jmkcool2002

Check this out. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/25/george-stephanopoulos-wins-abc-s-chief-anchor-crown-where-does-his-promotion-leave-david-muir.html

 

I know its been over 4 months since David Muir has taken over WNT, but I was thinking and found something interesting. When Diane was anchor, we would often see George file reports on WNT, often on politics. Now obviously a lot has changed from Diane to David, George now Chief Anchor and David now anchor of WNT. But except for election night and maybe the night before it, I don't think we've seen George on WNT at all. I just find this interesting. I can understand, with all his titles not filling in for David like he did sometimes for Diane, but we don't see him at all on WNT. I would think that maybe they would want him on every once in a while to almost advertise GMA or This Week but not even. I wonder, if David is off and there is huge news, do they have Amy or Tom fill in or do they choose George. I guess as we have had to do for 4 months, we will have to wait for it to happen to know. Nothing of what I just said is new news, I guess I just find it interesting and wanted to share my thoughts.

 

If I had to guess, we will probably see George show up on WNT a little as the Election 2016 approaches but not for a while.

 

In terms of the set up between George and David, 4 months in, I have to say, I like what they are doing. I just hope they announce the anchor(s) of WNT Weekend soon.

 

I agree. But I think there is definitely an unspoken divide at ABC between George and David. I don't think they hate one another but there's definitely competition. Unless Ginger or Marciano are on WNT or David is appearing the next day or they have a big interview, you never hear GMA promoted on WNT. The same goes for GMA or whenever George anchors a special report. Even when you watch advertisements promoting David and George or watch them interact, it feels like a competition.

With that being said, I believe they mutually respect each other and mutually understand each person's place in the network's strategy. But eventually, Muir is going to force ABC's hand. It won't happen until the 2020 or 2024 election but it'll happen because Muir could easily take over as lead anchor at any other station with the exception of Fox if he doesn't get what he wants at ABC. It will leave George with a Sawyer-type of role on ABC or another outlet. But that's a long time down the road.

I definitely agree that I love seeing George anchor special reports. He has Jennings' composure, innate intelligence and exudes leadership. I'm sure David is capable of the same but he doesn't have the knowledge George has yet since he hasn't been in the national scene as long. At the same time, Muir has grown into WNT and it is definitely his forte. Muir is actually more stiff than George so he wouldn't fit on GMA whereas in George's case, GMA has brought out another side of him. If it wasn't for BriWi's popularity, Muir would be number 1.

 

Happy to say Diane is back tonight with a report on WNT. https://twitter.com/behindnynews/status/558772506991927296

 

Yup. She'll also be on Nightline tonight. It's part of a partnership with Nick Kristoff and PBS to promote his new documentary on human trafficking. ABC News' Facebook page posted a clip of the documentary on their site. Nice strategy by PBS (which typically works with CBS through Charlie Rose) and Kristoff to use ABC News to promote their documentary on all fronts.

 

And finally my response:

 

https://twitter.com/rkolsen/status/554607089654697985

 

I guess the station didn't want to hamper the news starting a half hour earlier with a footnote stations the 7AM newscast is a goner. Come to think of it I believe this is the first time in a long time that they've cancelled a newscast. It seems like they are always adding, first the 7AM weekday show, then the weekday 10PM news, extending the 10PM new to run on weekend and finally a 4:30AM start time.

 

In other news they are using a different voice over guy. It's still the same script but it's not Bill Ratner. I've heard this guy do various promos for the station and several short notice voice over packages (like last years Columbia mall shooting). The fact that it's a short turnaround makes me suspect they aw using one of their radio personalities to do voice overs.

 

Baltimore is not a big enough market to support two local morning shows and the national morning shows, something was going to give eventually. It makes more sense to start at 4:30 on the main station than air an extra newscast at 7am on a subchannel, especially when anyone who wants to watch WBAL local news at 7am can watch it on Comcast On Demand. If they had gone for a more local feel like the Fox O&Os morning shows, they could've pulled a better rating.

On another note, does anyone know if Hearst owns Vuz TV or Buzz60? I see a lot of their videos on the websites of Hearst local affiliates.

 

ABC is the majority owner of The View. Bill Geddie sold all of his stake to ABC while Barbara sold all but 17% of her stake in the show. There was an article on it last summer while rumors were swirling of cast changes. So the chances that The View moves to another network are none.

 

ABC does not own/produce The Rachael Ray show, so they wouldn't have the ability to cancel the show.

 

Walters and Geddie could still take the concept elsewhere. And ABC could simply drop the show from their O&O's lineups.

