Joan Fleischman says Post-Newsweek is about to announce the purchase of WTVJ from NBC.
Just in time, as I previously blogged announcement will be made by mid-July and so here it is.
The FCC still has to approve the deal. Both parties will have to file jointly and then there will be a period where anyone can object to the merger.
If the deal goes trough WTVJ will move to Pembroke Park next year after WPLG finishes their new building and moves in around March or April.
No indication yet if WTVJ will have a news division or not.
This should be very interesting to watch as it plays out. I wonder if WTVJ and WPLG will do something like WTLV and WJXX in Jacksonville did and combine their news teams into a “First Coast News” style organization. No matter how things end up, this will definitely shake up the South Florida television news scene. Do you think staff cutbacks will happen?
Well I guess the mr has to agree with me now. I hate to say it, but I told you so…
As far as I’m concerned, any sale that creates a duopoly would be a worst-case scenario. This would be a very sad development for Florida’s first television station.
I agree with Murrow. I just hope it doesnt make WTVJ a small pet station of WPLG. Seperate news teams, talents and sets would be great, just the same management. Just hopeful thinking.
julian…that is hopeful thinking but it aint gonna happen…look for plenty of job cuts on both sides…maximum consolidation of staffs. more than likely it will be like what viacom has up in with cbs4/my33 where one station produces one or two newscasts for the other…
its all about economics and surviving in this day and age…
The Miami Herald should be ashamed of themselves. They put a story on the front page of their web page, written by a columnist, not even a reporter, who says something may happen but uses no sources to say where she got the information from. The story was light in facts and vague in details. Of course WPLG will consolodate, but they will have to spend tons of money buying people out of contracts. Main talent at WTVj have just resigned. From what I hear Jackie Nespral, Joe Rose, Joel Conable, Paul Deano and Pam Gigante have all recently resigned. We have heard that some salaries are very high…NBC was apparantly generous and many anchors and reporters have guaranteed two or three year deals with no cycles, meaning WPLG is focred to keep them or buy them out.
WBBH/WZVN, yet another NBC/ABC duopoly in Florida (Ft. Myers-Naples), use different on-air staff for their newscasts, as well as a different on-air look, but they do share video.
Feel sorry for all of those people at TVJ that will lose their jobs. I guess they knew the day would come, but it’s still sad.
Morrow got it wrong. While the old WTVJ (Channel 4) was south Florida’s first TV station, the call letters went to Channel 6 (the old WCIX-TV) when NBC bought the station after failing to buy WCKT-TV, now WSVN.
The duopoly situation is just the beginning of slide to single ownership of multiple TV stations in a single market, just like the “Clear Channeling” of radio and the demise of multiple newspaper communities.
Almost. NBC bought WTVJ from Wometco; it was still Channel 4. NBC, the wizards, swapped 4 for 6; when they traded, the call letters went along. Thus, when CBS swapped 6, which was then WCIX, they got 4 and the call letters became WFOR. One note. Mr. Boylan, if you intend to coat NBC6 with infomercials as you have at WPLG, do us al a favor and go to Home Shopping where you belong. As I see it, if these corporate geniuses can’t make money with broadcasting licenses, they are either bery stupid or very dishonest. They are the public airwaves, remember? I’d love to take a station away under public domain. Enough of my fantasies.
This will be bad news for some people who will be let go in the process, but for viewers this is no huge loss because so few people watch them anymore anyway. If there is a big story do you really need 4 or 5 stations standing around doing the same thing?
Isn’t the Sentinel starting a TV news operation? Would there be opportunities for people who leave 6 to work there? It’s odd that as quickly as newspapers are dying off they are now trying to get into TV and the TV news stations are dropping off doing news.
In ancient times a TV news station could be number 3 or 4 in the market and still make money, but those numbers don’t work anymore.
New world.
