nycnewsjunkie

Awful Announcing reports that in 2023, CBS will keep its 3:30pm SEC window to fulfill its remaining broadcast commitments to that conference. CBS’ final year of the SEC will be concurrent with their first year of Big Ten football.

I actually didn’t realize that about the combined cost, so I stand corrected. And I completely agree that those games aren’t being “banished” at all, even though (at least until those streaming services see further growth) the ratings for those games will be lower than those on, say, ESPN, it still beats being tied to cable for all of it. Live sports should substantially increase subscriptions to those services, and a relatively small player like Peacock could definitely use the boost.

It’s a shame they relegated John Elliott to weekends. He actually brought some gravitas to the morning show that was (and is) sort of lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against Chris, Mary, and Elise, but they would be just as serviceable in any other time slot given how generic WCBS is these days. As for “CBS News New York Now,” WLNY isn’t even acknowledged in the title, and the bulk of the newscast is just called “Now.” Keep in mind, this is a cheap revenue generator disguised as a local newscast, and it’s not meant to be competitive or local. The title’s a mouthful, but it’s not like anyone’s watching. Finally, a set and video wall do not a good newscast make. In general, CBS stations in their comparatively smaller markets (Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Baltimore) tend to perform better than their larger sister stations due to having consistency, personality, and recognizable faces. Their larger stations have slick presentation, but there is absolutely nothing notable or original about their newscasts. And the ratings prove it. Here’s hoping the new 9am hour with Cindy changes that perception. She’s well-deserving of the promotion given what she’s been through, and it looks like she’ll be bringing some originality to the 9am hour.

That seems like the most likely outcome, given the gradual increase in news hours at WABC (and all the other stations for that matter.) WNBC does that right now with Maria LaRosa (morning), Dave Price (midday/4pm), and Janice Huff (night), and I’m surprised it’s taken this long for WABC to follow suit. Also, it allows for more flexibility on days when Sam Champion is either working for the network or down in Miami.

That’s true…until you realize that you’ll have to pay for both Paramount+ and Peacock, in addition to the existing streaming services you pay for to watch non-sports programming (Amazon, Disney+, Netflix, etc.) In many cases, it will add up to $60 a month anyway. Price is becoming less of a factor when it comes to streaming services; saying that these streaming services are “affordable” is somewhat true compared to most cable services, but that’s a bit of a stretch for a lot of people. The real advantage with streaming services is that you aren’t tied down to a contract like cable/satellite, so you can cancel when the season’s over without extra fees.

Sorry if I didn’t make myself clear, but Ros Atkins is a journalist at the BBC, not a talk show host. That said, I generally agree. I’m not a talk show person, but I can appreciate that Oprah really built up a successful show with a large audience during her era. I don’t think any of the more established personalities have come close, and the demand for that kind of show has decreased. I’m sure Jennifer Hudson, for example, will do fine, but she won’t garner the audience she might have ten years ago. The only comparison to these shows on the local level are pay-for-play shows, but those are about as interesting as watching paint dry imo.

Hopefully it at least looks better than what they have now. The current studio is big, but it has lots of wasted space and it even looked a bit outdated when it was new. The set it replaced was small, but it at least looked better imho.

Per FTVLive, WHBQ Chief Meteorologist Joey Sulipeck is out. He had been suspended by the station after making racial remarks toward Draymond Green on social media. The move comes shortly after Imagicomm’s takeover of the station from Cox.

From the looks of that press release, Dice will continue his work a corporate pilot while being on staff as an occasional contributor. This expansion isn’t as crazy as it looks. Given that Alabama (and Tupelo, for that matter) can be tornado-heavy during the summer, having extra meteorologists on staff can’t be a bad thing. I find it notable that stations around the country seem to be expanding their staff of meteorologists as of late, though I guess it’ll take time for many people to get used to. For instance, when WABC expanded to five meteorologists, people immediately jumped to the conclusion that someone was leaving.

So Fox and CBS essentially keep their current prime college football windows, while NBC gets back into college football (not counting Notre Dame) for the first time in ages. And I’m sure ESPN is more than happy with their monopoly on the SEC. Speaking of Notre Dame, one must wonder what the future of their program will be in light of these new TV deals. With the increasing consolidation occurring in college football, I imagine ND will link up with a conference (most likely the Big Ten) sooner than later. EDIT: It’s also worth noting how the costs of these rights have increased. If the networks are willing to shell out more money for games that aren’t as strong, it shows that the networks need the sports leagues more than the sports leagues need them.

My dad has fond memories of that “behind the bag” sequence, and Vin’s call made it really special. Of course, there was also his call of Hank Aaron’s home run record. The Braves just happened to be playing the Dodgers that night, and even though he was the announcer on the opposing team, he knew the gravity of the moment.

