The latest retransmission consent battle (read: over money) has left Dish Network subscribers in the Cleveland TV market without CBS or MyNetwork TV programming...since early Thursday morning. The dispute between the nation's number two satellite TV provider and Raycom Media removed WOIO/19 and WUAB/43 from the Cleveland local channels lineup. So, since we've been down this road before, let's bring in both sides...first, the local TV stations: For months, we have been working to resolve this … [Read more...]
Partial Quick Hits
Posted on July 16, 2013 · Leave a Comment
Partial, we're calling it, because this brief update has a lot of items and many we missed. Look for more whenever, however we can get a Round Tuit(tm)... LAW AND ORDER, MEDIA DIVISION: No, we're not talking about the Dick Wolf series of TV procedurals (clung, clung!). It's Cleveland's Own version, with a number of media personalities getting on the wrong side of the law. Let's update what we know so far. ROVER'S BACK OVER: Clear Channel talk/rock WMMS/100.7 morning chien Shane "Rover" … [Read more...]
Browns Radio Rights: Throwing The Long Ball
Posted on March 28, 2013 · 3 Comments
In what's been perhaps the worst kept local radio secret since a certain Cleveland station switched to a sports format, that station is about to get into the big leagues when it comes to play-by-play rights. Did we mention the games will also air on their biggest rival station? In what has to be a unique situation, the NFL's Cleveland Browns are expected to announce Thursday morning what everyone already knows...that the team is leaving a multi-decade relationship with Clear Channel, which has … [Read more...]
Of George, Nash And Other Stuff
Posted on January 24, 2013 · 6 Comments
It's a "name" theme this time around for your Mighty Blog of Fun(tm)... GEORGE OF RESERVE SQUARE: Raycom Media CBS/MyNet combo WOIO/19-WUAB/43 has a new anchor who started this week, and he's coming off a national stage. George Smith was a reporter for sports TV giant ESPN for nearly 10 years, and moves to "19 Action News" as 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM weekday anchor (with Danielle Serino) and reporter for the station's 10 PM news on "My43 The Block", and the 11 PM news on "CBS 19". Smith's "Action … [Read more...]
Welcome To A Busy 2013
Posted on January 5, 2013 · 2 Comments
And as usual when we start a new year, or return from a hiatus, there's stuff waiting to land like so many airplanes. We are probably missing a topic or three, so don't be surprised if there's a crash...we'll pick up where we left off in a future update... UPDATE 1:35 AM 1/5/13: Cox and Raycom have reached an agreement, and OMW social media followers tell us that the local stations, WOIO/19 and WUAB/43, are back in the Cox lineup. Here's part of what we originally wrote before Friday … [Read more...]
The Fox-STO Shoe Drops
Posted on December 28, 2012 · 9 Comments
We've discussed the rumors. We've discussed the reports from every outlet this side of "Shopper's Weekly" that a sale of Cleveland-based regional sports network SportsTime Ohio was imminent. It's now official, slipped just under the Tax Impact Door of 2012. As expected everywhere (including here), Fox Sports Media Group has signed on the dotted line, with a reported, estimated $230 million purchase of the network owned by the Dolan family, who also happen to own the Cleveland Indians of Major … [Read more...]
Press Release Theatre (Vol. 9), The Time Warner Cable SportsChannel Edition
Posted on December 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment
UPDATE 12/20/12 10:07 PM: We're told that the network actually launched in August...we haven't had Time Warner Cable's digital service since before then. But TWC's own release talks about the network in terms of "will be" and "will bring", so they must see this as a post-soft launch statewide. Some wording fixed... ----- Having apparently lost or abandoned its reported bid to buy SportsTime Ohio, Time Warner Cable is going ahead full steam with its own statewide sports network...called "Time … [Read more...]
Posting To The Holidays
Posted on December 15, 2012 · 4 Comments
This will be the last regular news post of 2012, barring any major (and we mean major) Northeast Ohio media news. We'll continue to put breaking media bulletins and other observations on the OMW Social Media Presence(tm) (uh, our Twitter and Facebook accounts). May all of our readers have a very happy holiday season, and we'll see you in January...but, until then... AL BARTHOLET'S REPLACEMENT: Kent State University public radio outlet WKSU/89.7-and-its-many-simulcasters has found its … [Read more...]
Chad And Larry
Posted on December 4, 2012 · 2 Comments
Two names have dominated local media news the past few days. Let's start with the most recent update... CHAD'S OUT: It was pure speculation in our last item...a prediction that comedian and Clear Channel rock/talk WMMS/100.7 afternoon co-host Chad Zumock would ride out the storm of an OVI arrest in Lakewood, his second in the past four years. Here, let's just see how wrong we were: He might get a brief suspension under Clear Channel policy (as far as we know, Zumock wasn’t on the air Friday), … [Read more...]
Early December
Posted on December 3, 2012 · 5 Comments
Here's another update as we round into early December...as items seem to have accumulated in enough quantity to release them into the wild... STO'S FUTURE: The occasional rumbling we've heard about SportsTime Ohio's impending sale has turned into a loud roar. Now, from just about everyone not named "Dolan", we hear that the regional sports network owned by the family which owns the Cleveland Indians is thisclose to being sold. Early on, there were rumors that Time Warner Cable and Fox Sports … [Read more...]