Chuck,
say what you want about ch10, but they are the only ones eating right now. all the rest are starving for table scraps.
they have cheesy infomericals because those are the only type of advertisers willing to advertise on local tv anymore. the auto dealers and other bread and butter advertisers are gone and went online.
you can take the public airwaves back if you want, but good luck finding advertisers. i am sure nbc6 might of wanted some of those home shopping type advertisers, than maybe they wouldn’t of had to sell the station, a station that is 6th in dwindling market.
it wasn’t that long ago that 10 was struggling and they made changes, ditched their 5 show, cut back on news budgets and voila, they are in the best shape. unless you have some master business plan i’d be careful in being so high minded.
sorry ms. i’m not totally convinced. a herald gossip reporter trumpets “breaking news!” on the web site, and says wtvj MAY be sold, then she goes on to mention “industry sources”. forgive me, but it wouldn’t be the first time the herald got a story wrong. is it possible that the “industry source” is just an employee of wtvj or wplg or wsvn who mentioned to the reporter that wplg’s GM and wsvn’s GM were checking out wtvj’s building? perhaps the herald reporter is just reporting a rumor that we’ve all been hearing about for months now. i’m not saying it isn’t true, i fully expect tvj’s GM to hold a meeting and do some damage control tomorrow, but isn’t it possible that this “industry source” is reporting old gossip, or purposely floating wrong info? i personally would have loved to see the herald report that al jazeera was buying tvj. that would have been classic herald. by the way, how in the world did joan fleishman avoid the herald layoffs last month? she would have been at the top of my list.
and jimmy, it won’t be just tvj people who will lose their jobs, plg people will fall as well if this is true. they aren’t going to just can tvj’s whole staff and say “thanks, but our people can handle it just fine”.
wtvj and wplg are both staffed with talented and experienced people and whatever happens i’m sure they will land on their feet. people just need to take a deep breath and not panic about things they can’t control. so far i’m still calling it a rumor.
and ms, if i’m wrong, i’ll make it up to you tonight at home 😉
oh my god, i totally forgot, the herald is partners with WFOR! maybe joan fleishman’s “industry source” is Ted Scouten! the bozo that was suckered by the homeless guy! you’ll have to excuse me if i hesitate to believe any thing the herald or wfor tell me at this point.
regarding “needtoeat’s” post up above…chn 10 is not the only ones “eating” right now…in fact, wsvn still owns 20% of the market share in advertising revenue and continues to be one of the most profitable stations in the country. also, the auto dealers and “bread and butter” advertisers are still around, spending many millions of dollars more in t-v advertising than online…
i understand what you’re trying to say, but please get your facts straight.
I hope P-N doesn’t form a duopoly with WTVJ. P-N works with only with ch. 10. A sale like this would do noting but demonstrate how bad our country’s economy is right now, and how George W. Bush has done nothing about it. 🙁
insider,
you are right about 7, they are eating too, but local tv auto advertising is down 40% according a biz journal article i read recently. that’ s a huge number.
adam,
you are another whiner and when bush leaves office you will need to find a new scapegoat.
doesn’t wtvj share any blame in their own demise? shouldn’t the wizards at nbc take some of the blame? don’t you think the managers there who made terrible decisions over the years are to blame?
but maybe you are right, bush conspired to bring down wtvj news so that 7 and 10 could benefit. maybe jeb helped him do this so 10 could be number 1. bush 1 was in office when the other switch took place in the late 80’s so george came in and finished it all off. brilliant.
the sale of wtvj has nothing to do with bush. wtvj is responsible for their own failure just as 10 and 7 are responsible for their success.
who’s fault was it that greedy builders, speculators, buyers and real estate scammers ran our real estate market into the ground and built a city skyline full of empty buildings too, right? i know for a fact that bush is to blame for people with no jobs and no assets receiving loans on 5000sq ft homes.
so do you think bush or congress should add wtvj to the fannie mae, freddie mac bailout?
