NBC O&Os 4pm news

[johnothy 43]

This article last week talked about the NBC O&Os possibly adding 4pm newscasts in the near future. Some of them already have 4pm newscasts including WCAU Philadelphia, WRC Washington D.C., KXAS Dallas, KNSD San Diego, and WMAQ in Chicago has a 4:30pm newscast. I'm sure the larger markers in New York and LA are looking to add 4pm newscasts (KNBC formerly had a 4pm newscast). My guess is Meredith Vieira's show will get cancelled and Ellen DeGeneres will move to 3pm making room for the 4pm newscasts next Summer or Fall.

 

http://www.ftvlive.com/todays-news/2015/11/2/nbc-oos-quietly-making-plans-to-launch-new-newscasts

[TheRolyPoly 2449]

WTVJ also used to have a 4pm newscast back in the early 2000s (but canceled after just a year), so they may make a return to it as well. Before that, WTVJ used to have a 4:30pm newscast in the early '90s with Ana Azcuy and Ed O'Dell called South Florida at 4:30 that I believe was also short-lived.

[Eat News 4745]

For those O&O's without a 4pm show you must ask...

 

Will you make more per spot on news or Ellen?

 

Do you want to screw with your 5pm show lead -in and it's success??

 

Do you want to gamble short term political ad sales when it's possible that you market already has 4pm shows and you just might NOT get a top price per spot on political ads. If you are already sold out with Ellen then why bother since the money all goes to the same place.

 

Adding a 4pm is fine if you have some solid races in your market and the market is not already over saturated with avails.

 

NBC may be a bit late for this in some markets. If you are clearing Ellen spots at $15000 per spot in NYC and adding a 4pm news is only going to make $7500 for a political....then it's a no brainer.

[ns8401 941]

For those O&O's without a 4pm show you must ask...

 

Will you make more per spot on news or Ellen?

 

Do you want to screw with your 5pm show lead -in and it's success??

 

Do you want to gamble short term political ad sales when it's possible that you market already has 4pm shows and you just might NOT get a top price per spot on political ads. If you are already sold out with Ellen then why bother since the money all goes to the same place.

 

Adding a 4pm is fine if you have some solid races in your market and the market is not already over saturated with avails.

 

NBC may be a bit late for this in some markets. If you are clearing Ellen spots at $15000 per spot in NYC and adding a 4pm news is only going to make $7500 for a political....then it's a no brainer.

Why are you assuming everybody runs Ellen at 4?

[Eat News 4745]

Why are you assuming everybody runs Ellen at 4?

 

Why would you assume that I was assuming that?

[ns8401 941]

Why would you assume that I was assuming that?

The first two sentences... Several of them I'm sure don't have to ask that...

[TVNewsLover 782]

There are no assumptions. All the NBC O&Os without 4pm or 4:30pm news run Ellen at 4pm. Those with news run Ellen at 3pm.

[johnothy 43]

Why does expanded news often fail in NYC? Philadelphia's NBC 10 has had a 4pm newscast for a number of years along with the morning news starting at 4am--something WNBC hasn't done. Also, WPIX had 4am news like many of the other Tribune stations yet cancelled the 4-5am hour a year or so ago. Obviously it didn't work out.

 

I don't feel there is need for 4pm newscasts and would rather see syndicated programming options (provided they are decent). The Scripps owned ABC station in Indy which is one of my local ones added a 4pm newscast (Scripps titled The Now Indy) and moved Judge Judy to 3pm. I would rather have Judge Judy at 4pm myself and not have to endure more news when the station already airs 5-6:30 and a 7pm newscast. The Fox station in Indy airs news from 4-7:30pm, so much for any general entertainment shows...the news overload is ridiculous.

[Darius22 122]

For those O&O's without a 4pm show you must ask...

 

Will you make more per spot on news or Ellen?

 

Do you want to screw with your 5pm show lead -in and it's success??

 

Do you want to gamble short term political ad sales when it's possible that you market already has 4pm shows and you just might NOT get a top price per spot on political ads. If you are already sold out with Ellen then why bother since the money all goes to the same place.

 

Adding a 4pm is fine if you have some solid races in your market and the market is not already over saturated with avails.

