Things we missed

It’s not unusual for the PBRTV World HQ to experience some busy times and sometimes we miss a few things.

• Hearst, parent of WTAE-TV, is now arguing with Dish Network in regard to carriage costs. WTAE and its sisters across the country have been off the satellite provider for over a week now. These battles occur from time to time and are usually a battle between the companies in the “he said, she said” sense over how much one will pay and the other will accept as a fair price. WTAE and WPXI had a similar dispute at the beginning of the year with DirecTV. Cox (WPXI) resolved their issue within hours of being taken off the air. Hearst took a while. Here is an open letter to Dish Network subscribers.
• Speaking of WTAE, some viewers may have noticed that meteorologist Steve MacLaughlin has left the station. Reduced from weekday mornings to weekend mornings several months ago, MacLaughlin had been at WTAE since 2013 and is now at an NBC station in Miami. His last day at WTAE was February 26. (PG)
• And speaking again of WTAE, they’ve seen the most growth in the latest ratings. (PG)
• WPNT-TV (22) dropped Get TV for channel 22.4 and replaced it with Sinclair owned TBD channel. WPGH (53) has taken Grit off the air for “Charge!” with action and adventure movies from MGM. (PG)
• Bill Rehkopf, formerly of KDKA-AM, is now a full-time correspondent for CBS Radio News in Washington. He had been serving as a part-time reporter for WCBS-AM in New York while also serving as the Associate Editor of The Hill. Rehkopf bounced between KDKA and WNEW, an all-newser in DC until CBS discontinued the format. (AllAccess)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, gets us caught up… for now…