WBTS - Home of NBC Boston?

[newsbot 269]

I don't see NBC puchasing it at this point. The cost on the channel would be high. I don't see cox just selling the channel itself and not the building staff etc. that would be a Pr nightmare with that many people without jobs. But whdh would become a fox station again

WHDH never had the Fox affiliation; they were CBS before they were NBC.

[Drew 147]

Sorry I meant whdh ownership group like their other station switching to fox. Sorry I was mullttasking.

[aleckrohto 20]

Really NBC Boston..... Who ever is running their new station is drunk

[Darius22 120]

Really NBC Boston..... Who ever is running their new station is drunk

[ATTACH=full]3579[/ATTACH]

Again? they need to take that down. or at least put it on the side like KNTV is doing. KNTV does it when they show SF giants games.

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

Cox does a much better job making low-key and behind the scenes changes. Look at WHBQ. Just by giving it some TLC and bringing their building up to code is helping them rise in the ratings again and become a challenger against WMC and WREG. And they KEPT THEIR LOGO!

 

Now if only the same were true with WAWS/WTEV (WFOX and WJAX) and WFXT.... They took these a little too far and paid dearly (especially in Boston).

 

WFXT is now the largest FOX affiliate by market size in America. They should have taken the easy way and just give things a little facelft. But the end result was a horrible mismatch of virtually EVERY COX station in existence trying to live on as a single brand. When you have mainstream media mocking you (like WGN did), that's a pretty big screwup.

 

They're not a KRON....yet. But being in this situation does not bode well given the networks' wishes to move into the top 10 making other companies' runs at these stations ever more difficult...

(I know it was an O&O before, but if the owners get the cap raised, it could end up that way in a few years again...)

[Rusty Muck 4157]

THANK YOU. This site absolutely needs more common sense posts like this.

 

When WFXT starts having layoffs, then feel free to drum up some more bullshit speculation.

 

WFXT is now the weakest station in the Cox chain by far, ever weaker than WJAX/WFOX. KRON, KDNL and WGCL are the weakest highest-profile stations in their respective ownership group.

 

That being said, three things are bloody obvious:

1) Cox will not shut down WFXT's news department like KDNL, or overextend it like KRON. Most likely it will be like WGCL, repeatedly going through different managers and talent hires to little effect against WHDH et. al.

2) Fox will not trade all or part of their duopoly in market #4 to go back to a stand-alone market #8. I said less than likely because the chances of that happening were and are imperceptible at best.

3) Cox is stuck with WFXT for the long-term. Eventually they'll get rid of the KTVU managers and can start a slow, steady rebuild, but the damage has been done. It will take them years to recover from such utter ineptitude in management, regardless of who owns them.

 

/end rant

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

WFXT is now the weakest station in the Cox chain by far, ever weaker than WJAX/WFOX. KRON, KDNL and WGCL are the weakest highest-profile stations in their respective ownership group.

 

That being said, three things are bloody obvious:

1) Cox will not shut down WFXT's news department like KDNL, or overextend it like KRON. Most likely it will be like WGCL, repeatedly going through different managers and talent hires to little effect against WHDH et. al.

2) Fox will not trade all or part of their duopoly in market #4 to go back to a stand-alone market #8. I said less than likely because the chances of that happening were and are imperceptible at best.

3) Cox is stuck with WFXT for the long-term. Eventually they'll get rid of the KTVU managers and can start a slow, steady rebuild, but the damage has been done. It will take them years to recover from such utter ineptitude in management, regardless of who owns them.

 

/end rant

 

Umm... market #4 is Philly and that's a stand-alone for them (WTXF) and market #8 is Houston with a duopoly (KRIV and KTXH)

[Rusty Muck 4157]

Umm... market #4 is Philly and that's a stand-alone for them (WTXF) and market #8 is Houston with a duopoly (KRIV and KTXH)

Dammit! My memory is failing miserably.

 

Isn't Houston a higher ranking than Boston, though? Still makes little sense on Fox's part.

[newsbot 269]

Dammit! My memory is failing miserably.

 

Isn't Houston a higher ranking than Boston, though? Still makes little sense on Fox's part.

Houston is #8 and Boston/Manchester is #9 according to the 2017 Nielsen DMA rankings.

[Eat News 4738]

Really NBC Boston..... Who ever is running their new station is drunk

[ATTACH=full]3579[/ATTACH]

 

Quit picking on us drunks...

We are considered a "protected class".

[NowBergen 485]

Sinclair probably does not look at KDNL as a failure. No news department = more cash. It is remotely operated except for a skeleton staff in STL, including some sales people. It probably makes them money without much in terms of investment and that makes it successful to them. The fact it is a crappy little station in DMA 21, an ABC station with no local news (supposedly Disney did not like that, then signed a long term affiliation agreement). For years, they would not even let their HD signal be carried by Charter, the local cable company that had be headquartered in STL. It is a disaster for the viewers and news junkies, but the folks in Baltimore seem to be okay with it. It is not a good comparison to the WFXT situation - you cannot even compare the ownership groups. As was said, Cox can decide to invest and improve if they choose to.