Hopefully, Post Newsweek will realize that there are many great people at WTVJ. Hopefully, they will clear out all the managers, since none of them have any talent. Once they do that, NBC will be on it’s way up again. When the news was announced in our newsroom today, everyone scrambled into little groups to talk about it. I watched my 7pm anchor jump on the phone with his agent, another reporter talking on the phone in the makeup room. Everyone was scrambling for info and consolation. I think everyone is unsure of what this means for WTVJ and WPLG people. Channel 10 will probably get rid of a bunch of their on air and off air people too. Consolidation doesn’t just mean WTVJ will suffer.
the future of local tv is a small warehouse in mexico, that hubs several stations and pays in peanuts…
if you ever needed a reason to switch careers it’s now, before it’s worse in 3 more years
local stations are going the way of 8 track players and flipping houses
I’m a bit puzzled.
I could picture PLG and TVJ pulling of a WJXX/WTLV style presentation. Simulcast of the 5-7AM, Midday, 6PM, and 11PM news… viewers seeing the same on-air talent on both stations. A branding moniker that comes to mind for me… “South Florida News”.
Unless viewers would perfer PLG and TVJ sharing resources, producing their newscasts separately… in other words, a WBBH/WZVN style presentation. I don’t know if TVJ could be losing the “NBC 6” branding, to yet another “Local 6” branding… since PNS has most of its stations using the “Local” branding monkier.
How all this plays out in the coming weeks and months is sure to be interesting.
If all of the information in the article is true, does Post-Newsweek intend to improve WTVJ?
One of the many FCC regulations on a market duopoly state that the two stations in a duopoly cannot both be among the top four in audience share in the given market. Of all the would-be duopolies in this market (Post-Newsweek, CBS, and Univision) the Post-Newsweek two-pack would have the greatest potential for having both stations in the top four. Grant it the top four looks like a distant dream for WTVJ. However, it is a possibility.
Bottom line: Would Post-Newsweek really seek to improve WTVJ and try to move up in market share? Is WTVJ a fixer-upper that would be back on the block in 5, 10 years if Post-Newsweek could turn it around? Is Post-Newsweek buying with an eye towards changing rules at the FCC? Is Post-Newsweek buying with the full intention of WTVJ being the red-headed step-child and merely getting the table scraps keeping it 5th, 6th, 7th , etc in market share?
Stay tuned to South Florida Local News to find out…
Here is a report in B&C that is reporting on the report that WTVJ “may” be bought out.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6579003.html?industryid=47169
The Herald says in its headline it “may” be sold.
The B&C articles says “Report: Post-Newsweek Buying NBCU’s Miami Station” as if its a done deal. But than goes on with a “If the newspaper account is true,” quoted in the article.
So, this may end up happening and it may be true, but clearly the reporters are reporting on rumor and gossip. They don’t have the facts yet. The inference is the facts may be coming soon, but we still don’t have them.
If you own a news outlet you could employ this tactic day after day to come up with some great stories. No need to fact check our give readers a source or any of that old boring stuff.
This one “story” alone is a perfect example of why the Herald and our traditional ways of getting local news is going away. Rumor, gossip, half truths and reporting on what someoneone else is reporting without knowing if it is right or wrong is not what people want regardless of what the media tells you.
Is it that hard to figure out why people don’t read the paper or tune in to local TV anymore? You can’t just blame the Internet for everything.
My understanding is that Post Newsweek would use TVJ for syndication at certain times and take advantage of the few good things on NBC. They may or may not keep a news division, that is still in discussions. Either way, news at TVJ will be the last thing on the mind of PNS folks. They are looking for ways to make money off of this, and the news isn’t the place to start. The people who lose their jobs at PLG are the ones who were set to lose them when the new building opened anyway. They had already been in the process of renewing some key contracts and consolidating certain deparments, despite this sale.
