Sinclair

Comet and Charge! are now available on CBS Affiliates in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco while TBD and The Nest can be seen on KCAL Los Angeles.

Executives from Fox News, Sinclair and Hearst Television discussed efforts underway to organize and capitalize on their massive archives at last week’s NewsTECHForum, where efficient — and more potentially inexpensive — methodologies are beginning to emerge.

Tech leaders from CNBC, Fox Television Stations, Gray Television and Sinclair told a NewsTECHForum audience earlier this week that flexibility and speed are driving their implementation of a range of new technology, from LED displays and AR graphics to more expansive remote production and use of the cloud.

A series of television stations serving the El Paso market in Texas have begun broadcasting with NextGen TV, a new digital broadcast technology. The launch includes KVIA-TV (ABC), KDBC-TV (CBS), KTSM-TV (NBC), KFOX-TV (FOX) and KTDO (Telemundo).

Sinclair has made changes to how Tulsa, Okla., ABC affiliate KTUL produces local news. The station group has moved news production for the station to a hub system it shares with its KOKH Oklahoma City.

Top executives from Tubi, Tegna, Sinclair, Cisco and Lawo told a TVNewsCheck webinar Tuesday that hybrid technology architectures and business models would be a major dynamic in 2024, along with an expanding and promising use of generative AI that also compels great caution. To watch the video of the full webinar, click here.

He will oversee the company’s strategy to make Tennis Channel’s television network available directly to customers via a new streaming platform, planned for 2024.

Leading executives from Sinclair, Fox News, Hearst Television and Newsbridge will share the latest technologies and methodologies they’re employing to harness the full content potential of their vast archives for new shows and revenue streams in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum conference at the New York Hilton on Dec. 12. Register here.

While Major League Baseball’s owners stole the headlines this week when they voted to approve the Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas, the cogs behind another potentially transformative development for the sport churned away in a Houston courtroom. Judge Christopher Lopez of the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Texas approved a deal between Diamond Sports and the NBA teams whose games it is under contract to broadcast on its Bally Sports networks. In the process of petitioning the judge to approve that pact, a lawyer for bankrupt Diamond Sports suggested the company hopes to come to a similar agreement with the 12 MLB teams whose games it is still contractually obligated to broadcast. But lawyers for both Diamond Sports’s parent company, Sinclair, and MLB raised concerns with the NBA deal, centered on its effect on the company’s ability to pay for its baseball obligations, even through next season.

A former Sinclair employee has sent a letter to the FCC, asking it to revoke the stations group’s licenses over “questions about Sinclair’s commitment to journalistic integrity, diversity, and compliance with FCC regulations.”

The move, on Jan. 1, 2024,  spells the end not only of national Spanish-language programming but also the region’s lone, locally produced TV newscast in Spanish.

Sinclair ABC affiliate KTUL announced that all news the station airs will soon be produced out of co-owned KOKH-KOCB Oklahoma City, although some local content from Tulsa-based reporters will still be featured, the company said.

Until 2024’s political windfall machine can kick in, TV groups have been leaning into revenue opportunities from sports rights and streaming prospects like FAST channels, where the breakeven mark is getting closer.

News technology leaders from CNBC, Sinclair, Gray Television and Fox Television Stations will discuss the transformative changes to studio design and production along with dramatic leaps in field production technology in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum in New York on Dec. 12. Register here.

Jason Wildenstein to head WHP Harrisburg and Jason Chavis to lead WJAC Johnstown-Altoona-State College

Sinclair Broadcast Group wants to pay pennies on the dollar to regain control of a nationwide chain of regional sports networks — which it had paid $10.6 billion to acquire four years ago only to see it fall into bankruptcy this spring. Sinclair, which owns 185 TV stations in 86 markets, has offered roughly $850 million in partnership with Bally’s owner Soo Kim to regain control of its bankrupt subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, which airs local games on TV under the Bally Sports brand and owns the rights to 39 teams across MLB, the NBA and NHL, sources say.

Moving on-prem operations requires involvement from all parts of the company, not just engineering and IT, said tech leaders at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025 conference last week.

The buy and sell sides need to come together to determine how best to measure converged audiences, executives from Nexstar, Sinclair and Fox Television Stations said during a TVNewsCheck panel last week.

During its earnings call with analysts Wednesday, top executives at the company said they are anticipating a gangbuster year for political advertising in 2024. And nearly all the company’s agreements with MVPDs for retransmission consent revenue are up for renewal over the next year. Sinclair expects low single-digit growth in that area.

The decrease to $767 million was led by 19% lower advertising and distribution revenue. However, core ad revenue was up 2%.

Paramount Global and Sinclair said they reached new multiyear agreements for 23 of Sinclair’s CBS affiliates. The stations covered by the deals cover about 10 million television households. Twenty one of the stations are owned by Sinclair and two — WTVH Syracuse, N.Y., and WGFL Gainesville, Fla. — that Sinclair provides with services. The companies said several of the stations involved were renewed early, before their existing agreements were set to expire.

Demi Gough, a national news writer and producer at Sinclair’s corporate news hub, says attending Sinclair’s Producer Academy back in 2017 set her on a path to success.

Strategic investments in pet insurance, nursing homes and alternative energy sources are eyed by Sinclair as the company moves beyond its core media businesses. The reason is rooted in regulatory requirements concerning TV stations, which must be licensed by the government come with various responsibilities and obligations.

The new multicast network premieres Oct. 30 with shows including Sell This House, Wahlburgers, Growing Up Gotti, Ice Road Truckers, Dog the Bounty Hunter and Cold Case Files.

Sinclair has dropped a sponsored segment that featured far-right podcaster Stew Peters, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who has called for the execution of journalists and politicians.

The segments, hosted by a Sinclair meteorologist, promoted Stew Peters’ anti-vaccine conspiracy film while portraying the fringe-right podcaster as a financial expert.

Top executives from Sinclair, Graham Media Group and Allen Media Broadcasting will offer their outlook on their multimedia future, AI’s industry-transforming power, weathering economic headwinds and much more in TVNewsCheck’s centerpiece annual panel at TV2025: Monetizing the Future conference at the NAB Show New York on Oct. 25. Register here.

Leaders from E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, Fox Television Stations, ABC Owned Television Stations, Nexstar and Avid will discuss how cross-group collaborations and content sharing have ushered in a new era of efficiencies and content ROI at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025: Monetizing the Future Conference at the NAB Show New York on Oct. 25. Register here.

Technology leaders from Fox Corp., Sinclair, Ross Video and Evertz will discuss how technology, IT and security leaders at media companies and broadcast technology companies are working together to secure the supply chain in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s Cybersecurity for Broadcasters Retreat, set for Oct. 26 at NAB Show New York. Register here.

Technology leaders from Sinclair, Allen Media Group, Perspective Media Group and more share their latest thinking on designing and implementing cloud workflows for station groups, networks and other media organizations at TVNewsCheck’s TV2025: Monetizing the Future Conference at the NAB New York Show on Oct. 25. Register here.

The CW Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced a multi-year deal that renews affiliations across 35 markets, including 10 markets in which Sinclair provides sales and other services to a CW-affiliated station. In addition, beginning September 1, Sinclair will launch The CW on two new affiliate stations, KOMO, in Seattle, Washington, and WPNT, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both stations currently broadcast LIV Golf and will expand carriage to include the entire CW Programming offering. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Several low-cost shows are premiering this fall, but big names are nowhere to be seen.

He moves from a sale executive slot at WJZ Baltimore to oversee Sinclair’s Milwaukee CW affiliate.

In a lawsuit, the Sinclair subsidiary Diamond Sports Group claims it had to pay high management fees.