WHDH snubs Leno

[Scott Fybush]

A. Joseph Ross wrote:
> On 3 Apr 2009 at 1:06, Kevin Vahey wrote:
> 
>> WNEU is owned by NBC and runs Spanish programs.
>  
> I suspect that a move of NBC to WNEU would recall my father's remark 
> when the Red Sox moved from WHDH and WHDH-TV to WITS and channel 38, 
> neither of which came it very well at our location in Bedford.  He 
> said, "What is a big league ball club doing with minor league 
> stations?"

Of course, the Sox played a pretty big role in making 38 a major-league 
station. If WNEU became "NBC Boston," it would have some pretty strong 
leverage to get better cable channel positions than it enjoys as a 
Telemundo outlet. And it still has WTMU-LP as a Boston relay, with a 
pending application to go digital on 42 (ironically, the channel WHDH-DT 
now uses.)

So WNEU (or whatever it would become) would be something of a player 
from day 1...albeit probably one like WWJ-TV 62 in Detroit, with no 
significant local news presence.

This still assumes, of course, that NBC has even the slightest interest 
in owning a TV station. I still suspect there are other scenarios that 
are more likely in the long run - either Ansin agreeing to put Leno on 
56, or backing down completely and putting him on 7, or Hearst taking 
NBC on WMUR and a WCVB subchannel.

It's interesting that NOBODY has floated the idea of WZMY signing on 
with NBC. I guess they're that insignificant a presence these days...AL 
Kaprielian notwithstanding.

s