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FCC order is here (it boggles the mind that some websites paywall documents that can be found in two minutes) It feels like the FCC is doing a case of malicious compliance by allowing the sale under these conditions. And I love it.

I think the hyper-fixation on brand and music changes being some kind of driver for viewers to "get upset" and stop watching the station is kind of absurd, when you consider all the other things that can change in a TV news broadcast that the station really doesn't have much control over. Talent is a more important draw for viewers than music and brands, and retirements don't often move the ratings needle much. WPVI didn't see a massive ratings drop after Jim Gardner left, despite his status in the market. The same is looking true at WGN after Tom Skilling left, and I can't imagine a music change or branding would actually lead people to change the channel permanently. It's not 1996 anymore. I'd also like to point out that a lot of these old 90's era "people were MAD!!!" claims come from newspaper columnists at the time. We cannot know for certain what they embellished on to make their column more interesting. "People were upset" that a station changed their branding the same way people get upset that Judge Judy was interrupted for severe weather. This doesn't mean the whole market was "rioting in the streets" like people around these parts like to think would happen if WPVI modernized MCTYW. On that subject, the 1996 orchestral MCTYW was arguably just bad and was an abrupt, noticeable change. WPVI has been using new cuts of MCTYW from different composers for years at this point (there have been some new ones since the graphics debut!) and I have a hunch nobody but people involved with this community have noticed, largely because they don't sound as wildly different as the orchestral package did.

Sister stations are stations that are owned by the same company as them. For example WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids is the sister station to WLNS in Lansing -- both are owned by Nexstar. WNBC in NYC is sister to KNBC in LA -- both are owned by NBCUniversal... etc etc etc

He's writing this as if the industry isn't already a revolving door of talent. Has he watched the news at all in the last decade? Even in big markets, it's pretty astounding how much attrition there is on and off screen. I don't think I could name more than a handful of reporters on competing stations. When I turn on Denver TV, there's barely anybody recognizable to me on there. This is nothing but great news for the media industry workforce, and employees can now more freely vote with their feet and escape bad employers who don't pay enough. Not that we have much choice anyway with at most a dozen station groups now. Of course, noncompetes have been watered down quite a bit already. Most stories I hear these days of people breaking their contract involve the station group threatening to sue them, then the employee gets a lawyer to point out all the ridiculous claims. Then, the station group is too cheap to go through with the lawsuit anyway and they back down immediately. There are so many other new laws at play too. Noncompete clauses are already unenforceable in California, but a new law that went into effect in January makes all contracts with noncompetes void *altogether.*

In the scheme of things, losing a heritage brand to a corporate one these days is just another letdown of what local TV has become. And Scripps' rollout of stripped-down playlists of packages masquerading as newscasts take even more out of it. I dont know what Scripps has up their sleeve for their soon-to-be independents, but from what they've been putting out, it's a far cry from ever being able to be a dominant player in TV.

As a spry 134-year-old crackpot, I am still personally offended and outraged that those whippersnappers Huntley and Brinkley replaced the beloved Camel News Caravan. Even more than Actions and Eyewitnesses, we want our news delivered on drab sets in glorious black-and-white by chain-smoking anchors. That's the sort of tradition that will bring The Kids These Days back to broadcast television in droves.

If stations have these "fans" who are concerned about their branding, music, and graphics, then it stands to reason that the less popular (at least around here) newscast formats we've seen lately also have fans. Somebody's watching Scrippscasts, somebody is watching Tegna stations. Maybe that's because they like what they see. If viewers "cared about tradition" the way some of us like to think, we wouldn't be seeing 45% of the news audience disappearing into thin air.

Even though this was kind of an "emergency" rebranding, that was a purposeful little nod to the site's history. That, and the fact that the media we talk about is growing beyond "TV" in the traditional sense. I think there's something wonky going on with the caching (we're behind Cloudflare now, something else I've wanted to do for a while) that is causing this, I'm going to look into it further.

