So, any bets on....

[JackieSteele]

... how long it will be until someone tries to burn down CBS46 for pre-empting halftime of the UGA/GT game for an "election special." It seemed to have more advertising than content, and may well have been a chance for sales to go to the politicos and say "hey, we're doing an election special smack-dab in the middle of the most-watched college football game in the state. Wanna advertise?" Granted it'd probably technically fall under the "lowest rate" rules, but they could probably jack it up for non-preemptible, etc.

 

[jal41]

... how long it will be until someone tries to burn down CBS46 for pre-empting halftime of the UGA/GT game for an "election special." It seemed to have more advertising than content, and may well have been a chance for sales to go to the politicos and say "hey, we're doing an election special smack-dab in the middle of the most-watched college football game in the state. Wanna advertise?" Granted it'd probably technically fall under the "lowest rate" rules, but they could probably jack it up for non-preemptible, etc.

I would have suspected WGCL might preempt network halftime in favor of a local halftime...talking about the game. Pretty clever on WGCL's part. Does anyone have it on tape? I wonder if there was political motivation? (Of course...you probably made the politico's mad now too for preempting...cue the sound of the backfiring muffler).

Of course...WGCL has probably pissed off everyone. I believe WGCL is producing local pregame/postgame coverage, which might make up for this.

In the words of that OneRepublic song Timbaland made famous..."It's too late to apologize...it's too late".

Of course...this is not first idiotic move WGCL made...From Dagmar to movie preemptions to Hallmark special preemptions to Clear News to hookers in a live truck. Clear Channel might as well be secretly owning them

CBS needs to move to WUPA if Meredith does not sell.

 

[daryll]

The temptation of passing on the last political spending until mid 2010 is tough to resist. The issue money tied to each candidate can force the spot rate to multiples of what of a regular spot commands. Yeah, the candidates get lowest unit rate but the issue ads pay top dollar. The ad market is soft in Atlanta and many other places. I don't defend what they did nor do I enjoy political ads on television. Both sides lie with such ease and reporters don't call them on it. With GM and other big spenders wiping out their ad budgets, political has softened this blow to stations like CBS46.

The only folks there that I enjoy are Bill Gaines and Laura Huckabee.

 

[bpatrick]

Since I no longer live in the Atlanta DMA, I'm
wondering why CBS46 would do an "election
special" now, nearly a month after Election Day?

I really feel for you folks in Atlanta. NBC was
wounded, but not killed, when it moved from
Channel 2 to Channel 11. But CBS has seemed
to be under a death warrant since it moved from
Channel 5 to Channel 46.

Doesn't ANYONE want the CBS affiliation?

 

[JackieSteele]

Since I no longer live in the Atlanta DMA, I'm
wondering why CBS46 would do an "election
special" now, nearly a month after Election Day?

There's a US Senate runoff election on Tuesday, December 2nd. Court of Appeals judgeship is up for grabs, too, but no one seems to be paying any attention to that except the candidates.

 

[jal41]

There's a US Senate runoff election on Tuesday, December 2nd. Court of Appeals judgeship is up for grabs, too, but no one seems to be paying any attention to that except the candidates.

And it only became important because Georgia might give the Democrats their magical 60th Senate seat. The national politcal commitees are heavily involved.

About the 1980 affiliation swap...NBC was already in bad shape nationally (they are about to those levels now). ABC was doing great. It seemed logical for WSB-TV to switch to ABC.

Currently...CBS News is in bad shape...ABC and NBC are competitive with each other in news...ABC, CBS, and Fox are competitive in entertainment...NBC is still tops in late night. ABC is the best of the three all-around currently, so I don't see WSB-TV affiliating with anyone else. CBS might offer a stronger entertainment lineup and SEC sports...but would have to take a bad news product with it. NBC is locked with WXIA until 2015 (don't know about WSB/WSOC Charlotte - I think the contract with ABC is linked). Obviously...WAGA is out.

CBS has money issues...so an acquisition of WGCL will not happen soon. A move of CBS to WATL could occur...but might run into some FCC issues later on, as WATL would replace WGCL in the top 4. The only option is to move to CBS owned WUPA - with no news. Given the choice of WGCL and WUPA...I suspect CBS is happier (not really) with WGCL - since they have news (why 46 got pressured into affiliating in 94 - CBS didn't want to repeat what they had to do in Detroit. WWJ-TV is actually second fiddle to CW WKBD - their news product was cancelled).

Ah yes...WPCH-TV...unless the station is sold (or some ecclectic partnership with CNN is entered into)...don't bet on it. Say no to WPXA...WHSG is owned by religious interests...same with WATC, but they are a non-comm.