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20 minutes ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Paramount still owns 12.5% of The CW, so they still have a limited interest in the network. It’s not responsible for the day-to-day management of the network, since Nexstar acquired 75% of the equity previously held by Paramount and WBD, but CBSNS could negotiate to keep the CW affiliation on WUPA and its other CW stations once their contracts come up. (Further to that point, CBSNS still has a few affiliates of MyNetworkTV, which is owned by Fox, in its portfolio.)

Once the deal closes, WUPA is no longer a CW O&O, regardless of how much a stake they might still have in the CW for now. The network could sign to remain on stations like WKBD and WPCW (or even KBHK) but does Paramount have much of any real desire to be involved with the network beyond the 2024–25 season?

 

Plus WSBK and WBFS disaffiliated from MyTV a few weeks ago and now function as indies.

Edited by Myron Falwell
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6 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

You all do realize CBS has owned WUPA since 1994, right? If they wanted to move the affiliation, they would’ve done so a while ago. A lot of major market CBS affiliates are in 3rd or 4th place, you don’t see CBS trying to move affiliations there, do you? Also, Gray owns other CBS affiliates, I don’t thing CBS is looking to piss off Gray. What NBC did in Boston is completely different, as they did not own a station there prior.

 

1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

CBS sold WUPA to Viacom the First in 1994 after it was no longer needed. The station became a UPN O&O, then a CW O&O under CBS Corp. control.

 

Now that CBS is giving up their ownership stake in the CW, they have zero incentive to have WUPA be an affiliate of a network they will have no stake or involvement in and every incentive to take the affiliation in-house.

The only use CBS has had for WUPA since it came back into the O&O portfolio was using it as a negotiation tactic with WGCL. Every affiliation agreement negotiation until now had the threat of CBS saying that, despite their "best efforts" they weren't "able to come to a satisfactory agreement with WGCL" and will be moving CBS to WUPA. Yeah, Paramount is going to pull this "we have no plans to launch news on our standalone CW stations..." right now because saying otherwise would likely breach the affiliation agreement contracts they already have in those markets.

 

CBSViacom/Paramount/etc has been more than transparent with their plans for local stations moving forward, mainly via all the PR they're putting out for Detroit. It should surprise no one if they finally pull the trigger in Atlanta and move CBS to WUPA (and, honestly, in Tampa and Seattle as well). Gray seems to be able to see the writing on the wall, and has prepared a new brand devoid of any CBS branding, one that may very well be set up to "borrow" a lot of CBS' new initiatives before CBS has the chance to set them up locally. 

 

The ball is in Gray's possession now. CBS can either continue the affiliation agreement with Gray calling the shots (so to speak) or they can try to launch their own newsroom that will be seen as "copying" what Atlanta News First already did. Unless Nexstar decides that minority stake in ownership means CBS doesn't need to pay affiliation fees, there is no incentive for CBS to continue to keep their CW stations affiliated with the network. 

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1 hour ago, Weeters said:

CBSViacom/Paramount/etc has been more than transparent with their plans for local stations moving forward, mainly via all the PR they're putting out for Detroit. It should surprise no one if they finally pull the trigger in Atlanta and move CBS to WUPA (and, honestly, in Tampa and Seattle as well). Gray seems to be able to see the writing on the wall, and has prepared a new brand devoid of any CBS branding, one that may very well be set up to "borrow" a lot of CBS' new initiatives before CBS has the chance to set them up locally. 

 

 

The ball is in Gray's possession now. CBS can either continue the affiliation agreement with Gray calling the shots (so to speak) or they can try to launch their own newsroom that will be seen as "copying" what Atlanta News First already did. Unless Nexstar decides that minority stake in ownership means CBS doesn't need to pay affiliation fees, there is no incentive for CBS to continue to keep their CW stations affiliated with the network. 