Yea, how much times will they have to mess up their TV stations before the FCC catches the idea? I mean, ending news departments, making KTUL and KOKH's newscast basically almost the same thing. Yet 'PIX is the problem? The Federal Communications Commission, they JUST DELETED LOCAL NEWS at WNWO in Toledo and STILL did nothing about KDNL, is you not understanding what's going on?

Because Disney only treats WPVI as a budget line item that generates a boatload of money in revenue without any effort. Disney is only focused on Disney+ and the soulless meat packing plant that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That's it.

Surprise! The FCC approved the $75 million sale of WADL to Mission Broadcasting earlier today. But there's a catch: Nexstar is legally prohibited from directly being involved in Mission's operations of the station. I'd argue this is much worse for Nexstar than the WPIX decision, because Mission is incapable of operating a television station by themselves. Moreover, the $75M price tag does not include WADL's current facilities, all of which were retained by Kevin Adell.

Not necessarily, there's always The CW Plus cable feed.

General reminder that the "Action News" trademark is owned by Cox (and "Eyewitness News" is owned by CBS!) and stations have to pay to use them. Why should Scripps keep paying for a brand name for a format that hasn't been properly used in decades? I know folks have a weird affinity for these two brands, but come on. This is, by far, a better logo than some of the other Scripps rebrands over the past few years. Why should they pay Cox for this name? Why should they pay Nexstar for The CW? These are all competitors. People love to think talent at these stations treat each other like this is Anchorman, and while that's not true, there's no good reason to give your competition money for a tired old brand or a second-rate network affiliation.

Everything looks great and thanks for keeping the faith and going the extra length to keep the forum going. There isn't anything like it elsewhere.

One of the biggest rationales for non competes in journalism is safe guarding intellectual property. From my time in a newsroom I can tell you that photographers and digital writers (who aren't under contract) are privy to just as much intellectual property and "company secrets" as reporters/anchors and producers (who were under contract). So, IMO that doesn't hold up. This might be a radial leap but contracts should be abolished for all LOW WAGE employees. It's one thing to lock in Hoda Kotb or Robin Roberts for two years when you pay them millions. But small to medium market MMJs/Reporters making around $20 an hour should have the freedom to leave if necessary, especially because companies do not care about living expenses etc.. Aside from wanting your face exclusively on their channel, contracts are typically a mechanism for stations to curb high turnover. They lock talent in rather than improving the working conditions (and pay) that cause the turnover to begin with.

I was always curious about this. An NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX-owned station would call another O&O a sister station, a network affiliate would call a station owned by the same company a sister station, but why is it that a CBS, NBC, ABC, CW, or FOX station would call an affiliate owned by a different company or a network O&O a sister station? I've been wondering about this for years.

I’ve always viewed as more ownership based than affiliate based. For instance, KHOU and WFAA are sister stations in Texas despite one being a CBS affiliate and the other being ABC.

"We're finally not alone!" -- WMUR

Two big departures from Alabama's 33/40 Stephen Quinn has left the station after the past 8 years, spending the last 2 1/2 years as a lead anchor. https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2024/04/abc-3340-anchor-stephen-quinn-announces-final-newscast-at-birmingham-tv-station.html And now, longtime anchor Pam Huff has announced her retirement... https://www.abc3340.com/news/local/pam-huff-announces-retirement-abc-3340-news-birmingham-veteran-anchor-big-announcement-james-spann-breast-cancer-survivor Protect James Spann at all costs!

I'd say Sunday at 6 is the perfect time; few are watching, but the ones who do will provide feedback if something went wrong, or for the 11. You never want to launch at 4 on a Monday and then everything breaks down minute one, whereas you can dump to an infomercial on Sunday evening without even a whimper.

Unsurprisingly, Hank Price decided to humiliate himself in this op-ed claiming it will be a "body blow" to the megachains and depress salaries for talent, and openly pled for "an appropriate court" (translation: a right-wing court dominated by Republican appointees) to overturn it. It's easily the most depraved, tone-deaf and out-of-step reaction by a man who runs a website—TVNewsCheck—now wholly subsidized by rich old white males Perry Sook, Hilton Howell, Adam Symson and David Smith.

If you're an hourly employee and have to sign one, that is downright criminal. The only way they should ever hold up is if if the employee is important enough and compensated handsomely because of it.

