Stations in New Orleans began the transition to NextGen TV.

Tegna’s WUPL, cooperating with five other stations in the market, began transmitting signals using the ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast format.

In addition to its own programming, WUPL is using ATSC 3.0 expanded capacity to broadcast streams carrying the programming of sister stations WWL, Gray Television’s WVUE, Hearst Television’s WDSU, and Nexstar Media Group’s WGNO and WNOL.

The other stations will shift to ATSC 3.0 as more of New Orlean’s 660,000 homes purchase TV sets capable of receiving NextGen TV broadcasts.

Also: Local News Close-Up: Easy Does It in New Orleans

NextGen TV promised a better picture, improved sound and access to broadband programming. The ATSC 3.0 signal can also carry other digital services.

“Local broadcast stations play an important news and information role in the communities we serve,” said Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, an organization formed by broadcasters, including Cox Media Group, Graham Media Group, Gray, Hearst, Nexstar, Sinclair Broadcast Group, E.W. Scripps Co. and Tegna.

“With changes in the broadcast television market over time, the value in bringing more innovation to newsrooms and viewers with smart solutions like NextGet TV is crystal clear,” Schelle said. “Launching NextGen TV enables broadcasters to deliver the latest news and emergency alerting information, which is critical in a geography such as New Orleans, where extreme weather events are common and local news updates and information is vital.”

NextGen TV is now available in more than 50 markets and is expected to reach 60% of U.S. TV households by the end of the year.

Pearl TV said that MediaTek and iWedia will be launching digital products that take advantage of ATSC 3.0 in the first quarter of 2023. ■

With its colorful festivals, two major pro sports teams and lots of crime and corruption, New Orleans feels like a larger market than No. 50 to the newsgatherers toiling in the region. There’s never a shortage of big-time happenings. A peek at the calendar reveals the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras beginning February 21 and Jazz Fest in late April. 

But on any given night, there’s merriment in the French Quarter, in Treme, Uptown or in most any New Orleans neighborhood. 

“From a news perspective, it certainly feels a lot bigger than market 50,” said Tod Smith, president and general manager, WWL-WUPL. “There’s always something going on.”

Also: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Gray Television owns the Big Easy leader, Fox affiliate WVUE. Hearst Television holds NBC outlet WDSU. Tegna has WWL-WUPL, a CBS-MyNetworkTV duo. Nexstar Media Group owns WGNO-WNOL, an ABC-The CW pair. Mayavision has Telemundo station KGLA. 

Cox Communications is the market’s main pay TV operator, and Spectrum has a significant cable presence, too. 

WVUE goes with a Fox 8 moniker. In October, Fox 8 was No. 1 at 6-7 a.m., in both households and viewers 25-54, with WDSU in second in both races. At 5 p.m., WVUE again won both contests, with WWL the runner-up. On to 6 p.m., where WDSU took both households and the demo, with WWL in second in households, and WVUE second in viewers 25-54. And at 10 p.m, WVUE had a 14.6 rating in households, ahead of WWL’s 11.3, WDSU’s 10.5 and WGNO’s 1.2. In the demo derby, WVUE scored a 9.6 in late news, WDSU a 7.5, WWL a 6.3 and WGNO a 0.9. 

WWL was the leader for decades, but WVUE wears the crown today. WWL had a unique arrangement where it ran local news, not the CBS morning show, from 7 to 9 a.m. That ended in late 2016, with the local wake-up show shifting to WUPL. 

Fox 8 had a local morning newscast for those who went looking for one at the time. 

The word “aggressive” comes up a lot when Mikel Schaefer, WVUE VP and general, describes the station’s rise. Aggressive in cranking out content, including investigative and a new 4 a.m. news, aggressive in bringing rival talent on board, including Lee Zurik and John Snell, and aggressive in marketing its wares to viewers. “We work really hard to get the best talent and do the best work,” Schaefer said. “It’s just a lot of hard work by really smart and hard-working journalists.”

Zurik, New Orleans-raised WVUE anchor, was named News Anchor of the Year by B+C this year. Schaefer was B+C’s News Director of the Year in 2013. 

