Scripps News Shutting Down OTA

[itsTheRolyPoly]

The company's strategy for Scripps News was disjointed.

On WXYZ here in Detroit, they didn't event start promoting the network until maybe August of this year even though it launched many months earlier. The OTA broadcast wasn't even placed on a multicast channel of WXYZ or its reasonably well known sister station, WMYD, but instead, placed on WPXD 31.5 in glorious standard definition.

Scripps does not know how to execute local news all that well, either. WXYZ is a shadow of its former self, basement-dwelling WRTV in Indianapolis failed to capitalize one iota on WISH-TV losing its CBS affiliation, WMAR in Baltimore has been a dumpster fire forever, and WCPO in Cincinnati is now a distant third or fourth after spending many years in first or second place in local news ratings.

Gold standard for local news belongs to the ABC O&Os, in my opinion. Runner-up is Hearst. Third place goes to the NBC O&Os, although I will say NBC 5 in Chicago is not as good as it once was, and I think launching NBC 10 in Beantown was a mistake. Fourth place is a coin flip between Cox and Graham Media.

I do miss Tribune Media Company.

Respectfully, out of the big media companies left, I think Gray is the best, though their recent layoffs were disheartening.

 

[IM42A]

I think launching NBC 10 in Beantown was a mistake. Fourth place is a coin flip between Cox and Graham Media.

NBC didn't really have much of a choice after WHDH disaffiliated with them, unless they had been able to acquire or affiliate with an existing independent station, repurposing it as a full-service NBC affiliate (think of how CBS acquired WGPR in Detroit and adopted the legacy calls WWJ). And they were able to take an LPTV and make it into a de facto full-power station by piggybacking onto WGBX's signal, though they wouldn't be able to get by with using PSIP "10.x", as there is already a station in nearby Providence which has that designation.

 

[MarkW]

NBC didn't really have much of a choice after WHDH disaffiliated with them, unless they had been able to acquire or affiliate with an existing independent station, repurposing it as a full-service NBC affiliate (think of how CBS acquired WGPR in Detroit and adopted the legacy calls WWJ). And they were able to take an LPTV and make it into a de facto full-power station by piggybacking onto WGBX's signal, though they wouldn't be able to get by with using PSIP "10.x", as there is already a station in nearby Providence which has that designation.

NBC dumped WHDH, not the other way around.

WHDH (Sunbeam) sued NBC (Comcast) in court, in fact, in an effort to prevent removal by NBC of its affiliation. Comcast prevailed in the litigation, and the rest is history.

 

[IM42A]

NBC dumped WHDH, not the other way around.

WHDH (Sunbeam) sued NBC (Comcast) in court, in fact, in an effort to prevent removal by NBC of its affiliation. Comcast prevailed in the litigation, and the rest is history.

You're right, I stand corrected, but at the end of the day, NBC needed a new Boston affiliate, and they were able to take advantage of piggybacking an LPTV onto a full-power signal to create a station that would be on a par, where OTA reception is concerned, with the other major Boston stations, without having to try to acquire (or affiliate with) an existing full-power station. CBS didn't have that sort of luxury in analog days when they needed a Detroit affiliate after losing WJBK.

 

[spunker88]

WSPX Syracuse is now carrying Laff in place of Scripps News. Laff is already available on WSYR 9.4. I wonder if Nexstar who owns WSYR will replace Laff with RewindTV.

 

[MarkW]

You're right, I stand corrected, but at the end of the day, NBC needed a new Boston affiliate, and they were able to take advantage of piggybacking an LPTV onto a full-power signal to create a station that would be on a par, where OTA reception is concerned, with the other major Boston stations, without having to try to acquire (or affiliate with) an existing full-power station. CBS didn't have that sort of luxury in analog days when they needed a Detroit affiliate after losing WJBK.

