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Definitely, I've always loved their looks, even prior to the current brands launch in 2016. The set is half real/half set extension, with the physical set debuting in 2016. The set was updated (new desk, larger screen, and adding wooden textures) along with the new graphics in October. I wouldn't be mad if CNN adopted these graphics in a way at all. A bit hasty to cancel the operation outright after debuting new graphics and set updates not to long ago.

It has a lot to do with lead-ins. WCBS had Judge Judy at 4 and the 5:00 was doing well. Then they lost Judge Judy and immediately fell. They picked up the show again and shot back up to #2. WABC had Oprah at 4 and those viewers made them #1 at 5. The winning allowed the station to remain stable in terms of talent and presentation. When Oprah ended her show and WABC replaced it with a newscast, viewers were already so accustomed to Eyewitness News that they largely stayed with them. Syndicated and network lead-ins are huge, along with stability (which is often a chicken-or-the-egg-type thing with winning).

What a horrible turn of events for Newshub and for New Zealanders. WBD has already been making cuts to its NZ division, but to close the entire newsroom is diabolical. A lot of good people are going to be out of work, and most importantly, it’s a disaster for New Zealand. TVNZ (the state-owned “public” broadcaster that operates more like a commercial channel in practice) is going to have a monopoly on TV news. What a joke. I don’t know of too many healthy democracies with a lack of media diversity. You can’t adequately scrutinize people in power when there’s only one, state-owned outlet available to do it. I’m hoping there’s a way to save Newshub before June, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Here is meteorologist Payton Domschke's debut at noon today.

Sad. Side track, but they could teach some of these US brands a thing or too about set and graphic design.

O&O wise, CBS lags in the largest markets while ABC dominates. NBC varies, but seems to be in the middle. Of the top 5 markets, Chicago is where Fox gets their clock cleaned by WGN on a consistent basis while NY & LA seem to be doing better, WNYW does way better than WPIX and what's left of WWOR (but does KCAL and KTLA outrank KTTV?) Generally, ABC has held up the best as the network owners have "borged" their stations. CBS took a hit in the 80s from the Tisch era and Jeff "Zucked" the NBC stations during his disastrous tenure.

TBF, just cause it's "renewed though 2028" doesn't mean it will be "on CBS through 2028", they could very easily have a clause just like with Days to move to streaming at a later date. Or of course, they could can the other one to free up the hour instead. Alongside the announcement, TVLine was told this So like maybe B&B is only renewed for one more year while the more popular Y&R stays on for 4. ------ Personally, I'm of the mind that yeah I do think there's too much news hours even if yes, most people don't watch all the hours and aren't getting "fatigued" from it. I personally would want them to be more like say BBC internationally where daytime hours include stuff rarely shown on broadcast television over here and are instead locked to cable/streaming like cooking or home improvement shows BUT I can't deny Daily has been a success (and personally I find it to be my favorite, just the right mix of more upbeat morning news and serious primetime news without going too far in each direction) and like, most people nowadays have options. Even before streaming, most people could switch to any of the 100s of cable channels if they didn't want to watch what the big networks were showing and especially now with streaming, there's literally thousands of other options if you don't want news at noon. It's 2024, basically everyone has decent internet and already streams content, you aren't forced to watch NBC (and the others) if you don't want news. Hell, go watch YouTube even, you don't even need a 30-60 minute scripted drama during that time frame. ------ Side-Note: Why have they not put Daily on demand yet like almost all of their other news shows. Kinda hard to watch the one you prefer when it's literally not available. NBC News Now of course streams it but not everyone can watch live that exact second and the only stream that allows going back into the VoD is the YouTube version but they delist that meaning if you don't save the link, it's impossible to watch. Every other NBC News show from the mainstay TODAY to Nightly and including other News Now ones like Top Story, Stay Tuned, etc. you can stream on-demand on either YouTube, NBC.com, Peacock, or via Podcast. I get Daily is a bit unique in that there's 4 separate hours but nobody is saying you have to save all 4 of them, like already Nightly is only the West Coast edition on demand so like just pick one of the 4 hours and make that the on demand version.

