Big Four News Duopolies Questions

[rkolsen 1679]

I am curious how some newscasts that are simulcast handle content related to each network. I’m thinking of scenarios where a newscast is simulcast on two big four networks. Examples include the NBC WTLV / ABC WJXX situation with First Coast News in Jacksonville and NBC KHNL / CBS KGMB with Hawaii News Now in Hawaii. Both stations have some exclusive newscasts on each but the majority are simulcast.

 

Do the stations pick and choose which affiliate news service content that best suits their needs or do they tend to stick with one provider over the other? Also what about promotions for primetime programming that sometimes gets a package done by the network for use during the news?

 

Also, what about situations where a station produces two separate newscasts for their partner like WRAL for WRAZ where the newscasts are titles WRAL News on Fox 50. Obviously they can promote their own shows but do the newscasts on WRAZ solely feature Fox NewsEdge content or NBC Newschannel content that people would expect from WRAL?

[AJClementeFan69 477]

I am curious how some newscasts that are simulcast handle content related to each network. I’m thinking of scenarios where a newscast is simulcast on two big four networks. Examples include the NBC WTLV / ABC WJXX situation with First Coast News in Jacksonville and NBC KHNL / CBS KGMB with Hawaii News Now in Hawaii. Both stations have some exclusive newscasts on each but the majority are simulcast.

 

Do the stations pick and choose which affiliate news service content that best suits their needs or do they tend to stick with one provider over the other? Also what about promotions for primetime programming that sometimes gets a package done by the network for use during the news?

 

Also, what about situations where a station produces two separate newscasts for their partner like WRAL for WRAZ where the newscasts are titles WRAL News on Fox 50. Obviously they can promote their own shows but do the newscasts on WRAZ solely feature Fox NewsEdge content or NBC Newschannel content that people would expect from WRAL?

 

I've always wondered this myself. Like do they mix and match NewsOne/News Channel content on First Coast News or just use News Channel? Tegna is no longer with CNN, so that's definitely out.

[rkolsen 1679]

I've always wondered this myself. Like do they mix and match NewsOne/News Channel content on First Coast News or just use News Channel? Tegna is no longer with CNN, so that's definitely out.

I thought they just got it back a year ago.

[AJClementeFan69 477]

I thought they just got it back a year ago.

 

To my knowledge, they're still out.

 

One thing I've wondered about, as an aside: if Sinclair or Nexstar pulled out of CNN...where would that leave its future? With NBC O&Os, Fox O&Os and Tegna not in Newsource, that leaves some markets precariously slim on affiliates.

 

In the DC market, CNN basically only has WJLA now. In Tampa, there's only WFLA and WFTS.

 

Pretty sure DC is the only market where 3/4 of the major news operations happen to be from non-subscribers, but still.

[rkolsen 1679]

I’ll have to check out a list I downloaded a few months ago. I know CBS subscribes, they have a lot of universities where they could get a photog out to get video and I think two dozen Canadian stations.

[TriangleTriadMediaNews 267]

Also, what about situations where a station produces two separate newscasts for their partner like WRAL for WRAZ where the newscasts are titles WRAL News on Fox 50. Obviously they can promote their own shows but do the newscasts on WRAZ solely feature Fox NewsEdge content or NBC Newschannel content that people would expect from WRAL?

 

When WRAL was still with CBS, they aired CBS packages on their FOX newscasts, but in the very rare instance they took a SR, it was always from FOX (mainly for primetime POTUS speeches). I don't know what they've done since affiliating with NBC.

[mrschimpf 2065]

The Western Mass News tri of WGGB/WSHM and the Fox 6 subchannel seems to have things set up where all three services are used at certain times of day; ABC video dominates their early morning and late shows when WGGB is on-air, with CBS usually in the afternoon and evenings when WSHM is usually more exclusive, and Fox's stories are applied whenever, but mainly in the 10pm show (though I saw a Scripps story from WTMJ/Milwaukee with NBC somehow on that show when I was out east, suggesting some kind of other Scripps/Meredith collaboration since they have few common markets).

[C Block 1489]

Duops/Triops/Quadops can pretty much run wire video interchangeably. A producer should always check if there are restrictions on video, but very rarely are there restrictions based on affiliation.

 

There are national packages that each wire service produces for each daypart. They're made just for the affiliates. Usually it's a package on Washington or whatever the other big story of the day is and it's covered by the Stephanie Ramos/Jay Gray/Garrett Tenney types. You can definitely run them on the throwaway MyTV/CW/independent stations, but you wouldn't want to run, say, the NBC package on the CBS affiliate. I don't think there are any restrictions on doing so though, but that seems stupid to me. I haven't paid too much attention to what stations that simulcast do.

