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Gray/Raycom Merger Thread


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1 hour ago, NEOMatrix said:

I wonder if Gray will expand "MeTime with Frangela" to the legacy stations if it's doing ok on the ex-Raycom stations.

That's another one.  At least Raycom had a good balance of in-house and established syndication, and Gray has top shows too.  Stations like WOIO benefited when WOF and Jeopardy! were sent packing by Scripps and WEWS.

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Well, for WTOL, they will have to go from airing "MeTime" to "Daily Blast Live."

 

How are ratings for "MeTime" doing?

Oh, and with Mark Nolan and Romona Robinson both no longer at WOIO/WUAB, the stations now have Chris Tanaka and Tiffani Tucker anchoring the 4pm (the 4-4:30pm portion only) and 6pm news on 19 in addition to the 5pm (the 5-5:30pm portion now as opposed to a full hour before) and 11pm news (19) and both the 7:30pm and 10pm news on 43.  Nichole Vrsansky takes over the 4:30-5pm portion (it's online/streaming only) and 5:30-6pm portion of the newscasts on 19 in addition to Noon, and Erin Logan is still anchoring the 10:30-11pm portion of the newscast on 43.

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8 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

Well, for WTOL, they will have to go from airing "MeTime" to "Daily Blast Live."

 

How are ratings for "MeTime" doing?

Oh, and with Mark Nolan and Romona Robinson both no longer at WOIO/WUAB, the stations now have Chris Tanaka and Tiffani Tucker anchoring the 4pm (the 4-4:30pm portion only) and 6pm news on 19 in addition to the 5pm (the 5-5:30pm portion now as opposed to a full hour before) and 11pm news (19) and both the 7:30pm and 10pm news on 43.  Nichole Vrsansky takes over the 4:30-5pm portion (it's online/streaming only) and 5:30-6pm portion of the newscasts on 19 in addition to Noon, and Erin Logan is still anchoring the 10:30-11pm portion of the newscast on 43.

3

Same with KWES (although granted they could certainly replace MeTime with a 9 am newscast leading into DBL in Toledo and KWES could sandwich DBL in between 4 and 5 pm newscasts)

 

My next question is what are the ratings like in both Toledo and Midland-Odessa?

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18 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Same with KWES (although granted they could certainly replace MeTime with a 9 am newscast leading into DBL in Toledo and KWES could sandwich DBL in between 4 and 5 pm newscasts)

 

My next question is what are the ratings like in both Toledo and Midland-Odessa?

 

Both are generally close between the involved stations (WTOL vs. WTVG and KWES vs. KOSA). In Midland-Odessa, KMID is a very distant third, and in Toledo, WNWO essentially gave up.

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5 hours ago, GoldenShine9 said:

 

Both are generally close between the involved stations (WTOL vs. WTVG and KWES vs. KOSA). In Midland-Odessa, KMID is a very distant third, and in Toledo, WNWO essentially gave up.

So basically it's there for WTVG and KOSA to take if Tegna starts dragging KWES and WTOL down

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Reading a post on the Nexstar thread had me thinking: in the initial paperwork, state capital coverage was a big part of this deal. Here's where Gray is at now (red - acquired via Raycom):

 

Alabama - WSFA Montgomery

Alaska - KTUU I think has reporters in Juneau; no news operations based there

Arizona - nothing in Phoenix; not sure if KOLD has anyone there

Arkansas - nothing in Little Rock (Nexstar stranglehold); acquired first station in state with KAIT

California - no presence

Colorado - nothing in Denver; not sure if there is a bureau for KKTV and KKCO

Connecticut - no presence

Delaware - no presence

Florida - WCTV Tallahassee

Georgia - corporate offices but no station in Atlanta

Hawaii - KHNL/KGMB Honolulu

Idaho - KNIN Boise - news contracted to Scripps

Illinois - nothing in Springfield; not sure if there is a bureau for WIFR and KWQC

Indiana - nothing in Indianapolis; not sure if there is a bureau for WNDU

Iowa - nothing in Des Moines; not sure if there is a bureau for KWQC, KCRG and WOWT

Kansas - WIBW Topeka

Kentucky - WKYT Lexington (Frankfort part of market)

Louisiana - WAFB Baton Rouge

Maine - nothing in Portland (Augusta part of market); not sure if there is a bureau for WABI and WAGM

Maryland - no presence

Massachusetts - no presence

Michigan - WILX Lansing

Minnesota - nothing in the Twin Cities (St. Paul), only has stations at the edge of the state

Mississippi - WLBT Jackson

Missouri - nothing in Jefferson City; not sure if KYTV/KSPR has anyone there

Montana - no presence (missed their chance)

Nebraska - KOLN Lincoln (dominant in Nebraska)

Nevada - KOLO Reno (Carson City part of market)

New Hampshire - no presence?