Network program ratings would've been substantially higher had NBC remained on WHDH, I suspect. Boston is a large enough (and wealthy enough) TV market where a big dip in ratings can be a needle mover in the wrong direction in terms of revenue.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

You're right, I stand corrected, but at the end of the day, NBC needed a new Boston affiliate, and they were able to take advantage of piggybacking an LPTV onto a full-power signal to create a station that would be on a par, where OTA reception is concerned, with the other major Boston stations, without having to try to acquire (or affiliate with) an existing full-power station. CBS didn't have that sort of luxury in analog days when they needed a Detroit affiliate after losing WJBK.

NBC WANTED a new Boston affiliate. I fixed that for you.

They could have stayed with WHDH but they got greedy. NBC apparently has a history of being greedy (see the Cleveland/Philadelphia swap with Westinghouse, the move from KRON-TV to KNTV in SF, and their earlier dealings with Sunbeam in Miami).

 

[Loganfly]

They could have stayed with WHDH but they got greedy. NBC apparently has a history of being greedy (see the Cleveland/Philadelphia swap with Westinghouse, the move from KRON-TV to KNTV in SF, and their earlier dealings with Sunbeam in Miami).

The reason why WMGM lost NBC back in 2014 is because of both their greediness and anti-competitorism (since they own WCAU in the same market as WMGM)

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

...the same for WHAG-TV in Hagerstown. And that little station in Elko NV, and that wasn't an O&O they were seeking to protect.

It's a good thing WHIZ-TV has a market all to itself, because if Zanesville was ever merged into Columbus they can kiss the Peacock goodbye.

 

[IM42A]

NBC WANTED a new Boston affiliate. I fixed that for you.

They could have stayed with WHDH but they got greedy. NBC apparently has a history of being greedy (see the Cleveland/Philadelphia swap with Westinghouse, the move from KRON-TV to KNTV in SF, and their earlier dealings with Sunbeam in Miami).

Okay, at the risk of having my facts corrected a third time (thought I knew more about the Boston market than I did), I'm going to assume that NBC wanted a de novo O&O Boston affiliate all along, and would I be correct in assuming that they didn't even seek to affiliate with any other existing Boston full-power stations? That's what it sounds like. That business of starting off with one LPTV (WTMU-LP), then buying another LPTV (WYCN-LD) that was selling its spectrum and piggybacking onto a full-power signal (WGBX) was quite the coup. It's not every day that a new full-power network affiliate in a major market can be carved out of existing allocations.

 

[IM42A]

...the same for WHAG-TV in Hagerstown. And that little station in Elko NV, and that wasn't an O&O they were seeking to protect.

It's a good thing WHIZ-TV has a market all to itself, because if Zanesville was ever merged into Columbus they can kiss the Peacock goodbye.

Zanesville is one of those quirky little Midwestern "infill" markets (others being Lima, Parkersburg/Marietta, Lafayette, Alpena, and so on) that will probably never be absorbed into another market. But, yes, if they became part of the Columbus market, in all likelihood they'd lose NBC (and possibly Fox as well, not sure if Fox would be as zealous as NBC in getting rid of multiple in-market affiliates). CBS and ABC seem to tolerate such situations where long-standing viewing habits and demographics have resulted in multiple affiliates (Boston/Manchester, Tampa/Sarasota, Grand Rapids/Battle Creek, possibly others).

At this point, there's probably more than just a little thread drift going on, so I'm going to leave it at that.

 

[JeeperOne]

I just noticed NBC News Now (and a bunch of other streaming channels, some owned by NBC Universal) are part of the channel lineup on my Comcast cable system.

For what is worth now as LITERALLY ALL the channels have converted to ALL streaming. In fact, there are VERY FEW channels outside of the news channels & ESPN that still offer a true cable channel (No, I don't count CBS Sports Network alongside ESPN as TBS, TNT & TruTV get MORE eyeballs than CBS Sports Network does)

 

[JeeperOne]

NBC dumped WHDH, not the other way around.

WHDH (Sunbeam) sued NBC (Comcast) in court, in fact, in an effort to prevent removal by NBC of its affiliation. Comcast prevailed in the litigation, and the rest is history.