[C Block 1486]

Cox does a much better job making low-key and behind the scenes changes. Look at WHBQ. Just by giving it some TLC and bringing their building up to code is helping them rise in the ratings again and become a challenger against WMC and WREG. And they KEPT THEIR LOGO!

 

Now if only the same were true with WAWS/WTEV (WFOX and WJAX) and WFXT.... They took these a little too far and paid dearly (especially in Boston).

 

This is spot on. Of all the station groups that are left in the country, Cox is still one of the better ones. They're a great company to work for, and they are extremely well-organized and well-managed at the corporate level, especially compared to Fox TV. They know how to operate a station successfully with some very notable examples (WSB, WSOC, KIRO, WPXI, WFTV, old KTVU) and only a few misfires — and not-so-coincidentally, two of their misfires (new KTVU and new WFXT) shared the same station management, and that same news director is now out of a job. Going the WHBQ route of keeping the brand and talent largely the same with some tune-ups would have been the right way to go the first time around, but in the end, WFXT, and Cox, will be fine.

 

If I were a Boston TV viewer, I'd be much more concerned about the long-term viability of WHDH, not WFXT or WBTS. A station with a huge news department, no network affiliation, and an off color owner cannot sustain itself for very long before having to aggressively cut costs and cut quality for quantity.

[newsbot 269]

Sinclair probably does not look at KDNL as a failure. No news department = more cash. It is remotely operated except for a skeleton staff in STL, including some sales people. It probably makes them money without much in terms of investment and that makes it successful to them. The fact it is a crappy little station in DMA 21, an ABC station with no local news (supposedly Disney did not like that, then signed a long term affiliation agreement). For years, they would not even let their HD signal be carried by Charter, the local cable company that had be headquartered in STL. It is a disaster for the viewers and news junkies, but the folks in Baltimore seem to be okay with it. It is not a good comparison to the WFXT situation - you cannot even compare the ownership groups. As was said, Cox can decide to invest and improve if they choose to.

And, lest we forget, a similarly-handicapped CBS O&O in Detroit (a larger market than St. Louis) can't sustain a news department, either.

[ToriElectra 291]

And, lest we forget, a similarly-handicapped CBS O&O in Detroit (a larger market than St. Louis) can't sustain a news department, either.

CBS is kind of in the same boat there, though- their various efforts at news on WWJ have been failures all around, so why keep sinking money into news that won't be watched when you can just air the programming and get some profits.

[mre29 1338]

So, the management team that screwed up WFXT so badly is not the same team that made KTVU such a powerhouse?

 

If I were a Boston TV viewer, I'd be much more concerned about the long-term viability of WHDH, not WFXT or WBTS. A station with a huge news department, no network affiliation, and an off color owner cannot sustain itself for very long before having to aggressively cut costs and cut quality for quantity.

 

THIS.

[C Block 1486]

So, the management team that screwed up WFXT so badly is not the same team that made KTVU such a powerhouse?

 

No. Lee Rosenthal had only been the news director at KTVU for about a year and a half before they sent him to WFXT. He was primarily brought into KTVU to shake things up, inject some new energy into the newscasts, and drive up web/social media. And KTVU probably needed to be shaken up by that point. The product was starting to feel a little stale, and the previous news director had been there for a decade. Supposedly, Lee did a great job improving ratings and social media at WXIN and whatever station he came from in Ohio, but many at KTVU feel that things like the Asiana incident would not have happened were it not for the contentious and competitive culture among the newsroom that propagated under his watch. Tom Raponi had been at KTVU/KICU for a while, but he was passed up for the GM job at least once before he actually got it.

 

People are everything. If the company is right, and the station is right, but the management and the plan are wrong, then things will go wrong. But at least that can be fixed.

[Rusty Muck 4157]

So, the management team that screwed up WFXT so badly is not the same team that made KTVU such a powerhouse?

KTVU had decades of brand equity behind it. They were a dominant indie in the market well before taking the Fox affiliation in 1986.

 

It wouldn't have mattered who Cox brought in to manage WFXT... it's almost impossible to recreate a wheel like that.

 

If I were a Boston TV viewer, I'd be much more concerned about the long-term viability of WHDH, not WFXT or WBTS. A station with a huge news department, no network affiliation, and an off color owner cannot sustain itself for very long before having to aggressively cut costs and cut quality for quantity.

 

That, of course, is assuming that WHDH and WLVI do not merge into a single entity and Ed hands in the WLVI license for spectrum bait.

 

As currently set up, however, it's just barely viable. For an affiliation loss right in the middle of the television season, I don't know what could have been done that differently.

[kdex86 48]

Verizon moved NBC Boston to Channels 10/510 sometime overnight. Only problem is, the program guide did not update, so it's temporarily impossible to DVR of this channel (or WNEU). I don't know why Verizon just didn't assign the station to Channels 10/510 in the first place, now Fios subscribers like myself have seen NBC jump across three dial positions in less than a month.

