Thundershock MN 169 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 [snip] I would say WHAG might have a future with the incentive auction, being a potential daisy chain for the central Pennsylvania, Baltimore, Washington DC and even Pittsburgh markets, but it seems Nexstar wants to soldier on, and the newscasts probably attract a good following in the region. As to the station's affiliation agreement, WHAG's last long-term agreement ran from January 1, 2006 to January 1, 2015. This affiliation agreement covered KAMR, KTAL and KARK as well. The ownership biennial lists a further NBC affiliation contract, for all of its NBC stations, that ran until the end of 2019. No further affiliation agreement or list of contracts is available. KAMR does not display any further affiliation contracts in its file. I tried KRBC, another Nexstar station, and it has its old 1995 agreement (parts of which are unexpectedly not blacked out!). First, with regards to the affiliation agreements. Nexstar and NBC renewed all of their stations affiliation agreements in December of 2014. 15 of 16 stations were extended to December 2019. The remaining station (obviously WHAG) was extended to June 2016. Source Nexstar 10k's for 2013 and 2014. Affiliation agreements are listed under "Item 1. Business". So, with that knowledge here are some rhetorical questions for everyone. If Comcast really wanted to yank the affiliation to protect WRC as some state, why did they even bother renewing in 2014? Is it possible given the expiration date of the agreement that Nexstar intended (or, still intends to) throw WHAG into the auction? If Nexstar was getting strong armed by Comcast why not go public? I get why everyone hates Comcast. But, they didn't just stroll in and strip the affiliation out of thin air. Both parties choose to only renew WHAG through June 2016 for whatever reason. Yes, the networks hold a lot of power but Nexstar had 15 other affiliates to use as some sort of leverage. Maybe, everyone is right and Comcast is judt a "bully" and all Nexstar could get for WHAG was an additional 18 months. Personally, I think based on the timing it is possible that Nexstar was planning on offering WHAG's spectrum up in the auction. However, given the recent West Virginia Media Holdings purchase may have had a change of heart. And in reality the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 First, with regards to the affiliation agreements. Nexstar and NBC renewed all of their stations affiliation agreements in December of 2014. 15 of 16 stations were extended to December 2019. The remaining station (obviously WHAG) was extended to June 2016. Source Nexstar 10k's for 2013 and 2014. Affiliation agreements are listed under "Item 1. Business". So, with that knowledge here are some rhetorical questions for everyone. If Comcast really wanted to yank the affiliation to protect WRC as some state, why did they even bother renewing in 2014? Is it possible given the expiration date of the agreement that Nexstar intended (or, still intends to) throw WHAG into the auction? If Nexstar was getting strong armed by Comcast why not go public? I get why everyone hates Comcast. But, they didn't just stroll in and strip the affiliation out of thin air. Both parties choose to only renew WHAG through June 2016 for whatever reason. Yes, the networks hold a lot of power but Nexstar had 15 other affiliates to use as some sort of leverage. Maybe, everyone is right and Comcast is judt a "bully" and all Nexstar could get for WHAG was an additional 18 months. Personally, I think based on the timing it is possible that Nexstar was planning on offering WHAG's spectrum up in the auction. However, given the recent West Virginia Media Holdings purchase may have had a change of heart. And in reality the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. In fact, according to what Nexstar said about the situation, Comcast might actually be doing them a favor rather than wrecking WHAG: http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/92473/whag-announces-1m-local-news-expansion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 If you are not paying network extortion fees, and you have that cash to toss at news... Hyper-local just may work for WHAG bigtime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 If you are not paying retrans and you have that cash to toss at news... Hyper-local just may work for WHAG bigtime. It already has, but it's more like it'll work even better for WHAG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 746 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 If WHAG were to affiliate with another network, I could easily see ABC. When I think of intermarket secondary stations or short market stations (pre-Digital TV) the majority of those stations are ABC affiliates like WWSB, WCJB, and WLOX. If WHAG is expanding news to around 50 hours a week, I don't think it would join ABC or CBS. Both networks have such heavy network schedules that it would make it impossible for a station to program too much more than 40 hours of newscasts across its weekly schedule. To achieve such an expansion, WHAG would realistically have to affiliate with either Fox or The CW (neither of which have national morning and evening newscasts), or become an independent station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRolyPoly 1843 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 If WHAG is expanding news to around 50 hours a week, I don't think it would join ABC or CBS. Both networks have such heavy network schedules that it would make it impossible for a station to program too much more than 40 hours of newscasts across its weekly schedule. To achieve such an expansion, WHAG would realistically have to affiliate with either Fox or The CW (neither of which have national morning and evening newscasts), or become an independent station. I think WHAG is become an Independent station. I haven't head anything about WHAG affiliating with anybody yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 I think WHAG is become an Independent station. I haven't head anything about WHAG affiliating with anybody yet.Yeah, and one often forgotten fact is that Nexstar has run an independent station with a news operation before (with WFFT for a couple of years before switching back to Fox, for example), so WHAG becoming an independent station might be the best course of action for the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlnews2 557 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 the official WHAG announcement http://www.your4state.com/news/news/whag-news-announces-local-news-expansion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvcg66b3r 97 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 the official WHAG announcement http://www.your4state.com/news/news/whag-news-announces-local-news-expansion Of course, the story doesn't say whether WHAG would affiliate with another network. BTW, will WHAG start preempting NBC primetime shows? They already do for ACC sports on Saturdays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Don't forget that Comcast can now extort higher retrans fees for WRC now that channel 4 is the gatekeeper for the entire DC metro region. IIRC, did Antietam Cable pay lower fees for WRC since they were the "secondary" NBC in Hagerstown? