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No Surprise: Sinclair Pulls Plug On WNYO "News Central"

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
In a sad, but much anticipated move, Sinclair Broadcasting has announced that the newsroom of WNYO-49 is shutting down. It's one of three "News Central" operations Sinclair is closing down, along with WTTA-38 Tampa Bay and WVTV-18 Milwaukee. WNYO's last newscast is scheduled for March 31st.

This is a link to a Buffalo Business First story on the shutdown of WNYO's local news.

With Sinclair having announced within a 24-hour period the shutdowns of three newsrooms using the company's "News Central" operations, on top of others in recent months, how long will it be before "News Central" itself gets shut down??
 
And don't forget Syracuse!

...where Granite's WTVH isn't renewing its deal to produce 7 AM and 10 PM shows for Sinclair's WSYT. I can't imagine WSYR-TV (I still keep wanting to type "WIXT") being interested in producing a 10 PM show for WSYT, and WSTM already does the 10 for WSTQ...unless that goes away along with UPN this fall. <P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: And don't forget Syracuse!

> ...where Granite's WTVH isn't renewing its deal to produce 7
> AM and 10 PM shows for Sinclair's WSYT. I can't imagine
> WSYR-TV (I still keep wanting to type "WIXT") being
> interested in producing a 10 PM show for WSYT, and WSTM
> already does the 10 for WSTQ...unless that goes away along
> with UPN this fall.

I think anyone (WSYR included) would do the show for the right price, but channel 9's price is probably much higher than WSYT would ever want to pay. And last I've "heard," WSTQ will be winning the CW affiliation (over WNYS)... which I don't agree with, but regardless, it looks like WSTM will be able to keep doing the WSTQ newscast. So unless something unexpected happens, it looks like the end of the road for the Fox 68 News at Ten.
 
Re: And don't forget Syracuse!

> I think anyone (WSYR included) would do the show for the
> right price, but channel 9's price is probably much higher
> than WSYT would ever want to pay. And last I've "heard,"
> WSTQ will be winning the CW affiliation (over WNYS)... which
> I don't agree with, but regardless, it looks like WSTM will
> be able to keep doing the WSTQ newscast. So unless
> something unexpected happens, it looks like the end of the
> road for the Fox 68 News at Ten.

WNYS is already committed to My Network TV, so it's definitely out of the running for CW. That would make WSTQ the leading candidate - but not necessarily the only one. It's by no means out of the question that Time Warner, which has already affiliated its "WRWB" cable WB affiliate in Rochester with CW, could use its expanded platform in upstate NY (now that it owns the former Adelphia systems in Buffalo) to keep the CW affiliation in house everywhere from Utica west to Buffalo and south to the Elmira and Binghamton systems. *IF* that happens - and it's purely speculation at this stage - it wouldn't bode well for WSTQ's continued success at all, 10 PM news or not.

So the real question is likely to be whether Raycom, which has already rejected the CW's terms in Cleveland and several other markets where it's affiliated with My Network TV, will be willing to meet CW's price for the Syracuse affiliation, especially with WSTM/WSTQ being up for sale. The Salt City has turned into one of the more interesting markets to watch as the mini-webs start up!<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: And don't forget Syracuse!

> So the real question is likely to be whether Raycom, which
> has already rejected the CW's terms in Cleveland and several
> other markets where it's affiliated with My Network TV, will
> be willing to meet CW's price for the Syracuse affiliation,
> especially with WSTM/WSTQ being up for sale.

Interesting. I didn't realize WNYS already committed to MyNetwork. Even though I have a gut feeling it's not the best move, at least that part of the situation is "resolved" and doesn't need to be discussed further.

As for the CW situation... it's interesting that neither TW nor Raycom has made a move yet. I would agree that WSTQ needs SOME kind of network affiliation in order to stay alive. It might be pricey to pick up CW, and I know stations usually try to keep expenses down when they're looking to sell. But this is one investment that could make the difference between WSTQ actually having some value, or just being tossed in as a freebie for the buyer of WSTM -- a low-power freebie that doesn't HAVE to be carried on cable if Time Warner ever decided to drop it.

