WUSA Washington

The head of WLWT Cincinnati is tapped by Tegna to lead its CBS affiliate in Washington. His resume includes an earlier stint at WUSA as VP-station manager.

Like many stations, Tegna-owned WUSA Washington airs regular features in its newscasts about medical and health topics. And when it does, WUSA tends to turn to one source: the Inova hospital chain. Inova has another role in the CBS affiliate’s Family Health features: It’s the sole sponsor of them. The segments raise a question that has dogged the relationship between health-care organizations and TV stations for years: Should such feature stories be called news reports or advertising — or an ill-defined hybrid of both?

Many TV stations show off the skill of meteorologists like WUSA Washington’s Topper Shutt by giving viewers a “3-degree guarantee” for their forecasts, with some tying them to donations, prizes and the like. But whether such a guarantee has any value for viewers is at best questionable.

Gannett’s CBS affiliate in the nation’s capital is the latest station to adopt the ratings technology.

Gannett-owned CBS affiliate WUSA Washington and The Washington Post today formed an editorial partnership and video sharing agreement effective immediately. The agreement calls for WUSA video, video reports, and some live video streaming coverage to appear on The Post’s website. Links to WUSA content will also be available on The Post’s regional homepage. The partnership will also allow for Washington Post video and photography to appear on WUSA newscasts and wusa9.com.

When Sinclair took over ABC affiliate WJLA in Washington, they sent WJLA GM Bill Lord packing. Yesterday, Lord was introduced to a few WUSA staffers as the CBS affil’s new news director.

Fred D’Ambrosi’s last day at the Gannett-owned CBS affiliate in Washington will be Oct. 24.

The Washington CBS affiliate will now offer the 24/7 service on its First Alert Weather subchannel.

The latest ENG technology is allowing TV stations to go live straight from the heart of breaking news, spurring new opportunity and creativity. Plus, the gear’s inexpensive cost means stations don’t have to flip a coin to decide where to send a satellite truck. And while problems of latency and cellular availabliity exist, its advantages are making a huge difference in how live, local stories get covered.

J.C. Hayward is among several people being sued by the District of Columbia for their alleged roles in taking more than $3 million from Options Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. The suit contends the scheme centered around two for-profit companies that had ties to the school, one of which was incorporated by Hayward.

All Nats fans living in the Washington, D.C., area, even those without access to the regional Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), will be able to catch some of the action. MASN and Gannett’s WUSA are partnering to simulcast 20 MASN-produced Nationals games on WUSA during the upcoming 2013 season. The slate of games on WUSA will begin with the Nats’ April 1 regular season and home opener against the Miami Marlins.

The FCC yesterday said WUSA Washington must air political spots from activist Randall Terry. The reasonable access requirements for federal candidates are encoded into the Communications Act, and there is only so much the FCC can do in applying the statute in a political landscape that is far more complex than those who drafted these provisions likely ever contemplated. With election season nearly over, and many stations sold out of airtime through the election, the immediate impact of the decision will be limited. It is a safe bet, however, that the underlying issue will continue to haunt future elections.

Faced with an unprecedented flood of commercials for candidates and causes, Washington’s TV stations have had to get creative to fit them all in. Some are trimming their regular programming to squeeze in a few more ads, and some are adding more news at other hours.

Whether you’re watching Days of Our Lives, the Today Show, or the Olympics closing ceremonies on NBC next week, you’ll see an ad from Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS super PAC. Crossroads will pay steeply for the privilege — about $50,000 for the Olympics spots. And they’re buying a lot of spots. So far this month, Crossroads has spent nearly $1 million at three local TV stations.

The former executive at Washington TV stations and the Baltimore Ravens is tapped by Gannett to succeed Allan Horlick as head of its CBS affiliate in D.C.

This latest deal with Gannett puts the new over-the-air multicast network targeted to African Americans at more than 50% coverage of the U.S.