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WJW to be purshased by Sinclair broadcast group?

mavtv said:
According to TVnewscheck, WJW may be purshased by Sinclair broadcast group as at the end "Sinclair also is considered a front-runner to buy Local TV LLC’s group of 21 stations and, potentially, several other station groups". If Sinclair does buy FOX 8 I wonder what will happen to their news heavy schedule as sinclair is known for being cheap.




http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/66787/sinclair-poised-to-buy-fisher-stations
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It depends.. Down here in Columbus OH.. Sinclair runs ABC 6 WSYX and FOX 28 WTTE..

ABC 6 has news 4:26 am - 7:00 am each morning plus an hour at 12noon and then news from 5:00 - 6:30 and then 11:00 - 11:30pm.

FOX 28 has news 6:30 am - 10am (they do a morning type show that is a mix of local news and stuff like you would see on GMA/ Today etc..) then they do a 10pm-11pm news also... so Sinclair in some cases actually does quite a bit of news.
 
One thing about FOX 8 I do not understand is the need for all the meteorologists. They have Dick Goddard, Andre Bernier, Scott Sabol, Angelica Campos, AJ Colby and now Melissa Mack.
 
CleveRadioInsider said:
One thing about FOX 8 I do not understand is the need for all the meteorologists. They have Dick Goddard, Andre Bernier, Scott Sabol, Angelica Campos, AJ Colby and now Melissa Mack.
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There's no guarentee Mack is coming in to do strictly weather.

And when you have the sheer amount of hours of newscasts that 8 has, you need some bodies to avoid burnout.

For example, Dick Goddard now only does the 6 p.m. newscasts, and Andre Bernier is the actual evening workhorse (5, 7, and 10)

You have Sabol weekday mornings, Colby weekend mornings, and Campos weekend evenings as well as backing Sabol up at noon.
 
The other stations in town are PRAYING this move happens. It's known in TV circles what Sinclair does...they gut the staff, go with one-man-bands out of college and work the staffers to the bone. The quality turns into that of what you would see in a market the size of Toledo (or smaller). This would be a disaster for some of the great pros that work there (although there have been some exceedingly questionable hires over the last year and a half, which have sent them down a questionable path).

It was just 10 years ago that Fox 8 looked like the most professional news-gathering unit in town, it's amazing what can happen in a decade.
 
WhkAm1420 said:
The other stations in town are PRAYING this move happens. It's known in TV circles what Sinclair does...they gut the staff, go with one-man-bands out of college and work the staffers to the bone. The quality turns into that of what you would see in a market the size of Toledo (or smaller). This would be a disaster for some of the great pros that work there (although there have been some exceedingly questionable hires over the last year and a half, which have sent them down a questionable path).

It was just 10 years ago that Fox 8 looked like the most professional news-gathering unit in town, it's amazing what can happen in a decade.
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Sinclair just recently bought out Barrington Brodacasting, which owned several stations in small markets...including WNWO NBC 24 in Toledo...which is long known for their low quality newscasts and revolving door at the anchor desk.
 
Here in Columbus when Sinclair first came to town I didn't think you could ever find a cheaper operator in a market this size. Then Media General bought 4. So now you have 6/28 on the scene of breaking news when 4 hasn't even come to the realization that Grandma died. Dollar General seems to have written the book on how to gut a news operation. Good luck Cleveland.
 
WOW! Interesting to read about WCMH in Columbus.

I hope FOX or another company would purchase WJW instead of Sinclair. Hate to see it dismantle like that. Didn't 8 start to rebuild after the big recession of '08?

I would rather see Hearst, Dispatch, Lin, Cox or someone purchase 8. Anyone but Sinclair.

To some, it would take 8 back to the Gilette years.
 
They recently bought WKRC Channel 12 in Cincinnati, also. WKRC has been number one in ratings mornings, noon, evenings, and nights, for many years.
 
Yeah, Sinclair just bought the Fisher Broadcasting group which is pretty sizable, with their flagships being Komo-TV and Katu-TV in Portland. When I heard this, I was saying to myself that this is the end of a good broadcasting group...now if they purchase Local TV, they will do the same thing. They are getting in at the right time on media groups being super desperate and giving away the farm at bargain basement prices as station groups go....I hope someone like Hearst, Belo or Cox can buy them as opposed to some slumlord operator like Sinclair.
 
billf82 said:
They recently bought WKRC Channel 12 in Cincinnati, also. WKRC has been number one in ratings mornings, noon, evenings, and nights, for many years.
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If Sinclair is smart they wont touch WKRC Ch12. They are a cash cow in the Cincinnati market and will continue to be as long as the faces stay the same. Cincinnati hates change and unfamiliarity.
 
