End of Primetime Credit Squeeze/News

[rkolsen 1679]

Do any of the networks still actively do or allow stations to cover up promos at the end of primetime for teases for the late news?

 

 

 

 

Would it be possible in the centralized master control world? Could the stations do a soft opt in BBC parliance where the last bit of the program (say starting at the last commercial block) and feed it through the production control room?

 

I know NBC isn’t a big deal as primetime ends at 10:59:30 but the other networks go to 11PM.

 

Edit I seem to remember a Scripps station (current graphics era) doing the same covering up a promo up top while the credits rolled below.

[Weeters 1812]

Could the stations do a soft opt in BBC parliance where the last bit of the program (say starting at the last commercial block) and feed it through the production control room?

 

This is how these were usually accomplished, from what I understand. I recall hearing at one point, that some networks would feed the credit rolls early to allow these topicals to be preproduced.

 

I have a screenshot from a WTMJ topical around the same time as that 2002 WBAL one, where they actually did an effect to match the squeezeback video to the curve of the credits graphic.

 

[rkolsen 1679]

This is how these were usually accomplished, from what I understand. I recall hearing at one point, that some networks would feed the credit rolls early to allow these topicals to be preproduced.

 

I have a screenshot from a WTMJ topical around the same time as that 2002 WBAL one, where they actually did an effect to match the squeezeback video to the curve of the credits graphic.

 

[ATTACH=full]5552[/ATTACH]

 

So it was either preproduced or live kind of like one of the sloppily WBAL one that didn’t curve.

 

Also here’s one from WCVB on November 9, 2015. Found in my photo rolls.

 

[JacobC 44]

This was NBC's last primetime squeeze/news during the 2004-05 season. That was my favorite credits of all from America's Most Watched Network when they were promoting guests for The Tonight Show with then-host Jay Leno right after their local news.

[Darius22 120]

no station that i know of does that except KXTV.

[Georgie56 3071]

Nobody in Dallas or Chicago does that anymore.

 

Here's WBBM's 2001 credits squeeze (with a Big Brother 2 promo instead of actual credits)

 

[mrschimpf 2069]

I know WGN and WVTV (when they had news) did it over the WB's 'next week on' promo for a long time before the fans of the shows told them to knock it off (or the affiliate body convinced the network to slot the 'next week on' separately so that some other promo aired during the credits).

 

At this point though there's a set point for ABC; after their end of primetime promo is over, there's a generic JKL promo that only changes annually which most stations overlay with their news tease. WISN overlays it; WBAY does not, and that promo gets very repetitive very quickly.

[C Block 1490]

Pretty much every station and network did it at some point. As of now, ABC is the only one that still does it, as far as I'm aware.

 

Here's a good example of how KUSA used to fit graphics around the NBC credits:

 

[tyrannical bastard 3489]

Certain shows have gone back to doing traditional credits. The Simpsons has done it for the last several years. Not only does it give the full respect to the cast and crew who made it all happen, but it's often an extension of the show itself most times.

 

Cable has really gotten bad with bastardizing credits and show opens, and that's on top of throwing the start and end times out the window to sell more ads and keep viewers sucked in...

[ColDayNews 437]

WCMH, at one point, did a brief tease with Cabot Rea or Colleen Marshall at 10:59 during credits. While they were hubbed at 30 Rock, their tease was about :45. When Media General moved master control for their NBC affiliates to Columbus, sometime in 2008, their tease went up to 1 minute.

[rkolsen 1679]

I guess it depends whether the station airs ads before the newscast. WBAL doesn’t and the rest do.

[appleachian 129]

This seemed to end around the time of the DTV transition when there was no longer a SD feed being sent out by local stations. Not many local stations had HD plants that could manipulate a network feed at this level and were just passing the network straight thru.

 

AFAIK because of the network distribution method (the Splicer) Fox affiliates still can't do things like this without dropping to SD.

[Weeters 1812]

This seemed to end around the time of the DTV transition when there was no longer a SD feed being sent out by local stations. Not many local stations had HD plants that could manipulate a network feed at this level and were just passing the network straight thru.

 

AFAIK because of the network distribution method (the Splicer) Fox affiliates still can't do things like this without dropping to SD.

 

FOX affiliates can manipulate a HD version of the network feed if they have the hardware (which also means the money) to do so. I just don't think a lot of FOX stations have the budget to invest into something so trivial.

 

WITI runs HD weather and closing tickers over a HD network feed from time to time.

[tyrannical bastard 3489]

This seemed to end around the time of the DTV transition when there was no longer a SD feed being sent out by local stations. Not many local stations had HD plants that could manipulate a network feed at this level and were just passing the network straight thru.

 

AFAIK because of the network distribution method (the Splicer) Fox affiliates still can't do things like this without dropping to SD.

 

Very good point....there would be a gap of several years for many stations since they could only work with an SD signal, or would have to "dump down" to SD to do anything to it. The more expensive overhaul of master controls came after many stations upgraded their news product to HD.

[rkolsen 1679]

FOX affiliates can manipulate a HD version of the network feed if they have the hardware (which also means the money) to do so. I just don't think a lot of FOX stations have the budget to invest into something so trivial.

 

WITI runs HD weather and closing tickers over a HD network feed from time to time.

 

I’m not sure about other methods but the crawl for Fox in their splicer manual seems basic. However stations can use the third HD receiver with an HD-SDI output, do their own master control thing and turn it into its own transport stream to the STL. But that requires a lot more work.

[appleachian 129]

FOX affiliates can manipulate a HD version of the network feed if they have the hardware (which also means the money) to do so. I just don't think a lot of FOX stations have the budget to invest into something so trivial.

 

WITI runs HD weather and closing tickers over a HD network feed from time to time.

Yeah you are correct. WRAZ/Raleigh does HD crawls all the time too - forgot about that when I wrote the post.

[AJClementeFan69 477]

Always liked when the stations would let the promo bed play over the tease...

 

 

[dman748 1253]

To my knowledge no Oklahoma City station does the credit squeeze rolls anymore and hasn't done that in several years.

 

Beyond that I think the only one who does this is KOCO (which all Hearst-owned ABC affiliates does this) beyond that the last time I saw any station in Oklahoma that did that may have been anywhere from 2006-11 (or something like that) but it's been awhile

[AaronQ 260]

I think WCCB is the only station in Charlotte that does it.

[MidwestTV 1174]

Always liked when the stations would let the promo bed play over the tease...

 

 

Somebody needs to give the 4 in the breaking news desk monitor a tranquiler.