 

On the other hand, all cable/satellite television subscribers in Eastern and Central MA have NBC Boston on Channel 10, with *some* exceptions:

-Norwood residents that subscribe to their municipal provider (Norwood Light) have the station on Channel 13

-Gloucester and Rockport residents that subscribe to Comcast have the station on Channel 6 (very odd)

-Pepperell, Groton, Dunstable, and Harvard residents that subscribe to Spectrum have the station on Channel 17

-Athol and Orange residents that subscribe to Spectrum have the station on Channel 23

 

Orange, MA gets NBC Boston despite being in Franklin County (Springfield DMA), yet Easton, MA residents do not even they're MUCH closer to Boston! How very backwards!

[scrabbleship 427]

Verizon moved NBC Boston to Channels 10/510 sometime overnight. Only problem is, the program guide did not update, so it's temporarily impossible to DVR of this channel (or WNEU). I don't know why Verizon just didn't assign the station to Channels 10/510 in the first place, now Fios subscribers like myself have seen NBC jump across three dial positions in less than a month.

 

On the other hand, all cable/satellite television subscribers in Eastern and Central MA have NBC Boston on Channel 10, with *some* exceptions:

-Norwood residents that subscribe to their municipal provider (Norwood Light) have the station on Channel 13

-Gloucester and Rockport residents that subscribe to Comcast have the station on Channel 6 (very odd)

-Pepperell, Groton, Dunstable, and Harvard residents that subscribe to Spectrum have the station on Channel 17

-Athol and Orange residents that subscribe to Spectrum have the station on Channel 23

 

Orange, MA gets NBC Boston despite being in Franklin County (Springfield DMA), yet Easton, MA residents do not even they're MUCH closer to Boston! How very backwards!

 

I read speculation somewhere, from someone with ties to a division of NBC, that with Boston's market rank dropping that they may try to take some or all of Bristol County because of the hoops to get NBC Boston on cable there. I can understand the towns on the northern border but otherwise it would plunge Providence down to the 60s probably.

 

While Orange can get NBC Boston, they cannot get WGGB from their own market given how then-TWC dropped it a decade ago. They oddly get WSHM because Meredith forcibly weaned TWC off of WFSB. Odd case going on there.

[kdex86 48]

I read speculation somewhere, from someone with ties to a division of NBC, that with Boston's market rank dropping that they may try to take some or all of Bristol County because of the hoops to get NBC Boston on cable there. I can understand the towns on the northern border but otherwise it would plunge Providence down to the 60s probably.

 

While Orange can get NBC Boston, they cannot get WGGB from their own market given how then-TWC dropped it a decade ago. They oddly get WSHM because Meredith forcibly weaned TWC off of WFSB. Odd case going on there.

 

I grew up in Norton, and my parents still live there. I have friends that live in Norton, Mansfield, and Easton, and find it really annoying that they now have to watch a RI station for NBC programming (that area has always had both Boston and Providence affiliates on cable for ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX, going back to the 1980s). I have never seen the Providence TV stations cover news from these communities, while the Boston stations regularly do.

[Sam Horn 78]

I read speculation somewhere, from someone with ties to a division of NBC, that with Boston's market rank dropping that they may try to take some or all of Bristol County because of the hoops to get NBC Boston on cable there. I can understand the towns on the northern border but otherwise it would plunge Providence down to the 60s probably.

 

This isn't how DMAs work...

 

ETA: This also isn't how must-carry works. There are a boat load of must-carry related reasons why Comcast has to play nice with cable systems to get NBC Boston on their line-ups, none of them having to do with DMA. For much of the southern half of the Boston market and all of Bristol County, MA (which is in the Providence-New Bedford DMA), WJAR is a qualified local station. Systems are only required to carry one qualified local station affiliate of any commercial broadcast network. WJAR would meet that obligation. Beyond that, cable systems are only required to carry a low-power station when they don't have a minimum number of full-power, must-carried stations in their line-up. WNEU isn't a local for areas south of Boston (regardless, I don't think must carry applies to .2 channels), and WBTS-LD is low power, so my understanding is that cable systems south of Boston in either of the DMAs have no obligation to carry NBC Boston at all.

[NowBergen 485]

Other than Ch. 2/44, Cox Cable in RI dropped all Boston channels many many years ago. They initially carried WBZ, WSBK and WLVI. WBZ was the first to go (especially when NBC bought WJAR).

[GroupWBZ 73]

I grew up in Central MA and Charter for years carried at least WJAR (if not others) in addition to WBZ/WCVB/WFXT/WHDH

[Carl Youncinator 3]

With the results of the repack about to be posted, I wonder what new channel WBTS rf 46 will get, as they are above the new broadcast spectrum of channels 2-36 ? Some new channel assignments are already showing on rabbit ears dot info, under listings, by city.

[CircleSeven 1944]

Since WBTS-LD is a low-power station and not a "Class-A" low power station, the station won't be listed when they issue the post-repack allotment Public Notice later on this month. They would have to find a displaced channel (below 36), if there's one available.