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Why doesn't MSNBC just focus on reporting on the actual news of the day, with indepth coverage of breaking news during evening hours, instead of just focusing on politics? The channel can put political opinionated programs, but I feel like they put way too much on the air. I try not to watch the news channels because they're too focused on these types of programs, but when I watch, I turn to msnbc, mainly because I watch NBC for regular news. The main issue with NBC and the other networks are that they don't provide additional reporting & coverage of important events of the day. It's only half an hour in the evening for the major news headlines of the entire country and maybe additional coverage in the morning. That' is why I hope msnbc & cnn would be an an outlet to provide that coverage. Fox News probably won't because what they're doing is not news, just viewpoints from certain personalities.

I think people in general are just tired of the "all Trump, all the time" monomania on these networks. It's been almost a decade of the same topics on a loop. It makes it that much harder for them to compete with YouTube, Twitch, podcasts, social media, etc. where there's actual choices, not the same programming over and over again.

It's all temporary as they move on from the election. I know many who just didn't want to watch any news, MSNBC, CNN, broadcast networks until they all moved past the election. I wouldn't make wide conclusions only 8 days past the election.

More on the partnership of WTVY in Dothan and WSFA in Montgomery: https://www.wsfa.com/2024/11/18/wtvy-creates-expanded-partnership-with-wsfa/ As stated above, Today in Alabama will air for an hour on WTVY from 5a-6a with WTVY having local news from 6-7am. The new info is that the 4pm show will be shared between WTVY and WSFA. It sounds like WTVY will simulcast WSFA's 5pm show as well. WTVY will keep their own 6 and 10pm newscasts. Some of this has happened before back when Raycom owned WDFX. They simulcast WSFA's 4pm newscast and aired a 9pm show that WSFA produced. EDIT: They will simulcast WSFA on the weekends. That's a big one. And quite a 180 from the days when WDHN didn't even exist on the weekends, yet alone weekday mornings.

Editorials still exist. KOCO still does them and their latest example is inducting five folks into their KOCO 5 Hall of Fame.

Appears Morning Joe is ready to kiss and make up with Trump.

Science fiction and fantasy have always been joined at the hip -- both fall under the term "speculative fiction" -- so the fantasy-based programming has never bothered me. Reality programming is a problem shared by nearly all channels, be they broadcast, cable, or streaming. The real problem for Syfy at this point is more fundamental: Is it even needed anymore? When the channel launched in 1992, the broadcast networks were still king, there were fewer cable channels (and even fewer with original programming), and there were few ways for a sci-fi or fantasy show to be seen. The best option was broadcast syndication, which usually meant airing at odd hours because shows were either on network affiliates that had obligations or independent stations that had no interest in giving up time slots they used for second-run movies. But the television landscape has changed radically in the 32 years since then, and there are more possible homes for genre programming than ever. It's possible, maybe even likely, that Syfy's time has come and gone.

Syfy really seems like a hidden gem to me, even though its audience was among the first to ditch linear TV. The name change being a perceived middle finger to the audience didn't help!

I don't think they would have a problem selling the other cable networks (Bravo, E!, Oxygen and True Crime) or at the very least, hanging onto a minority stake in the new company. Folding the channels into Peacock wouldn't be financially beneficial.

Since Countdown never has a steady panel from season to season you can really just assume anyone not named SAS, Shams Charania or Brian Windhorst won't be back next year and whatever Inside does, they'll adjust to that style. Or that they'll just finally ditch "Countdown" altogether for the branding. It's also for the best since ABC has the Finals and we can finally get them past the conference finals (that first post-Finals "Gone Fishin'" is gonna be fun!).

From Yahoo! News/New York Post... "The cable news channel [ MSNBC ] saw similar declines after the 2016 election, but then went on to have its four most-watched years yet between 2017 and 2020, the insider said." Unless these declines continue long-term (a year or more), then there's no reason to sound the alarms about MSNBC. Back on topic... I could see Comcast shuttering Syfy, Universal Kids and Universo, keeping MSNBC (news), CNBC (business) and USA (sports) and spinning off the rest of the cable network portfolio into a new company with the intent to sell said company.