Sandy Breland, former WVUE general manager, supervises the station as Gray TV’s senior VP of local media, and is based in New Orleans. “Conversations with Sandy about what we want to do and what we need to do are much easier conversations,” Schaefer said. 

Happy Anniversary!

Michael Neelly recently reached his first anniversary as WDSU president/general manager, shifting from the top spot at WAPT Jackson (Mississippi) when WDSU’s Joel Vilmenay took over CBS-owned KCBS-KCAL Los Angeles in September 2021.  

Next year, WDSU celebrates 75 years on the air. “I think we might have a little party,” Neelly said. “New Orleans is known for its parties.”

WDSU airs the Children’s Hospital Holiday Parade December 3. The inaugural event features floats, musicians, balloons and Santa himself. WDSU’s telecast will stream throughout Hearst Television on the group’s Very Local app. 

“We’re real excited to bring this to the people,” Neelly said. 

WDSU’s tagline goes “Live, Local, Late Breaking.” Melissa Dart took over as WDSU news director at the start of 2021. Neelly previously was the news director at Hearst TV stations WLKY Louisville and WLWT Cincinnati. He spoke of WDSU journalists focusing on the difference between entertainment and news, since the market has loads of both. “What people want to see,” he explained, “and what people need to see.”

WWL launched The Talk, which focuses on race relations and is anchored by Charisse Gibson, following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The program picked up a National Murrow Award last year. WWL’s “Wounded City” segments focus on crime. Recent stories include investigations into how other cities’ police departments cut back on crime, and steps taken to address mental health issues in the city. “It’s from the perspective of, yes, it exists, why it exists, and what can people do to mitigate it,” Smith said. 

The Tegna station also has segments called “Historic Neighborhoods,” which offer a deep dive on a different neighborhood, be it Stapleton, New Orleans East or Ponchartrain Park. They sometimes turn into half-hour specials. 

WWL, which recently had its 65th anniversary, deploys that deep-dive approach in its news product too. “We look at issues and try to go more in depth than headlines and quick splashes,” said Smith. “We don’t just present the problems. We talk to the people who have been impacted, and we talk to the people who are addressing the issues.”

WGNO is focused on ATSC 3.0 conversion and in the fall aired specials tied to Hispanic Heritage Month and to veterans. The station introduced News With a Twist, a 6 p.m. program that mixed news with lifestyle content, in 2011, and the motif spread to 5, 6 and 10 p.m. news. It now offers one-off Twist specials. 

“We went back to traditional news once the pandemic hit,” said John Cruse, VP/general manager. 

The stations are doing what they can to get ahead. WDSU welcomed anchor Darryl Forges, previously of CNN, to its noon and 4 p.m. programs. WWL revived its “Louisiana Made, Louisiana Proud” segments, which are paid for by companies with roots in the region. 

WVUE has sports shows in the 10:30 p.m. slot most nights, including Final Bet and Deuce McAllister-hosted Saints program Black and Gold Review. 

Saint Misbehaving 

The NFL’s Saints are a huge source of local pride, but the football team is in the midst of a losing season. “People will watch the Saints no matter what,” said Schaefer. “But if they’re not winning, the mood of the city is somewhat affected.”

The New Orleans economy is so-so. Midterm elections came and went with light political spending. “I think we’re hanging in there,” Neelly said. “The circumstances are tough for just about everybody, but the business community is chugging along.”

Hurricane Ida, which walloped New Orleans in 2021, set the market back a bit. “I don’t think the rest of the country realized how big a deal it was here,” Cruse said. 

But residents love the multifaceted ethnic flavor of New Orleans, be it Cajun, Creole, European or African. “Each culture comes in and adds something to the culture,” Smith said. 

New Orleans is known for extraordinary cuisine, music, nightlife, history and architecture. It’s a small city, Schaefer noted, but is nonetheless an international one. “People don’t move from New Orleans,” he said. 

Neelly has appreciated the friendliness of the residents upon his arrival, and the lively atmosphere that greets residents most every day. “There’s always something to do,” he said. “You have to try to be bored in New Orleans.” ▪️

As the now tropical depression Ida makes its weakened way northward, cable operators with systems in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama continue to assess the damage from the storm, which made landfall as a category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29, causing widespread flooding and costing at least four lives in the area.

