Media Moves: Is NBC Finally Breaking Up With WHDH?
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do For WHDH And NBC
The simmering tensions between WHDH’s owner Sunbeam and NBC appear to be at a breaking point. A breaking up point, that is (Sorry.)
The Boston Herald and New England One reported this week that NBC plans to not only not renew their affiliate agreement when it comes up in 2017, but to launch a competing station, complete with a news team and NBC programming to bolster it. The two broadcasting entities have clashed before. In 2009, NBC threatened to revoke their affiliation with WHDH when owner Ed Ansin said he wanted to air local WHDH programing in place of Jay Leno’s primetime show. Ansin backed off, but in the end, he was right, as Leno’s new show was a massive failure.
At one time, Ansin had leverage, with a strong over-the-air signal, but in the digital era and with cable in nearly every home, it’s as valuable as a cab medallion in today’s media market. With this taken into account, the new station, currently simply named NBC Boston, would take up space on Channel 60, a space currently occupied by WNEU, a Telemundo affiliate.
NBC does not appear to be bluffing this time. They recently rebooted Comcast-owned NECN with new branding and swanky studios. Rumors are swirling that recently departed star-weatherman Pete Bouchard left WHDH for the new NBC Boston project. Further, former WFXT anchor and household name Maria Stephanos has many suitors, including the rumored NBC Boston channel. Bouchard and Stephanos would give any new channel in the area a big leg up with viewers.
Founder of the band Boston pays Boston Herald after losing lawsuit
A five year legal odyssey ended on Friday when Tom Scholz, the founder of the rock band Boston, paid the Boston Herald $171,529 as part of a judge’s order after he lost a lawsuit against the tabloid of record. Scholz sued the paper in 2010 after the paper published a story that suggested he caused the suicide of the former lead singer of Boston, Brad Delp. Scholz took the lawsuit all the way to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, but lost in November when the court upheld the dismissal of his appeals.
BostInno Has A New GM
The Boston-based tech and business website BostInno introduced its new general manager this week with a post on Monday. Kyle Gross joins the company as a veteran of the startup scene in Denver and Boston. He was last at the startup Applause. He graduated from Brandeis.
Dorchester Native Buys Las Vegas Review Journal
It took several days, but the staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal figured out who bought their newspaper. According to the RJ, as it is sometimes known, the son-in-law of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Patrick Dumont, orchestrated the purchase and sale of Nevada’s largest newspaper from the New Media Investment Group. Several days after the purchase of the paper, all that was known was the name of the purchaser: News + Media Capital Group LLC. Adelson, 82, was born in Dorchester and got his start in business by selling newspapers on the street as a kid. Adelson owns several newspapers in Israel, where is he active in politics and philanthropy.