CBS’s strategy for local stations wouldn’t surprise me, but I still have two questions:


1) Would Gray agree to an affiliation agreement with CBS that excludes WANF? What’s to stop Gray from telling CBS that they no longer want to carry their programs on most/all of their other CBS affiliates? Again, I wouldn’t be surprised if CBS really is going with that strategy, but doesn’t it have the potential to massively backfire?

 

2) Wouldn’t it make more sense for CBS to just sell their standalone CW affiliates to another company? What CBS is doing in Detroit is difficult enough; do they really want the burden of launching news in Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta when they already have affiliates doing it for them? Besides, Nexstar might be interested in owning three standalone affiliates in top-20 markets.
 

Granted, one can credit CBS with having enough foresight to know that station groups are uncoupling from their dependence on the networks. Perhaps CBS figures that it’s best to sever the cord to station groups sooner rather than later, when said station groups will be established enough to not need the networks. Gray’s desire to “fire CBS” in Atlanta might justify this reasoning. Come to think of it, I might’ve just answered my own questions there. Still, it would be like McDonalds attempting to replace every single franchisee with their own stores; it wouldn’t be practical (at least in the short term) and it presents a great risk.

Edited by nycnewsjunkie
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32 minutes ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

2) Wouldn’t it make more sense for CBS to just sell their standalone CW affiliates to another company? What CBS is doing in Detroit is difficult enough; do they really want the burden of launching news in Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta when they already have affiliates doing it for them? Besides, Nexstar might be interested in owning three standalone affiliates in top-20 markets.

Who’d buy them? Nexstar is grossly over the cap that, even if they tried to play the Mission route, it wouldn’t exactly work like they would want it to. The charade of selling WPIX to Scripps was set up in a way that Mission could buy them, this OTOH would be grossly flagrant and highly visible (as opposed to Mission shadow buying a station for Nexstar to create a duop in the middle of nowhere in market #179). Plus this is no longer an environment receptive to M&As as the Federal Reserve keeps hiking the prime interest rate.

 

If anything, CBS can use KSTW and WTOG to force Apollo to sell them KIRO and Tegna to sell them WTSP.

Edited by Myron Falwell
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19 hours ago, Metrodonmartin said:

Networks are going away. The GM here has already made the comment, “do we really need to be a CBS/network affilliate ?  They are banking on creating a local brand. CBS owns a station in Atlanta. Gray is well aware that CBS most likely will pull an NBC BOSTON type move in ATLANTA.  Gray is smart to create a non CBS yet local brand. 

The networks aren't going away they're going to reinvent themselves. That what the local management thinks, and most executives are stuck in their own enclave.  CBS has added value to WGNX/GCL/ANF-  but over the last 20+ years the ownership and management have placed their own stamp on station.  This station needs stability and here hoping Gray does the station well.  Just insert that CBS eye into the logo and let see if still beats WXIA come after November Sweeps.

 

On 9/30/2022 at 6:24 PM, nycnewsjunkie said:

To be fair, the station’s fate isn’t entirely in their own hands. How well ANF does will be influenced by how much the competition slips up (especially WSB/Apollo). That said, given that the station has been remarkably stable as of late, I’m optimistic that this goes beyond a name/set change.

 

IMHO, they don’t have to end up in first place (or even second) to consider this a success. They simply have to be competitive. Gray’s short-term goals were to make investments into the station, hire solid journalists, and maintain stability. So far, it looks like they’ve done that. Even in the worst-case scenario, they are at least putting out a better and more accessible product today than they ever have before.

Competition slips up?  Has WSB lost it ratings share?  NO! It still #1 and still commands a 50% audience, because "Cox" doesn't officially own the station. WSB going to do what WSB does and that to stay on top!

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36 minutes ago, Breaking News said:

Competition slips up?  Has WSB lost it ratings share?  NO! It still #1 and still commands a 50% audience, because "Cox" doesn't officially own the station. WSB going to do what WSB does and that to stay on top!

