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New ION affiiliates that aren't owned by ION

ION must be paying for clearance. Their programming leaves much to be desired and isn't a distinct format as most subchannels are. The cost of buying the clearance was likely less than the hit on national ad rates that NBC would've taken.
 
Word through the grapevine is that WHTM (in my hometown, Harrisburg PA) is also adding ION on their subchannel 27.3 (was previously just weather, so not a big loss). Also Media General.
 
umfan said:
ION must be paying for clearance. Their programming leaves much to be desired and isn't a distinct format as most subchannels are. The cost of buying the clearance was likely less than the hit on national ad rates that NBC would've taken.
Click to expand...

Why NBC? I don't believe they own any interest in Ion.
 
newsmark said:
Why NBC? I don't believe they own any interest in Ion.
Click to expand...

They formerly owned a 1/3 interest back in the PAX TV days when Bud Paxson ran the network, but spun it all off with complications such as Telemundo O&O purchases and the NBC-Universal merger occurred.

All of the new ION subchannels are in markets where they have no affiliate, so they aren't doing it in markets where an O&O already exists; it also seems to be used by Media General to bulk-fill the slots abandoned when Live Well folded nationally.
 
While the ION network of O&O's waits for their big pay-day in the auction, I suppose they need to do what they can to keep the cash flow up or the leaking down. (though I plead total ignorance re their financials)
 
I believe they (NBC) still own a stake, but didn't exercise the option to buy a majority. I may be wrong. I also believe they handle the ad sales and some of the operations, which led me to think they may have brokered the deals for clearance in some markets where they were not to help ad rates.
 
Media General owned WKRG 5.3 in Mobile. AL (DMA 60?) just launched ION the first of November.
Paxson had a CP for a full power analog station here but never built it out. Eventually the CP was sold to Daystar.
 
Yes, NBC owned part of Pax for a few years. If you had a PAX O&O, you may remember seeing rebroadcasts of NBC affiliate newscasts on the Pax stations. Some of them were actually live.

-crainbebo
 
Charlotte NC still doesn't have Ion. One site I am a member of has several fans of "Saving Hope", which I would like to see and which Ion is airing reruns of. We've mostly watched unauthorized videos since NBC cancelled it. CTV won't let Americans see the show on their web site.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Charlotte NC still doesn't have Ion. One site I am a member of has several fans of "Saving Hope", which I would like to see and which Ion is airing reruns of. We've mostly watched unauthorized videos since NBC cancelled it. CTV won't let non-Canadians see the show on their web site.
Click to expand...

Fixed.
 
unclehonkey said:
no you didn't. vchimpanzee had it right.

What if you are a CANADIAN living in the US.......HMMMMMMM?????
Click to expand...

What I meant was, you have to be in Canada (or at least have a Canadian IP address) to watch it online. And in some cases you would need to sign in with a Canadian pay-TV provider.
 
Same thing in the Portland/Poland Spring (ME) DMA. No over-the-air affiliate, just on Time-Warner Cable channel 14 in Portland. I don't know about other towns in Cumberland County or in York County (Old Orchard Beach, Biddeford, Sanford, etc.).
 
It seems like Media General is adding it to stations in markets that dont have Ion OTA

No MG station in market....no Ion ;)
 
Tegna Media owns WCSH-TV (NBC) channel 6 of Portland.
owns WMTW-TV (ABC) channel 8 of Poland Spring.
Sinclair owns WGME-TV (CBS) channel 13 of Portland.
Corporate Media Consultants Group (51%) owns but Sinclair operates WPFO-TV (FOX) channel 23 of Waterville.
Ironwood Communications, LLC owns WPXT-TV (CW) channel 51 of Portland and controls WPME-TV (MY) channel 35 of Lewiston.

I hope I have that all right! :)
 
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