 

CNN also produces these daily kinds of packages, and their correspondents have unbranded tagouts in them, so you can use them wherever.

 

CBS, ABC, and NBC also make their network morning and evening show packages available to their affiliates, and there are usually some more restrictions on the content of those. However, running these packages usually isn't the best of ideas as they will have already run, and they're usually not formatted in the way that's best for local newscasts.

 

Aside from those nationally-produced packages, there will be packages produced locally at stations that the wire services will pick up for everybody to use. Those usually have no restrictions whatsoever. In the situation in the post above, all of those stations are CNN affiliates, so I'm 99.9% sure that WGGB/WSHM would have gotten the WTMJ package from CNN.

 

The wire services also have tons of content for VO/SOTs, and as a viewer, you'd have no idea where any of that came from anyway, so that can be used interchangeably.

 

In addition to all of that, there's NNS, which is the partnership between CBS, Fox, and ABC. They will pull video and sound from affiliates, but never full packages. This video will show up in the network wire services and is usually embargoed only for the other affiliates in the same market.

 

To my knowledge, they're still out.

 

One thing I've wondered about, as an aside: if Sinclair or Nexstar pulled out of CNN...where would that leave its future? With NBC O&Os, Fox O&Os and Tegna not in Newsource, that leaves some markets precariously slim on affiliates.

 

In the DC market, CNN basically only has WJLA now. In Tampa, there's only WFLA and WFTS.

 

Pretty sure DC is the only market where 3/4 of the major news operations happen to be from non-subscribers, but still.

 

There used to be a list on the old Newsource website that listed every single affiliate, but I can't find it anymore. Tegna/Gannett is definitely not a CNN affiliate. Sinclair, Nexstar, ABC O&O, CBS O&O, Meredith, Scripps, Tribune, NPG, and many others are. Sinclair and/or Nexstar pulling out of Newsource would be a very big move, but at the same time, not every wire service has a strong affiliate in every market anyway.

[ColDayNews 437]

WCMH, when they were an NBC O&O, produced a 10pm newscast for WWHO, the WB affiliate here. It always featured packages from NBC NewsChannel. I recall seeing packages from Today and Nightly on the newscast. When WBNS took over the 10pm newscast, they always and exclusively featured CBS packages, no CNN or wire services. Currently, WSYX produces WTTE’s newscasts. WTTE exclusively uses packages from CNN and Fox NewsEdge.

[Northerner 32]

I’ll have to check out a list I downloaded a few months ago. I know CBS subscribes, they have a lot of universities where they could get a photog out to get video and I think two dozen Canadian stations.

 

CBC, CTV definitely subscribe to Newsource, City is a maybe and I'm not sure about Global anymore. I know they subscribe to NBC - as does CTV who also subscribes to ABC.

[rkolsen 1679]

There used to be a list on the old Newsource website that listed every single affiliate, but I can't find it anymore. Tegna/Gannett is definitely not a CNN affiliate. Sinclair, Nexstar, ABC O&O, CBS O&O, Meredith, Scripps, Tribune, NPG, and many others are. Sinclair and/or Nexstar pulling out of Newsource would be a very big move, but at the same time, not every wire service has a strong affiliate in every market anyway.

 

I thought I had a saved list of affiliates as well. But the CNN Newsource twitter account maintains lists of their affiliates by region. Scrolling through the list one thing surprised me was that many RSN’s subscribe the one that popped out to me was NBC Sports.

[Journalist 894]

CBC, CTV definitely subscribe to Newsource, City is a maybe and I'm not sure about Global anymore. I know they subscribe to NBC - as does CTV who also subscribes to ABC.

Citytv is a primary subscriber of Newsource. They are also a frequent user of CNN's talent from abroad for select foreign stories.

 

Totally forgot if CTV/Global subscribed to Newsource, I rarely see them airing CNN's reports verbatim (compared to existing contracts with ABC or NBC).

[C Block 1489]

I thought I had a saved list of affiliates as well. But the CNN Newsource twitter account maintains lists of their affiliates by region. Scrolling through the list one thing surprised me was that many RSN’s subscribe the one that popped out to me was NBC Sports.

 

Of course. Where else does all the video from the sports block of a newscast come from? It's not like CNN and NBC are competitors when it comes to sports.

 

I'm not sure which Canadian broacasters are CNN affiliates. They all might be. I was always surprised at how little Canadian content was available on Newsource though. So little news from Canada ever ends up trickling onto any of the wire services.

[rkolsen 1679]

Of course. Where else does all the video from the sports block of a newscast come from? It's not like CNN and NBC are competitors when it comes to sports.

