Leaderboard

Thing is, given the damage David Friend, Peter Dunn, and the old management team at the CBS stations did, and the fact that there is a clear push toward unifying linear and streaming brands, it has to happen. There are also reasons why it can work at CBS, but not at the other networks. I’ll link to a post from @Samantha, who explained it best: As for your point about local brands being more trustworthy than the network’s brand, I totally get it. If you asked me a few months ago, I would’ve agreed with your point and would’ve questioned why dumping local identities was even up for discussion (in fact, I did). Thing is, that trust deficit is a huge problem for the network, especially given its eternal ratings woes. In fact, it’s all the more reason for CBS to do what it’s doing. Having trustworthy local news brands is great, but it means little if it doesn’t translate to success on the national level. By integrating the local stations with CBS News, the national news operation can benefit from the trust people already have in their local stations. It might sound like CBS News is trying to force its way into CBS-owned stations; in reality, it is the stations and their local news operations that are adding value to CBS News. The local station might feel less “local,” but over time, the national operation will feel much less alien to viewers.

This is a large rearchitecture. The reason it has taken this long is simply because of how comprehensive it is. Of the four O&O chains, CBS has the most problems ailing its. Most of the stations are ratings fixer-uppers and have spent two decades or more in such a condition. There was no news in Detroit. Post-Dunn and Friend, something radical needed to be done. And the investment in News and the fact that there is actual innovation and renewal in News are all to be hailed. If you watched the first night of the new Evening News look, you might have noticed the text elements listing places where CBS News has bureaus. There's London...Rome...Johannesburg...Atlanta...oh yeah, and Sacramento and Baltimore. News and Stations in a nutshell. There is a lot going on. A visual overhaul, the first top-to-bottom one at Stations in nearly a decade; a restructuring internally; the continued effects of the Paramount Global merger, etc.; the launch of news in Detroit; and the shift to a streaming-first or -co-first mentality at every outpost in Stations. This does not happen overnight. Why are we so excited? Because there is a sense of renewal at CBS that is long-deserved and needed. Because they are fixing, finally on a comprehensive level, a historic inequity in Detroit, and they are making the right moves in doing it. Because there is a pathbreaking branding approach. ABC has too many successful news franchises in its markets to do this. NBC has too many, and it also has Telemundo; it's hard to have that sort of fusion of national and local news when there are two separate networks (with separate teams) to feed and all of the NBC newsrooms it runs are bilingual. Fox fundamentally cannot do this without compromising and tainting its local news product to a significant portion of the audience.

Or “CBS (name of city/region)”. The way CBS is pushing this across the chain, I expect them to push the non-owned affiliates to go in the same direction, either as “CBS” or “CBS (city/region)”. It’s something that I’ve debated @channel2 on in the discord as she values the brand integrity of the affiliates and the legacy brands of the O&Os, which I totally get. At the same time, harmonization is not new, from the time ABC had their O&Os all adopt the same Circle 7 in 1962, to when NBC pushed the same news sets throughout their chain in the 1970s to when CBS had their affiliates use Rockwell as their CG typeface in the 1980s. The only difference here is the presumed excising of the channel number and retiring of call letters as brands in favor of a unified approach. It’s revolutionary in US broadcasting but is so commonplace elsewhere. Moreover, CBS has a clear and obvious brand issue with KDKA, WBZ, KPIX, WCCO and to a lesser extent KYW as stations that have to share a branding with their onetime radio sisters. It’s in theory not bad unless the radio station gets bad publicity a la Wendy Bell flaming out at KDKA 1020 and KDKA-TV has to issue statements that they had nothing to do with Wendy’s employment. It’s an awkward licensing agreement between Audacy, iHeart and Beasley Les Moonves made that never should have happened (but at the same time everyone would be grousing at KDKA 1020, the fabled “first radio station”, being forced to change their call sign. Look at the awkwardness of KOMO 1000 being forced to rename itself KNWN). Moreover, CBS going with a unified “CBS” branding solves issues with brand awareness that have dogged the network since 1994, especially in Detroit. It’s also why I see them pushing the renaming before “CBS News Detroit” launches, to help get the marketing campaign underway and help to better promote the news service. It also helps the O&O chain’s laggards—WFOR, KTVT, WBBM and WCBS—a chance to start anew, they literally have nothing to lose. The chain’s successful stations—WCCO, KCNC, WJZ, KDKA and to an extent WBZ—will handle it in a transitional way, but the viewers will adapt. I highly doubt anyone in Pittsburgh proper is going to be no longer watching KDKA simply because they no longer call themselves “KDKA-TV 2”. Thus, I expect the network to pressure the major chains—Gray, Nexstar, Cox, Sinclair, Tegna** and Scripps—to adopt these branding conventions on their CBS affiliates wholesale, which will set up an interesting confrontation between the groups and the network that @Weetershas been predicting on the discord for awhile. (“Why should we have to brand our stations as ‘CBS’ and act like the network owns us when we can fall back on NewsNation, the CW and Antenna?”) ** Fate of said company still TBD.

