NewsChannel 8

On June 13, Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate WJLA Washington (DMA 7) will increase its Sunday morning Government Matters to weeknights, airing live Monday-Friday at 8 p.m. on co-owned NewsChannel 8, then re-airing […]

Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate WJLA Washington (DMA 7) said Wednesday that on Monday, Feb. 15, co-owned cable news channel NewsChannel 8’s Late Night Report will be expanding from 30 minutes to […]

Since Sinclair bought ABC affiliate WJLA Washington and its NewsChannel 8 cable channel, there have been staff defections. Some sources say the Sinclair’s conservative bent and statements by CEO David Smith of advertiser importance are to blame. But, Sinclair’s News VP Scott Livingston says those charges are overblown and the company has plans to step up “unbiased and aggressive reporting” at the station and expand NewsChannel 8 nationally.

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s ABC affiliate WJLA Washington (DMA 8), in conjunction with co-owned cable channel NewsChannel 8, will hold a live town hall meeting on Thursday, Oct. 16 entitled Your […]

Now that its Allbritton purchase is done, Sinclair CEO David Smith says he’s eager to start taking on Fox News Channel and MSNBC with NewsChannel 8. And on another initiative near and dear to Sinclair — ATSC 3.0 — Smith said Sinclair is working on a plan to transition to the new standard that costs virtually nothing and is transparent to the public.

The media company is spending billions to snatch up local TV stations as it tries to build a national powerhouse to rival CNN.

“If and when we close on the Allbritton transaction,” Sinclair CEO David Smith said today, “we’re being handed an asset that’s completely undeveloped. It’s no more complicated than taking a television show and distributing it across the country. We view as an opportunity to take our local news platforms … and expand them in lots of other venues.”

Allbritton Communications-owned ABC affiliate WJLA Washington (DMA 8) and co-owned NewsChannel 8 will debut Government Matters, a 30-minute weekly show that features news and in-depth coverage of the business of […]

I’m conflicted over Sinclair CEO David Smith’s proposal to turn local D.C.’s NewsChannel 8 acquired in the Allbritton deal into a national cable news channel fueled by local stations. The cynical half of me says that Smith cooked up the idea of a national network to distract investors from the fact that he paid an unusually high, above-average multiple. The other half says let’s wait and see. Smith sees value where others don’t, and there may be more behind his strategy that he was letting on this week.