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I really like the overall lower thirds/OTS/boxes/etc (though there are some questionable choices in certain aspects). You can really tell a lot of thought went into making this into a comprehensive package where everything works with everything else. The in-show graphics remind me a lot of the original NewsNation graphics and the ABC O&O package being rolled out. But... and I know this is a tough pill for some to swallow, but the 3D stuff ruins it. They look like they came from a graphics package that debut 12 years ago. The opens being a bunch of 3D text and logos flying around with no reason is completely out of place in this package where everything else is designed with some thought and order. It honestly looks like they debut a mashed up old and new graphics package. Did two different firms work on this or something? Did they change course halfway through and not want to pay to redo the opens and interstitial stuff? The very first transition out of black and into the show in that WAXN video seems like it "fits" better. You can have some 3D, but stuff like the logos flying in and the letters twirling around has been a news graphics cliche for at least the past decade (where it should have been left.)

KOLD has the GrayOne graphics and went with red.

KDVR / KFCT (FOX31) & KWGN (Colorado's Own Channel 2) employees that work the combined assignment desk & the Nexstar master control hub for a dozen Nexstar TV stations across the country intend to unionize according to an article posted on the station's website yesterday. If this comes to pass they would be the 2nd & 3rd Denver TV stations to Unionize after KCNC "CBS NEWS Colorado" went union in late 1995 after being acquired by Group W/CBS. I also have this up on my blog about Denver TV stations that can be found in my profile. Article here:https://kdvr.com/news/local/nexstar-workers-in-denver-declare-intent-to-unionize/

Closing this thread as it's gone wildly off course from the initial topic. Folks, it costs nothing to create a new thread... Just Saying...

Hallelujah! Thought this day would never come! WSB debuted new graphics at noon, ok well maybe not entirely new graphics, more like an update on their last package, which was an update from another package...... Regardless the main thing is things look a little different on air, this new update is very flat, no gradients actually, honestly so far, color me disappointed. Below are some screenshots of how it looks on air so far. Unsure what the new intro looks like, if there is a new one at all, we shall see at 4pm!

CBS Plans Week-Long Residency In Las Vegas For Super Bowl LVIII This is not limited to sports broadcasts, it also includes; CBS News CBS Media Ventures & Entertainment CBS Affiliates may include non-O&Os

I can only speak for Atlanta, but WAGA, a FOX O&O has been in second place in the ratings and has long been on WSB's tail for first. This might be a possibility for the similarities. Same thing to a lesser extent with Gray owned WANF/WPCH (similarities to GrayONE) although to a lesser extent.

Reminds me a lot of FOX -- almost to the point where it wouldn't surprise me if one of the FOX O&O hub folks got poached to produce this.

Massive downgrade

For a company that throws (or used to throw?) away a lot of money at consultants to tell them what to think and do, this looks pretty underwhelming for a group-wide graphics package.

Especially since the Baltimore stations thoroughly cover this part of Maryland in the local news… Whatever happened to “significantly viewed” status?

Great catch @Jman7885! I went and checked the tv news archive from archive.org and sure enough it looks like a new studio. It’s not WNBC’s studio 3B, and MSNBC used 3A, 3C & 4E today alone, I’m wondering if this is the new Studio 3K, which I’m assuming is for NBC Nightly News and NBC News Now. MSNBC daytime and primetime is temporarily not using 3A as they prepare the studio for primary/caucus coverage so that’s why we aren’t seeing that in full use currently. Let’s be honest, studio 1A is not a great flagship, NBC needs a versatile studio for anything from special reports to space launches and elections. Nightly News deserves a real home and News Now might need more space as they expand programing. MSNBC and WNBC/Telemundo have all the space they could ever need. Here’s some screen grabs I took from the archive, the star desk is the one MSNBC has had for years, the new studio is already set up for the primaries/caucuses/election branding. Very NBC, very Clickspring (I’m assuming). Alex seems to use LA a lot more than anyone else at NBC, she said she’ll back in NYC next weekend for the new line up launch, must be in LA to see family regularly enough they let her use the facilities there.

Yeah, with WPXI's current package (in use since 2015) being an evolution of the package from 2007.

It definitely has the FOX O&O vibe, at least with the font. Once this package gets to the other markets (especially Pittsburgh and Charlotte) it will be a major improvement. Both of those packages probably go all the way back to their launch in HD, which seems like an eternity.

For being new graphics in 2024? Woof. They're pretty bad. That aside, the font is going after the FOX5 audience, the cold open banner reeks of GrayONE.

I know it was the first respectable amount of snow in 2 years but did the accumulation totals warrant bringing in the weekday team?

Another observation I just made. When we're getting the dual-anchor shot with the lower third, get rid of "Action News" underneath each of their names. It's redundant. I'll chalk this one up to first-day teething problems.

Its about dam(insert another letter) time!!! Now if only they would get a top down upgrade of that set.

And here is that Falcon's transition. And here is the new OTS shot. And the new teaser graphics without L3's (they only use the L3's before each newscast, like in the last package. Also this is the first time, at least in my memory, that the time and temp bug has been on the left side, as it, every package since the launch of HD, has been on the right.