I feel a lot of NBC inspiration here (much how CBSTM seems an exact inspiration of CNN). It's a very clean and polished look with just enough flare that it gets your attention. Subtle and not in your face. If only ABC would get their act together and update WNT...

This new graphics package looks incredible and blow the last one out of the water; it's not even close. The video updates in the set took my breath away too; all of this make the program look much better. Well done to everyone involved.

Never trust a guy who combs it forward.

That's really one of the only ways they are lol. They do well in the ratings, but other than that, there isn't all that much that's special about them.

It's tegna over tegna-ing. Giving every show a brand eventually disconnects the station from it. You can't expect viewers to remember unique names for multiple different times.

Big improvement! Love the return to it's roots theme, taking a great page from ABC! Hopefully the late era Rather theme makes a comeback one day. The L3's are horrendus but the dark theme for the video walls is great, especially considering how bright and washed out newscasts and daytime tv looks with HD these days.

itshappening.gif

I keep hoping that they decide to bring that back instead of the 87 version. It's got so much more energy.

There's a rumble in them there Rockies... https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/cbs-news-colorado-announces-new-community-journalism-initiative KCNC CBS News Colorado is: * Shifting to the community journalism model (as is being implemented in Detroit and hinted at in New York) * Adding a 9am and a 4pm news hour (the 9am is a half-hour on TV plus an extra streaming half-hour) * Starting September 12 https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/cbs-news-colorado-announces-new-initiative-additional-newscasts/?fbclid=IwAR1fZUYQHbzc1nUCY5vuxQqHsJiPJmpCvUTeEAaDL8qg5mPbYRydlSgM2sk

Looks like we have our smoking gun, folks. KCNC is rebranding as “CBS Colorado News”.

David Muir ratings are nearly double or triple Norah’s ratings.

Next could be "What's The Deal With That?!"

Because this is WKYC we're talking about lol. Did you really expect anything else? Haha

I’m not a fan of the black and gold graphics but when it comes to ratings—compared to WCBS, KCBS, and WBBM—KDKA is special.

KDKA. Is. Not. Special. Whenever a new group-wide package debuts, they'll get the same thing as everyone else, and they'll be better off, for it. Besides, while I understand the civic pride, the black and gold look they have is downright unsightly for any coverage not pertaining to the Pens, Pirates, or Steelers.

Here is all of the screenshots I have of the new package.

It’s silly…just go back to “Channel 3 News.” One notable thing is Sara Shookman’s sharp decline in having any sort of presence here. As recently as 2018, she was the main anchor and now has been relegated to 7pm - and gets pushed out by Christi Paul and Carmen Blackwell.

Poor Nora ... Does she ever sleep? lol -- Matt

Kudos to everyone who called this even before the new websites rolled out. Hopefully CBS’s rededication to investing in its O&Os goes beyond this name change and translates to better local journalism.

Just curious, in what ways could a network pressure its affiliates to that extent without completely alienating the station groups? Granted, the station groups need the networks more than the networks need them, but given that many CBS affiliates are part of duopolies (ex: KGMB, WTOL, KPHO), I’m not even sure CBS would want to go that far. That said, unified branding somewhat remedies the 1994 switch that still affects CBS and its stations today. As you said, it’s the norm in nearly every other country, and it makes sense in a world that prioritizes streaming. Nobody looks for “channel 2” on YouTube TV or online; they look for CBS.

Sad but true.

Too bad the cbs theme is pretty vacant sounding compared to the other two. So boring sounding compared to the other two. The best version was the bombastic arrangement during the later Rather years, that was pretty pretty good. Same across the board, local TV is so homogenized-- more than ever.

Why can't it just be 3 News at 5:00, just like its 6pm news?