RESPONSE FROM A WELL-KNOWN ANCHOR AT NBC6:
One was more surprised by the Herald story than us. As employees and news people, we were certainly aware that Post Newsweek was one of the bidders in contention to purchase WTVJ. The honest truth is that as of this moment we have absolutely NO confirmation that the story is true. It is carefully written with words like ‘may buy;’ ‘expected to announce;’and ‘industry sources say.’
Unfortunately, NBC has not responded to this story even to our top
managers. While we hope its not true, we have to anticipate the
possibility that Post Newsweek may be the ultimate buyer. Would it have been our choice? Certainly not. However, becoming part of a duopoly doesn’t mean WTVJ and its people will disappear.
We consider it extremely unlikely that, if we are purchased by WPLG,
they would do away with our newscasts. It just doesn’t make business
sense. The News Department accounts for a large portion of WTVJ’s
profits. Our value is in our people and the product we produce. Whoever buys WTVJ is buying our assets. And our most important assets are our people.
Every major business in this country is facing a faltering economy and
uncertain future. If a business is to survive, it must find new ways of doing business. In some cases, like broadcasting, entire businesses are having to re-invent themselves to survive. That means budget cuts and smaller staffs and yes, duopolies.
We at WTVJ know first hand how a duopoly can save money and breed
efficiencies not otherwise possible. We share our building and our
assets with Telemundo, channel 51. On major stories, we don’t sent two
live trucks to the scene. We send ONE, with a reporter from each
station. But those stories air on two totally different television
stations, WTVJ and WSCV. Though we have no information on how a
WTVJ/WPLG duopoly might work, it is only logical to assume the two
stations would have separate identities and separate newscasts.
News is cheap to produce and usually makes money for a station versus syndicated shows. They won’t do away with news. Heck, it’s common knowledge that PLG loses TONS of money on Dr. Phil. They paid way too much for the show. I’ve heard they lose at least $1-million a year on it.
NBC6 FAN,
I don’t know who wrote that letter but …..
“Every major business in this country is facing a faltering economy and uncertain future.”
Sorry, but this is not true. There are plenty of companies in America that are making money and are profitable. The list is endless, but let me just use the word Exxon, or Google or in media Fox News. Uncertain future? Come on. We have had much worse economic conditions over the past 20 or 30 years than this. Late 70’s early 80’s anybody? 10% unemployment and %15 interest rates? For TV it is worse because there was already a switch away from TV to online.
“The News Department accounts for a large portion of WTVJ’s
profits.”
This true for all locals. But at 6 there weren’t enough profits, that is why it is in the situation it is in. You can no loner have 4 & $500,000 dollar a year anchors sitting around reading promoters with no ratings. Those numbers don’t work anymore.
“Our value is in our people and the product we produce. Whoever buys WTVJ is buying our assets. And our most important assets are our people.”
Bunk. The new owner wants NBC programming and to be able to profit from it. Ch6 has very good and talented people. But this statement is a little naive. The buyers of that station are not buying people or talent. No one is buying Jackie Nespral with no ratings. They are buying the business and the business is defined by its profit margin and how it can improve the new owners bottom line. As harsh as it sounds I highly doubt any one person’s name is brought up in the buying process.
If they keep news on both stations, as you mentioned they won’t send two crews to the same event. That would make no sense. 6 staff would suffer in this scenario unfortunately. 6 is the weaker newsroom in terms of ratings.
“NBC has not responded to this story even to our top
managers.”
This is most troubling. No denial. No reassurance. Call your agent now.
Here is a new twist that confirms both sides are mum on the story.
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/07/wtvj_sale_principals_silent_on.php
Update the resumes.
