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Is Local Television News Going the Way of SportsCenter?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by LanceyHoward, Apr 30, 2017.

  1. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    If the station had weak ownership before, you won't notice a decline right away. But it'll happen.

    No Nexstar in my market but we work with them constantly. Their product sucks and their best people don't stay long.

    More pay-for-play programming on off-peak, weaker news content (Nexstar doesn't subscribe to AP, for example) and likely a forced website presence that takes an easy to remember address and turns it into something like "EastValleyMatters.com" that is more difficult to find.
     
  2. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    The FCC has been reasonably strict about prohibiting televisions stations to control newspapers in the same market. This rule has been around since the 70's and there are stations/newspaper duopolies that are still grandfathered. My memory is that when Murdoch bought Metromedia (the precursor to Fox) the FCC gave him an exception for the New York Post but he had to sell the Boston Herald. Somehow Gannett got an exemption for Phoenix when they bought the Arizona Republic and Tribune in South Florida but but there have not been a lot of exceptions granted.
     
  3. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    New Hampshire elects its governor to two-year terms. Since the state is close to the ultimate swing state (A Republican and Democrat have swapped one congressional seat for the last eight years every two years), there's an advertising bonanza every other year, not just once every four.
     
  4. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

  5. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Don't most Eastern Time Zone channels do news in the 7 p.m. slot nowadays? Seems like an odd time slot for any other programming. I remember as a kid local news at 6, network news at 6:30 and an hourlong rerun of CHIPS or whatever at 7 leading up to prime time.
     
  6. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Our local NBC in Richmond does a 6 p.m., NBC Nightly at 6:30 and ET at 7.
     
  7. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Seems like evening news starts at 4 in a lot of major markets. Most places I've lived there's a half-hour at 5, followed by the network news and more local at 6.
     
  8. Michael_ Gee

    Michael_ Gee Well-Known Member

    Boston stations start at 4. The ABC affiliate has Entertainment Tonight from 4:30-5, others are news. Then it's all news from 5-6:30, followed by network news (except the Fox, which just keeps local news), until 7, then most have syndicated stuff from 7-8, although the ABC affiliate has local news again from 7:00-7:30. That's a lot of hours for any day that doesn't feature Lucky Lindy landing in Paris or a Martian invasion.
     
  9. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    Then you lived in the Central or Mountain time zone. Prime time runs from 7-10 in those time zones. Most affiliates of ABC, NBC and CBS run local news at 5 and 6 with national in the middle. In the Eastern and Pacific time zones runs from 8-11. So affliates run an hour of news at 6, a half hour at 6:00 and then national news.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2017
  10. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Pacific time most of my life, except for a few years in Arizona. Some stations schedule news much like Gee described, but at 7 they're all in the Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune or ET/similar entertainment show goes here mode.
     
  11. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    It's mostly that way here. The ABC affiliate does a local somewhat newsy show at 4 p.m., while the NBC affiliate and the decades-long legacy channel does regular news. The Fox and CW affiliates are a duopoly and the CW channel does an hour of news at 4. CBS has Dr. Phil.

    At 5, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox do local news, with national on the first three at 5:30 and Fox staying local. At 6, CBS and ABC come back for local, with NBC trying a different show with its top anchor that has turned into a ratings drag. Fox goes to Jeopardy.

    At 7, there's an hour on CW. Fox comes on for 90 minutes at 9, with CBS, NBC and ABC for a half hour at 10. CW does a half-hour at 11.

    In the mornings, everyone but the CW starts at 4:30 a.m. CW comes on for four hours at 5 a.m. Yes, the duopoly stations compete against each other for four hours every morning.
     
  12. LanceyHoward

    LanceyHoward Well-Known Member

    This might be a threadjack but maybe those of you who work in local news can answer a question.

    I watched a clip from an Atlanta station on the Sixth District congressional runoff. The newscast put up a graphic of some poll results and the anchor explained them. Then the station threw us live to a reporter standing by an expressway in the district. The reporter explained the expressway ran through the district and then repeated what the anchor said about the poll.

    I see this all the time. Why is there this huge emphasis on going live? In Denver live reports from vacant parking lots of meetings that concluded hours before are regular features of the 10:00 P.M. newscast.
     
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