WSB is owned by a New York private equity firm (to call it a "hometown company" is extremely generous bordering on Truthiness, Cox Media ceased being "an Atlanta company" when the Cox family sold out due the Theranos scandal), which doesn't care about investing into it and ultimately wants to sell it to the highest bidder. Private equity is the worst type of ownership because they want to make back their money, everything else be damned.

 

The only thing WSB has going for it is Rusted Dial Syndrome.

Edited by Myron Falwell
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1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

Who’d buy them? Nexstar is grossly over the cap that, even if they tried to play the Mission route, it wouldn’t exactly work like they would want it to. The charade of selling WPIX to Scripps was set up in a way that Mission could buy them, this OTOH would be grossly flagrant and highly visible (as opposed to Mission shadow buying a station for Nexstar to create a duop in the middle of nowhere in market #179). Plus this is no longer an environment receptive to M&As as the Federal Reserve keeps hiking the prime interest rate.

 

If anything, CBS can use KSTW and WTOG to force Apollo to sell them KIRO and Tegna to sell them WTSP.

I hadn’t considered the interest rate hikes, so that’s a good point. That said, if CBS ever pulls the affiliation from WANF, would Gray accept it without pulling other CBS affiliations? Wouldn’t the resulting blowback from Gray end up being worse for CBS?

 

I know this is all wildly off topic and speculative, and I apologize if I’m inadvertently derailing the thread. That’s the last thing I’ll ask relating to that scenario.

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2 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

What CBS is doing in Detroit is difficult enough; do they really want the burden of launching news in Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta when they already have affiliates doing it for them? Besides, Nexstar might be interested in owning three standalone affiliates in top-20 markets.

Detroit is a different situation, because of CW and CBS situation. Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta. Seattle and Tampa could be a nice gun to the head for Apollo for if anything implodes same thing with WTSP and Tegna, however both will have a hard time rebuilding news department bucares of there sorta indie status good for syndies. Atlanta is and has been a gun to the head for WGCL but they can’t do what there’re doing in the Detroit. Cause the rimshot viewership situation. So they bargain with Nexstar hey can we at least not pay affiliation fees.

Edited by Gavin M.
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1 hour ago, Myron Falwell said:

WSB is owned by a New York private equity firm (to call it a "hometown company" is extremely generous bordering on Truthiness, Cox Media ceased being "an Atlanta company" when the Cox family sold out due the Theranos scandal), which doesn't care about investing into it and ultimately wants to sell it to the highest bidder. Private equity is the worst type of ownership because they want to make back their money, everything else be damned.

 

The only thing WSB has going for it is Rusted Dial Syndrome.

The Cox side owns 19% and it uses "Cox Media Name" just in name only, and privately equity is what's is.  Wall Street players looking at profits and the younger

Cox generation of the family didn't see any interest in media.  WSB-TV hasn't ship wreck yet!

Edited by Breaking News
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3 hours ago, Weeters said:

CBSViacom/Paramount/etc has been more than transparent with their plans for local stations moving forward, mainly via all the PR they're putting out for Detroit. It should surprise no one if they finally pull the trigger in Atlanta and move CBS to WUPA (and, honestly, in Tampa and Seattle as well). Gray seems to be able to see the writing on the wall, and has prepared a new brand devoid of any CBS branding, one that may very well be set up to "borrow" a lot of CBS' new initiatives before CBS has the chance to set them up locally. 

 

The ball is in Gray's possession now. CBS can either continue the affiliation agreement with Gray calling the shots (so to speak) or they can try to launch their own newsroom that will be seen as "copying" what Atlanta News First already did. Unless Nexstar decides that minority stake in ownership means CBS doesn't need to pay affiliation fees, there is no incentive for CBS to continue to keep their CW stations affiliated with the network. 

The date I'm really looking at is September 2024, when the SEC moves to ESPN/ABC rather than CBS, and now instead of that conference, Bama, and the Georgia Bulldogs, WANF is stuck on Saturday afternoons carrying Big Ten games of little local interest.

