| Topic Name: |
portland, me |
| Message Name: |
Re: Anyone hear |
| Date Posted: |
06/04/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
rumblings about Fox 23 starting a news op. With Channel 6 (NBC) so dominant you gota wonder if this will eventually become a two station News market never mind a four station domain. You wonder if even resource rich Hearst Argyle (new owners of ABC 8) is even going to be able to make a dent. |
| Message: |
Portland will likely remain a three-station news market despite the obvious inequities.
WCSH has a lock on the dominant share of the market even with a pronounced emphasis on news of Eastern and Northern Maine (a result of co-owned WLBZ/Bangor only having only two weekday newscasts produced in-house.) Jeff Marks put the station on the map in the 80s and they haven't looked back since.
Despite Sinclair's best efforts (the Pledge of Allegiance, Mark Hyman etc.) WGME remains a respectable second-place operation. There's a lot of talent in that shop, and ex-WCSH GM Alan Cartwright understands the importance of community service. The (friendly) departure of Chief Meteorologist Dave Santoro last week was a media event. Mark Rosenthal will help keep them in the game, at least in the near term.
As for WMTW, live doppler and Dr. Phil aren't going to budge Channel 8 out of last place. I doubt Hearst-Argyle will devote the resources it would take to make it a real three-way race.
I can't see them shutting news down, though.
WCSH produces WB 51's 10PM newscast; Pegasus used to do it in-house but they lost a ton of money. PGTV is in bankruptcy and won't retain the stations when they are auctioned off. It's anyone's guess if WPXT/WPME will go separately or together.
Fox 23 is the oddball of the market. It's a standalone operation that scrapes by on syndicated leftovers and infomercials. It would make sense to have a duopoly partner like Sinclair, but so far no dice. And with WGME rumored to be for sale, who knows what will happen.
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