For the CBS owned stations, I think comes down to a lack of budget and the resulting lack of identity. CBS O&Os historically have spent less than their ABC and NBC counterparts leaving them with fewer resources. To play catchup stations like WCBS and WBBM have gone through numerous rebrandings. From a corporate standpoint, CBS has undervalued the "presentation" portion of TV news which has been reflected in the way they fund their local stations. They live in the Walter Cronkite era of storytelling. Admirable? Sure. But television is a visual medium and newscasts are built on a relationship with the viewer. I don't feel like CBS has ever truly embraced either of those things. The lack of investment was easier to hide in the 70s and 80s because everyone's presentation was crude. But as technology has evolved, CBS always seems to be playing catch-up. When Jeff Zucker cut NBC budgets in the early 2000s, WNBC went into their "WCBS era" where they lacked identity and money. The NBC O&O group launched Daily Connection which was a "newscast" that featured repurposed content from across NBCU properties. The pieces of the show were assembled in NYC and then fed to stations to be produced with local talent. (Sound similar to the equally generic CBS News Now broadcast from Texas?) Cost efficient? You bet. Compelling tv? Not at all. WNBC eliminated Live at Five in favor of News4You and Extra. When that didn't work, WNBC played musical chairs with timeslots, anchors, and formats for years. WNBC their newsroom into a "Content Center" which was nothing more than a gimmick, like the gimmick WCBS tried in launching the short-lived CBS 2 Information Network. It was during this time when WCBS was able to move up to #2, not because Channel 2 was doing anything particularly compelling but because they offered stability where WNBC didn't. Valari Staab, formerly with the ABC O&O group, has spent over a decade rebuilding the newsgathering resources of the NBC group. New radar technology, studios, increased digital resources, heck even new buildings have been added. CBS meanwhile appears to continue the "more with less" mantra that has been in place for over 40 years. While NBC was rebuilding, the ABC stations, with their well-defined local identities, have steamrolled everyone with a consistent and well-funded product. Meanwhile the FOX O&O group, with seemingly endless hours of local news, generates strong local revenue. What has CBS done? Slapped the last-place 'CBS News' brand onto their local stations. Most of the CBS stations lack the type of true community investment it takes to be a strong player. With audiences for linear TV newscasts continuing to shrink, one could argue it Is way too late for them to catch up.

Didn't know where else to post this. Does anyone follow the news in New Zealand? The soon-to-be-defunct Newhub and its competition 1 NEWS New Zealand are aesthetically gorgeous. Would love for CNN to implement these looks for either Newsroom or News Central. New Zealand and Australia are the two countries I've seen whose news production is greater than or equal to that of the US. Does anyone know the set designer? Newshub (bottom pic taken from a 1 News story on them). This is very CNN with the color scheme. Love the slanted desks and the sloped single monitors. Reminds me of the National Telemundo set. This would also work really well on an NBC O&O with a blue and white color scheme. Thanks to ATL NEWS Expert for putting me on to this outlet. 1 News NZ. Love the Amazon Alexa looking desk.

WGN doing a beautiful job with Skilling's last show.... Unveiled the "Tom Skilling Weather Center", Mark Suppelsa, Dan Roan, Steve Sanders, and a ton more filling the weather center right now along with Skilling's family. And of course, Skilling has to introduce and tell a story about everyone in the room.

KDKA, WJZ, WCCO come to mind. Does anyone have a pulse on WBZ or KTVT? I agree with your previous hypothesis that the CBS O&O format might have some merit. Does not help that Evening News and Mornings do not provide much of a support to any of the CBS affiliates.

I don’t think CBS is gonna add a midday newscast anytime soon. Looks like they are doing more recorded hours on CBS News Streaming. If anything I can see them adding to streaming before broadcast network. Even then do a simulcast like NBC

This. Houston is a great example where the CBS affiliate historically struggled behind ABC and NBC stations until Oprah bolstered them into a competitive and then (although brief) a market leader. WFAA's lead in Dallas started to slip when Oprah ended her show. Outside of that, it was always puzzling to me why CBS News and CBS stations generally performed so badly despite having the dominating entertainment division.

So this must be part of the 'big changes' Andrea teased the bosses were making. Such a shame to move Dana (and Dick too) off that desk, these bosses ought to be ashamed of themeselves. This seems reminiscent of when Bill Carey re-assigned Kaity and Jim, or when Sue Simmons was forced out at WNBC. Terrible moves this week overall. I think these changes will alienate lots of WCBS viewers. But I would think if they are making these changes, ratings must not be good.

