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WBNX to be acquired by Nexstar & re-affiliate with the CW in Fall 2025 creating a duopoly with FOX affiliate WJW

Santa fe said:
To break the stalemate somehow the channel was reassigned to Shaker Heights and Payne with the backing of other broadcast groups got it on in 1985 and then sold out to Malrite who jumped on the Fox network when they started.
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I remember when they broadcast out of the old Bonwit-Taylor store location to the eastern side of Shaker Square. It was just a block away from my mother's apartment at the time, and I recall looking into the window once or twice on my way to pick up something at Tassi's little supermarket on the square.
 
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WBNX just pulled the plug on 55.6/Binge.

EDIT: Looks like WBNX is now running off of Nexstar's master control. There is a new female announcer doing the promos now, the bug on the screen is now gone, and the EPG is taking a long time to load the descriptions, much like what has been happening with WJW as of late. I take it that Movies will be plucked from 55.3 near the end of this month, and the rest of the diginets will remain until their contracts are up for renewal.

EDIT 2: Now showing FOX 8 promos as well.
 
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I also saw FOX 8 promos this morning during a Judge Mathis rerun, along with the bug no longer being shown.

Does anyone know if any of the existing WBNX staff will remain under Nexstar?
 
MediaLover said:
Does anyone know if any of the existing WBNX staff will remain under Nexstar?
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No clue. Probably will offer transfers to WJW at the most, as WBNX's current studio will likely be decommissioned, or continued to be used exclusively for producing Grace Cathedral programming.

The social media team must be gone now, as WBNX stopped posting on Facebook and YouTube since the switch to Nexstar's MC. Don't know about X, as it won't let me view anything without an account.

Also, this notice on their viewer feedback page...
"With WBNX's transition to its new ownership, Nexstar, Binge on channel 55.6 is no longer available."
 
I assume the remaining subs on 55 will eventually be leaving and will end up on WOCV 35. So what might they replace them with?
 
skiwest said:
I assume the remaining subs on 55 will eventually be leaving and will end up on WOCV 35. So what might they replace them with?
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The entire situation gets stranger by the day. Binge was a waste of airspace anyways. (As are countless others)

Now...
1) We have channels 8 and 55 under the same ownership.
2) 19, 43 (and lets not leave out 6 and 22) under the same ownership.
3) ...and can basically call 5, 23, and 17...Under the same ownership. (Which the whole 5/23 thing, I still find to be slightly illegal).

By my count...54 channels over the airwaves in my area. (...and they used to tell us there was no room for more than five.)

No wonder WKYC is such a lone shark out there anymore. Whatever happened to the "No duopoly" rule. Nobody learned a lesson from what happened to radio.
 
skiwest said:
I assume the remaining subs on 55 will eventually be leaving and will end up on WOCV 35. So what might they replace them with?
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Rewind TV, hopefully. Everything else that Nexstar has contracts with are already on their respective O&O stations here in NE Ohio. It's possible that Defy may move to 55 at some point, but the offerings on WBNX will eventually become slim, especially if there are plans to simulcast 8.1.

Nexstar has to honor the remainder of the current contracts on WBNX, so once they come to an end, they will likely be dropped.

Northcoast43 said:
The entire situation gets stranger by the day. Binge was a waste of airspace anyways. (As are countless others)
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I found it strange that a broadcaster like WBNX picked up Binge, which appears to be geared more towards the independent low power broadcasters. Yes, I wasn't impressed with Binge, and their limited offerings quickly got stale. Binge has a 24/7 stream here, so there's really no loss.

Northcoast43 said:
Now...
1) We have channels 8 and 55 under the same ownership.
2) 19, 43 (and lets not leave out 6 and 22) under the same ownership.
3) ...and can basically call 5, 23, and 17...Under the same ownership. (Which the whole 5/23 thing, I still find to be slightly illegal).

By my count...54 channels over the airwaves in my area. (...and they used to tell us there was no room for more than five.)

No wonder WKYC is such a lone shark out there anymore. Whatever happened to the "No duopoly" rule. Nobody learned a lesson from what happened to radio.
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Nexstar was able to buy WBNX because they are not affiliated with one of the "big 4" networks (NBC/ABC/FOX/CBS). CW, going back to WBNX this fall, is not part of those big 4, so Nexstar was able to purchase WBNX and move The CW there.

