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Ion Media Networks - General Discussion


Adam MadMan

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My question is how will this impact WDLI and WVPX in the Cleveland/Akron/Canton market?  WDLI carried the soon-to-be shut down ION Plus, while WVPX will likely still air ION TV.

 

If ION reduces its hours and with ION Plus going away, what could happen to those two stations?  I know they will get separate owners since Scripps is not keeping either of the two.  Could WEWS still operate and program them through a JSA (like the situation between WOIO and WUAB from 1994 until 2000)?

 

I can also picture TEGNA or Nexstar making a play for WDLI or WVPX to team up with either WKYC or WJW and form a duoply.

 

Plus, there's Bounce on WUAB 43.2 and Court TV Mystery on WQHS 61.4.  Are those channels still under contract with those two stations?  I have a feeling they might up on WVPX, WEWS, and/or WDLI somehow.

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I've heard rumors that Inyo or Scripps may end up returning the licenses for the Ion Plus affiliates to the FCC, so I think that may be what happens. If not, then I can see Scripps moving Court TV to those channels, since they've been pushing the name for a while.

 

My big question is how this will affect WIFS in Madison. They've been running Ion Plus on their main signal, and actually added Qubo recently - just in time to have Scripps yank it away from them. At this point, I think WIFS will probably move Ion to the main signal. No idea what'll replace the other signals, if they even do replace them.

Edited by Adam MadMan
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1 hour ago, Adam MadMan said:

I've heard rumors that Inyo or Scripps may end up returning the licenses for the Ion Plus affiliates to the FCC, so I think that may be what happens. If not, then I can see Scripps moving Court TV to those channels, since they've been pushing the name for a while.

 

My big question is how this will affect WIFS in Madison. They've been running Ion Plus on their main signal, and actually added Qubo recently - just in time to have Scripps yank it away from them. At this point, I think WIFS will probably move Ion to the main signal. No idea what'll replace the other signals, if they even do replace them.

Suggestion: One of the Ion Plus licenses I'd like to see sold would be the WDPX, PSIP 58, license in Boston to NBCU which will finally give WBTS a full power home and the must carry privileges that come with it.

 

Here's how I see it working:

 

Scripps sells the WDPX license to NBCU who, in turn, change the callsign to WBTS and move it to WNEU's spectrum, RF29.

NBCU either sells, cancels, or donates, to WGBH, the current WBTS-CD license.

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19 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

My question is how will this impact WDLI and WVPX in the Cleveland/Akron/Canton market?  WDLI carried the soon-to-be shut down ION Plus, while WVPX will likely still air ION TV.

 

If ION reduces its hours and with ION Plus going away, what could happen to those two stations?  I know they will get separate owners since Scripps is not keeping either of the two.  Could WEWS still operate and program them through a JSA (like the situation between WOIO and WUAB from 1994 until 2000)?

 

I can also picture TEGNA or Nexstar making a play for WDLI or WVPX to team up with either WKYC or WJW and form a duoply.

 

Plus, there's Bounce on WUAB 43.2 and Court TV Mystery on WQHS 61.4.  Are those channels still under contract with those two stations?  I have a feeling they might up on WVPX, WEWS, and/or WDLI somehow.

 

Basically, stations like WDLI exist in license-alone, since the spectrum was sold by TBN in the auction, and the station was physically merged onto WVPX's spectrum.  Get rid of the extra license, and you can now legally have a duopoly with WEWS without endangering cap space.  I'm pretty sure the Inyo deal was a stopgap in places like Cleveland where this situation existed, and the "triopoly" was in fact the shared spectrum of the former TBN station in license on the  main ION station, plus the existing Scripps affiliate.

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On 1/14/2021 at 4:48 PM, nickp said:

NickGAS, Toon Disney/Jetix, Vortexx, and Discovery Kids welcome Qubo

 

 

I predict they will be joined by Disney XD eventually, judging from their social media platforms which simply promotes Disney+ programming, that channel is a shell of its former self. 

 

 

 

On 1/14/2021 at 1:16 PM, channel2 said:

 

The thing about Qubo is that Scripps would likely have to invest big bucks into it to make it even remotely competitive. That would mean spending big on original programming that they'd either produce in-house or otherwise lock down all the rights to. There would also likely be minimal help from the syndication market, since most of the worthwhile content (at least, animation-wise) is owned by Disney, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal, and I can't imagine most of those companies are all that eager to help. They could perhaps look into old TGIF shows or what have you but I can't imagine they come cheap.

 

Remember The Hub? Not even Hasbro had the acumen or the willingness to spend big to make that network competitive. Were it not for My Little Pony, The Hub would've been even more of a flop than it ended up being.

 

I'm also under the impression that the TV business has more or less given up on children's shows on linear. Cartoon Network has basically packed it in (if only they hadn't ditched the multi-generational angle they had in their salad days!). The Disney Channel and its offshoots seem to be dying on the vine. Nickelodeon is still one of ViacomCBS's crown jewels and that NFL simulcast indicates some sort of self-preservation instinct. The fact that they have so eagerly flogged their '90s heyday and decided that we didn't have our fill of Rugrats in 1999 helps.