Hurricane Ida made landfall late Sunday morning near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph and torrential rains that caused widespread flooding. About 1 million homes in Louisiana are without power for “the foreseeable future,” according to some reports. 

According to website PowerOutage.us, more than 1 million homes in Louisiana and nearly 45,000 homes in Mississippi were without power on Tuesday. While many Louisiana residents fled the state prior to the storm, Gov. John Bel Edwards urged them to stay away until power could be restored. In addition to the flooding and property damage in the aftermath of the hurricane, a punishing heatwave has gripped southeast Louisiana, making an already dangerous situation even more so. 

According to the New York Times, at a press conference earlier today, Gov. Bel Edwards urged residents who have left the state to stay away "until the office of emergency preparedness tells you it's ready to receive you."

For cable operators, the first stage is in assessing the damage to plant and equipment, which at the time appears to be minimal. While many customers are without service because of power outages, most operators have set up WiFi hotspots in public locations to help residents stay connected with family, friends and emergency personnel. 

Cox Communications has the largest exposure in New Orleans, which was hit hard by the storm and subsequent flooding. Cox personnel are assessing the damage in the city and have dispatched additional personnel from across the country to provide assistance. 

Also Read: Hurricane Ida Takes Toll on Broadcasting, Cable 

Cox spokesman Todd Smith said in an email message that the assessment process began on Monday, which requires visually inspecting thousands of miles of plant and pieces of equipment below, on, or above the ground near power lines. Hundreds of personnel have arrived in southern Louisiana to help in the restoration efforts and as of Tuesday, repair work has been completed on the fiber backbone near Donaldsonville in Baton Rouge and repairs to two critical network facilities in St. Charles Parish near New Orleans continue.  

"The safety of our employees and customers is our first concern," Smith continued in an email message. "Despite the fact that many Cox employees had evacuated outside of the Louisiana area and cell service is compromised, all teammates are safe and accounted for at this time."

Charter Communications, which has a limited footprint in Louisiana, said its systems in Hammond, Slidell and Thibodaux were hit hardest, while its operation in Opelousas, toward the center of the state, is largely business as usual. 

“Given the massive loss of power to local residents, businesses and to our network, the number of impacted customers is changing continuously,” Charter spokesman Rich Ruggiero said in an email message. “We have teams in the field assessing damage to our fiber-optic network in areas where it has been deemed safe for us to do so, though there remain many areas we cannot access yet due to flooding, impassable roads and downed power lines.”

At Comcast, which has customers in Houma and La Place, Louisiana that were impacted by the hurricane, spokeswoman Jenni Moyer said the company is assessing damage, although power outages, flooding and debris are still blocking access to some key locations.

“Most of the service interruptions are due to commercial power outages. For the majority of our customers, services should return after power is restored, and access to damaged facilities and downed lines has been cleared,” Moyer said in an email. 

Moyer said Comcast is making its Xfinity WiFi hotspots available for free to help residents and emergency personnel stay connected throughout Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The service is available to non-Xfinity customers in those impacted areas as well and Comcast said it is directing people to its homepage and Twitter handle (@ComcastSouth) for regular updates and to learn more about its WiFi hotspots. 

Cable One spokeswoman Patricia Niemann said that all of her company’s associates in the impacted areas are safe and accounted for, although five experienced damage to their homes. Those employees will be able to tap into a Natural Disaster Fund that was first established during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and later used during the 2011 Joplin, Missouri  tornado and Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas and Louisiana in 2017, to ensure they receive financial assistance to make repairs to their damaged homes. 

Niemann said that Cable One service is nearly 98% restored through its impacted service territory. The hardest hit system was in Belle Chasse, Louisiana (located near New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish). Local officials there say power will not be restored for several weeks. 

Smaller operators affected by the storm can also access and share information through industry group ACA Connects. In a message to its membership Monday,  ACA Connects CEO Matt Polka said ACA is there to help operators find important industry connections and links to resources via its members lounge at its website.