You're right, I stand corrected, but at the end of the day, NBC needed a new Boston affiliate, and they were able to take advantage of piggybacking an LPTV onto a full-power signal to create a station that would be on a par, where OTA reception is concerned, with the other major Boston stations, without having to try to acquire (or affiliate with) an existing full-power station. CBS didn't have that sort of luxury in analog days when they needed a Detroit affiliate after losing WJBK.

NBC didn't "Piggy Back" an LPTV. They OWNED it under the Telemundo umbrella

All they did was string it along with some other LPTV & translator stations they owned together, move Telemundo the .2 (Or put NBC there), Cable & Satellite operators place it in the prominent channel 10 position & branded it as NBC Boston

NBC 10 Boston Wikipedia

 

[Megatron]

WZPX put ION+ in DT6 saw it on ION+ website along with WXMI DT4 since July.

 

[bmasters1981]

This is also why the bigger news channels (Fox, CNN, MSNBC) fill most of their time with opinion based talk shows. Not real news.

And is why I don't care for any of them-- News 4 New York in the 80s from WNBC in the Big Apple, for instance, may have been boring as all get-out to some, but at the very least they were actual news (as were many stations).

 

[IM42A]

NBC didn't "Piggy Back" an LPTV. They OWNED it under the Telemundo umbrella

All they did was string it along with some other LPTV & translator stations they owned together, move Telemundo the .2 (Or put NBC there), Cable & Satellite operators place it in the prominent channel 10 position & branded it as NBC Boston

NBC 10 Boston Wikipedia

My point here was that they started off their "NBC Boston" branding with an LPTV, and then took advantage of channel-sharing to forklift that LPTV onto the signal of a full-power station (in this case WGBX), making it an LPTV in name only.

Gray has done somewhat the same thing in Parkersburg WV and Harrisonburg VA to transform LPTVs into de facto full-power additional network affiliates, though in this case there was no channel-sharing --- AFAIK the LPTVs continue to exist and can be received in their immediate coverage areas --- and Gray owned the full-power stations (WTAP and WHSV) to begin with.

WBKB in Alpena MI just cut to the chase and became a four-network affiliate over the period of a few years, AFAIK no LPTVs were involved. The only downside of arrangements such as those employed by WTAP, WHSV, and WBKB is that viewers end up with basically the same local news on all channels --- none of those markets are large enough to sustain competing news sources --- and, where all four network affiliates are local, they can't get news from out of town on cable or satellite anymore (Parkersburg/Marietta viewers still get ABC from Charleston, Clarksburg, or possibly Columbus, depending on the provider and location --- while news from Charleston or Columbus might be attractive in that they are larger cities and the respective state capitals, I can't imagine that viewers would be terribly interested in what is going on in the Clarksburg area, unless it would be WVU sports).

 

[IM42A]

I know thread drift, beyond a certain point, is something we seek to avoid on this board, so would the administrators be OK with my opening up a separate thread, possibly within National TV (closest fit), to discuss such topics as LPTVs being repurposed to provide network affiliates for short markets, creation of de facto full-power stations by simulcasting LPTVs on full-power outlets, and so on?

 

[fybush]

I know thread drift, beyond a certain point, is something we seek to avoid on this board, so would the administrators be OK with my opening up a separate thread, possibly within National TV (closest fit), to discuss such topics as LPTVs being repurposed to provide network affiliates for short markets, creation of de facto full-power stations by simulcasting LPTVs on full-power outlets, and so on?

Sure!

 

[Mr Tony]

Gray has done somewhat the same thing in Parkersburg WV and Harrisonburg VA to transform LPTVs into de facto full-power additional network affiliates, though in this case there was no channel-sharing --- AFAIK the LPTVs continue to exist and can be received in their immediate coverage areas --- and Gray owned the full-power stations (WTAP and WHSV) to begin with.

