FOX Dumps Shep for 'O'Reilly Factor' in Special Report Simulcast

[Big Country News 435]

During a FOX News Special Report, a simulcast of the FOX News Channel was aired. After 8:00 PM EST, during The Factor's normal air time, Shepard Smith came on and threw it to O'Reilly. Shep had been anchoring since the Special Report started, and usually anchors Prime-Time SR's. The fact that FOX gave it to The O'reilly Factor stuns me.

 

(And, yes the horrendous Factor graphics accompanied)

 

Why would they make this move?

[PTVNews 190]

KPTV (FOX affiliate) was simulcasting FNC but after 10 minutes or so of O'Reilly being on, they switched to simulcasting CNN. I don't blame them as I don't think FNC should have had O'Reilly on either. (But hey, they gotta please his loyal viewers!)

 

I think a lot of FOX station try to distance themselves as to not be confused with FNC. And actually, during this week KPTV has been simulcasting CNN much more than FNC.

 

As a side note, when KPTV simulcasts either network, it's not in HD! I don't get it. What was even more weird was that today when KPTV had FNC on, it was originally pretty good quality, but then they switched to to a feed that was extremely blurry. I noticed that the logo bug switched from nothing to the FNC.com logo. It just seems weird why that was. The quality was worse than SD. Unwatchable.

[Rusty Muck 4309]

I presume that it was because, at the start of the 8pm hour, Shep was probably in a position where he couldn't continue to anchor seperate coverage live from the scene. (It was still unknown as to if everyone's life was in peril with the bomber holed up in that boat, if he still had a plethora of weaponry, or was willing to blow himself up, so it could have been deference in the name of safety.)

 

That being said, I hope that this was a one-time occurrence. Usually Fox at least gives an effort to provide rolling coverage that's separate from FNC. But this also was highly unprecedented.

 

And note that during much of the hour, Fox/FNC also simulcast WFXT... like MSNBC - and later NBC and CNBC - simulcast WHDH. Now, given that networks like CNN suffered major credibility blows with horrendously inaccurate info throughout the week, it probably was in Fox and NBC's better interests to hand it over to the local affiliates.

 

Even more puzzling, at 9pm, WJW abruptly swapped out the FNC simulcast for what was the first 30 seconds or so of Kitchen Nightmares, then dumped that for the FNC simulcast. Error on Fox's end?

 

And all of FNC's L3s need a DNR waiver.

[mre29 1359]

While it wouldn't surprise me if O'Reilly has a clause in his contract that requires FNC to let him anchor his usual hour even for stuff like this, I'd have expected the simulcast to have ended at 8:00 with the broadcast side staying with Shep.

[A3N 996]

I hope that this was a one-time occurence. I presume that it was because, at the start of the 8pm hour, Shep was probably in a position where he couldn't anchor seperate coverage live from the scene. (It was still unknown as to if everyone's life was in peril with the bomber holed up in that boat, if he still had a plethora of weaponry, or was willing to blow himself up.)

 

And note that during much of the hour, Fox/FNC also simulcast WFXT... like MSNBC - and later NBC and CNBC - simulcast WHDH. Now, given that networks like CNN suffered major credibility blows with horrendously inaccurate info throughout the week, it probably was in Fox and NBC's better interests to hand it over to the local affiliates.

 

Even more puzzling, at 9pm, WJW abruptly swapped out the FNC simulcast for what was the first 30 seconds or so of Kitchen Nightmares, then dumped that for the FNC simulcast. Error on Fox's end?

 

And all of FNC's L3s need a DNR waiver.

Despite CNN's flub, B&C is reporting that CNN was leading the coverage on the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. Also, relying on local stations may not always work in the favor of the networks since anything can happen and the networks have little control over what to do. Case in point, Brian Williams tossed to coverage from NECN and 3 to 4 seconds into it someone could be heard saying sh*t live on air. Brian apologized to the viewers but I did not see coverage from NECN after that incident. Whatever local coverage NBC had was from WHDH and even then it was sporadic, mostly using video/live video and very little audio, mostly when someone was being interviewed.

[Rusty Muck 4309]

Despite CNN's flub, B&C is reporting that CNN was leading the coverage on the manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. Also, relying on local stations may not always work in the favor of the networks since anything can happen and the networks have little control over what to do. Case in point, Brian Williams tossed to coverage from NECN and 3 to 4 seconds into it someone could be heard saying sh*t live on air. Brian apologized to the viewers but I did not see coverage from NECN after that incident. Whatever local coverage NBC had was from WHDH and even then it was sporadic, mostly using video/live video and very little audio, mostly when someone was being interviewed.

CNN has had a recent sting of serious gaffes, including when the Sandy Hook massacre unfolded, and when the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act was issued (Fox shared in that moment of infamy). It's starting to become a disturbing trend that Jeff Zucker NEEDS to address ASAP.

 

As for local affiliates, I streamed WBZ for most of the week, and they were not only very respectable in their coverage, but they had additional live shots with CBS's Bob Orr and John Miller.

[A3N 996]

CNN has had a recent sting of serious gaffes, including when the Sandy Hook massacre unfolded, and when the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act was issued (Fox shared in that moment of infamy). It's starting to become a disturbing trend that Jeff Zucker NEEDS to address ASAP.

 

As for local affiliates, I streamed WBZ for most of the week, and they were not only very respectable in their coverage, but they had additional live shots with CBS's Bob Orr and John Miller.