 

If WUPA does take CBS (and that CW schedule and down-market syndicated shows just move to their DT2 and isn't up for discussion for even WGTA), does Gray try to fold in their next ABC affiliation agreement contingent on stripping the affiliation from WSB and other stations in the SEC footprint, thinking the Hedge Fund Hell of Apollo and other PE-backed groups would refuse to just rubber-stamp a renewal and be happy to let it go for a WJXT-ish indie news op schedule?

Yes, the move of these college football packages are small compared to the NFL, but there's still going to be some musical chairs in 2024. Gray knows those Saturday afternoon numbers will plummet for the CBS stations outside the Rust Belt and the West Coast, and however the NFL will distribute games starting in 2023 won't make much difference, even involving the Falcons, so they need to strengthen WANF before the SEC agreement is done.

 

WANF needs a network that backs them up, and it's proven over time that CBS isn't that partner, just keeping WUPA going like some mob guy holding a pipe and pointing at 46 like 'we will ruin you in a minute'. Remember that they also own WALV in Indianapolis, which is low-power and doing nothing, but still somehow PG-owned to keep WTTV from straying too far from network mandates.

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4 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

CBS’s strategy for local stations wouldn’t surprise me, but I still have two questions:


1) Would Gray agree to an affiliation agreement with CBS that excludes WANF? What’s to stop Gray from telling CBS that they no longer want to carry their programs on most/all of their other CBS affiliates? Again, I wouldn’t be surprised if CBS really is going with that strategy, but doesn’t it have the potential to massively backfire?

 

2) Wouldn’t it make more sense for CBS to just sell their standalone CW affiliates to another company? What CBS is doing in Detroit is difficult enough; do they really want the burden of launching news in Seattle, Tampa, and Atlanta when they already have affiliates doing it for them? Besides, Nexstar might be interested in owning three standalone affiliates in top-20 markets.
 

Granted, one can credit CBS with having enough foresight to know that station groups are uncoupling from their dependence on the networks. Perhaps CBS figures that it’s best to sever the cord to station groups sooner rather than later, when said station groups will be established enough to not need the networks. Gray’s desire to “fire CBS” in Atlanta might justify this reasoning. Come to think of it, I might’ve just answered my own questions there. Still, it would be like McDonalds attempting to replace every single franchisee with their own stores; it wouldn’t be practical (at least in the short term) and it presents a great risk.

To be fair, Nexstar recently agreed to an affiliation agreement with CBS that removed the affiliation from WJMN. I wouldn't expect this to be some kind of New World-esque mass re-alignment. Gray has clearly prepped for the possibility of losing CBS on WANF and only on WANF. Just because it might work in Atlanta right now doesn't mean they are prepared to do it elsewhere... at this time.

 

Nobody expected CBS to re-launch news in Detroit, either. Once they have that spun up, they have a formula for doing it elsewhere. There's cost involved with building out a news operation, yes, but it's nothing like it was 10-20 years ago, which is definitely a driving factor in CBS choosing to re-launch news in Detroit. You no longer need a fleet of $250,000 a pop ENG trucks and $20,000 ENG cameras. You don't need a huge studio facility, especially considering what CBS is doing in Detroit with the whole "Neighborhood News" concept. 

 

1 hour ago, mrschimpf said:

WANF needs a network that backs them up, and it's proven over time that CBS isn't that partner, just keeping WUPA going like some mob guy holding a pipe and pointing at 46 like 'we will ruin you in a minute'. Remember that they also own WALV in Indianapolis, which is low-power and doing nothing, but still somehow PG-owned to keep WTTV from straying too far from network mandates.

WBXI didn't re-enter the CBS fold until 2019 though, so they haven't had a whole lot of time to use that as leverage.

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14 hours ago, Weeters said:

 

The only use CBS has had for WUPA since it came back into the O&O portfolio was using it as a negotiation tactic with WGCL. Every affiliation agreement negotiation until now had the threat of CBS saying that, despite their "best efforts" they weren't "able to come to a satisfactory agreement with WGCL" and will be moving CBS to WUPA. Yeah, Paramount is going to pull this "we have no plans to launch news on our standalone CW stations..." right now because saying otherwise would likely breach the affiliation agreement contracts they already have in those markets.