NBC has proven that they don’t care about people. NBC doesn’t care about the history of WTVJ or the people they employ, in many cases for the past 37 years or more. I will say it straight to Jeff Zucker’s face. FUCK YOU! He will continue to lose his hair and die of an awful disease. That’s what he deserves. He never shoul dhave ben hired to run NBC. As for people at NBC. Of course people will be laid off. Other people will be given buyouts and early retirements. But, WTVJ’s local managers did something very smart with their top talent. Many anchors resigned new contracts with hihgher salaries. So, if WPLG wants to fire anyone, get ready to pay big bucks to buy anchors out. Post Newsweek has an opportunity to take WTVJ’s reputation and build a tremendous news product through Channel 10 and 6. I’m not sure how they will do it, but Channel 10 does not have a reputation built on over the years like WTVJ does. I am sure that is part of what they are buying no matter how bad things are at NBC6. We will all see what will happen. No matter what, it is all out of our control. Beware, Channel 10 people, nboth on air and off will be cut as well.
I think we all should sign a petition to the FCC from keeping this deal from happening. It should be another company on the list as potential buyers besides post newsweek. I have met plenty of people at WTVJ and they are on the edge of their seats. But like NBC Anchor #2 said,”NBC does not care about people.” Everything is about money, they don’t care about the history and the people in the community. Also, do you know how boring the news would be with a wtvj and wplg merge, especially miami being a fast paced and competitive market? South Florida is not a dead market like Jacksonville. I think every station has there own brand, but nbc and abc they are totally different. WTVJ is florida’s first television station, first in many of things, such as new technology, and WPLG is #1 and has been #1 for many years. I hope any company besides post newsweek turns wtvj around. Oh, I’m new to this blogging thing, I never blogged before LOL!
NBC Anchor #2
“Channel 10 does not have a reputation built on over the years like WTVJ does”
What? You must be a young anchor who hasn’t lived in Miami very long. WPLG has a stronger news reputation than WTVJ in modern times. Do you know who Ann Bishop was? Talk to some old timers there, they will tell you. WTVJ lost its dominance a long long time ago.
In a 350 million dollar price, buying out a few anchors is no big deal. Ch10 wants to be able to offer advertisers a larger advertising platform than they can now, just like the other duoplies do. That’s why they do it. Advertising. Not tradition, not anchors.
This story is just the tip of much larger changes in the TV and print media that is moving much more quickly than anyone would of guessed. TV news is laying off everyone, everywhere at every level. Newspapers are doing the same and all are losing BILLIONS.
It’s change, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The economy is partly to blame, but TV news stations have to take responsibility too. All the years of over hyped non news events while at the same time eroding the trust of their customers has taken its toll. And now that customers have other options they are flocking to them. The public has almost all the same resources at their finger tips that the media does and local TV is no longer the arbiter of what is “news” anymore.
Consider the only stories Ch6 did this year that mention the word Jesus.
-Hialeah Couple Sees Face Of Jesus In Sonogram
-Girl Finds Sweet Jesus Image In Piece Of Candy
-Family Sees Jesus Image On Palm Tree
Ridiculous. What intelligent person would dedicate any time of their busy day for a station that thinks this is news? Not me and I am sure Ch6 could use my viewership about now.
The only thing that can save local TV news is to become relevant again and to provide viewers with real local news. Lose the fake breasted babes, glorified interns and blowhards and get some hardened, grizzled and weathered reporters up there and start covering the real news in this town. Put some real men up there and dump the metros who just want to see themselves on TV.
Do that and you just might save your hides, or at least some of them.
Sam, I do know who Ann Bishop was and she didn’t rule the roost when she was here. WTVj was number one in those days. WTVJ began losing its number one spot in the early to mid nineties. My point was that WTVJ has a longer history and a reputation built over many, many years. WPLG has not produced people like David Bloom, Kerry Sanders, Katie Couric and many other broadcasters who have moved up the ranks within NBC. This is not a pissing match. Every television station in the market has a lot fo be proud of, but a lot fo be ashamed of too. Management, locally at WTVj screwed things up for this station. That’s it. It’s not the anchors faults or production crews fault. You say, “Put some real men up there and not the metros who just want to see themselves on television.” This is a very demeaninf statement. Let me name a few people who are true journalists at WTVJ: Bob Mayer, Tony Segreto, Joel Connable, Ari Odzer, Amara Sohn, Pam Gigante, Jeff Burnside, Willard Shepard, Steve Litz. I don’t think these are people who only want to see themselves on tv. Look at Channel 7. They are full of college kids who barely know anything about life. WTVJ has a few of those too, but don’t label everyon.