 

NBC may be a bit late for this in some markets. If you are clearing Ellen spots at $15000 per spot in NYC and adding a 4pm news is only going to make $7500 for a political....then it's a no brainer.

 

KNTV and KXTV (TEGNA-ABC) both have ellen at 4PM.

[A3N 1002]

So for those NBC O&O's that already have 4pm newscasts, and will have an available hour (with the inevitable cancellation of Meredith), what do they fill that hour with?

 

In KNSD's case, I can see them expanding their 11am newscast to a full hour. That would still leave a half hour open on their schedule...

[Eat News 4745]

Why does expanded news often fail in NYC? Philadelphia's NBC 10 has had a 4pm newscast for a number of years along with the morning news starting at 4am--something WNBC hasn't done. Also, WPIX had 4am news like many of the other Tribune stations yet cancelled the 4-5am hour a year or so ago. Obviously it didn't work out.

 

Stations add and remove newscast for a variety of reasons. You can have a super crappy newscast low rated 4am show that gets super ad revenue simply because of the sales force.

The opposite is also true. You may not be able to have a 4am newscast because you have no staff until 5am. Some places just don't have unlimited staff to do newscast at all hours.

[TexasTVNews 1377]

One note to let everyone know, in my home here in Dallas; KXAS (NBC 5) had their 4:00PM News since mid or late 1998 or '99, and its untouched.

[Darius22 122]

One note to let everyone know, in my home here in Dallas; KXAS (NBC 5) had their 4:00PM News since mid or late 1998 or '99, and its untouched.

 

unfortunately KOVR (CBS)(where i live) is the only news at 4PM. where as KNTV (NBC Bay Area) has none.

[SFTV 527]

It's going to be Interesting in SF.

 

KGO was the only 4pm Newscast until KTVU debuted not long ago. Let's see how KNTV comes into play.

[TVNewsLover 782]

So for those NBC O&O's that already have 4pm newscasts, and will have an available hour (with the inevitable cancellation of Meredith), what do they fill that hour with?

 

In KNSD's case, I can see them expanding their 11am newscast to a full hour. That would still leave a half hour open on their schedule...

Access Hollywood Live.

[MidwestTV 1232]

It wouldn't make any sense for WTVJ to have a 4pm newscast. Don't they already have a 5pm or something like that? They had a 7pm newscast for a while, but canceled it only a few years ago to bring back the 5pm (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't imagine them going from 4-6:30; that's a lot of local news. Frankly, a 4pm newscast on the East Coast doesn't really seem necessary.

[TVNewsLover 782]

It wouldn't make any sense for WTVJ to have a 4pm newscast. Don't they already have a 5pm or something like that? They had a 7pm newscast for a while, but canceled it only a few years ago to bring back the 5pm (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't imagine them going from 4-6:30; that's a lot of local news. Frankly, a 4pm newscast on the East Coast doesn't really seem necessary.

Says someone whose username includes Midwest in it. 4pm's do quite well on the east coast. A lot of affiliates do news from 4-6:30.

[TheRolyPoly 2449]

It wouldn't make any sense for WTVJ to have a 4pm newscast. Don't they already have a 5pm or something like that? They had a 7pm newscast for a while, but canceled it only a few years ago to bring back the 5pm (correct me if I'm wrong). I can't imagine them going from 4-6:30; that's a lot of local news. Frankly, a 4pm newscast on the East Coast doesn't really seem necessary.

 

WTVJ used to have a 4pm newscast (I believe it was a half-hour) in the early 2000s, but was canceled after just a year. They used to have 7pm news when it was just 6 and 7pm until canceled to make way for 5pm news once again. Miami already has two hour-long 4pm news, thanks to WSVN 7 and WPLG 10. WSVN 7 (my favorite, obviously) has had a 4pm newscast since 9/11/06 as a half-hour newscast, then expanded to a full-hour in 2007. WPLG 10 debuted theirs in January 2014.

 

Will another station offer a 4pm newscast in South Florida surprise me? Nope. In fact, I only see three because WFOR 4 will never offer one, since their news department is in shambles.

[A3N 1002]

Access Hollywood Live.