They got some international rights but nothing here. Licensing Inside the NBA to ESPN was a savvy move by both sides.

I respect and understand what you are saying I just see it a different way. I don't think MSNBC is the only network doing journalism, I just think when it comes to political coverage, there is a concern that the other networks have about appearing biased that impacts their coverage. They have a pressure to not appear right/left leaning and MSNBC doesn't have this concern. With the right shifting so extreme, I think a network like MSNBC is needed. I wouldn't support MSNBC if it was a left wing version of FOX News channel spewing lies, but I really do support having a factual news network featuring left wing opinions unafraid of upsetting the right.

It's normal for MSNBC's ratings to go down for the first few months after an election. MSNBC's ratings always go down when political news dies down or is depressing for Democrats. In this situation it's both. Political news is less interesting because the election is over, nothing is happening. Yes Trump is making some extreme cabinet picks but they aren't going to actually do anything over the next 2 months. So the political news is not just boring and unimportant, it's also depressing for Democrats because Trump won. It's really not surprising Democrats have no interest in watching cable news for the next few months. Ratings also crashed this summer when someone tried to shoot Trump and they switched to a pro-Trump NBC News feed for a day. Ratings even fall when there is big non-political news happening like a hurricane. It was different when Biden won because Trump didn't concede which was an unprecedented major political event. When Trump takes power and actually starts doing things, ratings will go back up. During the first Trump administration, viewers turned to MSNBC for all the chaos Trump caused. Remember when he separated families and children from their parents at the border? They had almost wall to wall coverage, multiple MSNBC shows including the primetime shows where anchored live on location outside Trump's child prison camps near the border. They spent hours and hours covering all the indictments and criminal trials of Trump campaign officials. They extensively covered his ties to Russia. From almost starting a war with the dictator of Iran to visiting the dictator of North Korea, Trump gave MSNBC endless hours of special coverage. After Biden won, the times when MSNBC had the most viewers was covering the troubles of Republicans & Donald Trump. The January 6th investigations, the 2nd Trump impeachment, the Trump indictments, the Trump trials, etc.. etc.. I'm sure they are already working on special graphics and theme music for all the things that are going to happen. Democrats might not be tuning in now, but they will be tuning in when MSNBC has wall to wall coverage of mass deportations and all the other chaos that a 2nd Trump term will bring. As for advertising, subscription fees are a huge part of the revenue for cable news networks.

They've been propped up almost single-handedly by pharmaceutical advertising for years now. If RFK Jr. does get those ads banned like he wants to, I don't know how these cable networks will actually make money anymore.

Love that MSNBC isn't doing well, hate that Fox is still doing well. How are cable networks making a profit with demographic viewers that low?? How much are they charging advertisers?

Which will probably be no problem to KOLN-KGIN since their the news leader in Nebraska, but hey... KLKN exists. That's and the changes at KQHA-KTVO is probably benefitting Gray too much. It MUST be stopped.

Sinclair's just late to the party though. Their only idea of theirs they didn't steal from another broadcaster is the whole crippling propaganda thing.

To be fair to Tegna, they've really backed off of the edginess compared to when they first came into existence.

I saw this Philadelphia TV News book recommended on another site. I put it in the Jim Gardner thread because he's on the cover. The Big Story: The Oral History of Philadelphia TV News.

Here’s how I see it. The sky is blue and we all know that to be true/factual. One group agrees the sky is blue while another group says it’s green. CNN often provides a platform for those that think the sky is green under the guise of being fair without realizing (or caring) that they’re directly contributing to a world full of misinformation and propaganda. MSNBC often goes down the rabbit hole of browbeating those who think the sky is green in the misguided attempt to convince them the sky is blue. FNC just doesn’t care…. If there’s one thing this election taught us is that people will believe who/what they want (no matter what). Some news orgs view things from a warped perspective (particularly politics). They have to get back to the basic principles of journalism (truth, accuracy and objectivity) in order to restore their credibility and people’s trust in them.