New Jersey - no presence

New Mexico - no presence

New York - nothing in Albany; only presence in Burlington, VT and doubt they have a reporter in Albany

North Carolina - nothing in Raleigh; not sure if either Raycom or Gray had a bureau there

North Dakota - KFYR Bismarck

Ohio - nothing in Columbus; not sure if WOIO, WXIX and WTOL --> WTVG has a bureau there

Oklahoma - nothing in Oklahoma City; only had KXII before Raycom and gained KSWO and KAUZ, not sure if either had a reporter in OKC

Oregon - no presence

Pennsylvania - no presence

Rhode Island - no presence

South Carolina - WIS Columbia

South Dakota - KSFY Sioux Falls (Pierre part of market)

Tennessee - nothing in Nashville; not sure if either WVLT or WMC (or both) had reporters there

Texas - nothing in Austin; not sure if either Raycom or Gray had a bureau there

Utah - no presence

Vermont - WCAX Burlington (Montpelier part of market)

Virginia - WWBT Richmond

Washington - no presence

West Virginia - WSAZ Charleston

Wisconsin - WMTV Madison

Wyoming - KGWN Cheyenne

 

I'm curious to see what they do going forward and where new opportunities may exist.

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On 1/5/2019 at 9:47 AM, tyrannical bastard said:

If there's that much of a stake in Gray, expect the endless "Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail" and "Grand Hotel at Point Clear" commercials to continue, and even extend onto the legacy Gray stations....
I'd be curious to see if The Southern Weekend (and it's regional variations) and MomsEveryday survives too....  Each was a fixture of Raycom and Gray, respectively....

Gray actually rebranded MomsEveryday to Thrive Everyday sometime awhile back, putting less focus on moms and more focus on local business.

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Not sure it's GrayCOM related or not, but WAVE has changed their slogan.

It was Expect More. Right Now. (Which isn't bad, doesn't have necessarily tell me what I can expect more of but that I can expect something).

 

The new slogan: More. Local. Now. (I'm not a huge slogan snob, but for some reason this one just irks me.) 

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On 1/5/2019 at 11:16 AM, NEOMatrix said:

I wonder if Gray will expand "MeTime with Frangela" to the legacy stations if it's doing ok on the ex-Raycom stations.

For what it’s worth, WBTV has completely dropped it and returned “Morning Break” to a full hour. I figured it would air after the Late Late Show at 1:37 but it appears an infomercial is still in that slot. They don’t have anywhere else to put it other than on a sub channel. Must not have been doing too well and also people were unhappy about the 9:30 half hour of Morning Break moving to only Facebook to make room.

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Okay. A small follow-up.

 

To recap, Hawaii's MyNetworkTV affiliate KFVE (owned by MCG Capital, operated by Raycom) was sold to Nexstar (owners of KHON). This happened concurrent to the now completed Gray-Raycom deal. In fact about it, the FCC greenlighted the KFVE deal before approving the big deal, allowing the top-4 duopoly of KGMB & KHNL to stay intact.

 

So at this point, I was still trying to find out when the KFVE feed switch will go in effect. Will the feed move from channel 9.1 to either 13.4 or 5.5? Will that feed keep the MyNet or give it to Nexstar.


But there's been some development. KFVE's old website k5thehometeam.com is now closed. And the url is now redirected to the main Hawaii News Now website. And Bounce TV has posted on its website that its network is now carried KGMB 5.4 (again, not sure if that move has already happened or when that move will happen soon).
 

But on KHON's website, it has since added a new page to its new duopoly station. And no, they're not going to move The CW over to the new stick. Along with acquiring the MyNetworkTV programming with the license assets, it appears that the new stick will get a new callsign (even though we haven't seen it changed yet).

 

So say hello (whenever it happens) to KHON's new sister station, MyNetworkTV affiliate, KHII

 

49848505_278047002887906_469564401335979

 

Here's what I noticed when I saw the program lineup:

  • Based on the programning posted on the link, it appears this is nearly an entirely different syndie lineup from the old KFVE lineup. So that would mean Gray has inherited those shows (i.e. shows like Wendy, The Real & TMZ, and sans the MyNet shows & The Doctors).
  • The new station will simulcast KHON's full morning (4:30am-9am) & weekend evening (6 & 10pm) news shows and will reair its local show Living808 in the afternoon (4pm). 
  • KHON will also produce a new hourly 7pm weeknight broadcast for the new stick.
  • The MyNetworkTV prorgamming shows will air every weeknight in primetime from 8pm-10pm..

 

Again, we don't know when the new KHiI will launch (look below), or when the independent KFVE will shift its feed to a subchannel of one of Gray's duopoly channels. However, KHON just launched a new Facebook page for the new channel (which is a work in progress).

 

EDIT: Upon further looking through the KFVE guide, it looks like there could be some changes to their program lineup started on 1/28 (one week from Monday). It appears they've added simulcasts of the 7-8am & 5:30-6:30pm HNN live broadcast, plus a 10pm repeat at 11:05pm, along with their regular 8-9am, 6:30 & 9pm broadcasts.

 

EDIT #2 5pm/ET: Here's KHON's press release on the launch of KHII (which will be on the 28th) with more info:

  • KHII will occupy KFVE's cable channel positions 5 & 1005. So the new indie KFVE would need new cable positions.
  • Mothership KHON will be adding 4pm & 9:30pm news starting February 4th, No word if these shows would be simulcast on KHII.

