree than any station in the market can claim to be #1 because of one specific time period? Or that market ratings are no longer commonly available? Or that Nielsen's methodology looks to be increasingly flawed?

 

https://katytrailweekly.com/what-has-happened-to-the-dallas-news-leader-p5241-182.htm

 

55 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

Or is it just a commonly held assumption with no factual backing because people on this board and in other places don't like Tegna?

The younger demos today are not the younger demos of the 1980s. And guess what, those people will be in the 25-54 demo in a matter of years. Less and less people watching in the money demo is nothing but bad news and makes the local TV news business wholly unsustainable.

 

WFAA's management hasn't changed much since the Belo days, and maybe that's why they have been having issues finding ways to target younger demos. But guess what, you can't play to the same audience forever with the same, tired product that is not in any way distinguishable from any other station in the market. The people watching now will get older, less desirable to advertisers and the TV product will become less relevant to the general public. Cable news targets 65+ and up and is only profitable because of retransmission fees, not because it commands any actual blue-chip advertising. That can't work in OTA.

 

It's the age-old adage of "evolve or die". CBS stagnated under Moonves, Dunn and Friend, and it's a long-overdue makeover. Tegna has been doing it pre-emptively and whether or not they succeed or fail is still very much to be determined, contrary to many a popular opinion.

Doing this mid-week is an interesting move, almost like they literally couldn't wait to get the renaming over with.

 

Local TV news has been a decaying cash cow business for a few decades now. First 20 channels of cable, then 100, then the text internet, now the broadband everywhere video internet (which at least plays more toward the video strength of a local TV news product). 

 

I'd argue those market leaders were more distinctive over the years because of their consistency as a point of distinction. 

 

CBS was an also ran of local stations well before Dunn and Friend, aside from a brief renaissance under Swanson and what WCCO pulled off vs KARE as TEGNA messed up its cash cow via unappealing innovation. 

 

Of course innovation happens. But CBS isn't creating any meaningful proprietary technology here like Google did in 1999 or Chat GPT, or any real tech company. They're simply changing the window dressing of the presentation to adapt to additional storefronts of distribution - something any station can do rather quickly for the parts that might ultimately stick, and avoid for those that fall flat. In other words a free market test for others like TEGNA was post 2013. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MediaZone4K 1514]

19 hours ago, bc485 said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoqbDL4rDf0/?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU=
 

Looks like WCBS was testing a revised background on its set earlier this week.  Note the large blue curves on the left and right sides of the background on the TV screen in this video.  Could we be close to a launch at WCBS?

 

Edit: Took a screenshot from Instagram to zoom in on the background.

 

Hopefully they don't tinker with the background too much. WCBS has the best set and background in the market.

[Rusty Muck 4165]

With all due respect, this is a multi-faceted discussion on something unprecedented in American broadcasting but has happened in literally every other country on the planet. What is the dividing line between discussion and speculation?

 

If this works for CBS---and if I were a betting man, I would throw my money into the "yes" column---there will be ramifications throughout the entire TV industry, including among the large station groups that remain in existence and among the other networks. It WILL happen because it has ALWAYS happened ever since the days of Philo Farnsworth, William Paley and David Sarnoff.

 

Never forget the old adage that television, and especially local television, is built on copycats.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Myron Falwell

[sfomspphl 453]

1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

With all due respect, this is a multi-faceted discussion on something unprecedented in American broadcasting but has happened in literally every other country on the planet. What is the dividing line between discussion and speculation?

 

If this works for CBS---and if I were a betting man, I would throw my money into the "yes" column---there will be ramifications throughout the entire TV industry, including among the large station groups that remain in existence and among the other networks. It WILL happen because it has ALWAYS happened ever since the days of Philo Farnsworth, William Paley and David Sarnoff.

 

Never forget the old adage that television, and especially local television, is built on copycats.

 

Retrans is the difference. We have a much more developed pay for home video entertainment ecosystem than any comparable country. 

 

It's prolonged the life of marginal 3rd / 4th / 5th place broadcast players  for 10-15 years beyond its otherwise shelf life and insulated the industry for better or worse. 

 

Another question is what's the viability of national CBS News itself if that dries up. Weakest hand at the table. Does it get picked up by a non-profit motive owner? It will be a while - retrans is contract based so there are lag effects, but it is the underlying cash that's propping the current size of the industry.

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by sfomspphl

[Rusty Muck 4165]

3 minutes ago, sfomspphl said:

Another question is what's the viability of national CBS News itself if that dries up. Weakest hand at the table. Does it get picked up by a non-profit motive owner?

CBS News has already been merged into the O&Os and vice versa; they are in the process of assimilating into each other.

[Tyler 150]

5 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

KYW hasn’t changed their graphics yet, but their newscasts are now officially called “CBS News Philadelphia.”
 

This intro is from Wednesday, and was taken from their streaming feed.

 

Seeing this, I wouldn’t expect new graphics on KYW any time soon. 

[Rusty Muck 4165]

33 minutes ago, Tyler said:

Seeing this, I wouldn’t expect new graphics on KYW any time soon. 

I feel the exact opposite. Clearly, they couldn’t wait to dump the EWN name and apparently felt it would be good to ease in the branding. Those graphics aren’t long for this world, and neither is Enforcer.