 

CBSViacom/Paramount/etc has been more than transparent with their plans for local stations moving forward, mainly via all the PR they're putting out for Detroit. It should surprise no one if they finally pull the trigger in Atlanta and move CBS to WUPA (and, honestly, in Tampa and Seattle as well). Gray seems to be able to see the writing on the wall, and has prepared a new brand devoid of any CBS branding, one that may very well be set up to "borrow" a lot of CBS' new initiatives before CBS has the chance to set them up locally. 

 

The ball is in Gray's possession now. CBS can either continue the affiliation agreement with Gray calling the shots (so to speak) or they can try to launch their own newsroom that will be seen as "copying" what Atlanta News First already did. Unless Nexstar decides that minority stake in ownership means CBS doesn't need to pay affiliation fees, there is no incentive for CBS to continue to keep their CW stations affiliated with the network. 

WGCL/WANF switches from CBS to NBC if that happens? 

 

Yes, I know that is pure speculation, but it's what WRAL did, and Gray doesn't have too much to lose now they ditched the CBS branding.

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1 hour ago, TheSpeedKing said:

WGCL/WANF switches from CBS to NBC if that happens? 

 

Yes, I know that is pure speculation, but it's what WRAL did, and Gray doesn't have too much to lose now they ditched the CBS branding.

And make CBS go where, WXIA, WSB? Obviously pure speciation but that's quite a thought. To be fair WSB isn't as appealing to be an affiliate for as it was say thirty years ago during the last major switch's 

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17 hours ago, Weeters said:

 

The only use CBS has had for WUPA since it came back into the O&O portfolio was using it as a negotiation tactic with WGCL. Every affiliation agreement negotiation until now had the threat of CBS saying that, despite their "best efforts" they weren't "able to come to a satisfactory agreement with WGCL" and will be moving CBS to WUPA. Yeah, Paramount is going to pull this "we have no plans to launch news on our standalone CW stations..." right now because saying otherwise would likely breach the affiliation agreement contracts they already have in those markets.

 

CBSViacom/Paramount/etc has been more than transparent with their plans for local stations moving forward, mainly via all the PR they're putting out for Detroit. It should surprise no one if they finally pull the trigger in Atlanta and move CBS to WUPA (and, honestly, in Tampa and Seattle as well). Gray seems to be able to see the writing on the wall, and has prepared a new brand devoid of any CBS branding, one that may very well be set up to "borrow" a lot of CBS' new initiatives before CBS has the chance to set them up locally. 

 

The ball is in Gray's possession now. CBS can either continue the affiliation agreement with Gray calling the shots (so to speak) or they can try to launch their own newsroom that will be seen as "copying" what Atlanta News First already did. Unless Nexstar decides that minority stake in ownership means CBS doesn't need to pay affiliation fees, there is no incentive for CBS to continue to keep their CW stations affiliated with the network. 

 

WUPA would be an excellent piece to sell. Maybe WSB could make CBS they can't refuse and tie it to them. Nexstar would probably love WUPA as an O&O but they are capped out.

Edited by GoldenShine9
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Not sure if this was posted already but according to TV Passport, the "Wake Up Atlanta" branding has been dropped in favor of "Atlanta News First at [insert time between 4:30-9am]." If im not mistaken only the 7-9 am hours were on Peachtree TV, now the 6 am portion is avalible on WPCH aswell.

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22 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

Not sure if this was posted already but according to TV Passport, the "Wake Up Atlanta" branding has been dropped in favor of "Atlanta News First at [insert time between 4:30-9am]." If im not mistaken only the 7-9 am hours were on Peachtree TV, now the 6 am portion is avalible on WPCH aswell.