They had it up until a few years ago, then they canned it from the schedule. I hope they don't bring it back. As such, KNSD airs its midday newscast at 11am, followed by Access Hollywood at 11:30. The better alternative to me is to expand their midday news to a full hour since the two other stations in town already offer the full hour of news. So presumably if Meredith goes, they can use one of the half hours to plug in AH and that would leave them with a a 30 minute hole in the schedule.

[TVNewsLover 782]

They had it up until a few years ago, then they canned it from the schedule. I hope they don't bring it back. As such, KNSD airs its midday newscast at 11am, followed by Access Hollywood at 11:30. The better alternative to me is to expand their midday news to a full hour since the two other stations in town already offer the full hour of news. So presumably if Meredith goes, they can use one of the half hours to plug in AH and that would leave them with a a 30 minute hole in the schedule.

WCAU has also used it as a filler in the past as needed.

[NEOMatrix 1299]

Don't forget, any NBC O&O in markets where there is also an ABC O&O will face an uphill battle at 4pm.

[TVNewsLover 782]

Don't forget, any NBC O&O in markets where there is also an ABC O&O will face an uphill battle at 4pm.

I could be wrong, but I believe that WCAU beats WPVI at 4pm.

[Thundershock MN 169]

For those O&O's without a 4pm show you must ask...

 

Will you make more per spot on news or Ellen?

 

Do you want to screw with your 5pm show lead -in and it's success??

 

Do you want to gamble short term political ad sales when it's possible that you market already has 4pm shows and you just might NOT get a top price per spot on political ads. If you are already sold out with Ellen then why bother since the money all goes to the same place.

 

Adding a 4pm is fine if you have some solid races in your market and the market is not already over saturated with avails.

 

NBC may be a bit late for this in some markets. If you are clearing Ellen spots at $15000 per spot in NYC and adding a 4pm news is only going to make $7500 for a political....then it's a no brainer.

I agree with your point. Using your hypothetical there is one thing I'd add..that being you'd likely be looking at both the 3pm and 4pm hours and the total revenue that could be generated from those two hours.

 

Basically, if Ellen is able to bill the same amount (or close to it) the newscast would only need to bill the same amount (or close to it) as whatever program was in the 3pm slot to break even. Now, if your 3pm show is doing gangbusters well then you'd have some tough decisions to make. But, you could always look at moving that show up to 2pm and seeing if that overall 3 hour block would make more that way.

 

Anyway, this kind of reeks of "stop-gap" to me anyway. It seems like a repeat performance of what the ABC O&O's went through with Katie. Syndicated talk show bombs and there is nothing in the pipeline or, nothing worthwhile in the pipeline. So, what do you do? Take the easy way out and fill the hole with a newscast...plus, bonus it's an election year. And, if the newscast doesn't gain traction you've likely bought yourself a year to regroup and hopefully something has been developed for syndication by then that you could latch on to.

[TVNewsLover 782]

I agree with your point. Using your hypothetical there is one thing I'd add..that being you'd likely be looking at both the 3pm and 4pm hours and the total revenue that could be generated from those two hours.

 

Basically, if Ellen is able to bill the same amount (or close to it) the newscast would only need to bill the same amount (or close to it) as whatever program was in the 3pm slot to break even. Now, if your 3pm show is doing gangbusters well then you'd have some tough decisions to make. But, you could always look at moving that show up to 2pm and seeing if that overall 3 hour block would make more that way.

 

Anyway, this kind of reeks of "stop-gap" to me anyway. It seems like a repeat performance of what the ABC O&O's went through with Katie. Syndicated talk show bombs and there is nothing in the pipeline or, nothing worthwhile in the pipeline. So, what do you do? Take the easy way out and fill the hole with a newscast...plus, bonus it's an election year. And, if the newscast doesn't gain traction you've likely bought yourself a year to regroup and hopefully something has been developed for syndication by then that you could latch on to.

The 4pm news on the ABC O&Os replaced Oprah, not Katie.

[fan of la tv 47]

KNBC had a 4 p.m. newscast for many decades until 2002 when they dropped it for Dr. Phil. Subsequently, Dr. Phil moved to KCBS in 2005 and Ellen has since moved to 4 p.m. I believe Ellen performs well in this slot. KNBC is 2nd at 5 and 6 p.m. but very distant to KABC who often has ratings that are doubled compared to KNBC.