“At times like these, I recognize you may most need help with finding crews to rebuild, getting needed supplies, or jumping in to meet community priorities,” Polka wrote. “Please don’t ever hesitate to call on us if we CAN endeavor to help connect you with emergency response resources on the ground that may be able to assist you in any of these ways!” 

TNT heads into its coverage of the NBA All-Star weekend festivities in New Orleans looking to build some ratings momentum heading into the NBA playoffs push. TNT’s  NBA live game coverage -- which includes exclusive Thursday night doubleheader games and a new package of Monday night NBA telecasts -- is averaging 1.7 million viewers thus far this season, on par with last year’s performance.

I caught up with Turner president David Levy prior to his departure to New Orleans to discuss the state of the league going into the All-Star break, as well as the prospects for a strong TNT ratings performance during the second-half of the NBA season.  

MCN: How has the NBA on TNT performed thus far heading into the All-Star Game?

David Levy: The numbers have been pretty good – I believe we’re flat year to year but we added more games on Monday nights. I like the storylines developing with Golden State and Oklahoma City, and I like the fact that Boston and the Clippers are playing a little better; San Antonio is always there, and let’s not forget about LeBron (James) and Cleveland. So I think the NBA is going to be in a really good position, and I think the playoffs are going to be really exiting this year.

MCN: What are your expectations for the All-Star game thig year?

DL: First of all its back in the US [last year’s game in Toronto] -- from a ratings perspective last year wasn’t one of our best rated games. I think it’s going to be a ratings success having it in New Orleans, but I also think there’s interest in the NBA right now. Carmelo Anthony just got in – he’s the commissioner’s pick but some have asked does he deserve to be in? I love to see [former teammates] Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant have to practice with each other on the same team, so I think there are a number of underlying stories that people will look at.

MCN: If the elite teams in the league start to pull away from the pack, do you think that will hurt ratings for TNT’s NBA game telecasts in the second half of the season?

DL: No. I know a lot of people like to say parity is great, but it’s really about brands and strong teams. If we get some exciting [regular-season] games and then some game 7’s in the playoffs, the ratings will be there.

A downpour of TV content is forecast for this week on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it unleashed on the Gulf Coast region in general and on New Orleans in particular.

In 2005, cable networks were among the first outlets to show the images of the stunning destruction to property and people’s lives in the days following the storm. Other specials through the years, such as HBO’s Emmy-winning When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, helped chronicle the effects on life on the Gulf Coast in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

This week The Weather Channel is leading the charge with a week of Katrina-themed content, including Katrina 2065, a special that looks at likely scenarios that could take place if Katrina hit 50 years from now. On Friday, Aug. 28, TWC will air a special report, Katrina: 10 Years Later, with Al Roker and Stephanie Abrams.

Also that Friday, TV One will look at the plight of education in New Orleans a decade after Katrina as part of its daily News One Now morning news series hosted by Roland Martin.

BET on Aug. 26 will premiere a news special, Katrina 10 Years Later: Through Hell in High Water, that will chronicle the lives of a diverse group of people who survived Katrina.

On the cable news network front, CNN will debut on Aug. 24 Katrina: The Storm That Never Stopped, in which network anchor Anderson Cooper travels back to the Gulf Coast and looks to reconnect with those residents and people he spoke with a decade ago following the storm.

On the digital front, offerings will include six-part documentary series New Orleans, Here & Now, from Time Inc. and Rampante, debuting Aug. 27 on Time.com and other platforms. It’s about six people living in New Orleans 10 years after Hurricane Katrina and is the first original premium video product from Time. Weather.com on Aug. 25 will stream nine hours of continuous highlights from 2005 Katrina coverage, starting at the same time as the 2005 coverage began and featuring clips from The Weather Channel.

And in real life (apart from TV), FYI has teamed with the affordable housing non-profit Make It Right to build a solar-powered new tiny home in New Orleans for a middle school teacher. On Aug. 28, they will host a house-warming event at the new 469-square-foot domicile in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward, including Tiny House Nation host John Weisbarth.

— R. Thomas Umstead

Think Tank to FCC: Charter-TWC Deal Should Sail Through

Free-market think tank The Free State Foundation has released a paper outlining the benefits to consumers and broadband of a Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable merger.