From paragraph 54: 15% of 168 hours means Nexstar cannot supply more than 25 hours and 20 minutes of programming per week. The CW primetime takes up 15 hours total per week, meaning they cannot program any more than 10 hours of sports per week or any NewsNation simulcasts. Mission got a greenlight to purchase a boat anchor for $75 million.

So now we know Perry was that one superdonor that saved TVNewsCheck from oblivion. Sure helps to have influential people in your back pocket, doesn't it, Harry?

Yeah it pretty difficult to get WPLG on board with a subchannel. Especially that WPLG does News for WSFL and with them dumping the affiliation that newscast is likely over. That might put a bad taste in Grahams mouth that means Scripps was not happy with their deal.

No eye here.

They been stuck in 2nd since 2009 overall and third in the demo… they have nothing to lose.

Those markets have been relegated to receiving CW through cable on The CW Plus Cable channel.

Branding is important in every industry, but there is such a thing as overthinking it. Of what viewers we still have, I think all they really care about other than the news content is that the branding isn't distracting. I think all that most viewers care about is that the news content is of quality, that the anchors and reporters look decent, that the lighting in the studio is crisp, and that the newscast isn't riddled with production errors. Viewers no longer care or have any attachment to anachronistic branding devices. I'll never forget a conversation I had with two acquaintances in Los Angeles a few years ago. They were musicians and did not watch television and thought that "KTLA," "Eyewitness News," and "Good Day LA" were all the same station, and they assumed that local TV news was still stuck in those 70s-era trappings.

I hate to break it to you but all three major stations in Detroit will have now rebranded at least once. It happens. Folks in this market seem to like the hype of WDIV and absolutely nothing 7 has tried seems to work. They have been stuck in second since 2009 and there for 22 of the last 28 years. Even though their newscasts are really well put together now they spent years in the doldrums quality wise and never really followed the format to begin with even in the 1970’s. Their newscasts weren’t so different from KABC or WABC or WLS that we should say they reinvented the ABC local news wheel. It’s not the tradition it is in Philly or something either. If it means better graphic elements and a new voiceover and maybe talent opens and a new style that’s probably a positive on aggregate. Their focus is gonna be on using 7 and Channel 7… they don’t even have a slogan anymore. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Given the hot water Nexstar is in for running WPIX, and Adell's (mis)management of WADL, a subchannel affiliation on WDIV is their best hope. And there's no way one of the Windsor stations could pick it up and retarget their signal to an American audience. That ship sailed after all of the San Diego issues with XETV in their later years. Also CBC's CBET was once CKLW which RKO once had a stake in and used the station to target Detroit.

Miami is going to be the most interesting market to watch where The CW goes. The only realistic places I could see are as either a WSVN or WPLG subchannel. In Tucson, KTTU could be an option, or if all else fails, it could be a KVOA, KMSB, or KOLD subchannel.

Thank you for bringing us back! Even though I"m done with TV (for now), this site is still a daily one for me to keep up with what's going on in the crazy world of TV.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Morgan Murphy move ABC and/or CW to WJMN. It's a far better station to be broadcasting on than both WBKP and WBUP. Also, merging news staffs would be a benefit, since WBKP and WBUP don't have that much to begin with.

Setting aside Nexstar/Mission for a moment, technology and generational shifts result in fewer eyes on all kinds of news sources. The pie has been sliced into far smaller portions, and consolidation didn’t cause that.

If TNT loses the NBA this is the biggest loss of the entire process Turner being with the NBA for 40 years Inside the NBA ends it will be the biggest mistake in the history of the league

They’ve lost their minds at Sinclair.

It's almost insane that a company can fire you (or you leave them) yet they can dictate your post employment actions in a "free country". Anchors aside, I highly doubt the audience will abandon a station in droves if a reporter switches from say KABC to KNBC. So the rationale for post employment non-competes doesn't hold up to me. Related anecdote --- During college I applied for a $12 h/r job at Uniqlo who said we couldn't hold any simultaneous retail jobs. If someone is working in retail, most likely they only qualify to work within the industry. So how can you tell them they can't seek supplemental employment in their field? Not surprisingly this same company that recruited directly from college campuses also told students with 8:00 a.m. classes that had to be able to close at 1:00 a.m. a few nights a week --- so I'm pretty sure they don't care.

