WXMI-TV FOX 17 has named Rick Mecklenburg its chief meteorologist, succeeding Peter Chan, who departed in March.

Formerly chief meteorologist at WSBT-TV in South Bend, Mecklenburg filled in for Chan last August and September when Chan was sidelined with a torn Archilles tendon.

WXMI-TV (Channel 17) hasn’t yet acknowledged the appointment on its website, but Mecklenburg announced on Wednesday on his Facebook page that he had taken the job.

“It was a tough choice between Grand Rapids and Anchorage, but in the end being closer to the kids won out,” he said. “And moving up 50 market sizes from South Bend is cool, too.”

Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk / MLive

Beginning Monday, April 30, 24 Hour News 8 Daybreak will begin at 4:30 a.m.

“We’re responding to changes in viewers’ habits being seen all over the country. 24 Hour News 8 Daybreak is West Michigan’s #1 morning show,” said WOOD TV8 News Director Rebecca Sapakie. “Our entire team will be here ready to go at 4:30 a.m. We’re committed to making sure our viewers are prepared for the day with the latest overnight news, big stories still ahead and the Storm Team 8 forecast.”

WOOD-TV

WWMT in Grand Rapids, MI debuted the market’s first 4:30 a.m. newscast today.

“We are proud to be the first to offer a 4:30 a.m. local newscast to Western Michigan,” WWMT vice president and general manager Jim Lutton said, announcing the newscast’s debut. “We are dedicated to being the news leader in the market and this shows our commitment to those efforts.”

Now appearing a half-hour earlier every weekday, is the WWMT morning team of Josh Roe, Marcie Kobriger, and Jeff Porter.

TV Spy

DIRECTV and Tribune have reached a retransmission consent deal for DIRECTV to continue carrying all of Tribune’s local stations and WGN America for the next five years. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’re pleased that Tribune and their creditors now recognize that all DIRECTV wanted from day one was to pay fair market rates for their channels,” said Derek Chang, executive vice president of Content, Strategy and Development, DIRECTV. “It’s unfortunate that Tribune was willing to hold our customers hostage in an attempt to extract excessive rates, but in the end we reached a fair deal at market rates similar to what we originally agreed to on March 29. On behalf of our customers, we are very happy to close the deal and put this behind us.”

Tribune restored all of their local signals and WGN America to DIRECTV customers at approximately 9 p.m. ET.

DIRECTV Press Release

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced Monday that it has closed on its acquisition of the Freedom Communications broadcast assets for $385 million. The deal was announced last November.

Sinclair financed the acquisition and a portion of the closing costs with a draw under a recently raised $157.5 million incremental Term Loan A and a $192.5 million incremental Term B Loan commitment under its amended Bank Credit Facility, plus a $38.5 million cash escrow previously paid in November 2011.

 TVNewsCheck

Tribune Broadcasting is denying that it has reached a settlement with satellite television provider DirecTV Inc. in their contract negotiations. This means that DirecTV subscribers in 16 U.S. markets may lose access to certain programming at midnight.

DirecTV said in a statement on Saturday that it has accepted the financial terms that Tribune’s management offered it by telephone two days ago. A deal would allow DirecTV to carry Tribune’s 23 local broadcast stations so that customers would not lose their programming when the current agreement between the two companies expires.

But Tribune came out with its own statement shortly after on Saturday, saying that it has not reached a deal or come to terms with DirecTV on any aspect of the contract.

“Any statement by DirecTV to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading,” Tribune said.

DirecTV fired back, saying in another statement that it had a handshake deal with Tribune on Thursday with an agreed upon rate for their channels.

“Their actions are the true definition of ‘bad faith’ in every sense of the term,” DirecTV said.

Associated Press

DIRECTV said today that it has accepted financial terms Tribune’s management offered to it by phone on Thursday, March 29 at 3:30 PM EST, to carry their 23 local broadcast stations to ensure customers do not lose their programming when the agreement with Tribune expires tonight at midnight

“We accept the rate proposal Tribune set forth on Thursday for the local channels and look forward to completing this agreement,” said Dan Hartman, senior vice president of Programming. “While we have been negotiating in good faith for two months, we believe Tribune’s viewers and our customers are best served by making sure the local stations remain on our service without disruption first and will then negotiate a separate agreement for WGN America.”

MarketWatch

Update: Tribune has responded with this statement: “Tribune Broadcasting has not reached an agreement or come to terms with DirecTV on any aspect of its contract, which expires at midnight tonight. Any statement by DirecTV to the contrary is inaccurate and misleading.”

Dawn Jones is headed home to TV after a stint at City Hall.

Jones was a reporter and anchor at WJRT (Channel 12) but left in 2009, when Flint Mayor Dayne Walling appointed her communications director for City Hall.

Now, she’s headed back to the news desk at the end of May.

“I enjoy the news. I really enjoy it,” Jones said. “It’s always wonderful to go back home.”

WJRT anchor Karen Gatlin is retiring, and Jones will take over some her duties, anchoring at noon and 4 p.m.

MLive

After a quiet stretch for retrans battles in the nation’s major TV markets, sparks are flying between Tribune Broadcasting and satcaster DirecTV.

Tribune rattled its saber Monday, warning viewers that they may lose access via DirecTV to its stations in 16 markets and the WGN America cabler after the current contract expires Saturday. Although talks between the sides continue, Tribune has started running on-air crawls on its stations and promos warning of the possible blackout to come. According to Tribune, negotiations on a new retrans pact have been stymied because the satcaster “is refusing to offer a fair deal.”  The dispute, of course, boils down to the definition of “fair.”

In a statement, DirecTV said: “We believe Tribune’s local news and other programming is important to the public and have no problem compensating Tribune fairly. We have absolutely no intention of denying anyone access to these stations, unless Tribune specifically demands it.”

Variety