The same is true for WOIO & WUAB. WUAB has no major network affiliation, so Gray (originally Raycom who created the duopoly in the 90s), can hold on to both stations. WTCL-LD, WOHZ-CD and W28FG-D are low power stations which don't apply to the ownership rules.

Scripps couldn't buy WDLI/WVPX due to exceeding the limit of stations that they currently own nationwide, but they got around this by creating a shell company called Inyo, essentially making WDLI/WVPX Scripps owned and opertated stations.

TEGNA hasn't showed any interest in buying another station in the Cleveland market. I'm glad WBNX didn't end up in the hands of Sinclair, who tried to acquire WJW several years ago before eventually being sold to Nexstar. WBNX was the last independently owned broadcaster in the area, which is going to be missed.
 
skiwest said:
I assume the remaining subs on 55 will eventually be leaving and will end up on WOCV 35. So what might they replace them with?
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If Nexstar uses WBNX for ATSC 3.0 transmissions, they likely won't be replaced with anything.
 
Nathan Obral said:
If Nexstar uses WBNX for ATSC 3.0 transmissions, they likely won't be replaced with anything.
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Am I missing something here?

Does WJW plan on airing on 55.1 also? Don't they have a strong enough signal to reach Akron/Canton?

Maybe they could just turn 55.1 into a 24 hours news station. (Because more than a half-hour a day, isn't enough. :rolleyes: )
 
Clever idea? đź’ˇ

Since WJW and others, usually fills early morning hours, with reruns of the 10:00 or 11:00 broadcast. I wonder if any geniuses in consulting ever suggested filling those hours with a rerun from, say, five, ten, or twenty years ago of the news broadcast...Especially us older people, might like to reminisce.
 
Northcoast43 said:
Clever idea? đź’ˇ

Since WJW and others, usually fills early morning hours, with reruns of the 10:00 or 11:00 broadcast. I wonder if any geniuses in consulting ever suggested filling those hours with a rerun from, say, five, ten, or twenty years ago of the news broadcast...Especially us older people, might like to reminisce.
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If people want to watch old news, it’s on Youtube.
 
Northcoast43 said:
Am I missing something here?

Does WJW plan on airing on 55.1 also? Don't they have a strong enough signal to reach Akron/Canton?

Maybe they could just turn 55.1 into a 24 hours news station. (Because more than a half-hour a day, isn't enough. :rolleyes: )
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Cleveland is the largest market that has not activated ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. WBNX would be used to transmit in that standard for it and any other station that wants to partner with them (3, 5, 8 and 19 are pretty obvious choices) while the ATSC 1.0 transmission of WBNX's digital multiplex (either just 55.1 or whatever it consists of) winds up on other stations.

It's not like this isn't embargoed knowledge. WOIO's chief engineer has said on Facebook that WBNX would be used for ATSC 3.0.
 
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skiwest said:
TV is following in radio's footsteps. Give WKYC some time. Maybe they can acquire WQHS,
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Univision has no need to sell WQHS. It's a relay transmitter that requires minimal investment and attention.

Tegna is a company so adrift and rudderless that they are more likely to be sold to another megachain. This FCC, however, won't allow it.
 
Nathan Obral said:
Cleveland is the largest market that has not activated ATSC 3.0 broadcasts. WBNX would be used to transmit in that standard for it and any other station that wants to partner with them (3, 5, 8 and 19 are pretty obvious choices) while the ATSC 1.0 transmission of WBNX's digital multiplex (either just 55.1 or whatever it consists of) winds up on other stations.

It's not like this isn't embargoed knowledge. WOIO's chief engineer has said on Facebook that WBNX would be used for ATSC 3.0.
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Wouldn't it make more sense to use WJW's VHF signal for 3.0, and use WBNX's stronger UHF signal for 1.0?
 
The movie channel on 55.3 is terrific, and not just crummy prints of public domain movies like on other services, but major motion pictures. What is to become of this channel?
 
Fighting Irish said:
Wouldn't it make more sense to use WJW's VHF signal for 3.0, and use WBNX's stronger UHF signal for 1.0?
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From what I'm being told, WBNX has slightly less coverage over the air than WJW, which has to closely match or exceed in order to host WJW's ATSC 1.0 channels over on WBNX.
 


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