Didn't think about this, but you make a good point. I wonder if there's a trade-off though, since Nexstar always /seems/ to be in everyone's okay-good graces., and isn't overtly offering this as a competitor to any one news operation. Agreed. With Nexstar basically at the ownership cap, and like I said above, I doubt many networks will raise too much of a fuss over advertising, especially when there's probably nothing they can to to stop it unless there's something specific written into their carriage agreements. I tend to think it will be a while before News Nation/WGN America is ready to anchor marathon coverage of a national/international crisis. I'm sure they could if they needed too, but their primary goal probably should be to get NewsNation on stable ground first, and then start to work backwards if their end goal is to make NewsNation/WGN America a common name for news. At a rough estimate, they've had close to 100 listings for jobs directly related to NewsNation, so I'd say they'll have the manpower if/when it gets to that. -- On an unrelated note, I wasn't sure in I had WGN America or not, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only do I have it, they're also showing a late night marathon of... Cops.

For Nexstar's sake, I hope this isn't a flop. It's got potential, and they seem to have the people, so now they just need to stick the landing. Very impressive investment so far. I'll be eagerly waiting to see the first shows and the initial ratings, although I'm not sure what you can really compare then with. I wonder if they'll advertise News Nation on all of their stations? That might be a quick way to kick start viewership.

As the kids say... It must be new set szn. Its nice to see some of the more dated sets start to get replaced. Some of these stations outgrew their sets years ago, so here's hoping it was worth the wait for WWMT. Sidebar: That looks like a control room that's getting ready to go to automation (unless they were already running automated shows, I'm not familiar with the market). I spy a shiny new Carbonite Black 2S and a familiar looking battlestation layout. Change is good, automation is nice, but hopefully no one is losing their job as a result of the upgrades.

I assume Nexstar is slowly and methodically sparing no expense at WGN. They use Ross wherever possible, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was a CG system switch for now, possibly a full swap to Ross Xpression/Tessera and OverDrive? Related slightly, they have an opening for a Tessera operator, but it doesn't specify if it's for WGN or News Nation. EDIT: "We are currently searching for a Ross XPression Tessera Operator for live nightly national newscasts." - So it is for News Nation.

/Almost/ out of nowhere, protests and looting broke out around 3PM in Champaign, IL yesterday. We (WCIA) took air quickly, and we were on and off from about 3:40 until just after midnight. None of the other market affiliates (**that I know of**) broke in (WICS, WAND, WCCU) and our coverage was underscored by reporters live on the street, on the phone, and the city mayor holding a news conference. oh, and this moment: Skip to around the 9:55 mark for expletive city. Where's my BLEEEEEP button!? I digress, I doubt the FCC will be slapping anyone with fines. Not bad coverage for DMA #88, if I do say so myself. -- I was pleasantly surprised to see KABC and KNBC streaming on YouTube; I know that's a bit unorthodox in 2020, but given the circumstances, streaming everywhere possible seems like the right thing to do. More stations need to embrace the idea of streaming in multiple places, not just to their respective websites and Facebook.

I felt physical pain looking at these sites. Wowza. I'm not familiar with anything in the realm of Alaska TV. Does the Juneau market even bother with local newscasts, or is it just simulcasts of Anchorage/Fairbanks newscasts with local news sprinkled in as necessary? I can't imagine trying to build out what amounts to a new operation in the current climate, unless it's something that the locals would 100% buy into. Buy now, build later?

I'd like to imagine that, even if they did, they become null and void when your part of mass layoffs. I'm hopeful a lot of the on-air talent will land somewhere that suits them and the community. Maybe Nexstar's News Nation thing is about to get a very CBS-flavored infusion of talent? I'm also curious to know what the layoffs look like behind the scenes. The unsung heroes of News are those who work in Production and Creative Services, and I'm assuming some of them got the axe, too. It's absolutely horrible, and I hope everyone is able to find a new home or were able to retire comfortably.

I thought the same thing. Honest to god, I'd love to see some ice cream consumption data for this DMA in two or three years. Might be a bit of a rush on Mint because, ya'know, subliminal messaging.

I know the world has been flipped on it's head, but I'm surprised WTHR & WBNS still haven't been pushed to the TEGNA web layout. I wonder if they're running into logistics issues getting the sites & content transferred?

Interesting to see where not the only station moving forward with a... oh *cough* nevermind. Now would seem to be the best-worst time to build out a set. Station staff is at a minimum, and you can expedite the process a bit with the extra space and urgency. Nexstar seems to have a few set-in-a-box elements, but they seem to be pretty good about forming each set to the space, even though it leaves some looking pretty tight. Prepare yourselves... the vidwallpacolypse is coming.

It wasn't funny when it was a fake on YouTube, and it's not funny now. Reporters are trying to do their jobs, and creeps like this make it that much harder for them. Hopefully he's found and charged seven different ways to Sunday. Do these people not realize they're on tape?!

It seemed, from our control room, to happen pretty quick. I always watch for the countdown on CBS Net as we roll copyright, but they were still in black. About 5 seconds to network, they started the promo loop. We received the "technical difficulties" wire from CBS around 5:32 central time, so I'm assuming they were caught off guard by the situation. In their defense, you can have 100 backup plans, but if you don't have the time to institute them, then you (and your entire network) are SOL. The only saving grace was CBSN, but the fact that it wasn't live becomes a separate issue.

Rumor is there will be a west coast feed. I wonder if D.C. is back up or someone else is going to front it? At any rate, that's the entire East Coast feed blown out.

CBSN didn't appear to be live. It seemed more like they were piecing together already aired pieces to fill time. One interview even restarted briefly at one point before it cut to a bump and promo reel.

Someone remind me, has an issue quite this catastrophic hit a network before? I can't think of anything in the 2000s that has knocked a national nightly news off-air. edit: A quick google, and it looks like there's some power outages in and around Washington D.C.