Macon TV station dumps ABC

[fussbudget]

WPGA-TV owner Lowell Register says ABC soaps are "too risque.":
http://www.macon.com/149/story/897611.html

 

[jal41]

That sounds odd...dumping a network because of soap operas.

I understand WGXA 24, which was the area's ABC affiliate from 1982-1995, will start a new digital subchannel for ABC. I suspect Fox is too valuable for them to do an affiliation swap. I also suspect Cox cable customers in the area may get unfiltered WSB-TV as their ABC service in lieu of the new subchannel.

I wonder if Macon would be better served with WSB-TV as the default ABC station, as is the case in Albany and Southwest Georgia?

 

[notalkallstatic]

That sounds odd...dumping a network because of soap operas.

Well, if he is a starch hard conservative, it's believable. It's a family owned and opearted station, so it's very possible this is the reason, since one of his statements were:

“I had somebody tell me they’re running a good bit of gay and lesbian stuff on it, that’s really just in-your-face so to speak, and I’m not sure that’s appropriate. That’s happening in prime time,” he said. “I’m not really happy with it.”

Sad, I wonder how much of a hit the station is going to take with revenue and ratings.

 

[dustintv]

It sounds like he is...the man's bigotry will cost him in the long run.

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

Poor Macon. Well, that station doesn't even have a news department so no big loss.

 

[upstate29651]

Curious: Which is a more reliable OTA signal in Macon: WRBL or WSB?

If I ran WRBL, I'd be shifting my signal pattern to the east.

G

 

[bpatrick]

WRBL is a CBS affiliate; no need to shift
its signal toward Macon, which has a perfectly
good CBS affiliate in WMAZ. WTVM is the ABC
affiliate in Columbus, so your question should
be: which ABC affiliate would come in better
in Macon, WSB or WTVM? And I think since
one is on Channel 2 and the other on Channel
9, WSB would be the better bet.

I wouldn't be surprised to see WSB's schedule
airing intact on cable in Macon for at least the
immediate future; I may be wrong about this,
but I think that when WXIA was Atlanta's ABC
affiliate and there was no ABC affiliate in Macon,
its schedule ran in its entirety on cable in Macon.

 

[tripinva]

WTVM is on channel 11. WSB is on channel 39.

Assuming an outdoor, roof-mounted VHF antenna, WTVM would likely be the easier catch, based on the coverage maps I've seen.

- Trip

 

[w9wi]

I wouldn't be surprised to see WSB's schedule
airing intact on cable in Macon for at least the
immediate future; I may be wrong about this,
but I think that when WXIA was Atlanta's ABC
affiliate and there was no ABC affiliate in Macon,
its schedule ran in its entirety on cable in Macon.

I suspect in the long term (long being a matter of weeks or months) Macon's ABC affiliate will be a subchannel on WMAZ, WMGT, or WGXA.

 

[tripinva]

It's already been announced for WGXA 24-2. It will be in 720p. Dual HD.

- Trip

 

[bpatrick]

You're correct about WSB and WTVM's digital
channels; however, they are on virtual channels
2 and 9, respectively, and that's how they identify
themselves. However, if ABC is going to be on
WGXA's subchannel, it's a moot point.

BTW, why is WSB the default ABC affiliate for
Albany instead of WTVM or Tallahassee's WTXL?

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

I was shocked that Albany has WSB-TV as well. They also have WTVM (abc) out of Columbus too.

 

[tripinva]

You're correct about WSB and WTVM's digital
channels; however, they are on virtual channels
2 and 9, respectively, and that's how they identify
themselves.

Yes, but virtual channel numbers have no bearing on signal reception. WSB mapping to 2-1 does not give its channel 39 signal VHF reception characteristics.

- Trip

 

[ota nega]

It sounds like he is...the man's bigotry will cost him in the long run.

Just because the man has some scruples doesn't mean he is a bigot. I know anything goes at any hour of the day in today's programing, but it is nice to see someone say enough is enough and put his values above the dollar.

 

[notalkallstatic]

It sounds like he is...the man's bigotry will cost him in the long run.

Just because the man has some scruples doesn't mean he is a bigot. I know anything goes at any hour of the day in today's programing, but it is nice to see someone say enough is enough and put his values above the dollar.

Sometimes you shouldn't let your values run your business. He was a major network affiliate (that is pretty strong right now, if he had, NBC, it would make sense,) and he is letting it go, because of values? That's just a bad business move right there, that could very well bite him in the butt. If he doesn't loose his shirt, he can expect to have much lower revenue coming in.

