LIN Media and Cox Communications reached a new retrans agreement on Wednesday, avoiding a blackout of LIN stations in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and Alabama.

The previous retrans deal was set to expire at midnight on Wednesday.

“We are pleased to inform you that we have reached a contract with Cox,” LIN announced in a statement posted on the websites of stations affected by the negotiations.  “We appreciate your tremendous support throughout these negotiations.” Read more

Meteorologist Jeff Edmondson is joining WAVY, the NBC-affiliate in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, on January 18.

Edmondson joins WAVY from KBJR, the NBC-affiliate in Duluth, where he has worked for two years. He told the Duluth News Tribune the move was “a great opportunity to continue furthering my career.”

“I’ve learned that forecasting for this area is brutal, and I’ve learned how to conquer that a little bit better,” he said. “Hopefully I can apply it to the Atlantic Ocean.”

Edmondson replaces Sagay Galindo, who signed off last month to follow her husband, who is in the Navy, to the West Coast.

Meteorologist Sagay Galindo is leaving WAVY to follow her husband, who is in the Navy, to the west coast.

Galindo, who grew up in the Hampton Roads area, joined WAVY in 2010.  She announced her departure during the NBC-affiliate’s morning newscast on Sunday (video above). Read more

Virginia state senator John Miller is lobbying to get three stations in the Hampton Roads area to stop airing an attack ad against him.

The ad (pictured) is a $50,715 buy from the state Republican party that began airing this week on CBS-affiliate WTKR, NBC-affiliate WAVY and Cox Cable, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

The Miller campaign says the ad, which claims Miller was hired by Orion Air Group after he voted on a bill that would give them tax breaks, are inaccurate and part of a “desperate smear” campaign. As of Friday morning, the ad remained on the air on all three stations. Read more

Anchors from nine stations were in Washington, DC yesterday for a local press blitz that included interviews with President Obama and unprecedented access to the White House.

Most of the stations, which were largely located in swing states, billed the Presidential interview as an “exclusive.” Norfolk’s WAVY went one step further: anchors in the studio tossed to live shots with Tom Schaad by calling him “the only local anchor in the nation’s capital today.”

The biggest star for the visitors, however, wasn’t on the schedule: first dog Bo Obama trotted out to the South Lawn unannounced. “That’s the only time I saw things get really ugly with the reporters,” KGW‘s Tracy Barry (pictured) said. “They were practically pushing each other out of the way to get to the dog.”

Watch the reports filed from the White House, after the jump. Read more

The White House is welcoming nine anchors today for a local round of press that will include interviews with President Obama and comprehensive behind-the-scenes access to the White House.

In addition to their “brief” individual interviews with the President, the participating anchors will broadcast evening newscasts (during sweeps-month, as Politico’s Mike Allen points out) from the South Lawn of the White House, on special risers built for the occasion. The anchors will also have lunch with David Plouffe, interview a White House staffer from the station’s home market and get an on-camera tour of the building with a curator. Finally, they will ask one question each of Jay Carney at the daily press briefing.

The latest local push is significantly more involved than past interviews Obama has done on the local level, which have been limited to seven-minute sit-downs with the President on one predetermined topic. Read more

Morning show staffers at WAVY, the NBC-affiliate in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, will have to set their alarms a little earlier next week when the station shifts its morning newscast to a 4:30 a.m. start time.

“More and more viewers are waking up early to begin their day in Hampton Roads,” WAVY general manager Doug Davis said. “WAVY News 10 Today now begins at 4:30 a.m. every weekday to bring viewers the latest overnight news and all the weather and traffic they need for the day ahead.”

The newscast will feature the same talent: co-anchors Kerri Furey and Don Roberts, meteorologist Jeremy Wheeler and traffic reporter Cheryl Tan. The expanded morning show will compete with a 4:30 a.m. newscast on ABC-affilate WVEC.

After nearly six weeks, Mediacom customers have access to nine LIN Media-owned stations that have been dark while the two parties negotiate their retransmission agreement.

The stations were restored late Friday night after a deal was struck. Mediacom and LIN Media have been in ongoing negotiations since August 31, but terms of the final deal were not disclosed.

The stations affected were WALA-WFNA in Mobile, WOOD-WOTV in Grand Rapids, WANE in Fort Wayne, WLUK in Green Bay, WTHI in Terre Haute and WLFI in Layfayette, IN, and  WAVY and WVBT, both in in Norfolk, VA.

An Old Dominion University study found that, at least in one local news market, crime pays. An analysis four stations in Hampton Roads, Virginia shows that 25.7 percent of stories focus on crime in some form.

For the study, Old Dominion analyzed 1,132 stories from the weekday evening newscasts on the four major network-affiliated stations in the Hampton Roads, Virginia market: CBS-affiliate WTKR, NBC-affiliate WAVY, ABC-affiliate WVEC and Fox-affiliate WVBT. The stories were all from January 3-31 of this year, a time period chosen because it has no major political events that could skew the results of the study.

Crime reports were divided into three categories: violent crime, white-collar crime and general crime. Of the three, general crime was the highest, with 149 stories; violent crime was next, with 125, followed by white-collar crime with 17. Read more

Tomorrow marks one month since LIN-owned stations in seven markets went dark for Mediacom subscribers, and the stalemate is showing no signs of progress.

A uniform statement on the LIN-owned stations’ sites says negotiations are ongoing. “Unfortunately, we do not know if, or when, we will reach an agreement,” the statement, which has not been changed all month, reads. “In the meantime, we hope you will continue supporting local television and watch us through alternative means.”

According to Broadcasting & Cable, Mediacom sent a letter to the FCC this week, asking their help in preventing blackouts during retransmission disputes. The FCC has previously claimed they have no authority regarding the issue. Read more