"And the hits just keep on coming!"

We were reminded of that slogan, first used by top 40 radio stations back in the 1960s, today because, as we noted earlier this week, the pace of change in the six markets where Nexstar will lose the CBS network affiliation on its local stations would be rapid. In fact, it’s a bit unprecedented.

Alas, for the folks working at Nexstar’s stations in Greenville-Spartanburg (SC), Birmingham (AL), Albuquerque (NM), Jackson (MS), Bismarck-Minot (ND), and Rapid City (SD), the “hits” are indeed keeping on coming. Late word into the TVND “Satellite News Center” from each of these markets is that not only will the CBS “eye” trademark disappear from these stations beginning this Saturday, but on cable and satellite providers their channels will disappear from where they have been on the dial.

The explanation behind this is that for some so-called “Multichannel Video Programming Distributors” (also known as “MVPDs”), they will be keeping CBS programming at the same spot in their channel lineup, so viewers won’t have to go looking for Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” in late night (if they ever had in the first place)

In the 36th largest television market, which contains Greenville & Spartanburg, South Carolina, as well as Asheville, North Carolina, subscribers to Charter/Spectrum cable and satellite services from both DirecTV and Dish will continue to see CBS programming on Channel 7. They won’t see it from Spartanburg’s WSPA-TV, which had delivered it since the station went on the air some 70 years ago.

Starting Saturday, the Channel 7 slot on Spectrum and DirecTV will be the home of Channel 4.3, the digital subchannel of cross-market rival WYFF. That’s the Hearst Television-owned station that will be carrying the CBS network as of August 1st, right along with the NBC network that the station has aired since it went on the air, some 73 years ago (and will still be on channel 4.1).

At least that is what the WYFF website is currently reporting. Meanwhile, over on WSPA’s website, there is no mention of where the station will be seen on those cable and satellite providers beginning on August 1st. In fact, we couldn’t find any mention of CBS or any changes as to what will be on the air on the station this weekend.

We were able to find a large banner linking to a website explaining what’s up with station owner Nexstar’s battle to complete its stalled acquisition of rival group broadcaster TEGNA. We are quite certain a lot of viewers in the market are more interested in that topic than where Tony Dokoupil and Gayle King can be seen next Monday.

This situation appears to be similar in other markets we checked on. In Albuquerque, CBS may be moving to the over-the-air channel 7.4 of Hearst’s KOAT there, but it will still be at Channel 13 on cable and satellite providers, where Nexstar’s KRQE used to be seen. Same in Birmingham, where WVTM’s channel 13.4 carrying CBS will appear where Nexstar’s WIAT 42 used to be on DirecTV, Dish, plus cable operators Charter/Spectrum and Comcast/Xfinity. Also true in Jackson, Mississippi, where Hearst’s WAPT will deliver CBS over the air on channel 16.4, which in turn will boot Nexstar’s WJTV from channel 12 on cable and satellite services.

That last one is a bit sad, because WJTV 12 still has the CBS eye in their logo that adorns the top of their website. At least it did when we published this column. By this point, we were too depressed to check in on the stations in the Dakotas—though CBS on those Nexstar stations is moving to subchannels of stations owned by Forum Communications. (Keep in mind that all of this is in flux and could certainly not be final when the switches are actually made in each market.)

To use the favorite word of one of our former colleagues, this kerfuffle is about more than which station is on which spot of each market’s cable and satellite lineup.

That’s because if this forced relocation from the cable and satellite providers in these markets wasn’t bad enough, we suspect that the next item in the hitparade to come will be that the cable and satellite providers will inform the Nexstar stations and the company’s corporate people in charge of the retransmission consent contracts that because the loss of CBS programming constitutes what the lawyers will call “a material change” in the station that they are paying a monthly amount to deliver to each of their subscribers.

And that will likely mean that those cable and satellite providers will want to pay far less to carry the Nexstar stations that don’t have the CBS network on their air any longer. That’s if they even want to continue carrying those stations at all.

To be clear, we don’t know that this has happened. But knowing how things go when these retransmission consent deals between stations and cable/satellite providers are being renegotiated every few years, we wouldn’t be shocked if it is exactly what is happening behind the scenes.

Since we started here talking about radio, let’s close here with the famous words of the late, great Casey Kasem, who would tell us:

“Now, back to the countdown!”

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