 

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Follow-up regarding Albany.

 

Not sure when this happened, WALB's guide has added The CW listing on 10.4, and the YourCWTV page now have the new CW Albany logo with the WGCW callsign.

 

The CWTV.com station zipcode search page says 36.1 (which is WGCW-LP's virtual channel) and WALB calls.

 

There's no word on either the new LP/added subchannel have already launched or when it will be launched, since the station hasn't posted a release yet. Also no word if WSWG will drop the CW on that channel.

 

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22 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

From the AP this morning, Syncbak will be adding the Raycom outlets (joining the legacy Gray outlets) to its platform.

 

But the question is, will they keep the outlets on NewsOn & livestream? Or will they cut loose with these platforms?

 

 

The move of the former Raycom stations over to SBTV means it's only a matter of time before Gray severs ties with NewsOn at this point.

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35 minutes ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

The move of the former Raycom stations over to SBTV means it's only a matter of time before Gray severs ties with NewsOn at this point.

 

Of the original five groups to launch NewsON (Hubbard and Graham came in between original announcement and launch), only three remain. And of those three, only one (the ABC O&O's) have acknowledged its existence.

With STIRR launching and the idea that Sinclair could bail its stations for that, at what point is NewsON not long for this world?

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7 hours ago, scrabbleship said:

 

Of the original five groups to launch NewsON (Hubbard and Graham came in between original announcement and launch), only three remain. And of those three, only one (the ABC O&O's) have acknowledged its existence.

With STIRR launching and the idea that Sinclair could bail its stations for that, at what point is NewsON not long for this world?

 Then the question becomes what led to major groups like Nexstar and Gray leaving NewsON? And what did NewsON do that turned some of the major broadcasters in this country off?

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29 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

 Then the question becomes what led to major groups like Nexstar and Gray leaving NewsON? And what did NewsON do that turned some of the major broadcasters in this country off?

 

In Nexstar's case, it was likely a cost-cutting measure like with much of everything else the company has done over the years.

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9 minutes ago, TennTV1983 said:

 

In Nexstar's case, it was likely a cost-cutting measure like with much of everything else the company has done over the years.

Which despite improving post-MG they certainly still have their flaws (and will likely still have flaws even after the eventual close of the Tribune deal)

 

But as for NewsON, it's just a shame that a great streaming news service product that unfortunately has gone by the wayside because most of the original groups that signed on with NewsON not only left quickly but didn't really give NewsON an opportunity to develop it's full potential you could tell that NewsON was just starting to really take off onto the next level at the time Nexstar pulled its stations off of NewsON and quite frankly we should've known that Nexstar-Media General (and subsequent mergers that followed) would lead to an eventual demise of NewsON (that and the launch of competing services like SBTV that provide the same services NewsON provides, only on the cheaper side)

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More like NewsON never wanted Gray or Nexstar's stations (and only had the stations acquired from Media General and Raycom) and cut them loose soon after the mergers were finalized.

 

This is another nail in livestream's coffin.  Once Tribune becomes a part of Nexstar or changes video streamers, they may as well be toast.

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3 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

More like NewsON never wanted Gray or Nexstar's stations (and only had the stations acquired from Media General and Raycom) and cut them loose soon after the mergers were finalized.

 

This is another nail in livestream's coffin.  Once Tribune becomes a part of Nexstar or changes video streamers, they may as well be toast.

To my knowledge Tribune never did sign on with NewsON but I think they may have signed on with a different provider if they even did sign on with that said streaming service

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3 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

To my knowledge Tribune never did sign on with NewsON but I think they may have signed on with a different provider if they even did sign on with that said streaming service

They never did.  But most of their stations use livestream as their web streaming provider (with Roku access).

 

Nexstar pulled the ex-MG stations out of NewsOn and changed all of their streaming (and a few of their own legacy stations that live-streamed with livestream as well) to another platform. 

The two are unrelated, but Nexstar's moves made many of their stations invisible on Roku.

 

At least Syncbak is Roku friendly.

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To me, there's no promotion of NewsON by any station. I was loving it at first but when the ABC O&O's got rid the past newscasts and you can only view it during live newscasts (because sports highlights was added) plus the search function doesn't as well as it should. Syncbak at least is also online too (Although I have an issue with them too).

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1 hour ago, RGSJenkins said:

To me, there's no promotion of NewsON by any station. I was loving it at first but when the ABC O&O's got rid the past newscasts and you can only view it during live newscasts (because sports highlights was added) plus the search function doesn't as well as it should. Syncbak at least is also online too (Although I have an issue with them too).

 

There was a lot locally on WBAL in the beginning likely as they were one of the few partners at the time. I see the ads occasionally during weekend mornings or severe weather. WBFF promotes it much more (maybe as their app isn’t as easy to stream). But once more than one station in a market sign on it’s useless to promote it because a user could download the app after seeing it advertised on WBAL but select WBFF as their default stream and ignore the other.

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