Hometown News

For MSNBC, it might be that their opinion shows are hurting the brand of both the NBC network news and the affiliates' local news operations by association while no longer bringing in enough ratings to justify it. I'm just guessing, but I do recall reading years ago that FOX affiliates have complained about viewers confusing them with FOX News Channel, so it isn't a farfetched idea. I'm less sure what the strategy is with USA and CNBC. USA seems to just be a dumping ground now for the sporting events that used to air on NBCSN, so maybe they think they can just move all that content to Peacock and viewers will get used to it. There isn't an obvious replacement for CNBC and unlike the others, it's an international brand.

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.

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.

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 Ultimately, though, 24/7 cable news is an outdated model and I'm sure we'll eventually see FOX start to decline as well.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.

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.

Doesn't CBS still own Channel 5 in the UK and Network 10 in Australia? If I was running CBS, I might have tried importing series from those networks to fill the daytime lineup rather than commissioning a new soap that's probably going to fail.

Maybe not:

This is pretty common in other countries, including the UK, Canada, and Australia, so there's precedent for it.

I'm not sure giving up 10pm is such an apocalyptic scenario. Sure, it is a sign of weakness for the Big Three, and it is unfortunate that the timeslot will just be used to stretch local news departments even further when we're already overloaded with news on TV. But FOX and the CW (including its predecessors) have already been doing exactly this for decades and they're still around. I see it more as another step in the slow managed decline of linear TV than an instant disaster for the networks.

I'm a bit confused as to why the presence of a ticker is the metric for whether or not something counts as news. I don't recall tickers being commonplace on news channels until the 2000s. My guess is that they're being phased out because they're no longer necessary now that everyone has a smartphone with them at all times.

The red L3s they're using for anchors, reporters, and breaking news are slightly more inspired than the norm, but the plain white ones they're using for headlines and people they're interviewing are just the same tired stuff that everyone else is using. Overall, the new look is still better than their previous graphics, which were very cheap-looking for a top-10 market like the Bay Area.

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking this. This simplistic "flat design" look that literally every newscast has nowadays has run its course. It all looks the same.