WHDH snubs Leno

[Scott Fybush]

Kevin Vahey wrote:
> This could be Ansin's way of telling NBC it is time to buy Channel 7

I think it's a very high-stakes game of chicken.

I suspect Ansin is betting that other NBC affiliates are equally unhappy 
with the Leno-at-10 concept, and that with WHDH leading the way as the 
biggest non-O&O market, others might look at following suit.

If Ansin is betting that NBC will buy the station, I have a hunch he may 
be disappointed. I can't see NBC wanting it, and I certainly can't see 
them paying Ansin what the station would have been worth even a year or 
two ago.

And if NBC calls Ansin's bluff and moves to WNEU, I'm not sure anyone 
really wins (except maybe WJAR). NBC's primetime numbers are bound to be 
lousy on an unknown station (see: CBS in Detroit), and WHDH would lose a 
lot of the programming that draws viewers there - Today, Olympics, etc.

I wonder if Ansin would move CW to 7 so it has *something* to build on 
there?

Here's one real long-shot scenario: I wonder if Hearst-Argyle (soon to 
be just Hearst again) would be more interested than NBC itself in 
acquiring and running an NBC affiliate on 60 or 68? Because neither 
station is among the four top-rated stations in the market, it could 
easily be acquired as a duopoly, and WCVB has the local newsroom that 
NBC itself wouldn't have.

(Of course, ironically, the first thing Hearst would probably really 
want to do with a second station would be to put on a 10 PM newscast, so...)

s