Maybe Sinclair won't touch WJW either with its high ratings. I think no matter who's anchoring the news, 8 will always be number one in at least most of its time slots.

The next question is would the Fox affiliation contract have to be honored by Sinclair from Local TV LLC? My guess is yes. I don't think Cleveland can handle another big network affiliation switch like the one in 1994.
 
I'm really looking forward to seeing Ring of Honor Pro Wrestling, which Sinclair forces all of their O&O stations to carry on Saturday's at 10:00 PM, on WJW.

Like most viewers who were kids back in 1994, I've never forgiven WJW for refusing to carry the FOX Kids Club cartoons, so it'll be hilarious to see them forced to start broadcasting low-rent pro wrestling.
 
CleveFan said:
Maybe Sinclair won't touch WJW either with its high ratings. I think no matter who's anchoring the news, 8 will always be number one in at least most of its time slots.

The next question is would the Fox affiliation contract have to be honored by Sinclair from Local TV LLC? My guess is yes. I don't think Cleveland can handle another big network affiliation switch like the one in 1994.
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I don't see what they wouldn't honor it. If there's another affiliation switch down the road, Cleveland will handle it just fine..
 
What possible affiliation switch could happen?

As far as I know 3, 5, 8, and 19 are all locked in to their respective Big 4 networks long term.

55 and the CW have a nice deal going, 43 is a flanker to 19 and perfect for My Network TV (Raycom isn't gonna let a big network go there to cannibalize 19).

17 (TBN), and 23 (Ion) are network O&O, so that would rule them out.

And the Ideastream owned 25 will go commercial when pigs fly.

The only potential wild card is if Univision sells 61, and even then, why would a network leave their well established home in the market to go on a station that would be just getting back to broadcasting in English after a decade as a Spanish station, and has pretty much fallen off the radar of most viewers in town?
 
vjm said:
What possible affiliation switch could happen?

As far as I know 3, 5, 8, and 19 are all locked in to their respective Big 4 networks long term.

55 and the CW have a nice deal going, 43 is a flanker to 19 and perfect for My Network TV (Raycom isn't gonna let a big network go there to cannibalize 19).

17 (TBN), and 23 (Ion) are network O&O, so that would rule them out.

And the Ideastream owned 25 will go commercial when pigs fly.

The only potential wild card is if Univision sells 61, and even then, why would a network leave their well established home in the market to go on a station that would be just getting back to broadcasting in English after a decade as a Spanish station, and has pretty much fallen off the radar of most viewers in town?
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Ch 61 is not a wild card as Univision has no plans on selling WQHS as 1.) Univision is in many ways the 5th broadcast network and they want to have as many top markets as possible and Cleveland is a top 20 market and 2.) it appears that Univision maybe creating a 6 and 11 PM news as in a previous post there is a official twitter and it has been noted Univision wants local content on all of there O&O's so it is a matter of time.

Since most top markets have at least one spanish station in town, Cleveland having a O&O of the top rated network is actually a good thing.

What about WRLM-47 Canton as it has a powerful signal out of Brimfiled and unless a spectrum speculator buy's it, that could become a potential for a independent or sister to 3,5,8 as it has a strong signal and low overhead.

As for 55 and the cw, 55 I can see selling out at some point as it is the only "local station" in town and there have been offers to sell and I can see any number of options as it makes money and it has no other out town sister stations so I can see Ernie when retiring selling out.

As for an affiliate switch you never know as with WEWS being owned by a company that could very well be sold as EW scripps is a small enough group of stations and I can see a network wanting to buy, and WOIO/WUAB is owned by a station group who could very well sell to another broadcaster if the price is right as I could see FOX buying 19 and 43 as they did buy in Charlotte so you never know.
 
SonoSational18 said:
Idle speculation. I doubt WJW would want to drop their Fox affiliation.
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If Fox television stations (parent 21 century fox) was to buy any other station in town it is out of WJW's control just like when WOIO lost fox in 1994.

It all comes down to who buys a station. If say for example CBS was to buy WJW (possible, not likely) then WJW becomes CBS 8 and WOIO becomes Fox 19 out of WOIO's control.

As long as a network does not buy a station it is unlikely a flip will occur.

My question is Fox interested in returning to Cleveland and is CBS still wanting a TV station in Cleveland?
 
SonoSational18 said:
Given that Fox owned WJW and sold it off, I don't see Fox buying another station in the market.
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That had alot to do with the purchase of the wall street journal, the fact that Cleveland is a AFC market, and no second station. Now that Fox has more money and soon to be spun off from Newscorp, anything is possible. besides Fox or NBC for that matter can come back to town if they were to buy a station group and re enter that way.

It all depends on who is interested
 
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