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susquvalleywgal 490 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I wish WHAG the best on their plans. But one has to wonder ... How much local news happens in sleepy Hagerstown to fill 50 hours a week?? -- Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1675 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I wish WHAG the best on their plans. But one has to wonder ... How much local news happens in sleepy Hagerstown to fill 50 hours a week?? -- Matt Some commenters over at DCRTV.com have said the same wondering how much the region and the news rookies can produce? One person said they can barely fill a Today show cut in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrabbleship 427 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Some commenters over at DCRTV.com have said the same wondering how much the region and the news rookies can produce? One person said they can barely fill a Today show cut in. If they can get more cable/satellite coverage, there is a market for being a source for NoVA/the Maryland suburbs. Those areas are pretty starved in terms of any media to superserve them since even local print is already dead. Best case is it becomes the WBIN of that area minus the radio stations and some ego. Worst case is it becomes the WRNN of that area without spending years as a zombie station out of ego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJClementeFan69 477 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 If they can get more cable/satellite coverage, there is a market for being a source for NoVA/the Maryland suburbs. Those areas are pretty starved in terms of any media to superserve them since even local print is already dead. Best case is it becomes the WBIN of that area minus the radio stations and some ego. Worst case is it becomes the WRNN of that area without spending years as a zombie station out of ego. WFMZ is probably the better example. They do tons of news as an independent station and have for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEOMatrix 1295 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I see WHAG becoming more like CHCH when Channel Zero was pumping out 80 hours of news per week. One wonders how Nexstar is going to fill the primetime and late-night hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRolyPoly 1843 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 I see WHAG becoming more like CHCH when Channel Zero was pumping out 80 hours of news per week. One wonders how Nexstar is going to fill the primetime and late-night hours. Except that 50 hours is more reasonable for an Independent station than 80. Plus, Hagerstown is probably not a market to receive a station with 80 hours since that market would be too small if mini-markets counted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Except that 50 hours is more reasonable for an Independent station than 80. Plus, Hagerstown is probably not a market to receive a station with 80 hours since that market would be too small if mini-markets counted.But what if the coverage area is expanded to include DC itself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swillh2k2 203 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 But what if the coverage area is expanded to include DC itself? Even if they did, you'd run into "must-carry" scenarios with DC cable and satellite providers. They'd also have to staff up in order to cover the new territory. Not likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eat News 4738 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 You couldn't fill 80 hours? Seriously? Just add more crap...free crap...it's everywhere and available to newsrooms across the world. It's all just moving, and reposting data. Or you can spend money and do it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardek1995 200 Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 You couldn't fill 80 hours? Seriously? Just add more crap...free crap...it's everywhere and available to newsrooms across the world. It's all just moving, and reposting data. Or you can spend money and do it right. Or, in WHAG's case, become the unofficial flagship station for the Washington Redskins (and they might change their name next season) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenPatton 0 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 This loss should surprise NO one, the station under Breslin has sunk faster than the titanic. Look at the employee turnover and the "quality" of "talent" they have right now. Fortunately for the viewers, they finally appear to have pulled the morning anchor, who had difficulty with the English language. The evening co-anchor is just the attempt to hold onto the affiliation by bringing in a minority. Sad and pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 The Public Opinion in Chambersburg, PA posted more info about WHAG's post-NBC plans. Along with the news expansion & local programming, plus weekend public affairs shows, and programming that's produced by its sister-stations in adjacent markets, it will be airing certain shows from Weigel's Heroes & Icons (H&I) network to fill-in some of the gaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 The set redesign is underway..... Video courtesy of WHAG's Facebook Wall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkolsen 1675 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 The set redesign is underway..... Video courtesy of WHAG's Facebook Wall I must say I was impressed that this small market (if it was its own market) was getting a new set as theirs isn't that old. However after seeing them take it apart it doesn't look like it was that expensive to begin with. I wonder if it's a new set or if they are just de-NBCing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CircleSeven 1944 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 I must say I was impressed that this small market (if it was its own market) was getting a new set as theirs isn't that old. However after seeing them take it apart it doesn't look like it was that expensive to begin with. I wonder if it's a new set or if they are just de-NBCing it. Probably the latter. I wouldn't surprise if they're getting that new set that's similar to WZDX/KLAF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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