Gray Television said that it reached a new deal with Paramount Global covering the renewal of the CBS affiliations at all 54 of Gray’s current CBS affiliates. The agreement covers stations in seven markets acquired from Meredith and 47 stations previously owned by Gray. (Pictured: Pat LaPlatney, Co-CEO of Gray)
Not everyone will see the 30 Rock reunion that will air Thursday on NBC. Multiple station groups are preempting the hour-long special, which will double as an advertisement for NBCUniversal’s 2020-21 programming and its new streaming service, Peacock. The stations that are choosing to preempt the special come from station groups Gray Television, Hearst, Nexstar, Tegna and Sinclair Broadcast Group, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap. While it’s not clear exactly how many of the stations are skipping the special, those collectively represent about half of NBC’s footprint.
Jessell | Moonves’ Fall Not Unmitigated Loss For Affils
While Leslie Moonves ran a great network, he projected little regard for CBS affiliates and even the CBS O&Os. To him, it seems, the affiliates were collection agents for retransmission consent fees who kept too much of the money for themselves. His successor, whomever he or she might be, needs to have a vision for broadcasting that goes beyond being just a bridge to a streaming future and look at affiliates as valuable, inportant partners.
NBC has fired longtime affiliate marketing chief Scot Chastain following an internal investigation into alleged misconduct by the executive. “A thorough internal review was conducted,” a spokesperson for the network’s corporate parent, NBCUniversal, said, but offered no details of the alleged misconduct. “Scot Chastain is no longer with the company.”
With this new collaborative agreement, affiliates are joining with CBS to distribute premium content to new “skinny bundles” reaching viewers coast-to-coast across multiple platforms and screens anytime and anywhere, including on Hulu and YouTube TV in addition to CBS All Access.
Affiliate Groups To Meet At NAB Show
The National Association of Broadcasters announced today that Fox and The CW will host meetings with their affiliated television station representatives at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Also, the affiliate boards of directors of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox will once again hold meetings.
Exclusives
NBC’s ‘Aquarius’ Looks To Be A Bad Sign
The news that the network is going to let people binge-watch the entire new David Duchovny series immediately following the debut of the first episode over the air reduces the NBC affilates — and the O&OS — to carnival barkers. If broadcasting is going to continue to thrive, the networks need to give it their full attention. For its part, NBC should be sharply focused on improving primetime, it should not be dabbling in the binge-watching business.
All Fox, CW affiliates to gather in Las Vegas next month, along with affiliate boards of directors of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and MundoFox.
At its affiliate meeting today in Las Vegas, the Fox network is expected to unveil a plan that would allow its affiliates to stream online Fox sports and entertainment programming, according to two affiliate sources. More to come after the meeting adjourns around 4 p.m ET.
Three Gray Stations Sign CBS Affiliations
The latest additions to the network’s lineup are WECP-LD Panama City, Fla.; WSVF-CA Harrisonburg, Va.; and WIYE Parkersburg, W.Va.
Key affiliate pickups for Fox’s new Hispanic broadcast network are KWHY in Los Angeles, the largest Hispanic market with 13.4% of Hispanic homes, and WJAN in Miami, the No. 3 Hispanic market with 5.2% of Hispanic homes. Of this first batch of 20 markets covering 40% of U.S. Hispanic homes, New York is conspiculously missing. It’s the No. 2 Hispanic market and MundoFox says it’s talking to several stations there.
Network Affils To Meet At NAB Show
All Fox and CW affiliates will gather in Las Vegas, along with the affiliate boards of directors of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
The trend of networks making ad time available to partner stations in high-demand times is gaining steam — and cash.
