Q: I see WTAE weekend anchor Lily Coleman has been filling in as weekday morning traffic reporter. Has she been promoted to the role Elena LaQuatra previously occupied before her promotion to morning news anchor?
— Kevin, Cranberry
Rob: My understanding is Coleman — as well as Sam Hall — have historically filled in as traffic reporters on WTAE’s morning news, well before LaQuatra got promoted from morning traffic reporter to news co-anchor. Coleman doing traffic is, thus far, a continuation of that fill-in work.
Does that portend a change in position for Coleman? Only time will tell.
WTAE posted the morning traffic position and will likely name a full-time replacement in the near future.
Q: With the FCC pretty much leaning towards deregulation, I have a couple of possible local station sales that could happen:
One could actually involve KDKA-TV. With Paramount Skydance needing to possibly pay down debt with the Warner Bros. Discovery transaction, I could see them selling off some smaller market stations.
Despite doing better than some of the larger CBS O&Os, KDKA-TV (alongside WPKD-TV, KDKA ) could be prime to be sold off. It’s a little far-fetched, but I wouldn’t rule it out. And I wouldn’t rule out Nexstar being the one to snatch them up once the dust settles on their merger with Tegna. Even after the Tegna deal, Pittsburgh will be one of the largest markets — and the only one in Pennsylvania — without a Nexstar station.
One that is more realistic is WPXI. Cox is for sale again and Sinclair Broadcast Group — owners of WPGH-TV and WPNT — have been rumored to be buying them for quite some time. The news share agreement between WPXI and WPGH has only strengthened since Apollo Global Management took over Cox in 2019, and both of their studios are within short walking distance of each other in the North Hills. This just makes too much sense not to happen, and the FCC recently approved a local broadcaster in Indianapolis (a market similar in size to Pittsburgh) to own three TV stations outright and without the need for a local marketing agreement.
What are your thoughts on either happening? FYI, I don’t look for Hearst to sell off WTAE-TV unless they exit broadcasting.
— Joseph, via email
Rob: At this point, any of the above could happen. Or none of the above could happen.
But I agree with Joseph that the WPXI tie-up with Sinclair seems the more likely scenario since WPXI is already owned by a hedge fund (e.g. the most bottom-line-oriented of media owners), although good luck trying to walk from WPXI’s HQ to WPGH’s facility: That’s a pretty steep hill.
Q: What happened to “South Park” on Comedy Central?
— Gerald, via email
Rob: “South Park” produces and airs new episodes at irregular intervals. That’s been the case for many years now. Season 28 wrapped in December. There’s no announced date for season 29, but it seems like the show often comes back in the summer.
Last year, Paramount struck a new five-year, $1.5 billion deal with “South Park” co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to create 50 new episodes that will likely roll out 10 per year for the next five years.