jdb820 said:
nomadcowatbk said:
Do any other tax exempt organizations own commercial TV stations or networks?
KOMU and the University of Missouri I think is the only other commercial TV station/tax-exempt organization combo left.
What I don't get is now that SLC no longer has any O&O's why nobody has tried to get NBC. I know KSTU couldn't switch for a few more years but what really would KUTV or KTVX have to lose?
More to the point, what would they have to
gain? Why trade a network that's in first or second place in primetime for one that's in third or fourth? If you're KUTV, why give up CBS' NFL package? If you're KTVX, why give up the soon-to-be top-rated morning show for the slumping
Today?
The topic of KSL and its preemptions has come up here before, and the answer's always the same: this is exactly what the FCC had in mind for network/affiliate relations going all the way back to the "Blue Book" report of the 1940s. Local affiliates are not only given the explicit right to preempt network content that may not suit local standards, they are (or at least were) expected to do so.
KSL preempting "SNL" or "New Normal" may look odd to anyone outside Utah, but it seems to work pretty well for Utahns, who vote with their remotes and consistently keep KSL at the top of the ratings. NBC clears all its programming on KUCW if KSL preempts, so nothing gets missed by viewers who really want to see it. There's nothing broken there that needs fixing.
(And FWIW, KSL is not owned by a "tax exempt organization"; its licensee, Bonneville, is a for-profit company that's taxed accordingly, even if its ultimate ownership is the tax-exempt LDS church.)