This market has lost its long-term identity. Does anyone remember Ron Hunter? He died two weeks ago, and no one mentioned it here, not even an obit in the Herald. He was the first anchor at PL|G to win a sweeps book in the key demo, 18-49, then went on to anchor with Jane Pauley in Chicago. His life is worthy of a movie, trust me. The point is, Ann Bishop co-anchored with him, and she was very definitely #1 for a long time. It’s no wonder that there isn’t a single station who knows the difference between “north Miami” and |”North Miami”. How can you cover a market if you don’t know where the hell you are|? These o&o’s have sapped the market of its identity and the nicest word I can use to describe them is “Carpetbaggers.” This is why a Bob Mayer should be treasured. No one doubts he knows this market. Not so much with anyone at 7.
NBC ANCHOR #2 says:
“Look at Channel 7. They are full of college kids who barely know anything about life. WTVJ has a few of those too, but don’t label everyon. (sic)”
Wow. Besides your specious logic, poor grammar and spelling that suggest you are probably one of those “college kids who barely know anything about life,” you are ignoring a fundamental truth that has ruled the hiring philosophy at EVERY local affiliate in the past 5-8 years.
Anyone can reel of the names of longtime personalities at every affiliate in town. Each has their own. But for quite some time, every station has had to compensate for keeping their high-priced, long-time talent by hiring young (cheap) replacements to fill the slots at the bottom of the totem pole.
EVERY station in town is guilty of this, and if you think this is a symptom exclusive of this market, you know even less about life than I thought. But while some of these hires at each of these stations are as ignorant and naive as you are, each station has been successful at finding a few young, aggressive journalists who could one day be the Bob Mayers and Michael Putneys in town.
Because, unless he’s 80, Bob Mayer’s 40 years working on television in town mean he was once one of these young, aggressive journalists as well.
Unfortunately, as it pertains to the WTVJ sale, I’m afraid the consolidation of these two stations is going to mean the acceleration of these long-time pros being shown the door.
But to suggest that WTVJ has exclusive rights to “true journalists,” NBC Anchor #2, is utter nonsense.
What this deal could do to competitive journalism on the streets of South Florida should be the “true” loss we should lament.
Is what is happening to Ch6 all that surprising?
You have to ask yourself an uncomfortable question. If you weren’t in the news biz, would you sit at home and watch a local newscast? And if you did would you take it seriously?
Another uncomfortable question, if you are watching a story on Ch7, would you risk any money on a bet on whether or not the information that reporter is telling you is absolutely accurate and not hyped? You had to think for a second right?
Local TV is still doing news by and large the same way it was in the 90’s. It was late in the online game and as a result unknown upstarts are now providing news and video online and TV stations have only just begun really grasping video online. This blog had story about one station just now getting on board with video embeds. They are years behind the curve when they should of been on the leading edge since their medium is VIDEO!
And TV news still relies on newspapers for their news. Go scan the Herald and Sentinel this morning. You can bet it all that a reporter will be sent out this morning on a day old story and it will be packaged for today’s newscast. TV is notoriously lazy in not getting stories that can’t be shot in couple hours.
That worked in the past, but not anymore. Now, people already know the story by the time TV gets around to it. And why rehash the national and international news of the day at 6PM tonight either? A kid with a laptop can and a web site can beat you and your web site all day long. And if he is consistently successful he will take your advertisers too.
Another uncomfortable question. Why will people sit and watch jerky, poor quality video news reports online and ignore your station’s multi million dollar investment in a stunning HD picture, news sets and six figure a year babes with cartoonishly sized breasts? Why? Simple. Because they are after stories you aren’t telling them.
