The FCC’s Media Bureau defended the legality of a controversial shared services agreement involving three stations in Honolulu when it rejected a complaint last week from a local media watchdog group.

Media Council Hawaii filed a complaint in 2009 concerning the then-newly formed virtual triopoly of KHNL, KFVE, and KGMB.  Raycom Media, owner of KHNL and KFVE, had struck a deal with MCG Capital, owner of KGMB, to form an entity, now known as “Hawaii News Now,” that would effectively be run by Raycom.  As part of the complex deal, Raycom traded programming and control of MyNetworkTV-affiliate KFVE with MCG for that of CBS-affiliate KGMB–a move that basically made Raycom the owner of Honolulu’s NBC and CBS stations. Read more

Al Roker made a dramatic announcement this morning on “Today”: NBC’s affiliate in Honolulu had “been knocked off air.”

The only problem was that KHNL, along with its sister station KGMB, was still very much on the air. Without any interruption.

KHNL went into extended breaking news mode throughout the night and into the morning as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announced that a tsunami, stemming from the earthquake off the coast of Japan, could hit the islands of Hawaii in the early hours of Friday morning.

TVSpy confirmed with KHNL that they were never knocked off the air this morning so what happened on “Today”? It turns out that Roker had misunderstood notes that had been handed to him, a spokesperson for “Today” told TVSpy.

Roker’s flub was especially odd considering that it came right after “Today” ran video of a placid Hawaiian shoreline.

Stations in Honolulu have essentially become 24-hour news channels as the islands of Hawaii are threatened by a tsunami stemming from Friday’s earthquake off the coast of Japan.

ABC-affiliate KITV, CBS-affiliate KGMB, and NBC-affiliate KHNL all extended coverage from their late local newscasts to provide constant live coverage of the tsunami, including a news conference with the director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Chip McCreery, who warned of the destruction that a looming tsunami could cause.

The recent shared services agreement between KGMB and KHNL was evident throughout the night as the stations’ news coverage emanated from the same anchor desk with the Hawaii News Now duo of Stephanie Lum and Keahi Tucker (left), along with meteorologists Ben Gutierrez and Dan Cooke. Lum and Tucker powered through the night together.

“This is exciting,” Tucker said early on in the night. “I wouldn’t be up at 1:30 if it wasn’t exciting.” Lum, Tucker, and Gutierrez handed it off to the morning team at 5:00 a.m.  Lum told anchors Steve Uyehara and Tannya Joaquin that they had stuffed the desk with snacks for them. Read more