 

WPCH simulcasts WANF at 6am, then the 7-9am newscast is exclusive to them. They've been doing this since it first launched.

 

Many Big 3 stations producing 7-9am news on duopoly stations do this.

Edited by Georgie56
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I thought that Gray renewed with CBS last year and that included WGCL/WANF? I read it somewhere on a media website I could be wrong on that. I think they should use different branding when they don't have news hours which I know is few for WANF has now being with Gray.

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5 hours ago, Megatron81 said:

I thought that Gray renewed with CBS last year and that included WGCL/WANF? I read it somewhere on a media website I could be wrong on that. I think they should use different branding when they don't have news hours which I know is few for WANF has now being with Gray.

Gray did renewed the CBS stations it already had, last November. However, it didn't include the newly-acquired Meredith stations, since that deal didn't close until the following month.

 

Looking at this biennial paperwork (p.6 on the PDF) in the station's public file, the Meredith-CBS agreement don't expire until this coming July of 2023.

 

Edited by CircleSeven
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23 hours ago, TheSpeedKing said:

WGCL/WANF switches from CBS to NBC if that happens? 

 

Yes, I know that is pure speculation, but it's what WRAL did, and Gray doesn't have too much to lose now they ditched the CBS branding.

That makes sense. Gray has a lot more NBC than ABC stations. And WXIA has been with ABC before.

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I’m not a moderator or anything (and I would never pretend to be), but perhaps this discussion about an affiliation switch would be best for the speculatron? CBS hasn’t given an explicit indication of wanting to pull its affiliation in Atlanta, and until then, everybody’s basically taking guesses.

 

Anyway, the ANF YouTube channel has been placing thumbnails with headlines on their videos. Even videos from before the launch have these thumbnails. Granted, this is an extremely minor detail, but I’ve never seen this style of thumbnail from too many local outlets (even O&Os). This is stuff I’ve usually seen from bigger outlets, like France 24 and DW, on their YouTube channels. Smart use of branding, if you ask me.

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Here's a thought:  If the news branding is "Atlanta News First", why not have the station's overall branding be "ANF"?

 

I mean, no one refers to CNN as "Cable News Network" these days...

 

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3 hours ago, nycnewsjunkie said:

I’m not a moderator or anything (and I would never pretend to be), but perhaps this discussion about an affiliation switch would be best for the speculatron? CBS hasn’t given an explicit indication of wanting to pull its affiliation in Atlanta, and until then, everybody’s basically taking guesses.

 

I agree with this. Some light what ifs at the prospect of an affiliation change at WANF is fine, but no need for speculation about CBS in Seattle and Tampa, or even other Atlanta stations. Lord knows there's enough to dissect with CBS 46 Atlanta News First.

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On 10/2/2022 at 12:53 PM, ATLNewsExpert said:

And make CBS go where, WXIA, WSB? Obviously pure speciation but that's quite a thought. To be fair WSB isn't as appealing to be an affiliate for as it was say thirty years ago during the last major switch's 

Yeah sure! Clearly ABC & WSB have been besties for the last 42 years.  WSB & WXIA didn't want CBS in 1994. Regardless the networks still have value to these stations.

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From a news consumer perspective this is new paint slapped on the same old thing. The debut newscasts lead with live reports from ANF crews in South Carolina and Florida. If you go with a name like "Atlanta News First" I expect local news to be up front - or at least the local perspective. Why send local resources when you have CBS and presumably CNN crews to provide national coverage?

 

If you're going to climb out of last place you can't expect fresh branding on the same product to accomplish anything.

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1 hour ago, alaskanews said:

From a news consumer perspective this is new paint slapped on the same old thing. The debut newscasts lead with live reports from ANF crews in South Carolina and Florida. If you go with a name like "Atlanta News First" I expect local news to be up front - or at least the local perspective. Why send local resources when you have CBS and presumably CNN crews to provide national coverage?

 

If you're going to climb out of last place you can't expect fresh branding on the same product to accomplish anything.

Precisely! Amen. 

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