If Comcast does want to spin off MSNBC & CNBC along with the rest of the cable assets, I could see it working if Sky News was included in the new spun off company. Sky News could provide MSNBC with international news coverage and if Comcast doesn't think NBC News needs MSNBC, I can't see why they would want to keep Sky News which doesn't really collaborate much with NBC News. MSNBC could also use the Sky News branding since it's unlikely the NBC branding would remain. While I still think a sell off is extremely unlikely, I can see why they are considering it. The entertainment channels are a drain on growth for the company overall, and the cable group is worth a lot more when the profitable and highly rated MSNBC is included, and by selling them off Comcast doesn't have to worry about owning a news channel the President hates.

I think we live in a time where one political party has made an extreme shift yet everyone except MSNBC is covering politics like it's 1994 instead of 2024. Every other source of TV political news, including NBC News, is so afraid of looking partisan they either go out of their way to justify & sane wash Republicans or they negatively cover Democrats unfairly to appear balanced. I don't think this is good journalism. Both sides can't agree on facts because one side is disputing facts and NBC/CBS/ABC/CNN/NewsNation, etc. is giving them a platform to do it. I don't want to watch manufactured political news coverage that is worried about saying anything that will upset half the country, if a political party does something evil, I want them to call it evil, I don't want to see it justified no matter what, I don't want to watch TV news where there is no moral red line, I know when I watch MSNBC, they will tell it like it is, they aren't worried about upsetting Republicans, they aren't worried about trying to make Republicans & Democrats look equally good or bad. They also are not the anti-Republican news channel, they are the anti extreme news channel. They do have moderate Republicans on, and as you brought up, Bernie Sanders who is on the extreme left didn't like how MSNBC covered him in 2020, Tulsi Gabbard who was an extreme crazy Democrat running for president in 2020 also was upset with how MSNBC covered her. The bad actors on the left don't get a free pass from MSNBC. I don't agree with everything I see on MSNBC or every view expressed by MSNBC hosts or guests, but I know overall the network is in the same reality I am. I can't say that about any other television source for political news.

The comment, not sure it was a quote was not directed at MSNBC but all the many cable networks with low viewership that fill up our cable lineups. I'm not sure why someone applied that directly to MSNBC, which is part of NBC News and plays a key role in news gathering, reporting and more. If, and probably its a big if, since this is just floated as an idea for analysis, it was to happen, MSNBC, CNBC, and USA, because of their tie in with the network and Peacock (news, business news, sports) may not be included. Plus as you note MSNBC makes a lot of money, I expect CNBC does and USA might. What makes NBCU unique vs. WBD and Paramount, is they have not shied away from just shutting down cable networks.

I happen to come across this today from Pew Research: https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/cable-news/ It shows that MSNBC is posting a profit of over 450 million against almost a billion dollars in revenue. The data also shows that MSNBC has been profitable since 2006 (the earliest year of data displayed in the chart). So, it is highly unlikely that Comcast would say, and that CNBC would report, that MSNBC has been losing money for quite some time.

FOX is only as dominant as it is because there's less competition in their niche. MSNBC and CNN cannibalizing each other's ratings is likely accelerating both networks' decline. Ultimately, though, 24/7 cable news is an outdated model and I'm sure we'll eventually see FOX start to decline as well. It's not like young people are watching them either.

In an obvious move, Craig Melvin will succeed Hoda Kotb.