It's sloppiness plain and simple, and one can almost guarantee that Zucker will make changes in response to these gaffes. I think that CBS and NBC had some of the best coverage of all the big networks. Scott Pelley stayed on for most of the day, as well as Brian Williams. I have to hand it to John Miller, the guy really knows his stuff and his expertise was very valuable to CBS' coverage.

[TheRob 920]

Once we saw Bill O'Reilly bring in Geraldo Rivera, we decided to spend money for a fiber line connected to WFXT. I wonder if other stations did the same.

[MorningNews 1311]

The times that I turned to my local FOX station they were simulcasting WXFT coverage. Wasn't sure if that's what FNC was showing or if my station just decided to pick up WXFT directly. Something should be said about ABC's coverage last night -- Diane is simply a disaster! ABC affiliate WCVB had some amazing footage and live shots. Why didn't ABC use them? NBC's coverage was stellar, ABC was great with George leading the coverage from about 5 AM - 3 PM, Bianna also was a star yesterday, Scott Pelley was as cool calm and collected as always - love that guy.

[Rusty Muck 4309]

Once we saw Bill O'Reilly bring in Geraldo Rivera, we decided to spend money for a fiber line connected to WFXT. I wonder if other stations did the same.

I tried to forget that I even caught a glimpse of that sorry spectacle. Even obscure smilie addict Dennis Miller would have been infinitely more tolerable than Geraldo.

 

I guess those affiliates who didn't want to simulcast FNC at that juncture - but either couldn't afford or were unable to simulcast WFXT - had no choice but to line up with CNN.

 

As much as I have been critical of MSNBC, they at least made sure their coverage was distinct from NBC's coverage, even when both simulcast WHDH (CNBC even simulcast NBC outright from 7:30 or so on, with their wall of money tickers overlaid on top.) That "firewall" of sorts is worth noting, as Hannity often labels MSNBC as simply "NBC News" in his routine bashing of the network - the same Hannity who was on FNC's coverage last night, simulcast on Fox with no distinction whatsoever.

[Jterry 43]

I presume that it was because, at the start of the 8pm hour, Shep was probably in a position where he couldn't continue to anchor seperate coverage live from the scene. (It was still unknown as to if everyone's life was in peril with the bomber holed up in that boat, if he still had a plethora of weaponry, or was willing to blow himself up, so it could have been deference in the name of safety.)

 

That being said, I hope that this was a one-time occurrence. Usually Fox at least gives an effort to provide rolling coverage that's separate from FNC. But this also was highly unprecedented.

 

And note that during much of the hour, Fox/FNC also simulcast WFXT... like MSNBC - and later NBC and CNBC - simulcast WHDH. Now, given that networks like CNN suffered major credibility blows with horrendously inaccurate info throughout the week, it probably was in Fox and NBC's better interests to hand it over to the local affiliates.

 

Even more puzzling, at 9pm, WJW abruptly swapped out the FNC simulcast for what was the first 30 seconds or so of Kitchen Nightmares, then dumped that for the FNC simulcast. Error on Fox's end?

 

And all of FNC's L3s need a DNR waiver.

Same happened on WHBQ. Right after 8 (local) Fox abruptly ended coverage without warning or sign off, then went to Kitchen Nightmares. Have to assume that was a Fox decision which was a bad one not to mention horribly executed. Suppose it prevented a Hannity simulcast at least. WHBQ aired about a full half hour of Kitchen Nightmares before they switched to WFXT when the press conference was getting underway.

 

At the conclusion of the press conference, Darrell Greene transitioned out of the WFXT simulcast, then tossed to a brief break before coming back for the 9 PM newscast. About as soon as they started, they tossed back to Fox and Shepard Smith for Obama's statement.

 

Fox handled it pretty bizarrely all around. I know they're not used to doing longform coverage on the network like ABC, CBS, NBC, etc but it was just riddled by strange decisions and bad execution. I even noticed in the pre-dawn hours the network had gone into a simulcast of Fox and Friends but WHBQ dumped that pretty quickly to go to Good Morning Memphis.

 

I have to say I stuck with CBS and NBC for most of the time except for the occasional checking in to the other networks to see what they were doing, along with streaming coverage from the Boston affiliates. Scott Pelley, Bob Orr, John Miller, Brian Williams, and Pete Williams all well earned their paychecks at the least.

[13WHAMfan 5]

WPTZ, the NBC affiliate in Burlington, V.T. and Plattsburgh, N.Y. simulcast WCVB from Boston for much of the afternoon yesterday. It helps that WPTZ is a Hearst station. It was definitely a good move to go with the Boston newscast from WCVB... although WPTZ kept their non-transparent logo up over the WCVB logo which burnt into the screen of our television at work after an hour or so...

[Pavelsauce 12]

The times that I turned to my local FOX station they were simulcasting WXFT coverage. Wasn't sure if that's what FNC was showing or if my station just decided to pick up WXFT directly. Something should be said about ABC's coverage last night -- Diane is simply a disaster! ABC affiliate WCVB had some amazing footage and live shots. Why didn't ABC use them? NBC's coverage was stellar, ABC was great with George leading the coverage from about 5 AM - 3 PM, Bianna also was a star yesterday, Scott Pelley was as cool calm and collected as always - love that guy.

I think you mean WFXT. WXFT is Chicago's UniMás affiliate.