WHDH snubs Leno

[Aaron Read]

I think, given the penetration of cable and satellite TV...most of which 
is digital with a channel guide...that this is all mouse farts, and that 
NBC and WHDH can squabble all they want; if people want Leno, they'll 
just look for him on the channel guide.

-- 
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Aaron Read                  |  Finger Lakes Public Radio
friedbagels@gmail.com       |  General Manager (WEOS & WHWS-LP)
Geneva, NY 14456            |  www.weos.org / www.whws.fm


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