I've watched MSNBC by force because family members run it all the time at home. Agreed that MSNBC is not equivalent to Fox News, because they are not pushing lies. But MSNBC's facts credibility score is shaky. Media bias fact check.org gives them a mixed rating. The outlet takes factual information and bends it to their worldview. Like Fox News, MSNBC pedals one-sided news that keeps viewers in an echo chamber. That's why some of their hosts are shocked by the election's outcome, they're too busy regurgitating what each other says. Moreover, MSNBC isn't representative of everyone on the left. It's just a mouthpiece for the Democratic party establishment. Bernie Sanders was complaining that he didn't get a fair shake in coverage from the network during the 2020 election. I agree that CNN should stick to news, and I agree that MSNBC is easier to watch because it's not bickering television. But someone needs to provide a nuanced middle-of-the-line opinion, or left/right perspectives side by side. The failure to hear perspectives and everyone retreating to the channel serving their confirmation bias is part of why we cannot agree on facts in 2024. No one learns anything when they're constantly told their opposition is evil and stupid. Admittedly Trump is a difficult president to cover. He tells outright lies, and non-partisan news agencies such as CBS have to fact-check him without appearing to attack him. Yes, many issues we face in government today stem from the right, but the left is not blameless.

The first two are applicable to the fox channel as well. As trump picks for his cabinet become more and more bizarre, enthusiastic viewers will return. Net net, remember, the channels don't get the majority of tv eyes unless in times of a major disaster.

One thing I don't think non-MSNBC viewers understand about MSNBC is that it's not the FOX News Channel of the left. MSNBC hosts express left wing opinions, but they still rely on facts. They are not spewing propaganda and lies like FOX News Channel does. FOX News Channel had to pay hundreds of millions in a settlement for spewing lies about the 2020 election and the voting machines, the text messages released in this lawsuit between FOX News hosts and anchors like Bret Baier just proved how this is a network that does zero journalism, it's a propaganda outlet that is terrified of angering its far right audience. They invested millions in 2020 so they could make quicker election calls, and then panicked when their early Arizona election call angered its audience, to the point where they held off calling Nevada for Biden because they didn't want to be first to call an election for Biden, instead choosing to wait to be the last network to make the call. This type of stuff is simply is not happening at MSNBC. There is no denying that MSNBC is news with a left wing view, but it's still news. In my view CNN & NewsNation are not doing responsible journalism by staying in the middle. We don't live in a reality where both political parties are equally bad doing equally bad things at the exact same time. The way CNN, NewsNation, NBC, CBS, ABC etc... go out of their way to criticize and praise both political parties equally all the time just to appear unbiased is so infuriating. CNN can't even agree to fact check a debate because they are scared of looking biased. A great way for CNN to counterprogram against MSNBC & FOX News would be to stop focusing on politics and cover all the other actual news going on, but CNN has instead decided to devote most of its schedule to covering politics and political opinions with people arguing all the time. They deserve their horrible ratings. It's also worth pointing out that MSNBC has actually tried having right wing opinion shows on the network along with left wing shows, and it's a massive failure every single time. It's extremely hard to have a successful news network targeting totally different audiences each hour, networks want to do everything they can to stop people from changing the channel, nothing ensures people will change the channel more than putting a left wing show after or before a show hosted by Ben Shapiro. One of the things that makes MSNBC so enjoyable to watch is the fact that all the hosts & guests get along with each other. It's the total opposite of CNN which at times looks like a Real Housewives reunion special with guests screaming at each other.

This is temporary MSNBC will come back. If Trump is president, liberal audiences will crave a news network breaking down his actions. But I think MSNBC is losing ratings because: 1. people are tired of a 24/7 News Network airing non-stop coverage of one man for nine years. 2. People could be realizing the pundits on MSNBC live in an echo chamber. The commentators think they know everything then act shocked when the election proves them wrong. 3. Exhaustion and defeat. Many Democrats are stunned by the outcome of this election and can't deal with it right now so they're turning off the news. They're not in the mood to hear a panel discussion of why Kamala lost be overanalyzed for the next few months.

Obvs.