Free State senior fellow Seth Cooper said the purpose is not to endorse or oppose the deal, but instead to outline the key considerations the Federal Communications Commission should be, well, considering. But Cooper clearly likes the cut of the deal’s jib and suggests it deserves fairly smooth sailing through the FCC and DOJ deal-vetting process.

He said the potential downsides for consumers appear minimal, and maybe nonexistent, and drew a distinction between this proposed merger and Comcast’s earlier play for TWC, abandoned after the Justice Department and the FCC agreed it should not go through.

Concerns about program withholding or broadband domination don’t apply to a Charter- TWC deal, Cooper said (though he does not concede they should have deep-sixed the earlier deal, either). “Whereas Comcast-TWC would have resulted in a nationwide broadband consumer subscription market share of about 30%, Charter-TWC would result in a nationwide broadband market share of about 21%. And those are numbers for wireline broadband only. The broadband market is much bigger: 43% of all broadband connections are now mobile, with next-generation wireless networks increasingly offering consumers three or more competitive mobile video viewing options.”

In any event, he said, the FCC should not look at “static” indicators like market share or concentration, but instead view the deal in the light of free-market dynamism, a light in which the deal looks good for consumer welfare, he said.

Cooper also called for a swift review, which may already be a bridge too far. The FCC at press time had yet to launch the comment cycle or start the informal shot clock on the deal, as it is still mulling the issue of how to treat third-party access to confidential information submitted by the parties involved.

— John Eggerton

Cox Communications has received New Orleans City Council support, at the committee level, to extend its cable franchise until 2031 in exchange for increasing its financial support for public, educational and government channels, the New Orleans Advocate reported. The non-exclusive franchise was set to expire in 2021 and Cox was not obligated to negotiate a renewal yet, the newspaper reported. But Cox did negotiate, and a new agreement was approved on Feb. 12 by the city council's utility, cable, telecommunications and technology committee and now awaits approval by the full city council.

Steve Sawyer, Cox's public and government affairs director in New Orleans, said the company was happy with the outcome, tacking another 10 years onto the franchise in exchange for the additional PEG support. He said the full council is slated to vote on the new agreement on Feb. 26.

Support for PEG programming, produced a nonprofit organization called New Orleans Access Television, was scheduled to drop to $150,000 annually from $1 million per year under terms of the franchise pact signed in 2011. Under the new agreement, Cox would pay $500,000 for PEG support in 2015, dropping to $435,000-$450,000 per year after that, or one half of 1% of Cox's gross annual revenue in the city, the Advocate reported.

The agreement calls for the city to solicit proposals for other entities to possibly come in and manage PEG programming, as the city has tried to make the operation more self-sustaining, the Advocate said. NOA-TV oversees four PEG channels.

Former New Orleans Mayor and Cox Communications executive C. Ray Nagin was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from city contractors during the years he led The Crescent City.

Nagin was convicted in February in U.S.  District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on 20 of 21 counts that he accepted bribes, free trips, gratuities and free granite for his family’s business in exchange for promoting the interests of a local businessman. Nagin, who also must pay $82,000 in restitution, maintained his innocence throughout the trial, according to reports.

According to the New York Times, prosecutors were pushing for a heavier sentence – 15 years – but U.S. District Court Judge Helen G. Berrigan said that Nagin received a far smaller share of profits from the scheme compared to other members of the group. According to the January indictment, Nagin received $200,000 in cash, trips to Hawaii and Jamaica and “truckloads” of granite for his family’s granite-countertop business. In return, contractors received about $5 million in city business.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Judge Berrigan recommended that Nagin be held at Oakdale minimum security prison in Oakdale, La.  He is scheduled to report on Sept. 8 and will be free on bond until then.

Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans in 2002 as a reformer and former businessman, succeeding Marc Morial. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association held its annual convention at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in the city that year.

Nagin led the Crescent City during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster and was widely criticized for his performance during that crisis. He left office in 2010 after his term was up.   

Nagin began his career in Cox Communications accounting department in 1985. He was transferred to Cox’s New Orleans system in 1989, working his way up to manager.