People always notice that funny part thinking they will forget. People will always remember. People were upset when WXIA dumped 11Alive moniker in the 90s.

Unless they agree to subchannel affiliations with WDIV and WPLG, the CW is likely shut out from Detroit and Miami entirely.

My lord...Bill Bonds is probably drunk cussing from his grave about this....

And they put the Charge! Network on WTVD and KFSN. Sinclair forgot they even own stations there.

Bumping this thread after almost 2 years, but one of the new Hearst-ers in WZVN got the WMUR Hearst package and Hearst Classic theme music today.

Love the new site. Great new colors and design. A breath of fresh air. Great job all around and thank you for the your work.

This has Weigel, the CBS indies and the Fox Plus stations written all over it, along with Scripps just going by a raw eyeball of where it would air in NFL markets (Green Bay it'll likely be WACY for sure, likely KMCI for Kansas City, WCIU for Chicago and WMLW for Milwaukee).

The cost is one part of it - but the other elephant in the room is staffing the endless newscasts most stations are doing. Recruiting producers was a challenge before the pandemic hit four years ago, and the brain drain there has only gotten worse. The Scrippscast model doesn't solve the retention problem - but it is one way to function in an environment where there aren't enough people willing to do the job. (and hopefully, lighten the load and reduce the misery for the ones stations have left)

Even in the 1980s there was minimal difference between the two brands. Look at Bill Bonds at WXYZ with Action News, and it was basically all centered around Bill Bonds and his on-air presence. Ditto with Irv Weinstein at WKBW; they used the EWN name but it wasn't anywhere close to the Al Primo EWN. The brands were never uniformly applied and mean different things to different people. @HulkieD has brought up how CapCities slowly (even if unintentionally) morphed WABC into... if not a Xerox of WPVI, then obviously a station with WPVI's Action News in its' blood. It still used the EWN name, but it wasn't the EWN pre-1986. WOIO's usage of Action News is mostly associated with the "last-place, last-chance news" uber-populist format that Bill Applegate---the same person who presided over WABC's late-80s changes---put in, almost out of desperation by Raycom, having admitted to overpaying for WOIO/WUAB when they bought out Malrite. It is a tainted brand in the market. EWN means nothing in Cleveland and hasn't meant anything since WEWS gave it up in 1990, and even then, NewsChannel 5 meant nothing when they gave it up a few years ago, aside from people likely confusing WEWS with WPTV on social media. If WOIO used EWN, it would feel tacked on and meaningless. (Yes, channel 3, then KYW-TV, originated EWN from 1959 to 1965 but it predated Al Primo or even Westinghouse's full treatment of the brand. Because of the passage of time, few are alive to actually remember when it debuted in Cleveland.) It actually says a lot that none of the stations in Cleveland have a so-called "brand" for their newscasts: 3 News, News 5, Fox 8 News and 19 News. But does it matter? I'm from Cleveland and I can tell the four news operations apart fairly easily.

Missing the point. "Action News" and "Eyewitness News" are extremely dated brands, and are more or less cliché at this point. It's nearly 2023, it's time to find new ways of branding local news outside of two 60's era news formats. The formats themselves are barely even used anymore. I sure don't notice any difference between an "Action" or "Eyewitness" newscast and... every other newscast out there.

WEAR in 1991 — looks like someone watched WPLG at some point:

As a resident of Ada, Oklahoma, KTEN's city of license, I watch the ABC sub channel for "Jeopardy!" they'll be some general station ID's with the ABC 10 logo, and others with the ABC Texoma logo that were from 2010 when the channel originally launched. There is a Facebook page for ABC 10, where only the ABC 10 logo displays with no mention of the ABC Texoma logo. Personally, I have been hoping that Lockwood will eventually sell KTEN & KAKE to a better owner. I'll take Sinclair or Nexstar at this point.