If Time Warner part-owns CW, I'm guessing it wouldn't cost TW a thing to expand the reach of "WRWB" to other areas... of course, they wouldn't be making anything either. I bet they hold out as long as they can to see if they can cash in with Raycom signing up WSTQ. But if Raycom still hasn't budged by the time CW goes live, I wouldn't be surprised to see WSTQ disappear from the cable lineup, either immediately, or whenever any other existing deal for WSTQ carriage expires. If Raycom doesn't have anyone lining up to buy 1030 James Street now, they definitely won't have anyone on the front doorstep when that happens (except reporters doing liveshots "in Syracuse.")
 
But wait, there's more...

> But this is one investment that could make
> the difference between WSTQ actually having some value, or
> just being tossed in as a freebie for the buyer of WSTM -- a
> low-power freebie that doesn't HAVE to be carried on cable
> if Time Warner ever decided to drop it.

I'm not privy to the details of the carriage negotiations for WSTM, but if Raycom was smart, it would have made WSTQ carriage mandatory in exchange for retrans consent for WSTM's analog and digital systems. So it might not be that easy for TWC to drop WSTQ, even if there's nothing attractive left there (read: 24-hour infomercials?)

> If Time Warner part-owns CW, I'm guessing it wouldn't cost
> TW a thing to expand the reach of "WRWB" to other areas...
> of course, they wouldn't be making anything either.

Not so! Again, even though I'm a former TWC employee (and glad of it), I have no hard knowledge about the finances here - but if the local spot load and promotional budget of "WRWB" is any indication, it's a decent profit center for the division. (Given how small the "WRWB" staff is compared to RNews and even the pared-down News 10 Now, I wouldn't be surprised if it's MORE profitable than the news channels.)

Extending its reach would indeed be pretty close to zero-cost - the fiber network is already in place to distribute news content among the newschannels (R News just picked up the nightly talk show from Capital News 9 in Albany, for instance), so you'd be looking at promotions budgets in the new markets, and probably some costs for local ad insertion capability. Given the kind of sports load that already exists on "WRWB," the natural thing to do might be to put CW Syracuse on 26, appropriating the infrastructure that already exists for TW Sports there. I'm pretty sure that's where some of "WRWB"'s Syracuse sports originates anyway.

And one thing I forgot to mention in my last post: there's still another full-power license in the Syracuse market that we all forget about. No, not WSPX - its fate remains tied to the sinking brick that is Pax/i - but WNYI in Ithaca. It's running at very low power, apparently with Univision, but if it ever goes to full power (presumably when it cuts over to DTV, and probably from the WSYT tower or the tower next to it), it will have cable must-carry throughout the Syracuse DMA. If Equity Broadcasting gets into the CW game at all - they haven't committed yet - WNYI could be a player. And - shudder - so could WNGS in Buffalo, if WNLO doesn't bite and the TWC scenario doesn't play out.

And the beat goes on.<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2006 ON SALE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: But wait, there's more...

> > of course, they wouldn't be making anything either.
>
> Not so! Again, even though I'm a former TWC employee (and

Sorry, I should have clarified better. I meant to say I was guessing the CW network wouldn't be making any additional "affiliate fee" or whatever other money affiliates are paying to the network. I assume WRWB, being owned by the same company that part-owns the network, would be exempt (or get a deal) on such fees... whereas WSTQ would have to pay the full rate. I wasn't even thinking about ad revenue, but I definitely agree WRWB is set up for a high profit margin.

> the fiber network is already in place to
> distribute news content among the newschannels (R News just
> picked up the nightly talk show from Capital News 9 in
> Albany, for instance),

For what it's worth, and it's probably no surprise, News 10 Now recently picked up "Capitol Tonight" as well. Suddenly, News 10 Now has a little bit of an easier time on slow news days, as they seem to eat up some news time with "stories" summarizing topics from polls presented on Capitol Tonight. Smart move on their part, as long as they don't overdo it.
 
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