 

I'm not sure which Canadian broacasters are CNN affiliates. They all might be. I was always surprised at how little Canadian content was available on Newsource though. So little news from Canada ever ends up trickling onto any of the wire services.

 

When I was going through their twitter feed it appeared to consist of CBC and CTV affiliates.

[rkolsen 1679]

I found the list. These were the affiliates back in 2015. I think I found it on a university website.

 

Edit: It’s not being posted and you really want to see the list send me a PM with your email. Since it was on a publicly assesible website I assume it is not privileged information. Additionally stations wishing to subscribe to the service would likely want to see which and how many stations are part of the service.

[AJClementeFan69 477]

I found the list. These were the affiliates back in 2015. I think I found it on a university website.

 

Don't think this posted...

[Northerner 32]

Citytv is a primary subscriber of Newsource. They are also a frequent user of CNN's talent from abroad for select foreign stories.

 

Totally forgot if CTV/Global subscribed to Newsource, I rarely see them airing CNN's reports verbatim (compared to existing contracts with ABC or NBC).

 

You are right on City, I've heard them use custom sign offs (at least on the Toronto station). I've also seen the old Canada AM and CTV News Channel use the Newsource reporters on their shows.

[AJClementeFan69 477]

(though I saw a Scripps story from WTMJ/Milwaukee with NBC somehow on that show when I was out east, suggesting some kind of other Scripps/Meredith collaboration since they have few common markets).

 

Charles is right that it's likely this was pulled from CNN.

 

While there are some "strange bedfellow" situations where stations that aren't co-affiliated or co-owned share content, this seems to be done on a geographic, station-to-station level rather than group-to-group.

 

Examples I can think of off the top of my head include WWL/WBRZ, KTRK/KEYE, WTSP/WWSB, WITI/WMTV and WTMJ/WISC. I'm sure there are more arrangements like this, it seems to be more common than one would think.

[ColtFromGulfcoast 695]

Charles is right that it's likely this was pulled from CNN.

 

While there are some "strange bedfellow" situations where stations that aren't co-affiliated or co-owned share content, this seems to be done on a geographic, station-to-station level rather than group-to-group.

 

Examples I can think of off the top of my head include WWL/WBRZ, KTRK/KEYE, WTSP/WWSB, WITI/WMTV and WTMJ/WISC. I'm sure there are more arrangements like this, it seems to be more common than one would think.

 

KTBS works with KYTX in Tyler as well. And KSAT in San Antonio works with KTBC in Austin.

[AJClementeFan69 477]

KTBS works with KYTX in Tyler as well. And KSAT in San Antonio works with KTBC in Austin.

 

Seems like the (usual) common denominator with these is when a group has a co-owned station of a different affiliation in an adjacent market, overriding the default co-affiliate relationship, leaving two affiliates without a date to a prom, if you will.

 

Doesn't really explain the Madison-Milwaukee partnerships though.

[Eat News 4738]

Seems like the (usual) common denominator with these is when a group has a co-owned station of a different affiliation in an adjacent market, overriding the default co-affiliate relationship, leaving two affiliates without a date to a prom, if you will.

 

Doesn't really explain the Madison-Milwaukee partnerships though.

 

That Madison - Milwaukee thing is a same sex deal...so they have an "alt-prom" planned..

[Conrad 113]

There used to be a list on the old Newsource website that listed every single affiliate, but I can't find it anymore. Tegna/Gannett is definitely not a CNN affiliate. Sinclair, Nexstar, ABC O&O, CBS O&O, Meredith, Scripps, Tribune, NPG, and many others are. Sinclair and/or Nexstar pulling out of Newsource would be a very big move, but at the same time, not every wire service has a strong affiliate in every market anyway.

Hearst, Raycom, Graham/BH Media, and Sunbeam are also CNN affiliates. Cox-maybe, but I'm not sure. Historically, New World was also a CNN affiliate until 1997. Are Cox stations CNN affiliates? When did Gannett/TEGNA stations end their CNN affiliations (I'm guessing 2014)?

[C Block 1489]

Cox stations are CNN affiliates. If anything, it would probably be easier to write a list of who's not a CNN affiliate:

 

NBC O&O

Fox O&O

Gannett

Cordillera

Probably lots of smaller ones too.

[TheRolyPoly 1847]

Cox stations are CNN affiliates. If anything, it would probably be easier to write a list of who's not a CNN affiliate:

 

NBC O&O

Fox O&O

Gannett

Cordillera

Probably lots of smaller ones too.

 

Would TEGNA be CNN affiliates? How about Hearst?

[ColDayNews 437]

Would TEGNA be CNN affiliates? How about Hearst?

 

Tegna stations are no longer affiliates of CNN.