 

Scripps bought ION because it's cheap and hugely profitable. Qubo will never be a factor without significant investment, and reruns of 20-year-old Nelvana shows aren't going to cut it.

 

The mega media companies own the relevant content that they will most likely funnel to their respective streaming services. Qubo is pretty much DOA and I don't blame Scripps for pulling the plug, 

 

Oh yeah, I remember The Hub! It seemed like Hasbro and Discovery had something special initially. The unfortunate part for them is that Disney grabbed ownership to two intellectual properties that are very important to the Hasbro toy brand, Marvel (late 2009, Discovery and Hasbro announced their joint venture earlier that year) and Star Wars (2012).  Had Mickey Mouse not bought either properties, I'd speculate that Hasbro would  have done all they could to give Marvel and Star Wars top billing on The Hub, which would have most likely been more cartoon shows to promote the respective toy lines. My Little Pony became the only thing The Hub was known for. 

 

Cable is on their way to join Blockbuster eventually in media heaven.  Internationally, a bunch of Disney Channel networks have closed down or are closing down left and right. The future is streaming for the mega media companies. 

Edited by tvtime07
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21 hours ago, channel2 said:

With regards to WLWC, The CW got screwed so bad in Providence, didn't they?

 

Yes, they did.  One of the two hotels I stay at when in Providence still carries whatever useless stuff is on 28.  No CW.  Begs the question, does DirecTV or Dish carry the CW for the Providence market?

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2 hours ago, NowBergen said:

 

Yes, they did.  One of the two hotels I stay at when in Providence still carries whatever useless stuff is on 28.  No CW.  Begs the question, does DirecTV or Dish carry the CW for the Providence market?

Nope. MyNetworkTV isn't available either.

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On 1/14/2021 at 5:06 PM, JCB4TV said:

I wonder whether Univision would be willing to end the deal early in several markets. One market I see would be Washington, DC where Univision hosts Nexstar on RF15 as potentially clearing Grit and Bounce could make room for WDVM move into DC. Also, the other Scripps subnets air in DC on WRZB-LD and should move to WPXW in the spring.2021-01-14.png.51c959aa4608f8eb219bf5de130fe6ff.png

I shudder to think of the picture quality on that channel. 

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On 1/18/2021 at 4:26 PM, rkolsen said:

I shudder to think of the picture quality on that channel. 

Interesting, as WDVM also has a Transmitter change in work that will finally provide a signal into metro DC itself - I live on the top of a hill, with an antenna in my attic and am looking forward to finally (re)getting WDVM, now that I’ve dropped cable...

 

J

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  • 2 weeks later...
19 minutes ago, C Block said:

When did KMGH start producing 8pm news on KCDO? Also, they now do 7-9am and 1pm on KCDO?? I see there's also news at 11pm, but I'm going to guess that's a 10pm repeat.

 

Denver is approaching LA levels in terms of how much news is available around the clock.

 

 

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/kcdo-now-local3-new-shows-entertainment-and-expanded-colorado-news-from-denver7

I wonder whether Scripps will eventually launch newscasts on the Ion station in Tampa, Las Vegas, Tulsa, Nashville, Utah, and Milwaukee.

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On 2/2/2021 at 8:09 PM, JCB4TV said:

I wonder whether Scripps will eventually launch newscasts on the Ion station in Tampa, Las Vegas, Tulsa, Nashville, Utah, and Milwaukee.

They've indicated a few times that they intend to run the Ion stations separate from the rest of their portfolio. I'd be surprised if they tried to do news on them.

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Thanks to Xfinity, we now know what some of the standalone Ion Plus stations will be airing:

Quote

In the select markets listed below, ION Plus will be replaced with Court TV or Bounce:

  • Boston, Massachusetts (WPXG/WDPX): ION Plus will be replaced by Court TV.
  • Indianapolis, Indiana (WCLJ): ION Plus will be replaced by Bounce.
  • Providence, Rhode Island (WLWC): ION Plus will be replaced by Court TV.
  • Raleigh, North Carolina (WFPX): ION Plus will be replaced by Court TV.

No real surprise, most of them will be airing Court TV.

Edited by Adam MadMan
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14 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

IMO, I predict a few stations will try to do some news on the ION stations. 

They can't. At least not yet. 
The stations were operated as one giant feed.

Currently, there's no way to interrupt one station without broadcasting it to the entire country.

At least that's what we were told.

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19 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

I mean, this is the same company that formed Scripps Interactive. I don't think they play that kind of game.

 

They were talking about the Ion Stations, although some of the stations, at least in the early 2000's had ability to cut the feed (The Central Florida Stations carried MLB Games, and WEPX/WPXU were dual Ion/MyNetwork TV stations for a few years).

 

If the stations are that centralized, it would take a while to decentralize them, which may be why Scripps decided to place them under the Katz division, since they already have turn-key networks available. 

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