s Questionable if others are on board; cable group opposes effort With the surprise announcement of a new sports streaming service this week involving three big media conglomerates, reaction is pouring in and as expected, it’s mixed. Local station broadcaster Gray Television said it would support the new planned effort between Fox, Disney-owned ESPN/ABC, and Warner Bros. Discovery under one […]
Also: Peoria’s WEEK absorbs rival’s news operation; name change ahead for CBS Media Ventures?; L.A. independent TV station ends long run [Editor’s Note: An earlier post had the incorrect title of a Beyonce song as the word “Ring” was replaced with…something else. It has since been corrected. – T.H.] It’s not a format change per se, but a slogan one: […]
Another television group exits Illinois Atlanta-based Gray Television announced Monday the acquisition of Quincy Media’s television and radio properties for $925 million, a move expected as the Quincy, Ill.-based company announced late last year it was putting their media properties up for sale. Once the deal is completed, Gray would own stations in 102 markets, mostly mid-sized and small metros. […]
Also: New host of Check Please is a familiar name; Chicago radio still playing R. Kelly’s music; Peoria public radio in trouble; CBC cancels arts show who visited Chicago In a mind-numbing move, ABC announced Wednesday it was expanding Good Morning America to three hours. Only problem is… the extension is airing at Noon Chicago time, 1 p.m. Eastern time […]
Quincy and Sinclair do some wheeling and dealing, moving networks onto digital subchannels In what may become commonplace in small markets across the country, major broadcast networks are winding up on digital subchannels of other stations. In a huge television realignment just 80 miles east of Chicago, Sinclair Broadcasting’s WSBT snagged the Fox affiliation from Quincy Media-owned WSJV, which dropped […]
News briefs from Chicago and beyond: – Cumulus-owned WLS-AM has been fined $44,000 from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to disclose eleven news items it broadcast were advertisements. The “news items” aired on WLS between March and May 2009 (during the ownership reign of Citadel, Inc.), for Workers Independent News, who pretended to interview a local politician. Workers failed […]
Another all-local edition of the Grab Bag… including an item on a possible sale of some downstate TV stations: – Julian Nieh, one half of the duo of B96’s (WBBM-FM’s) The JNiice & Julian Morning Show, exited the station on Wednesday to pursue other interests. The seven-year veteran of the contemporary-hit station was paired with Jamar “JNiice” McNeil in January […]
Will Nielsen ratings play in Peoria? Not anymore. Peoria-Bloomington’s commercial television stations have recently told the ratings service to take a hike. According to this TVNewscheck story, the downstate market’s two owners – Nextstar and Granite – has ditched Nielsen as their main television ratings provider. Instead, the stations are replacing the service with “qualitative research and smart sales promotion” […]
Playing in Peoria is hard these days… The owners of NBC affiliate WEEK-TV and ABC affiliate WHOI-TV in Peoria have decided to merge their operations, effective immediately. WEEK’s owner (Granite Broadcasting) took over the operations of Barrington Broadcasting-owned WHOI in a local marketing agreement, leaving just Nextstar’s CBS affiliate (WMBD-TV) as their sole local competitor. A similar scenario has played […]