This was an interesting behind-the-scenes of election prep at NBC News:

With Maurice Dubois involved with network election coverage, Dick Brennan is filling in for him locally on election night.

I was surprised that WBNX didn't get sold to another godster surprised they were general entertainment channel truth be told and not run as a faith base channel like most godster's are.

Writing on the wall for EAM, I suppose; they're realizing the overhead for a web presence is much less than that of a television station, and I assume the proceeds will only help the ministry. Gotta be a bit shocked they went to Nexstar when VCY America and TCT still in an acquiring mood; they could've easily $1-and-debt'ed the operation out to another godcaster, but they found a good commercial offer. And it also gives Nexstar a chance to see if moving around channel numbers to use WJW's 8 on UHF works, and just have everything hosted off the 55 transmitter, sacrificing VHF 8 to 3.0 lighthouse duty.

If this sale goes through, WBNX is about to be a sister station to WJW and a CW O&O. https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/nexstar-expands-presence-in-cleveland-buying-wbnx I guess hell is finally freezing over.

I really don’t see what the issue is with Marza. Since he arrived he’s been on pretty much every newscast, so viewers have seen him and know who he is. I think he’ll fill the role more than fine and has proven he’s more than in it. It’ll be interesting to see how the morning plays out, for a station that had the same teams in place for so long, this will be the second anchor change in (as many?) years.. I forget when Ken left.

The FCC would beg to differ. At least they still *have* the rule that stations must properly ID themselves by their call letters and COL at/as close to the top of the hours as possible, even if stations basically show them in almost-illegible mouseprint. I myself tend to refer to their stations by their call letters, regardless of the station's branding. "6abc" will always be WPVI (or just "Channel 6") to me, for example.

Hmm... I don't think so given the fact that Kansas City isn't that known for collage sports 'n stuff. KMCI is gonna be 38 the Spot for a while.

TEGNA joins the ranks of other local station groups who have decided to try to hub their station promo marketing. An announcement came down from outgoing COO Lynn Beall today. More industry layoffs ahead, just in time for the holidays.

I knew that Brandon Carr was going to be the new Chairmen at The FCC come Jan of this year since he has been the one always making statements when rules came out that he didn't like. Which means that Nexstar/Mission doesn't have to sell WPIX. As Brandon Carr will undo what the outgoing chairwomen Jessica did.

I couldn't disagree with you more. MSNBC is absolutely the Fox News of the Democratic Party. The amount of stories they run about Trump and Republicans being the end of society is insane. I had two different family members who were addicted to MSNBC and both separately turned it off because they couldn't deal with it. Whatever goes on at MSNBC is not journalism.

More dismal numbers for MSNBC: They are basically getting no viewers under the age of 55 anymore. Comcast might actually have a hard time finding a buyer at this rate.

KDKA finally got news mic flags, although unlike all of the others that use the call sign square, the entire mic flag is black.

Yup. Although Fox is an echo chamber and obsesses over Trump just like MSNBC, Fox dominates because of little competition. They're the only *mainstream* big-budget and well well-produced right-wing TV outlet.

Well, if you bring on a myriad of consultants who do nothing but blame Democrats for embracing social issues, instead of faulting them for embracing our corrupted capitalist model and for Dems leaning too far to the right, then you're going to lose viewership. Social issues didn't lose the Democratic Party this election. Campaigning with Liz & Dick Cheney and refusing to acknowledge that the fundamental economic wealth distribution gap is more important than stock market growth when 93% of the market is controlled by the top 10% (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wealthiest-10-americans-own-93-033623827.html and the average home-buyer age is 56-years old (https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-home-buyers-shrink-to-historic-low-of-24-as-buyer-age-hits-record-high). https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wealth-distribution-in-america/

On one hand, it's like a TV show going into repeats. They just don't want to watch it...again. On the other hand, once Trump takes control and things go off the rails.....

I believe the MSNBC audience just... gave up.

Maybe not: