Hattiesburg Gets New ABC Affiliate

The Hattiesburg-Laurel market has a new channel on the dial, thanks to an agreement with Raycom Media and ABC.

The new affiliate will be carried on a subchannel of WDAM, the NBC affiliate for the market.

Florida Panhandle Station Axes Eight Employees

In the latest round of broadcast television cuts, eight people have been laid off from Panama City, Fla., FOX affiliate WPGX.

Raycom Media, which owns the station, initiated the cuts in a downsizing move, according to the Panama City News Herald.

West Palm Beach Stations Get Former Jacksonville ND

Current WPTV Logo

Michael Garber will be the next news director for WPTV-WFLX, NBC and FOX stations respectively, in the West Palm Beach, Fla., market.

TV News Check reports he will replace Jeff Brogan, who was bumped up to a senior management position at E.W. Scripps in Cincinnati.

South Mississippi Affiliate to Give Residents CBS Programming Through Subchannel

ABC affiliate WLOX will soon gain CBS programming rights for one of its digital subchannels. (Courtesy: WLOX)

The ABC affiliate for Biloxi, Miss., WLOX, will soon be adding another affiliate’s programming to one of its digital subchannels: CBS.

The new subchannel kicks off next month.

WLOX’s website indicates the CBS programming will replace the current 24-hour weather programming on one of the subchannels.

Two Knoxville Stations to Expand Newscast, HD Offerings

FOX 43

WBIR-TV

South TV News has learned Knoxville NBC affiliate and Gannett-owned WBIR will begin a partnership with the market’s FOX affiliate that includes expanded newscasts and a transition to high definition for both stations.

Raycom station WTNZ, better known as FOX 43 to east Tennessee residents, will get an expanded 10 p.m. newscast and morning news from 7 to 9 a.m. (times Eastern).

DirecTV: Raycom, You’re Crazy. We’ve Already Renewed Your Stations.

Here we are three full days into 2011, yet the End of the World (as predicted by Raycom execs) hasn’t come. In fact, though DirecTV has issued no official statement as of yet, a company “spokesperson” has been quoted in several newspapers, saying slightly different things, but all with one thing in common: your local Raycom channel will still be on the satellite provider’s lineup after the New Year. In fact, some newspapers claim the deal auto-renewed and is good until Dec. 31, 2011.

This excerpt from a recent Arizona Daily Star article says it best:

Raycom Media’s position is that its current contract with the satellite provider ends on Jan. 1, and if a new multiyear agreement isn’t reached, DirecTV could stop carrying its programming, said Jeff Rosser, Raycom Media’s senior vice president.

DirecTV, on the other hand, said the contract extended to the end of 2011 automatically and there’s no chance of satellite subscribers losing access to that programming.

“DirecTV customers should ignore Raycom’s messaging and scare tactics; they are mistaken; the stations will remain up,” DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said in an e-mail.

While talks are ongoing, Rosser said DirecTV has become less responsive. The two parties disagree on when the contract ends, he said, which leads to the possibility of DirecTV subscribers in Tucson losing KOLD’s programming.

“We’re not using scare tactics,” he said. “We’re trying to do the responsible thing and alert viewers of the possibility.

But is it true? If it is, it certainly makes Raycom look more and more like it’s preying on its viewers’ fears, scaring them into believing DirecTV is an evil  monster that preys on local affiliates.

According to the Southeast Missourian, Raycom is negotiating on behalf of 30 stations. But nothing has yet been reached.

There is no signed agreement, but neither side has pulled the signals, said KFVS general manager Mike Smythe. Raycom has provided DirecTV a signed copy of an agreement that will allow DirecTV to continue to carry of the station into 2014, Smythe said. Raycom is awaiting DirecTV’s officials’ signatures.

Other media conglomerates Hearst and Insight have recently signed similar contracts for their stations, but Raycom seems the odd man out here because of their practices considered deceptive by media bloggers.

Is your station on the chopping block? Let us know by emailing us at southtvnewser@gmail.com.

Raycom Stations Dispute DirecTV Contract for “Fair Compensation”

It started simply enough: what looks to the untrained eye as a power play from Raycom Media to the nation’s largest satellite provider: charge a premium (referred to as “fair compensation” on many of the station’s websites) in exchange for being carried within the provider’s programming lineup.

What isn’t being disclosed: how much the conglomerate wants per station from DirecTV.

Here’s a list of stations involved in the dispute. Chances are, it will probably involve one you watch if you live in the southeastern United States.

From what’s been listed on several Raycom station websites, if negotiations aren’t reached by December 31, DirecTV will end up dropping the stations from its programming lineup. For example, if WAVE (NBC affiliate in Louisville, KY) is dropped, DirecTV cannot by federal law put another NBC affiliate in its place from a different DMA because of usage restrictions.

Here’s the notice from one such station, WTVM (ABC station in Columbus, GA).

And that means that, because Raycom says it needs “fair compensation” for the “millions of dollars it puts into its programming”, in the long run, the viewer is the one who ends up having to do without.

South TV News will keep on this as it continues to develop.