Nexstar's CWNetwork looking for a new detroit home as Scripps pulls affiliation from its stations

[Rate This]

Exactly. It's bizarre that 7 is carried but 20 is not. Scripps bought channel 20 maybe eight years ago?

Worse than that… 2014.

[BFSEsq]

I agree it's bizarre that YouTube TV doesn't carry 20. I think what happened is that YTTV originally WAS a pretty fledgling "cable" service before they found themselves somewhat quickly becoming THE "cable" service (I believe they now have more national subs than Comcast.) They never bothered (nor did they need to) set up any type of local relationships like traditional cable companies did. As a result, people are now getting cable through a service that has no regional hubs whatsoever. I guess it's 2024, after all, but it is interesting to me.

It looks like YTTV was interested literally in only carrying local network affiliates. Everything local on YTTV has network affiliation. If it doesn't, they didn't want it. So it seems that was a YTTV decision. In Detroit they have 2 (Fox), 4 (NBC), 7 (ABC), 50 (they DO still carry WKBD as an independent, but I think this is mostly shaped by the fact that they WERE the CW affiliate until fairly recently and they just didn't remove something they already had), 56 (PBS), and 62 (CBS). More support for this "networks only" theory is that for a while we lost the CW, and now they have probably the strangest arrangement I've ever seen, where we get a true national feed of the CW, belonging to no affiliate. So clearly at YTTV they're thinking, hell with local channels, we just have to get people their broadcast networks.

This "only networks" thing is pretty silly and honestly doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I think YTTV just hasn't really been challenged enough by their customers on it yet, since local viewership is so far in the toilet. If sports do start going to 20 in a significant way locally, though, they might start getting enough complaints. A typical layperson is not setting up an antenna just for channel 20. (Then again, we haven't had Bally for years... not since it was still Fox Sports Detroit, and that has never changed, despite the H*** inconvenience.)

Scripps should get on this and start advocating for themselves with YTTV, as well, I agree. Why not?

[MasterB]

I thought TV20 was getting $$$ from Pay-TV to air the signal like WXYZ I didn't know it was must-carry. My guess is The CW will either go to WDIV subchannel or that Nexstar & Kevin make up and kiss with a service agreement as The FCC isn't going to approve Mission deal when the sales agreement ends in late June what they did TEGNA & Apollo merger last year.

[Splouge]

I've seen reports say that it was Nexstar who chose not to renew the affiliation, not Scripps. I'm not sure what's going on, but if I had to guess (let me reiterate, this is just a guess), I'd say Nexstar is unhappy that Scripps disaffiliated Phoenix 61 from The CW.

If Nexstar gets really desperate, they can always acquire a Detroit LPTV or Class A, turn it into another ATSC 3.0 lighthouse, and have the 1.0 streams hosted on full power stations to fully cover the market. Since LPTVs and Class As aren't subject to ownership cap rules, they can purchase one outright.

[MWmetalhead]

Perhaps Perry Sook is delusional. Has he seen his network's ratings? I think his negotiating leverage is less than he realizes.

[rugratsonline]

WMYD is must-carry over most Metro Detroit cable systems. No OTA for Bally.

On the Canadian side, I believe Cogeco carries WMYD, while Bally is not even cleared for carriage by the CRTC. WMYD's expansion of its sports programming would be a boon to viewers on both sides of the river.

[Tvguy]

[https://www.detroitnews.com/story/enter ... 417816007/]

[mmb5]

Looks like Mission is back on board...

https://thedesk.net/news/fcc-approves-w ... onditions/

[Marcus]

So the full powered TV channels might look like this in September.

WJBK / Fox 2
WDIV 4 (NBC)
WXYZ 7 (ABC)
WMYD 20 (Ind.) *more sports than now
WPXD 31 (Ion)
WADL 38 (CW)
WKBD 50 (Ind.)
WTVS 56 (PBS)
WWJ-TV 62 (CBS)

[MasterB]

I didn't think the FCC would give it's approval that Mission would own WADL not surprised that there was conditions to it. I really thought that Kevin Adell was blowing it when he took The CW off last Nov.

[billmich88888]

Nothing that "Mr. Adell" (as one doofus always refers to him) does correctly diminishes the fact that he is a élite level A-hole.

[jry]

well, well.... Look who's back.

CW is all set in the D and will reunite with WADL, once Mission (Nexstar) closes with Kevin Adell, Et Al. Mission is not to rely on any $$ from Nexstar and it looks like this deal will be done.....

[Splouge]

One of the conditions of the FCC's approval was that the station may only air programming from Nexstar 15% of the time, this includes affiliation with CW, NewsNation, and all programming sources provided, produced, procured, or owned by Nexstar. And this applies to multicast streams too. Which means if WMYD removes Antenna TV, WADL will unfortunately not be allowed to carry it.

[statmanmi]

One of the conditions of the FCC's approval was that the station may only air programming from Nexstar 15% of the time, this includes affiliation with CW, NewsNation, and all programming sources provided, produced, procured, or owned by Nexstar. And this applies to multicast streams too. Which means if WMYD removes Antenna TV, WADL will unfortunately not be allowed to carry it.