My predictions:

1. The View gets cancelled in 2016 and/or is moved to another network. - The show's ratings aren't as bad as press reports are making it out to be. They're on par with last year's ratings. It's hard for a show which mostly talks politics to excel during a year when politics are not at the forefront of the conversation right now. Let's also not forget that media disparity is at an all time high. There are so many more choices at 11 a.m. now than there were in Rosie's heyday during her first stint with the show.

Despite all of these factors, I think because Sherwood is taking over as head honcho of ABC and his favor-ability lies with GMA, "The View" will get cancelled or go on a hiatus. The network will wait until late 2015 or early 2016 to cancel it. I think it could possibly move to another broadcast network, cable or even syndication. Barbara Walters wouldn't let the show die just because ABC wants it to. I think NBC and Lifetime would be the early favorites.

2. "GAA" moves to 2pm, "The Chew" to 11am - Lara Spencer and 2 other co-hosts (round robin of contributors) will lead the show. I think "GAA" would probably rate on par with "The View" or perhaps a little better. I believe they beat "The Talk" while they were competing against one another back in 2012. It also helps ABC News in case major breaking news happens. If it's breaking news that the cable networks are going wall-to-wall with but the network doesn't want to preempt programming for, ABC News would have the 2pm hour to itself. I remember "GAA" covering the Colorado movie shooting extensively with ABC News reporters during the first half hour and "GMA" type contributors like psychologists and detectives during the second half hour.

3. "Live" is not joining "GMA" - Syndication money is too lucrative, Strahan/Ripa's paychecks are much better from syndication than they are from the network. Unless the network cancels "Rachael Ray," I don't foresee them moving "Live" to 10 a.m. Ray isn't that well-rated but she's not bad enough to cancel either + her show is cheap + she's a symbol of ABC and Scripps' cordial relationship + there is no one available to replace her which would be higher rated (unless they added another hour of "GMA" but that would mean the network getting another hour from affiliates which I doubt they'd be willing to give up.)

Whether all this comes to pass or not, what I do know for sure is that some way, some how, ABC is going to introduce another hour of "GMA." They recently cancelled "GMA Live" on Yahoo! and I imagine that they did so to get staffers prepared for another new show.

 

Ginger said on Instagram that she was sick all last week, but feeling better now. As for Rob being a part of the parade, I wouldn't count it out. I haven't heard who will replace Josh Elliott on the telecast, though I assume ESPN will still produce.

 

SportsCenter's John Anderson, who co-hosts alongside Hannah Storm during ESPN's coverage of the NYC Marathon, will co-host the Rose Parade on ABC.

Did you guys see this tweet? https://twitter.com/RobinRoberts/status/506935160072585216

What is Robin Roberts announcing?

- A new talk show? This has been rumored for a while and she's denied it in the past. Maybe she replaces Katie Couric and is paired up with Tyra Banks' new TV show which is launching in 2015? ABC stealing NBC's daytime strategy of pairing stars together (Vieira, Harvey and Ellen)?

- An inspirational television show or a game show on cable which is taped and aired at a later date?

- The new host of "America's Funniest Home Videos"?

- A judge on "Dancing with the Stars"?

- A new inspirational website/YouTube channel which is powered by Disney's newest acquisition, Maker Studios? Maybe Disney acquires Soul Pancake and makes Robin Roberts the face of the YouTube channel?

- Castmate on "The View"? She'll bring her feel-good personality to the show and make Rosie more likable? It'll be difficult for her to participate in political discussions since she anchors "GMA" but she would be a good fit.

- A stint with ESPN on the side? She hosted a ESPNW web show last year so maybe that show expands to television and maybe she gets to do SportsCenter sometimes?

Do you guys think Lara Spencer as "co-host" is just a title or is she equal to Robin and George? I think it's just a title. I mean, she's the head sub when George or Robin or gone but when they're there she's just another cast member.

ABC News Tonight as the new name?

 

A few things:

Amy did the briefing this afternoon in a Special Report, So, I still don't understand how the Special Reports fit in with the new deal. I thought it was only for Davivd and George. Or, can any anchor from GMA/ WNT/WNN do them?

 

As for the new WNT opens: I'm shocked that ABC News would leak/post it online for the world to see before they debut it on air!

 

WNT came back less than 15min ago The music sounded a little different for the ABC News ID however, the rest of the open sounded like the same music. The graphics are the same, but with the WNT title . Amy mentioned that David will be back on "World News" on Monday so, I don't know what that means for WNT.