It’s the content. TV has to get away from car wrecks and blood and guts that it always has because there are now channels that dedicate themselves 24/7 to showing that.
The only thing you have to offer is real local news. News no one else has and news that is first. And I don’t mean first to the car wreck or the drug shooting or the old lady that drove into the side of a house. That is easy, useless news. It means news the guy on his laptop can’t get or beat you to. This is Miami, there is real news here, but it just takes real effort to get it.
Rehashing what 10 or 12 other local media outlets are doing puts you in the position that Ch4, Ch6, the Herald, the Sentinel and others are in. Its a powerless position.
I’m in news and I “STILL” don’t watch it when I don’t have to. It’s atrocious. Unless you have an anchor who really comes through the screen and grabs your attention (won’t name certain people), you’re screwed because the content is terrible. Its funny to hear people on this topic writing about how SFLA is losing it’s sense of community and trust with the pending sale of TVJ. They need to learn that, no matter what all the promos say, no one in the newsroom gives a s–t about trust and community. It’s kinda like in pro sports…the teams themselves couldn’t give 2 cents about how loyalty and community. It’s about winning and making money. But they don’t want you to think that. In TV, it’s about breaking news and simply filling time. The fans in sports and the viewers of news have to realize the harsh reality that the dollar sign is the be all and end all.
@I love this,
if you’re going to correct someone’s grammar, spelling, and typos, you should at least try to make sure your own posts are perfect. When you wrote: “Anyone can reel of the names of longtime personalities…” i think you probably meant to say reel OFF, not of.
By the way, WSVN is on the phone, they want you to be an AP and type in all their Chyron info.
I love this: said
What this deal could do to competitive journalism on the streets of South Florida should be the “true” loss we should lament.
Journalism? Please! We all know the Emperor has no clothes. Doing stories about germs on a door knob, Idol contestant winners, a celeb’s collection of ethic orphans and people seeing Jesus in the bottom of a Big Gulp is not journalism.
Journalism hasn’t gone away. Its just gone to a new place. You not knowing this is the reason you are in the process of becoming a niche industry.
To NBC Anchor#2. WPLG hasn’t produced talant like Bloom, Sanders and Couric? Are you nuts? How about Larry King, Steve Kroft, Andrea Koppel, Mike Schnedier, Fredrika whitfield, to name a few. If there is one thing about Post Newsweek, it’s this, they are VERY, VERY good to their employees. They rarely fire anyone. Anyone who things they will layoff their own and keep NBC6 staff is nuts.
PNS might be more interested in WTVJ’s 1000 kW UHF ch. 31 digital TV transmitter than anything else. WPLG wound up with a less favorable VHF ch. 10 digital TV allocation, they’re applying to increase its power to about 150 kW. They can always sell the facilities / real estate and jettison the redundant employees that come with such a purchase.
that is a new spin Antenna Man. interesting. we won’t know the plan until they tell us. everything else is speculation.
most of us in news have no idea what it takes to run a tv station. we are in a bubble and think of ourselves as superior and exempt from the rest of the station. news people don’t understand that if you make $50,000 a year someone up stairs has to sell $50,000 in advertising to pay you your salary and benefits. i think people just think the money flies in the station on a magic carpet and the supply is endless.
so do i understand it right, if wtvj is sold the owner is not buying the mirimar facilty, just the signal, tower, affiliation and staff?
NBC Anchor #2… Has a good point about Jeff Zucker being part of the reason why NBC has been performing very poorly. NBC is right now repeating a similar pattern from the late ’70s and early ’80s, where shows saw low-to-mediocre ratings… while ABC was ruling the ratings, and CBS was a solid runner up then. The late Brandon Tartikoff was credited for giving NBC the turn-around it was looking for when the mid ’80s came along. I bet Tartikoff is probably rolling over in his grave right now, at what has become of this beloved television institution. FOX is currently ruling the ratings, with ABC and CBS following in 2nd and 3rd.