Indeed, and linear viewership numbers for premium networks are not meaningful. Even their prestige shows get heavy use on streaming/video-on-demand, and it's not an ad model. Apples to cucumbers. It's not so much that NFL games getting the biggest audiences means audiences are not watching other shows, it's that the NFL shows the value of live event programming with mass appeal. It doesn't exist, meaningfully, anywhere else. But you can find just about any flavor of cop show, including international ones, at any hour day or night. CBS makes money on the procedurals in first-run and syndication because they do work. Not like in 1990 because the world is dramatically different. You're never going to get "Must See TV" back when you give the audience that many choices, no matter what you put on. Some will watch in real time, many will DVR/on-demand/stream. The whole ecosystem is part of the calculus, not just one component.

Don't forget though this is counting all 168 hours of programming a week for HBO; they might get great ratings during those two-three nights of primetime, but otherwise it's the 478th replay of "88 Minutes" or "Now You See Me 2". Most of those customers use HBO's VOD service or Max outside those hours. Same with Showtime or Starz; by design those ratings are low because the need to follow a schedule has long been negated and is just there more for DVR scheduling a movie you want to see and FF/rewind without cable VOD restrictions, than actual organic tune-in.

Gracias for the hat tip- and to your point, all the networks have found their crutch/niche... And I think much of it boils down to- what is exciting outside of those niches to watch? When NFL Games make up 93% of the most-watched TV programs in 2023, the message seems to be clear that the viewers are tired of the same reality shows, singing competitions, and legal/cop dramas. Which network finds the new big program or genre and reinvents "Must See TV"? Or... Have we passed a point of no return?

But I see what @GodfreyGR was getting, at. It seems both shows are always on past the point of caring anymore, much like The Voice on NBC and The Bachelor on ABC. I don't fault CBS for sticking to what works, but their routine of recycled police procedural franchises and comedies becomes repetitive and generic. I was also surprised at HBO's ratings were that low despite the critical acclaim of a lot of their shows.

I didn't think HBO had that few. This is why I'm waiting for the inevitable mass-culling of cable channels. There are so many channels that aren't pulling their own weight and are still around only because they're bundled with their more popular siblings. At some point, one of the parent companies -- Disney, Comcast/NBCU, WBD, Paramount, etc. -- needs to say, "Yeah, this isn't working out anymore." and start winding channels down. But which company is going to blink first?

Well, it happened today. KUNS made the switch, and Steamboat Willie can be used any which way legally, but that’s really not important to the story! (Weird Al Show, anyone?) The last program on Univision was “Está historia me suena” and the first program in the CW format was (what else?) “The National Desk”. KUNS will air a 1-hour delay of the KOMO 11:00am news, along with 3 1/2 hours of The National Desk before CW primetime (not counting The National Desk and The National Weather Desk before one of the airings of “Seattle Refined”, also airing on KOMO of course). Other than Justice with The People and The Kelly Clarkson Show (which also already airs on KOMO), there is practically no syndicated programming on channel 51.

Because why not? First up: Sunbeam-Owned WSVN Miami, WHDH Boston Add Hour of Morning News That's a lot of news. Wait... they have a general manager for each station and one for the company as a whole?

In the city, no. In some of the northern suburbs, sure.

Pretty much any network that broadcasts the Super Bowl sends out their entire unit (news, sports and entertainment divisions) to the site of the game every year. Sometimes, the whole parent company of the network is involved.

Sara Sidner announced she's being treated for stage 3 breast cancer. https://nypost.com/2024/01/08/media/cnn-anchor-sara-sidner-says-she-has-stage-3-breast-cancer/ https://people.com/sara-sidner-breast-cancer-diagnosis-exclusive-interview-8423441

Breezeline (the U.S. unit of Canadian pay-TV provider Cogeco) has dropped WBOC from its eastern Maryland systems. According to both Breezeline and WBOC parent Draper Holdings, the removal resulted from it being considered an out-of-market station in the communities serviced by the provider (including towns like Grasonville, Kent Island, Chestertown, Centreville, Queenstown, Rock Hall, Church Hill, St. Michaels and Chesapeake City, MD), which are considered part of the Baltimore DMA. (As such, this isn't being put in the retrans dispute thread, since this doesn't qualify.) This may suggest Paramount/CBS and Sinclair had requested Breezeline pull WBOC's main CBS channel and Fox subchannel in favor of giving WJZ and WBFF exclusivity in those areas.

As of the date of this writing (January 8), Showtime has officially rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime; interestingly the name change only applies to the primary channel. Paramount Global wisely chose not to rename its six multiplex channels, keeping the standalone Showtime brand on those channels rather than applying what would be a janky and unwieldy naming scheme to them (meaning, for example, SHOxBET didn't become the math equation sounding Paramount+ with SHOxBET). Confusingly though, that means the linear network now has two separate brand schemes (the Paramount+ co-brand for the main channel, and the standalone Showtime brand for its other channels). The screenshots below illustrating the two-tiered naming scheme are from my YTTV account: The Showtime-branded multiplex channels continue to use the promo graphics introduced in August 2022 for their "up next/tonight" bumpers.