How the Overnight News looks with the new look Only bit of old branding is the end of hour copyright

So, the first TV listings of the new fall season are out, and there are a few notable changes on the WGN schedule. Despite the show wrapping production, I'm shocked that a rerun slate of Maury isn't included in the afternoon block. Instead, Lauren Lake's Paternity Court (yikes) slots in at 2pm. The biggest surprise, though, might come at 3pm, as Friends reruns return to weekday, daylight hours for the first time in forever. Personally, that programming decision feels like a placeholder move, but what do I know?

For one thing, hasn't NBC learned its lesson from the disaster that was the Jay Leno Show? And if NBC was to give up its 10pm/9pm central time slot: NBC Nightly News at 10pm/9pm and local newscast at the 10:30pm/9:30pm. Giving viewers a head start on a good night's sleep. Couldn't hurt to try something bold and do something never done before.

And not just any NBC O&O - but the mother church at 30 Rock...

The original and first-ever CBS Evening News theme from 1987...WELCOME BACK BUDDY! Good to hear that fanfare again. Slight remixed and throwing in the 5-note CBS mnemonic at the end was a nice touch.

Also what I honestly bet they go with. “CBS” for every non-news show, network or otherwise. Maybe the legacy calls for the cities that look like they’re going to keep that branding element, but for most of them, just “CBS”.

If the rumors are true then good riddance to Chuck Todd. He's not a good moderator and asset to NBC. People on the left, right and center can't stand him. As for Guthrie, MTP would be a promotion for her and Craig Melvin can take her place as Co-Host with Hoda. But it's FTV Live, lets take it with a grain of salt.

If any network may want to be willing to go for a prime time newscast, I think it would be CBS since they are usually a distant third in ratings in the early evenings - maybe a 10 pm (or 9 pm CT) national news there (with the 6:30/5:30 pm timeslot yielded to an hour-long local newscast) would be able to break from the shadow of NBC Nightly News and World News Tonight.

There was a time several years ago when NBC O&Os branded themselves as “NBC” during non-news and non-network hours.

Here's the full thing:

I want a black and gold version of this for KDKA-TV please. Please CBS.

Color me impressed. Well done, CBS News.

Some other pictures from them Also it's confirmed the new music remix is by AntFood, the same people who designed the new CBS Mnemonic. No more Man Made Music.

Agreed on all points. Considering the latest figures on measurements of who gets their TV via cable or satellite and who by Internet streaming, it's about even. It's probably not worth bothering with for anchors to say "... and also streaming on CBS News (market location) Aren't the KYW and KPIX "Eyewitness News" brandings half-century-old holdovers from their Westinghouse ownership? I'm in California so I am familiar with the latter, and I'm amazed that it keeps its old Westinghouse "5" logo. KPIX has just made a seismic anchor shift, by they way, and local media pundits say it's for the better. Agreed about KCBS and KCAL, and maybe it's not so much bungled as simply shrunk. The staff is a skeleton crew. I always preface my comments here with "I'm just a viewer and not in the biz" but I could not agree more about the idea that local branding is still important, and , at least, a channel number to connect people to their local station, a button to put a finger on the remote. Or maybe that's archaic in the era of YouTube TV and Hulu, where you just choose the show you want.

And Peacock WON'T be successful because of this...

Didn't know where else to put this, but while browsing through some Detroit Now News clips (just for the hell of it), it appears that the local segments are now being done in-house instead of being outsourced from KTVT. Shaina Humphries (as seen in the screenshot) was one of the recent hires for the upcoming CBS News Detroit.

cbs 46 news has really turned around but this is a lot.

Yeah, I wasn’t being snarky. Apologies if it came off that way. I was trying to prove that things like that need not be overlooked. Why complicate branding outside of a newscast when you can just say “CBS.”

This is definitely spot on. It's not going to necessarily boost their ratings, but to bring back the fanfare (as ABC did during pre-vax COVID and as NBC will always have even after John Williams is gone) is golden. Then by your logic, CBS should do one for KTVT with the red and star accents...

Wow! I think CBS has created some of the best network news graphics they have ever done. As for the music, it brings back the classic 1987 CBS Evening News theme signature with new orchestrations.

Im glad she getting out of that dump of WCBS there a lost station.

Lampley and Walker were married to other people and had an affair, divorced their spouses and married while at KCBS. It was a noticeable scandal on air. No comparison. L.A.'S MOST VISIBLE Office Romance : When TV news co-anchors Jim Lampley and Bree Walker became a team off the air as well as on, tongues started wagging. What's it like to conduct a romance when so many people are watching? - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)