NBC6 FAN… I’m mixed about Post-Newsweek’s pending acquistion of WTVJ. I’m not sure what PNS may be planning. Again, I was hoping for Belo or Cox to buy the South Florida NBC affiliate. I believe 1 of the 2 could salvage WTVJ, and give the station a much needed and long overdue turnaround. I would assume chances of Belo or Cox owning WTVJ is very, very slim.
I would think any company that is buying a television station, no matter which one, would want to run it using as little money and resources as possible. That means two options with WTVJ:
1) Simu-cast Local 10 news on NBC and get rid of NBC’s News product. Use some of the current NBC anchors and reporters on that newscast which could also air at times when NBC used be on. For example:
5 – 7 AM – Both channels do news, but one is all news and the other is light hearted
11am NBC airs it’s normal South Florida Today Show
12pm ABC airs its newscast
5pm NBC newscast
5:30pm NBC Newscast teasing to Local 10 at 6
6pm Local 10 newscast – no NBC6 news
11pm – Simucast one station on both
This would create a station having more news than anyone else if they work together,
Option 2 – Get rid of all the weak people at WPLG and WTVJ and just have Local 10 – or South Florida News on both channels.
Why would Post Newsweek ever want NBC6 competing with their newscastal 10 is number one, WTVJ still would take viewers away if they wee on at the same time. In Los Angeles Viacom owns an independent and CBS affiliate and they never have news on at the same time, but reporters appear on both channels.
7 and 10 will be on the same tower come February so signals and towers probably have little to do if Post Newsweek is buying WTVJ
admin, even though 7’s and 10’s digitals are VHF, I believe all the digitals are in the antenna farm now. Even so, most households watch via cable/sat so it’s not really an issue. An interesting side note: come February ’09, Channel 6 (rf 31) won’t be heard over 88.7 anymore.
If 10 and 6 end up having the same owners and they each remain separate network affiliates, they’ll both have competing 11pm newscasts. It’s absurd that they’d run the same news simultaneously over two channels with virtual identical signal coverage.
OTOH, either 6 or 10 will have to be “unpopular”, in that both can’t be in the top four by law. Not a problem short-term, but it’s anybody’s guess what will happen months down the road. We could even see the first 11pm network alternative-to-news programming. Maybe 6 will show reruns of I Love Lucy at 11… 😉
Re: 7 and 10 will be on the same tower come February so signals and towers probably have little to do if Post Newsweek is buying WTVJ
Re: Even so, most households watch via cable/sat so it’s not really an issue.
The future is wireless and UHF spectrum is beachfront property for broadcasting to laptops / phones / PDA’s, etc. VHF requires large antennas, has poor in-building penetration, and suffers from interference. The 1950’s business model of broadcasting exclusively to the big screen in the living room won’t cut it any more even with cable and satellite.
The sale has been announced on Local 10’s website as of about 9 am this morning. As to ratings, well, Jeff Zucker, North Miami native, should be good to keep the primetime ratings for NBC in the tank for a few more years at least. Disappointing, to say the least.
Antenna Man, the future may be wireless but it’s not going to happen over UHF to phones and laptops, at least the way digital signals are being broadcast now.
TV through anything but current OTA, cable, or satellite is simply horrible. Web/phone TV is simply a bad thing – there’s just nowhere near enough bandwidth, especially for HD.
Interestingly, television as we know it has always been wireless until cable came along. Years ago before cable, who’d have thought that every house would have a spaghetti string wired up to some central server with hundreds of channels all being piped through…
Re: the future may be wireless but it’s not going to happen over UHF to phones and laptops, at least the way digital signals are being broadcast now.
Read Doug Lung’s articles on TVTechnology.com In a nutshell, mobility and advanced video CODEC support will be added to ATSC that will allow the existing available bandwidth to be used for HD on large screens as well as simultaneous SD and lower resolutions on small, mobile screens.
AD – Even so, the antennas required to pick up a usable signal over UHF will have to be larger than the devices themselves.