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WAAY/WCOV

It was announced on Friday that Gray would be buying both WCOV and WAAY. That seems like too much concentration in one owner for the size market of Montgomery and Huntsville.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Forget current ownership caps. They are about to be greatly loosened.
Click to expand...
This is certainly what I've been hearing as well.

I've said it many times before but in my market Sinclair effectively operates four full power stations (WEAR and WFGX are owned outright, WPMI and WJTC are a grandfathered operating agreement) and if the way they're run is any indication of things, expect your local news to suffer greatly and cuts to be deep and drastic.

At first, Sinclair did invest a lot in the local news here on the gulf coast but over time they've chipped away at that plus more, rendering both WPMI and WEAR as shells of their former selves. All four stations are run from one control room at WEAR, and there's no more weekend news on WPMI, it's all live-cast from WEAR with their small town b-team crew that might as well be fresh out of broadcasting school.

IIRC this sort of newsroom sharing has already been going on in Montgomery, right? I figure you all can expect more of that once this sale is approved.
 
WTVY is airing WSFA news on weekends and early mornings. WAKA and WNCF have been consolidated for years. A lot more consolidation and heads rolling coming soon to HSV and MGM! Now WCOV will not have to continue to pay WSFA/Gray rent for their tower space.
 
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There was a big outcry from WTVY viewers on social media several months when the WTVY 5PM newscast was dropped and replaced with WSFA. I guess management listened.
 


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