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the sale of WISE Fort Wayne to Quincy

Juan Bodley

Juan Bodley

It's been over a year now and even with the delay for the refiling of the sale (to delete the WPTA/SagamoreHill option) I have yet heard anything about if or when Quincy takes over the Peacock Franchise in the Fort.
It would be nice to see a change in Fort Wayne TV. In the news style, delivery, and people.
Anybody know anything about the timeline as of right now??
 
From TVNewsTalk:

Another big amendment regarding the prolonged Quincy/Granite deal.

Also, Quincy is proposing programming changes after nine months after closing as well:
  • In Fort Wayne, Quincy is proposing to move the NBC & MyNetworkTV streams from WISE to WPTA (ABC will stay as the main channel). The CW stream would move from WPTA to WISE.
Click to expand...

http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index....tations-to-scripps-quincy/page-12#entry137514

This would mean The CW finally goes HD in Fort Wayne, while MNT is relegated to crappy SD. The weather radar subchannel would be gone.

WPTA: 21.1 ABC (720p HD), 21.2 NBC (720p HD), 21.3 MNT (480i SD)
WISE: 33.1 CW (1080i HD)
 
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I've seen that done in other markets...
What bothers me for Fort Wayne is all four nets ARE ALREADY (by what my TV tells me) in HD formats...
CW is 720P and MyTV as well. And Granite has been airing Cubs games on MyTV in full HD...so Cubs fans in the Fort are going to be a bit honked off (those few that notice.) And for the Komets games they've done (also on MyTV...the video that already sucks (they take the road team's arena/scoreboard feed and add audio over...CHEAP...)) is going to suck more.
 
Well that was interesting reading.
First thing Quincy should do is redesign that building on Butler Road. New news sets, new operations center (and what happens to Granite's centralcast hub that's there now??) Going to be interesting when the Commission finalizes the deal. And if the Fort Wayne market thought the loss of Fox on WFFT was a mess...WELL...
 
Restructuring at WPTA, WISE on schedule for Aug. 1 debut

The restructuring of local television stations WPTA, Channel 21, and WISE, Channel 33, continues to proceed, with the new-look launch scheduled for Aug. 1.

WPTA, which broadcasts ABC and CW network programs, was purchased by Quincy Newspapers of Quincy, Ill., last November. WISE, which broadcasts NBC and MyNetwork programming, was acquired by SagamoreHill Broadcasting of Augusta, Ga.

Under the new agreement, the NBC affiliate currently held by WISE will move to a digital channel of WPTA, which will also keep its ABC feed. The CW network will move to WISE.

WPTA and WISE will continue to operate from the building at 3401 Butler Road with substantial addition and reconstruction of the facility currently ongoing.

“By FCC order, we have to wait nine months from the sale (before going live),” said Ralph Oakley, president and CEO of Quincy Newspapers. “We are proceeding along the lines of being ready Aug. 1.”

Oakley noted that the NBC feed’s move to a digital channel will not significantly affect anyone’s ability to watch the network’s content, apart from finding it on its new home.
Click to expand...

http://www.news-sentinel.com/news/local/Restructuring-at-WPTA--WISE-on-schedule-for-Aug--1-debut

Why can't they wait just another month, until after the Olympics?
 
I went by the facility on Butler Road and they're adding on to the front of the building. (Wonder if they'll save the old ABC logo and the "WPTA 21" that's been there for the life of the place I believe....)
The sales department of WISE is located on Coliseum Blvd. and has been for some time now. They're taking the separation of operations and sales serious, but will it make a difference for news, IF ANY, for WISE?? A CW station with it's own news department in a market like Fort Wayne is a slim possibility...wonder if they'll keep a newscast on NBC when it moves to 21.2??
 
Could "Fort Wayne's NBC" move back to Channel 33?

From Blaine Thompson's Indiana Radio Watch:

In Fort Wayne, Quincy Media files to convert its shared-services agreement with Sagamorehill's WISE-TV (Channel 33) into full ownership. Quincy has had both ABC and NBC on its WPTA-TV (Channel 21) since moving NBC from WISE-TV in early September 2016. Since then, WISE-TV has operated from WPTA's Butler Road studio/transmitter facility with CW affiliation under separate local management.

While the FCC normally prohibits one owner from controlling two licenses in the same market when both are in the top four in the ratings, Quincy submitted a filing claiming that during the November 2017 ratings period, WISE-TV slipped to fifth behind WPTA-TV, Nexstar's CBS affiliate WANE-TV, Heartland's Fox affiliate WFFT and, presumably, TCT religious outlet WINM-TV. While WISE-TV was back in fourth in the more recent February 2018 ratings, Quincy says that was an abnormal ratings period because of NBC's Olympics coverage on WPTA-TV.

Finally, the sale price is $952,884.
Click to expand...

APA: https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS...?appn=101785157&qnum=5120&copynum=1&exhcnum=1
 
I've been wondering about moving NBC back to the "heritage" 33 and WISE calls...too bad 1380 AM has the lock on WKJG but that was first so that works for me. (And I worked there once too...never got to say those calls on air though...it was WQHK then.)
From a technical standpoint the move of NBC to WISE might help some issues with picture "trash" caused by an antenna bandwidth problem. (The antennas for WISE and WPTA are separate on the tower I believe...so cramming 3 HD signals into one antenna if they weren't ready for it is asking a lot from that transmission system.)
Also news and ratings...Fort Wayne's NBC has been 3rd around town for a long time, after the "Indiana's NewsCenter" fiasco when Granite ran the show. Linda Jackson's the only "anchor" (get it?) to the heritage of West State and 1953 to a lot of people. Dig up Hilliard and Engineer John...they're gonna need all the help they can get. (My opinion.)
 
Since I've posted I've read some comments on Rich Reynolds' Facebook page (Rich of FW Mediawatch) and what I read there is no changes will happen with WISE.
No programming changes. Sad. Very sad. Quincy could do more to knock down the viewer numbers of Nexstar's WANE. Especially with the changes THEY'VE got happening...
 
fcc approved the duopoly. They also approved the duopoly of KBJR (NBC/CBS) and KDLH (CW) in Duluth, MN (same situation as Ft Wayne was when Quincy wanted to buy Granite a few years ago)
 
New station grouping, new hardware on the Butler Road campus...
The old tower was erected in 1957, when WPTA went on the air. (WISE at that time was WKJG-TV and transmitted from West State Boulevard, not far from where WINT would relocate - even their original tower - from Waterloo, IN, which is north of Auburn, IN.)
The new tower, according to their news anchor Brien McEllhatten, is going up to make room for new "technology." Repack for WISE, nothing for WPTA. So more fun with signal loss in the next few weeks. And still nothing on whether they plan to add channels to 33.1 and the CW.
 
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