KYW launched those with their new set. Given the projected fall launch and the fact that we’ve just hit August, it makes sense that they’re all starting to transition now.

Come to think of it, that might partially explain the shift to being commentator-heavy. Talking-head programs can’t be that expensive to produce. All you need is one person with an opinion, a reasonable backdrop, some guests that will appear on any network that throws cash at them, and you have a show. Why fill your schedule with original documentaries, international news coverage, or investigative specials when you can generate more revenue with talking heads? And while Nexstar will certainly be paying the stars of such talk programs generously, their salaries will likely pale in comparison to the Carlsons and Maddows of the world. Not to mention, some of those personalities aren’t even exclusive to NewsNation. I remember reading a quote from Perry Sook from a conference call regarding the Tribune acquisition. This was his statement on Tribune’s management of WGN America (via Deadline) This was in reference to WGN America cancelling nearly all of its expensive original programming in favor of cheaper syndicated reruns. This should’ve been an indicator that Sook wanted his new cable network to generate revenue on the cheap, rather than investing in expensive programming to draw eyeballs. Now, Nexstar not only invests in cheap programs; they invest in cheap programs that they own. Horrible move for journalism, but smart business move for a cable network that few were (or are) watching.

I completely agree, and I would certainly hang on to local identities at the top-rated stations if I were running the joint. That said, Wendy McMahon isn’t exactly a stranger to this industry. I imagine that if CBS really is going full-Macy’s, she and the rest of the management team have taken all of this into account. Local stations in Canada used to identify with channel numbers like their American counterparts. However, as the national networks in that country expanded their footprint, the local stations began identifying by their network, rather than “Channel X.” Even though leading stations like CFCF, CHAN, and CFTO dumped their longtime monikers, they still lead their respective markets, and they also contribute to the success of their networks’ national news operations. If I had to guess, CBS concluded that at worst, standardizing their stations’ brands won’t change their current ratings positions. Granted, these moves would not be “innovations” or ratings game-changers by any means. KYW, WFOR, and WBBM aren’t going to shoot to first place because of a brand change, and it’s unlikely that KDKA, WCCO, and WJZ will drop to last. However, standardizing station identities could give a relatively weak national news brand (CBS News) a much-needed boost. And besides, with the growth of streaming, people don’t tune in to “Channel X” anymore. They tune to the network. Will it work? Dumping established identities risks throwing away a station’s legacy, and established local stations usually help boost the national network (see WRAL.) However, if people are tuning into WJZ/KDKA/etc and turning off when the Evening News comes on, that doesn’t really help CBS. I highly doubt it will change anything at all on the local level, but there’s a chance it will improve the reputation and ratings of their national morning and evening news programs. Time will tell.

I have a feeling that the WGN people knew what they were doing when they put in the “embarrassingly bad soundbite.” FWIW, it’s getting the amount of attention it deserves: a whopping 13 likes. I don’t know if anyone here works at a Nexstar station or knows someone who does, but I’d be curious to know how local newsrooms feel about promoting this garbage. One small problem: that title’s been taken for Jeffrey Toobin’s new show on NewsNation. Harsh joking aside, given that they’re now going after every creep and talking head reject out there, it wouldn’t even shock me if they tried to hire Toobin, or even someone like Matt Lauer, and dump more fuel on this dumpster fire. The real journalists at that network can’t get out of there fast enough.

That announcement was so interesting that I forgot to watch it. And so did pretty much everyone else.

Caught this interesting tidbit from tonight’s 7pm news on WFOR. The open transitions into a “Next Weather” intro, with “CBS News Miami” branding. Complete absence of “CBS4” in that weather intro too. Alright, you’ve all convinced me. The local identities are likely going away. FullSizeRender.mov

They probably won’t rebrand as “X’s NewsCenter” or “X News Now,” but I could see the Peoria operation rebranded as “21 News,” as both ABC and NBC are on WPTA now. I don’t know if Gray has been doing the same “consolidation via attrition” strategy in Duluth, but if they are, I imagine they’ll do something similar and take the name of the stronger newscast (KBJR I assume.) I agree with your sentiments of everything being boring and cookie-cutter, but they already do this now. Everything has been consolidated under the same umbrella for a while, and I don’t think having different studios and anchor teams changes that. Besides, the content is pretty much the same anyway. Gray doesn’t want to spend on different studios, anchors, etc. to put out essentially the same newscast from the same news department with the facade of looking different. It makes financial sense to consolidate everything under the stronger news brand (25 News) than to spend on a facade. It might actually drive more viewers to the ABC station. I imagine more people watch “25 News” than “Heart of Illinois News” even though they’re both from the same operation. Ideally, I would rather the two stations have completely different newscasts, staff, newsrooms, identities, etc., but we sadly don’t live in that world anymore.