Moved to P+ is not the same as cancelled outright but yeah. I thought the same. Maybe Y&R moves to 1 and CBS turns 12:30-1 over to affiliates or starts a “CBS Daytime News”.

So, how are local newscasts on various CBS affiliates (not the O&Os), anyway? How are the newscasts on Hearst's KCCI and WLKY? What about Graham's WKMG? Scripps's WTKR, WTVR, WTVF, and MTN stations? Tegna's WBNS, KHOU, KFMB, etc? Weigel's WDJT? The many affiliates owned by Sinclair, Nexstar, and Gray? (I'm particularly interested in Gray's WFSB and Sinclair's WGME.)

WWSI looks like they're on a temp setup of some sort

That's what was the Telemundo 62 studio. I'm guessing WCAU is getting a new/refreshed set.

Bad news for those calling for Y&R to get cancelled.

Posting here because of the talk about what CBS should do. The Young and the Restless has been renewed through 2028: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/the-young-and-the-restless-renewed-cbs-1235924102/

Ironically, the Nielsen boxes are only in the city & county of Denver regardless of how much KCNC covers, though CBS knows this. My frustration that the Denver DMA really could and should be split into two markets it's too unwieldy to reasonably be covered by Denver stations.

They wouldn't launch 'The Bulletin' with Wolf if the show is Pamela's. Honesty, they may not launch 'The Bulletin' at all if they're looking to cut cost and same some $$$. That said, I wouldn't be surprised when Pamela comes back, they stick with 'CNN Newsroom with...' Glad that News Central didn't get reduced to 2 hrs. No reason to do so given it performs well (relatively speaking). Since a rotation of people isn't anchoring the 11A hr., it makes sense to add Wolf's name even if the show is just a placeholder. I see it as being consistent across the board more than anything.

Late to the party, so CNN will have News CENTRAL and NewsROOM now? It's clear that NewsCentral will be the main dayside brand but how will this differ from Newsroom? I'm glad to see Newsroom still around but I'm surprised they didn't just MSNBC it and unite all of dayside headline coverage under one brand.

Thank you for clarifying that the WNBC situation was budget cuts. I wondered why they would wreck their solid news product in the mid-2000s, for all the crap you listed coupled with a sub par studio and worse graphics. News 4 really improved in 2012! I do however appreciate that CBS O&Os don't have a billion hours of news compared to their counterparts.

All good lol (And in fairness, man do those colors look ugly…) I think you nailed it. I’ll continue to give CBS credit for launching the best/most watchable local streaming newscasts, but even aspects of that whole endeavor (like CBS News Now) were seemingly done on the cheap. I would just add that Paramount’s current financial situation probably isn’t helping either. IIRC, the O&Os were hit with layoffs in June and December, and CBS News laid off 20 people this month as part of company-wide layoffs.

As for why CBS O&Os are struggling, I just think many of them lost their identity.

By mayoral proclamation, today is Tom Skilling Day in Chicago, in honor of his 72nd birthday & next week's retirement.

That's pretty damn special. Well deserved, Tom.

Taking Dana Tyler off of the anchor desk. Not a fan of this at all.

B&C states that WCBS is making a big change to its 6pm broadcast. Dana Tyler & Dick Brennan will depart from their 6pm anchor roles at the end of March. Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson (who anchors the 5 & 11) will take over the 6pm duties.

Huge bombshell out of New Zealand this morning (evening over there) as Warner Brothers Discovery announced proposals to completely SHUTDOWN "Three NewsHub", newsroom, all newscasts (6pm and late), everything, putting up to 300 employees at risk of loosing their jobs. The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand has called this move a "disaster" for New Zealand's democracy, as it leaves 1News as the only national TV news operation in New Zealand, however the reaction from the rest of the government has been minimal. Also effected is the broadcast on "Sky Open", "News First at 5:30" which is produced by Newshub.

I don’t mean to offend, but I really don’t understand why this bothers people. They’re not my favorite colors either, but we’re talking about Pittsburgh here. Sure, there are better ways to execute the black and gold look, but is it so bad that a station’s visual identity reflects the city it serves?