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WJMN becomes independent station


sanewsguy

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According to Lilly Broadcasting's main office in Erie PA, WZMQ found out about the switch on Tuesday and had to switch on Friday. They are still trying to figure out what to do with WZMQ. Expect the CBS Network to switch to 19.1 soon and MeTV to go to 19.2. It won't stay the way it is. There Isn't a direct number for the Station but there is an online contact fourm

Edited by Kenneth Kissel
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6 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

With WTTV in that group, imagine that Tribune spent all that money to take the affiliation away from WISH...and CBS could have taken it away yesterday and went back to WISH by this morning. This is the poker game they played and lost, AND they also lost most of their staggered contract expirations throughout the country having to accept a bulk agreement.

 

I'm not the biggest VCBS fan, but even if broadcast television is allegedly 'declining', the networks still have all the leverage against station groups.

VCBS now has a Sword of Damocles hanging over Nexstar, and WJMN was a warning shot. They could easily threaten to void the entire damn contract at any moment. 
 

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22 minutes ago, Greggo said:

The WJMN set is PLASTERED with the CBS logo. It’s on the desk. It’s on the dura. Curious to see how they frame shots to avoid showing it. 

They could just drape it the entire set in all-black.

Edited by Myron Falwell
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9 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

If Nexstar botched this as badly as they apparently did - and this was a royal botching just handing the CBS affiliation straight up to Lilly, let alone having all their CBS affiliates on a day-to-day basis - I'm not sure I would have them as a favorite to get the CW.

 

Did Nexstar use the same negotiators that LIN TV used when they botched the affiliation deal with WISH-TV?

 

Wonder if Circle City tried to make an offer to bring CBS back to WISH-TV as well?

Edited by Mrtraveler01
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6 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Taking a look at the schedule, there is no Rewind TV programming on WJMN, just Antenna TV programs.

My error in haste; I have no idea what Rewind's schedule looks like since there's no affiliate I can get in my area (I only get WFRV through Paramount+ since CBS only assigns WDJT to cable), and that entire network launch itself was confusing so I didn't know what was Antenna-exclusive or Rewind-exclusive.

 

3 hours ago, Kenneth Kissel said:

According to Lilly Broadcasting's main office in Erie PA, WZMQ found out about the switch on Tuesday and had to switch on Friday. They are still trying to figure out what to do with WZMQ. Expect the CBS Network to switch to 19.1 soon and MeTV to go to 19.2. It won't stay the way it is. There Isn't a direct number for the Station but there is an online contact fourm

That they were able to get anything as far as unique logos and the tech equipment to get it done in only three days is yeoman to me, even with P+ just being the CBS East Coast feed for Marquette right now (still remember WDJT's quick run-up in '94). Meanwhile, you could sense the shock from WJMN's news staff, and that their logo was so wed to CBS, Nexstar never thought of having a network-neutral version, where most station logos can easily have the network bug easily excised with a click...just so badly done.

 

I also figured the .2 was the easiest place to put it for now, as Weigel was just as in the dark and has to do their own changes on the MeTV, H&I, and Start websites (along with social media notices), so Lilly gave them some time to make sure their side of the transition was clear. There's also getting streams up, both on the website and through Vuit (which means that Marquette can access their news streams outside WJMN on one website).

Edited by mrschimpf
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8 hours ago, GodfreyGR said:

Indeed. That's why they're proud of all their "regional news partners"!

 

Watch for LOTS of filler from WOOD, WFRV, WGN, and for some reason they think people in the UP care about what's happening in Indy from WTTV!

I give it a month before WJMN folds their news department outright. There is no way they can be competitive with no wire or feeds.

Edited by Myron Falwell
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26 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

I give it a month before WJMN folds their news department outright. There is no way they can be competitive with no wire or feeds.

How competitive are the ratings there would be my question?  If WJMN has had strong viewership, that might keep them afloat for a while at least?

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16 minutes ago, GodfreyGR said:

How competitive are the ratings there would be my question?  If WJMN has had strong viewership, that might keep them afloat for a while at least?

WLUC is by far the dominant station in the UP. But I don't think Nexstar is done with WJMN. As I said on the Speculatron, I think it would be wise for Nexstar to try and pluck ABC away from WBUP (and something that I think could reasonably happen, given the difference between their owners). As dominant as WLUC is, I would think WJMN is faring better in the ratings than WBUP is, and probably will do better than WZMQ.

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WJMN is still on YouTubeTV (still listed as a CBS affiliate), and so is a special CBS feed that fills in the non-network airtime with CBSN content. 

 

It's likely temporary until Lilly can get WZMQ's CBS feed uplinked. 

 

And seeing how Nexstar does not carry independent/CW/MNTV stations there (and how they dropped WMYT in Charlotte), I think WJMN's days on YTTV are numbered.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, NewsMaster said:

WLUC is by far the dominant station in the UP. But I don't think Nexstar is done with WJMN. As I said on the Speculatron, I think it would be wise for Nexstar to try and pluck ABC away from WBUP (and something that I think could reasonably happen, given the difference between their owners). As dominant as WLUC is, I would think WJMN is faring better in the ratings than WBUP is, and probably will do better than WZMQ.

 

Nexstar's ABC affiliates are up for renewal at the end of the year so don't be too surprised if they do try to grab the ABC affiliation from WBUP.

 

Nexstar invested a lot into getting that news operation going so i don't think they'll be that eager to shut everything down unless they really have to.

Edited by Mrtraveler01
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1 hour ago, Mrtraveler01 said:

Nexstar invested a lot into getting that news operation going so i don't think they'll be that eager to shut everything down unless they really have to.

They also spent a ton of money on NewsNation and no one is watching that lol

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3 hours ago, Mrtraveler01 said:

 

Nexstar's ABC affiliates are up for renewal at the end of the year so don't be too surprised if they do try to grab the ABC affiliation from WBUP.

What about WLUC’s DT2 Fox affiliation? How long will it be before Gray has to go to the negotiating table for that? Considering WJMN pushed its late news to prime time, Fox would make more sense as a future partner.

Edited by T.L. Hughes
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I asked someone who's familiar with the situation. It came as a total shock to the WJMN employees. They had about a day and a half's notice. Nexstar apparently didn't want to pay whatever fees CBS was wanting, but Lilly/WZMQ was, so away CBS went. There hasn't really been discussion about what the long-term future is since this is all so fresh. Seems like a really small market to have such a dispute, but here we are.

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6 hours ago, MidwestTV said:

I asked someone who's familiar with the situation. It came as a total shock to the WJMN employees. They had about a day and a half's notice. Nexstar apparently didn't want to pay whatever fees CBS was wanting, but Lilly/WZMQ was, so away CBS went. There hasn't really been discussion about what the long-term future is since this is all so fresh. Seems like a really small market to have such a dispute, but here we are.

Pretty much confirms suspicions that this was a poker game Nexstar played with CBS. Not only did they lose, Nexstar ceded all leverage by panic renewing all the other CBS affiliations simultaneously.

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22 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

With WTTV in that group, imagine that Tribune spent all that money to take the affiliation away from WISH...and CBS could have taken it away yesterday and went back to WISH by this morning.

I just remembered that VCBS owns WBXI 47 in Indianapolis. They could have told Perry, “we’ll screw WTTV over and make WBXI the new home for CBS in Indianapolis if you don’t cave immediately”.

 

And Perry folded like a cheap suit.

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36 minutes ago, Myron Falwell said:

I just remembered that VCBS owns WBXI 47 in Indianapolis. They could have told Perry, “we’ll screw WTTV over and make WBXI the new home for CBS in Indianapolis if you don’t cave immediately”.

 

And Perry folded like a cheap suit.

I wonder if VCBS kept this station all along as another contingency plan, because they may have seen problems with WISH long before WTTV swooped in to get CBS.

Almost like the NBC debacle in Boston, wherever "NBC 10...aka NBC Boston" ended up.

Edited by tyrannical bastard
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9 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

What about WLUC’s DT2 Fox affiliation? How long will it be before Gray has to go to the negotiating table for that? Considering WJMN pushed its late news to prime time, Fox would make more sense as a future partner.

And for the first time ladies and gentleman, FOX 3.

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6 minutes ago, KentBrockman said:

And for the first time ladies and gentleman, FOX 3.

I thought I saw somewhere where Gray renewed their FOX and NBC affiliations recently, but I could be mistaken.

 

There's no telling where ABC stands with WBKP/WBUP.  Maybe Nexstar could could call their bluff and move ABC to WJMN when that renewal happens.

Edited by tyrannical bastard
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1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I thought I saw somewhere where Gray renewed their FOX and NBC affiliations recently, but I could be mistaken.

 

There's no telling where ABC stands with WBKP/WBUP.  Maybe Nexstar could could call their bluff and move ABC to WJMN when that renewal happens.

Apparently, the last time Gray renewed its Fox affiliation contracts was in September 2019, so how long that deal applies to WLUC’s “Fox UP” subchannel is key as to what point in time WJMN will get an opening to snag that affiliation.

Edited by T.L. Hughes
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