I’m not sure if the Saudi-backed LIVGolf has been discussed on this forum yet, but I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread on the subject. There have been several high-profile golfers that have left the PGA Tour and joined LIV after being offered large sums to do so. While LIV has a stated goal of growing and revolutionizing the game of golf, its Saudi government ownership has raised concerns over sportswashing, given Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. Despite a lack of global TV partners, LIVGolf has already signed some high-profile voices in the broadcast world. Arlo White, Jerry Foltz, and David Feherty are just some of the people that have already joined the the LIV Tour as broadcasters. Now, two other well-known voices are in talks with LIV about broadcast roles: Former CBS broadcaster Gary McCord is in talks with LIVGolf CEO Greg Norman for the 2023 season. He’s expressed particular interest in working with Feherty, as well as Charles Barkley. Speaking of which… In an even bigger shock, Charles Barkley confirmed on the Dan Patrick Show that he was considering a role with LIV after they reached out to him. LIV has not yet made an offer to Barkley, but when asked if he were offered triple his current earnings from TNT and endorsement deals, Barkley stated he would accept the offer. Barkley is set to play in the upcoming LIVGolf pro-am, and has given the group until this Thursday to make him an offer.

They got 1.52 million for the championship game, and about 715k on average. Not superb, but not bad for a startup league. Also, they finished the season, which is more than could be said for the AAF/XFL. And they’re renewed for a second season.

I’ve come around to thinking this way myself, but in all likelihood, station groups will continue to add newscasts for the time being. The amount of ad revenue they generate will be attractive to station owners, and they don’t yet see the implications of overworking the staff. There has to be some sort of breaking point for this expansion, but I don’t see it happening yet. If they don’t slash the non-core time-slots entirely, I’d like to see stations do news differently in those time slots. I’d love to see a local Ros Atkins-type analysis show at 4pm, where major stories are broken down/explained, and multiple perspectives are examined. I actually give Tegna a bit of credit for trying alternative newscasts in certain time slots at KUSA and KTVB. I personally wish they would focus more on analysis instead of commentary/opinion, and Kyle Clark can come across as being a bit arrogant at times, but the format seems to work, at least at those stations. Plus, they relieve the pressure on the rest of the staff and make the station stand out. I don’t think they have to revive “Bozo the Clown” or anything, but it would be refreshing to see local stations produce their own content. The way the TV market is going, they might just need to in order to stay relevant. The networks are prioritizing streaming, and the affiliates have become a secondary concern (Ex: CBS was willing to leave top-rated WRAL for basement-dweller WNCN just so they could receive reverse compensation.) Producing local programming other than news and the generic pay-for-play crap would at least be a step in making stations more relevant in their own communities again.

The better-performing newscasts on the non-CBS stations aren’t going anywhere. That goes for WPCW’s 10pm news and all newscasts on KCAL 9. I’m pleasantly surprised that WSBK kept their 8pm, which makes sense since they’re the only Boston station carrying news at that hour.

So we’ve officially gone from “all facts, no opinion” to “here’s every rejected, big-mouth talk show host with an opinion that didn’t even attract good ratings on the big networks. Also, Blue Bloods.” Social media sycophants do not create credibility. If that’s the case, then you might as well say that Alex Jones is a credible journalist because people like him on social media. It should not be surprising that Chris Cuomo’s social media comments are filled with people who could care less about journalistic ethics. Twitter has a block button, and it would not surprise me if Chris uses it. As for Megyn Kelly, she has under 500k subs on YouTube. That’s respectable, but compared to other current affairs channels out there, it pales in comparison. If she can’t generate more subscribers on YouTube despite her fame, she won’t magically generate viewers for a network with distribution/content/editorial/behind the scenes issues from the beginning. Long story short, Nexstar will spend 8 figures to make 7. Oh well.

While they’re at it, they might as well throw some ads on the headline ticker, since they aren’t using it for, you know, headlines.

Probably because they’re putting it on stations that were pulling zeros the ratings even when they had actual newscasts (and not, say, KCAL.) This newscast is not good, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s cheap by design. It’s there for the ad revenue, not public service. Unfortunate, but that’s the way the business has gone. FWIW, Detroit’s situation should be somewhat rectified when they launch their own news department, so they probably won’t be outsourcing the local segments for long. I doubt this is CBS’ idea of a new news operation. It should be noted that we were all wrong when we called this a rebrand, which it isn’t. It’s a completely different program. Mea culpa.