While they do carry some of the low powered stations on a full power they are usually in SD. Harrisonburg has CBS in SD on WHSV and doesnt give that carriage option to FOX. Its on a LP station only. Parkersburg CBS & FOX are in SD on WTAP but in HD on the LP stations which are at same spot as WTAP is.

WBKB in Alpena MI just cut to the chase and became a four-network affiliate over the period of a few years, AFAIK no LPTVs were involved.

There are no LPTV in Alpena. But ABC & NBC are in SD on the station (cable has a HD feed)

The only downside of arrangements such as those employed by WTAP, WHSV, and WBKB is that viewers end up with basically the same local news on all channels --- none of those markets are large enough to sustain competing news sources

Since Gray owns the stations (WBKB they dont but its one owner for all 4 nets) they are the ones who puts the news on. In some cases a network doesnt get news on it locally at all.

--- and, where all four network affiliates are local, they can't get news from out of town on cable or satellite anymore (Parkersburg/Marietta viewers still get ABC from Charleston, Clarksburg, or possibly Columbus, depending on the provider and location --- while news from Charleston or Columbus might be attractive in that they are larger cities and the respective state capitals, I can't imagine that viewers would be terribly interested in what is going on in the Clarksburg area, unless it would be WVU sports).

The one "other" one you forget is my market, Mankato, MN. KEYC has had CBS since 1960 and FOX since 2007 when they launched the digital signal back in the day. It was in SD until 2016ish. When Gray bought the station in 2019 they took 2 LP signals that the former owner owned (United Communications who owned KEYC and WWNY in Watertown, NY) and converted them to carry NBC and CW in late 2019. The 2nd LP station they had copies the same as the other but the station (K33MW) is on the KEYC studio tower in North Mankato so folks have an easier time getting the nets on them. The main translator which is RF8 is on the KEYC tower which is about 25 miles out of town.

To get to the topic, if you have decent internet you can see other area news online if you really want other news. Most people want local news so Mankato has had the same news on 3 stations multiple times (CBS morning, noon, 5, 6 and 10. NBC simulcast in morning, 6 and 10 and FOX at 9). Recently Gray TV let a bunch of Mankato news people go and now we have Rochester, MN news in the morning, noon and at 9PM plus the weekend news since the NBC (KTTC) and FOX (KXLT) are also Gray owned. We still have news from KEYC at 5,6 and 10 and people are pissed because the morning news and noon news we watched for weather especially morning news). Rochester "tries" to include Mankato but our market is "out of the area" for them so they dont really include us.
But honestly I'd rather be able to see NBC and CW now over the air then to worry about if there was a different newscast to see. Lots of people mainly use just OTA so we are happy there is more than just CBS & FOX locally. I can see Minneapolis news from ABC (KSTP) and rarely is there an "article" that KEYC doesn't let us know about. Before Gray bought KEYC I would say "yeah I wanted other news" mainly because KEYC was "po-dunk" news. They are much better now.

 

[IM42A]

While they do carry some of the low powered stations on a full power they are usually in SD. Harrisonburg has CBS in SD on WHSV and doesnt give that carriage option to FOX. Its on a LP station only. Parkersburg CBS & FOX are in SD on WTAP but in HD on the LP stations which are at same spot as WTAP is.

There are no LPTV in Alpena. But ABC & NBC are in SD on the station (cable has a HD feed)

Yes, that's the flip side of trying to provide three or four major networks via subchannels in a short market. As I understand it, there simply isn't enough bandwidth (or whatever the term would be) to allow, let's say, the feed from three networks to be provided in 1080, or possibly two networks in 1080 and one in 720, and still have room left over, if this is desired, for one or more diginets. 480 might be okay for the casual viewer, but for someone more discriminating, perhaps a viewer who has invested considerable bucks in a home theater system, to get a major network that way would be disappointed. Such a viewer would either make the effort to get the corresponding LPTV in better resolution if possible, or just get cable or local-into-local satellite. Nobody wants to watch the NFL in 480. A minor diginet can look awful and not that many people care, but the Big Four, that's another story.