TSSZNews

Remember when NBC threatened to (and effectively did by way of building WBTS) yank HDH's affiliation when they didn't want the Jay Leno show at 10? Good times.

They've already debuted pieces of the new look in topicals - looks to be Linear Drift.

I assume it's a remix of a theme from the 80s because anyone still using a taxicab in NYC may still be living in said decade.

There are for sure cost efficiencies with group packages, but I would argue it's largely because of all the equipment driving them - remember for the most part that too has to be standardized. If you think about it, that's where stations are finding savings. FOX with Chyron, NBC and ABC with Ross, etc. I guess my point is that if you're doing a group package right, you're finding ways to affird localization opportunities so it doesn't get stolid or boring. Keep the design language consistent across the group, but having local flavors that can sometimes go beyond just swapping a photo or video in the open -- maybe a color palette change like KYW, for example - at least shows you have some boots on the ground paying attention. I agree; most probably don't care if stations share a lower third. But I bet if a station's group main opens can showcase the market and demonstrate some care and consideration into it, it could go a long way. That's what makes me really interested to see how WPVI interprets the ABC group package. If anyone has latitude to distill what is a fairly formulaic open down to its core design language and keep the heart of what's made their locally grown anthem open successful for, what, 50 years now--it's them.

I sort of disagree with this take. There are many purposes of a group package, and one of them is for viewers to identify with the group's product throughout the country. If your hometown news has a certain feel and familiarity, and you go move or travel to another market and see that similar feel and familiarity, you're more likely to watch them. It's not a conscious thought - in that sense, nobody truly "cares" - but it's less about caring and more about easily identifying a source of (in your view) trusted information in unfamiliar territory. That especially starts to matter when you have the 100+ station deep groups, but it's just as important for the "smaller" O&O footprints as well. Otherwise, why bother with things like "CBS News (city name)"? Different groups are going to approach it differently.

I mean, half of LA spends half their day sitting in traffic, so it makes sense.

Three potential reasons for this: 1) The open is being generated live out of Ross. Like a Viz, there needs to be dedicated system resources for playback, and any video save for MP4 or the platform's preferred codec would be an enormous resource hog. 2) Video probably makes the whole canvas look too busy with everything else going on around the main frame. 3) Licensed stock stills are less expensive than video

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.

What good is that if you were the first to break the contract?

I would lean toward it being a part of Gari's custom POP TV theme. That cut borrows heavily from a theme on Image News. It was not totally uncommon for Gari to mish-mash themes from the US syndicated packages together for clients abroad - they did it for PRO TV too.

Wait until the ABC O&O graphics launch.

Yes, MUR needs to have something that's distinct from the main Hearst look used on WCVB so there isn't viewer confusion. Has been that way for 20+ years now.

Not true! When the 4p and 10p launched they announced the times in that show only. Anyway, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Jim's last show got a 79 share in Philly and 540,000 OTA viewers. The Eagles Super Bowl when they won got an 81. https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2022/12/22/jim-gardners-historic-action-news-swan-song.html

Heads up: The link above is broken because..."copy of Currents News V2" isn't great for SEO? Anyway, some context here: The client was presented with two "draft" looks to go into production - and that's the one that was chosen. It is what it is.

I can't wait for this thread to go years and years like the ABC O&O speculation.

Don’t worry guys - my friend (and his friend) and I will take care of him.

WLBT was definitely GO--although it looks very similar to the original MG group package work.

I suspect they'll bring in someone who will toe the corporate line. I say let 'em. The resulting TalkBack 16s will be legendary.

It's definitely happening. They're hiring staff for it.

There's one really big reason to keep weather coverage local - because local weather is the reason most people watch local news. The Weather Channel is still an OK resource for a quick check of things - it could be even better if the local opt-outs were more than just Intellistar and an on-screen crawl during severe weather. I'm old enough to remember when they did not GAF and ran warnings full screen. I imagine NBC had eyes toward a hybrid model utilizing the O&Os when they purchased The Weather Channel. Certainly few could have prognosticated a global pandemic when it was sold (I don't say none because a few scientists have said we were overdue for a while) but pandemics aren't permanent - and what may make sense for a single year won't otherwise. So the question becomes, do the savings realized from centralizing weather outweigh any loss from the overall product of local news not having a local WX presence? For the FOX stations, it might - I don't know many O&Os currently that have an enormous investment in WX save for maybe Tampa. But for other stations and other owned groups who have firm stakes in weather - and the talent and tech to back it - that decision is much more difficult.

I wouldn't...... ....Count On It.

Wonder if they shopped it to PHL 17 given the 10PM news success and they (unwisely) wanted to do their own thing instead.

You've seen it before, you just haven't realized it. That set is the "fishbowl" - the main newsroom and headquarters of CBS News in New York, used from Dan Rather in the 90s up until Scott Pelley and the Evening News moved into the current CBS This Morning studio next door. It's still their newsroom - but it got a remodel and is only sparingly used on air.

How is Lansing, the 110th DMA, capable of supporting a new news operation from Scripps, but we continue to wait for WSFL in Miami to get their act together for now almost a year?

Michelle Grossman, I believe, still occasionally freelances for NBC10. She was definitely on a couple weekend mornings ago.