As Splouge and others have noted, there are some pretty significant constraints placed on the transaction by the FCC differing from the amended purchase agreement. Quite a way for the FCC to break their formal silence on the matter!

My personal opinion is that it's not yet known if the deal will be done. Does Mission have or can they raise the cash without getting it from Nexstar? Does Nexstar want to be the shared services operator if they won't receive as much compensation nor be in as much control as their arrangement of the WPIX situation in NYC?

To metaphorically think of this as a baseball game, we're maybe now at the seventh inning stretch.

Cheers! ~~ Statmanmi

[billmich88888]

TV/Washington Notes
'Problematic' FCC Conditions On Station Sale Could Create Detroit Drama
WADL station owner expects transaction to proceed and give the CW an affiliate in the market, while commissioner Brendan Carr says application was effectively ‘denied’ by Media Bureau
By Jon Lafayette, BROADCASTING & CABLE - Apr. 24, 2024

Conditions put on the proposed sale of WADL-TV, Detroit, to Mission Broadcasting have created a potential drama in the Motor City.

Kevin Adell, CEO of Adell Broadcasting, owner of WADL, told Broadcasting+Cable he expects the $75 million deal to go through, but said that Mission called the conditions “problematic.”

Mission’s bid is being financed by Nexstar Media Group, which wants WADL to become the market’s CW affiliate after September 1, when the CW’s deal with WMYD, owned by E.W. Scripps Co., expires. Scripps and Nexstar have said the affiliation deal won’t be renewed.

But a similar deal in which Mission bought WPIX, New York, and had Nexstar run the station under a series of management and marketing agreements, led to the FCC’s Media Bureau fining both companies and requiring Mission to sell WPIX because Nexstar’s “de facto” control of the station put it over the commission’s ownership limit.

Nexstar has challenged the FCC's decision.

To prevent a similar situation in Detroit, the FCC approved the sale of WADL but barred Nexstar from being involved in financing the deal and limited the amount of programming Nexstar can provide to WADL, how much of WADL’s ad revenue Nexstar can keep, how much Mission can pay Nexstar for providing services and prevented Nexstar from getting an option to buy the station in the future.

The conditional approval was reported earlier by The Desk.

Brendan Carr, the senior Republican FCC commissioner, issued a statement on the “FCC’s denial of WADL-TV’s application.”

Carr said that the FCC’s Media Bureau “styles its decision as a ‘conditional approval.’ but it is no such thing.”

The decision “requires these private parties to abandon the deal that they had negotiated and decide whether to accept an entirely different deal on entirely different terms,” he said.

Carr said the decision exceeds the agency’s statutory authority, saying the law requires the FCC to either grant the application or designate it for a hearing.

“Here, the FCC chooses neither of the two options Congress authorized. It is not approving the application on terms agreed upon by the parties. Nor is it designating the application for hearing. It is instead taking the application the FCC received and substituting it for a new one drafted by the agency. That’s not the FCC’s job or role,” Carr said.

Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting declined to comment on whether they would close the acquisition under the conditions imposed by the FCC.

Adell said that his lawyers contacted Mission on Tuesday, after the ruling, telling Mission it had two choices, either to pay the $75 million and close the deal within the five days called for in the sale agreement while contesting the conditions imposed by the FCC or set up a Local Marketing Agreement that would allow Mission to run the station while the ruling is challenged. Mission would have to give Adell 80% of the purchase price or $60 immediately if its goes the LMA route, and pay the remainder over eight years.

Failure to close the deal would result in lawsuits, Adell said. Plus, Nexstar needs a CW affiliate in a big market like Detroit. “It’s either me or off the air,” he said.

Despite the conditions, “I’m glad the commission approved [the application],” Adell said. “They could have sat on it or they could have sent it to an administrative law judge, and that would have essentially killed this deal.”

The conditions imposed by the FCC take effect after the sale. “That’s their problem not my problem, he said.

Adell said he didn’t think that a sizable broadcaster like Mission would have trouble getting a loan to buy WADL.

The other conditions can be worked around, Adell said, unlike something more severe, like being forced to sell stations in order to acquire WADL.

Adell said that in order to get the deal approved he met with FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel five times. He invited Mission to join him in those meetings, but Mission passed. “If they had problems with the conditions, they had ample time to negotiate,” he said.

Adell has been a broadcaster since he was a teen-age ham radio operator. He built WADL right out of college after getting a construction permit from the FCC.

He said Rosenworcel admired his status as a long-time broadcaster and assured him the deal would go through. “She told me [the delay in approving the application] has nothing to do with me. The company that’s buying you is under investigation. I can’t talk about it.”

Carr, who had criticized aspects of last month's Nexstar-Mission decision, noted that the long review and conditions imposed were a problem for the broadcast industry.

“As I have said recently, we are at a break glass moment for America’s broadcasters. They are facing unprecedented headwinds and competition, including from their largely unregulated Big Tech competitors. The FCC should be focused on decisions that will make it easier for broadcasters to attract the capital necessary for them to invest, compete, and serve their local communities,” Carr said. “Once again, the FCC does the opposite today.”

Source: 'Problematic' FCC Conditions On Station Sale Could Create Detroit Drama | Next TV