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I find it interesting how much confusion there is among the general public. I guess some of it is tongue and cheek, but these peacock commercials explaining it are unbelievable. How hard is it to understand what's going on? I can maybe see a syndicated program like Dr Phil or something being confusing, but who would think this would change the WRAL new personalities? Or ACC sports? I mean, if it's something that regularly preempted CBS programming before, it's not CBS!
Don't underestimate how confused some people are. I'm sure there are people who believe Greg Fishel will be moving to WNCN. Without slapping those people in the face, the WRAL peacock ads are trying to clarify that local personalities are not been swapped.
I find it interesting how much confusion there is among the general public. I guess some of it is tongue and cheek, but these peacock commercials explaining it are unbelievable. How hard is it to understand what's going on? I can maybe see a syndicated program like Dr Phil or something being confusing, but who would think this would change the WRAL new personalities? Or ACC sports? I mean, if it's something that regularly preempted CBS programming before, it's not CBS!
I suspect it's mostly for the benefit of justifying the budgets of the sales and promotion staff. Folks are going to watch what they're going to watch.
Frankly if I were running those departments I'd tell them to save their powder and use their energy for this summer to try and get folks to watch the sure-to-be dumpster fire of an Olympics. Polluted water event venues. Check. Zika virus. Check. Dengue fever. Got it. If Bob Costas gets another case of pink eye they might as well run bars and tone for two weeks...
I find it interesting how much confusion there is among the general public. I guess some of it is tongue and cheek, but these peacock commercials explaining it are unbelievable. How hard is it to understand what's going on? I can maybe see a syndicated program like Dr Phil or something being confusing, but who would think this would change the WRAL new personalities? Or ACC sports? I mean, if it's something that regularly preempted CBS programming before, it's not CBS!
You'd be amazed. They get calls about "what have you done!!!!" With characters in network shows.
I find it interesting how much confusion there is among the general public. I guess some of it is tongue and cheek, but these peacock commercials explaining it are unbelievable. How hard is it to understand what's going on? I can maybe see a syndicated program like Dr Phil or something being confusing, but who would think this would change the WRAL new personalities? Or ACC sports? I mean, if it's something that regularly preempted CBS programming before, it's not CBS!
I saw it on their FB page right after the announcement. Wonder what they're going to do in March when they wonder what happened to their CBS shows during the NCAA tournament? (Some viewers couldn't understand why network shows weren't airing over night like they "usually" do. They just couldn't grasp that the shows weren't airing ANYWHERE so they weren't missing it!)
What this whole thing comes down to is something called "reverse compensation." Historically, the networks pay the affiliates to carry their shows; the exact amount is determined by market size and affiliate strength (I once read that ABC promised WSB Atlanta a flat $1.5 million to move from NBC and got the switch). NBC had an issue with KRON San Francisco over this several years ago and ended up buying a station, KNTV, which moved from San Jose. The problem was that now NBC wanted KRON to pay for network programming; KRON wouldn't do it. The same thing happened a little over a year ago between CBS and its Indianapolis affiliate, WISH, and that led to CBS's moving to WTTV with WISH getting the CW.
Back in the fall, another CBS affiliate, WCAX Burlington, VT, agreed to renew its affiliation but not before some ugly moments in its negotiations with the Eye Network.
So now we come to WRAL. Again, CBS wanted Channel 5 to pay the network, and as I understand it, they wanted a piece of the money WRAL receives from cable companies, DirecTV, and Dish Network. WRAL flatly refused and entered into negotiations with NBC, which brings us to where we will be Monday morning. WNCN was about the only place CBS could go; ABC owns WTVD, which rules that out; WRAL owns Fox affiliate WRAZ; I don't think any network would touch WRDC with the proverbial ten-foot pole so they stay with MyNetwork. CW22? Maybe, but WTVD produces their newscasts and WNCN produces its own.
And the fact of the matter is that CBS is serious about this "reverse compensation" issue, and it may start a new round of affiliate changes. In fact, WILM (WRAL's sister station) will be entering renewal negotiations with CBS in October. While I can't predict what will happen, it begs the question: if Capitol Broadcasting could drop its CBS affiliation in Raleigh, why couldn't it in Wilmington (and on other sites, I've read speculation that if that happens Raycom will put CBS on WECT/6.2)?
One point off-topic: I go back to the WSB/WXIA switch in Atlanta, which happened at a time when "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," and "Three's Company" were big on ABC, and many people said they couldn't imagine those shows on Atlanta's oldest, strongest, and most prestigious station. However, the viewers stuck with Channel 2 and those shows picked up viewers who hadn't been watching them on WXIA. OTOH, Louisville viewers followed their CBS favorites from WHAS/11 to WLKY/32 and transformed the latter station from one of ABC's weakest to one of CBS's strongest. So again, I say, you will have to make the call: follow your CBS favorites to Channel 17 or stick with Channel 5 and the NBC lineup. I'm not going to try to persuade anyone in one direction or the other.
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