 

[BarryATL]

Not only the lost revenue... the value of the station itself is not worth much as an independant in the Macon market.

 

[daryll]

Until WGXA debuted on April 21, 1982, WMAZ had dual affiliation with CBS and ABC in the 70's and early 80's. In the 50's, WMAZ, like many single stations in a market, carried shows from all four networks. ABC's Saturday College Football was probably the last ABC show they carried in 1981 with the impending sign-on of WGXA the next spring. IIRC, General Hospital was the last regularly scheduled weekday program from ABC on the line-up. I think it was dropped in '78 or '79. Seems like the addition of Phil Donahue or Sally Jessy Raphael replaced GH on the station. BPatrick's TV listings on the Classic TV board would be a good source to confirm this.

With the recent rift between WPGA and ABC, the FCC wouldn't allow WMAZ to carry one of the other three major nets on a sub-channel due to the station's dominance in the market. The station enjoys a 70 share sign-on to sign-off and consistently ranks near the top of CBS's best performing affiliates. This hasn't changed much in the last few years either. The feds uphold the eight independent voices in a market with the market leader typically locked out of a duopoly. Gannett, WMAZ's corporate parent, has duopolies in Atlanta, Denver and Jacksonville.

 

[fybush]

With the recent rift between WPGA and ABC, the FCC wouldn't allow WMAZ to carry one of the other three major nets on a sub-channel due to the station's dominance in the market. The station enjoys a 70 share sign-on to sign-off and consistently ranks near the top of CBS's best performing affiliates. This hasn't changed much in the last few years either. The feds uphold the eight independent voices in a market with the market leader typically locked out of a duopoly. Gannett, WMAZ's corporate parent, has duopolies in Atlanta, Denver and Jacksonville.

I wouldn't be so sure that WMAZ couldn't carry ABC if it wanted to. There are plenty of other examples of similarly dominant stations adding additional big-4 network subchannels in recent years. WWNY Watertown NY, which dominates its market even more so than WMAZ in Macon, now carries Fox on its 7.2 (as well as on several LPTVs). WLIO in Lima OH, the only general-market commercial station in its market, was recently allowed to buy LPTVs that carried Fox, ABC and CBS, and it now runs NBC and Fox on WLIO-DT and ABC and CBS on one of the LPTVs, which it flipped to digital.

As for the duopoly rules, they're not exactly what you make them out to be. There are several tests involved that are more complex than just "8 independent voices," and plenty of cases where the market leader has been allowed to become part of a duopoly, whether through outright purchase or some form of JSA or SSA. That includes Gannett, whose KUSA-TV in Denver dominates that market. (I'm quite certain that the WTLV duopoly in Jax dominates that market, too.)

 

[EricStein]

Not only the lost revenue... the value of the station itself is not worth much as an independant in the Macon market.

That's kind of like what's happened in the very small market of Great Falls, Montana. KTGF was once an NBC affiliate until a group with a number of NBC stations decided to build a statewide network (including Great Falls), buying an LPTV in the process. When they lost NBC, they became a FOX affiliate, which didn't last long until another station took that affiliation. They tried to hang on as an independent, and eventually the owners fell on hard times because it is tough to sell an independent station in such a small market. According to Wikipedia (which may be inaccurate), they are now an affiliate of TBN "subchannel" network JCTV.

They have a chance to survive as an independent (they can take cues from WSST 70 miles south), but it will be an uphill battle. They may have to keep things very low-budget though.

 

[w9wi]

With the recent rift between WPGA and ABC, the FCC wouldn't allow WMAZ to carry one of the other three major nets on a sub-channel due to the station's dominance in the market. The station enjoys a 70 share sign-on to sign-off and consistently ranks near the top of CBS's best performing affiliates. This hasn't changed much in the last few years either. The feds uphold the eight independent voices in a market with the market leader typically locked out of a duopoly. Gannett, WMAZ's corporate parent, has duopolies in Atlanta, Denver and Jacksonville.

Duopoly rules limit the ability of one owner to control more than one license -- more than one transmitter -- in a market. The duopoly rules would prevent Gannett from owning both WMAZ and WPGA.

Those rules don't, however, limit the ability of one owner to carry more than one network on their one transmitter. As "daryll" notes, WMAZ used to do this in the analog days by interspersing ABC and CBS shows on their one signal. (and this at a time when duopolies were *never* permitted) Today, it would still be legal (but stupid!) for them to intersperse CBS and ABC shows on 13.1. But they now also have the technical ability to run the ABC shows separately on a second subchannel. And that would be perfectly legal.