 

George will do the most special Special Reports, election night coverage, political conventions, breaking news coverage. In the case of breaking news, if George isn't in the building expect Muir or another anchor to begin the coverage until they can get George in.

Today's Special Report featuring a normal Presidential presser wasn't that important especially since Obama has done so many in the last couple of weeks. But if this was a primetime address, I would expect George to be right there at the center of the helm.

Lester Holt and Maurice DuBois, Williams and Pelley's lead substitutes also anchored today's special report which tells you the importance of today's presser at the WH. It was important enough to break in to the schedule at 4pm but not important enough to bring in the top dogs because nothing major occurred.

USA Today is partnering with Gannett's TV stations to start an SEC website. I wonder if this will continue when the split goes into effect.

http://jmanmediazone.blogspot.com/2014/08/usa-today-launches-sec-hub-spanning-sec.html

 

What new 24-hour network?

 

We'll know soon enough who Matt's successor is when Willie Geist's contract is up. There's no way he signs unless he's guaranteed the seat next to Savannah.

If NBC decides to not give him the seat, Geist could just as easily jump to CBS and continue his dad's legacy on that network. Geist could help jumpstart CBS' new 24-hour network, become a "60 Minutes" and/or CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, sub in on the Evening News and even serve as Charlie Rose's heir on CTM which Chris Licht (former Morning Joe producer) produces. Darkhouse? "The View" on ABC which Bill Wolfe is producing now.

Carson Daly has a radio empire and "The Voice" and I doubt he'll leave that for Matt's seat although I wouldn't be surprised to see him quit "Last Call" soon. Josh Elliott wasn't lying when he said he came to NBC to join their sports department. He's doing features for SNF and will be Bob Costas' heir to the Olympics throne (hosting the Youth Olympics on NBCSN).

The only legitimate replacement I see for Matt outside of Willie Geist is a big celebrity who doesn't have news chops but can bring up ratings. But that would go against the strategy "Today" has been using as of late, going newsy at 7 a.m. up to 8 a.m. (unless Savannah anchored solo throughout the 7 a.m. hour but that wouldn't make sense either). And to be honest, I can't think of who that celebrity would be.

Another thing they could do is make Al Roker co-anchor but let Natalie and Savannah handle hard news interviews while Roker sticks to reading transitions to news stories, trendy newsmaker interviews (for example the mother who just delivered 20 babies etc.), and the weather of course. But that too would be weird.

Maybe they move Natalie up to co-anchor? I don't think that would work though because Natalie and Savannah don't really have a sisterly bond like say Hoda/Kathie Lee or Diane and Robin. The only same gender co-anchors I could see working out are Hoda and Savannah but who knows if Hoda has any interest in waking up earlier or if she would be willing to host both the 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. hours or if she could be taken seriously because of how much fun she has during the 10 a.m. hour. Unlike Natalie and Ann Curry, Hoda Kotb can adapt to any situation on television which she's in.

So basically to make a long story short, bottomline is that's Willie Geist's seat.

 

Not to be anal about the piece that you wrote but you mentioned that NBC is within a few thousand viewers of GMA and looking through ratings reports I can't find a period other than the Olympics in which the gap between number 1 and 2 has been fewer than 500,000-600,000, this past week the gap was nearly a million.

 

Thanks for the correction

I just wrote about this here: http://jmanmediazone.blogspot.com/2014/05/could-katie-couric-be-headed-back-to.html

There's no way Couric replaces Guthrie even if she brings the ratings up, NBC has already learned their lesson about uprooting talent. Guthrie is the future of the show.

How long would Couric and Lauer honestly be able to do that nosebleed time slot if she were named anchor? Don't forget she's a Yahoo employee now and they don't want anything that would be harmful to that position.

She'll most likely become a contributor with her own segment weekly and it'll be interspersed with her Yahoo shows somehow.

CBS This Morning is a TERRIFIC show! Very different from the other two shows and also really unique. Unless Charlie or Gayle decide to leave because they've had enough of the dreaded morning shift, I think this team will be here to stay for at least 3 more years. CBS This Morning needs to make a name for itself through interviews with the 2014 and 2016 candidates. Getting a deal with BuzzFeed Brews helps but CTM needs to bring a lot more politicians into the studio to get grilled. This is how Morning Joe made their name.

I wonder if the CTM/BuzzFeed partnership is the start of a continuing partnership between the 2 companies. Maybe CBS News' digital service which will be launching this year will include BuzzFeed as a content producer?

Rumor has it according to the NYP that Stephanapolous could take over "MTP" on NBC. They say his contract expires in January but most media outlets have said that his contract runs through 2014. I guess time will tell what happens.