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The decline of local TV News in NYC. Ch.4 to end 5pm newscast, NY1 to merge.

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Shortline Bus

Shortline Bus

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Here an article on how finally the 24 hour cable news channels (ie CNN, Fox News and in NYC/NJ area New York 1 News and Cablevision News 12 Networks) are affecting badly the local NYC affliate.

 

Here Daily News Article.

 

Newscast at 5 p.m. is no longer in fashion on WNBC/Ch. 4, several other local stations looking to end weekend newscasts.

 

Richard Huff NY Daily News Entertainment and Television Editor Monday, June 15th 2009

 

 

WNBC/Ch. 4 replaces its 5 p.m. newscast with an entertainment show geared to women.

 

The move makes Ch. 4 the first station in the market to give up programming a traditional newscast at 5 p.m., a period the station once dominated.

 

Come Sept. 14, Ch. 4 will launch "LX New York," a live hour from NBC-owned LX.TV, which produces the very stylized "1st Look" and "Open House."

 

"Five o'clock has been the struggling time period for years, that is no secret," said Vickie Burns, VP of content and audience development at NBC Local Media New York.

 

The new show will be hosted from locations around the city and target women between ages 25 and 54, Burns said, a group research indicates watch TV at 5 p.m., just not local news.

 

"LX New York" will be an entertainment show about cooking, lifestyle, fashion and entertainment and more focusing on the city and the suburbs.

 

"It will look like fun," said LX.TV's founder and general manager, Morgan Hertzan.

 

Sue Simmons, who coanchors the 5 o'clock newscast with David Ushery, will continue to do the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, and Ushery will continue to anchor and report as well.

 

Neither Burns nor Hertzan would discuss talent for "LX New York," saying announcements would be made in the future. However, speculation is that Sara Gore, host of LX TV's "1st Look," will do the new show with a male partner.

 

There has also been talk that the "LX New York" model could be rolled out to other NBC-owned stations looking to replace an early newscast.

 

"Out of the gate, we're going to concentrate on making the best show we can," Burns said, adding if it inspires others to do the same, great.

 

One of the benefits of going with a program not produced by the news department is that it allows the integration of advertisers into the show.

 

The change comes after a long period of turmoil at Ch. 4 that included the departure of several long-time staffers, including Len Berman and Jay DeDapper, and a massive overhaul that has left morale among news traditionalists shaky at best.

 

At the same time, NBC Local Media has launched NY Nonstop, a lifestyle and entertainment channel, created a new $15 million newsroom and developed deals to deliver information online, in taxis and on PATH trains.

 

Ch. 4 has been tinkering with the 5 p.m. hour for the past couple of years. First, it cut the news to 30 minutes and followed it with a feature show anchored by Peri Peltz. Then "Extra" was moved from 7 to 5:30 p.m. and the station launched a 7 o'clock newscast anchored by Chuck Scarborough. When the 24 hour NY Nonstop channel was begun, Scarborough's 7 p.m. show moved there, and the 5 p.m. program was again expanded to an hour.

 

Word of the station's 5 o'clock move comes as every station in town is dealing with the effects of a sluggish economy. There are unconfirmed reports that several local stations are in 'secret discussions' with both Time Warner's New York One News and Cablevision's News 12 to take over the entire production of their local newscasts.

 

 

Last week, WWOR/Ch. 9 which a couple of years merged some of their local news productions with 'sister station' WNYW/ Fox Ch. 5, told two correspondents and fill-in anchors Jennifer Jordan and Megan Vega that their contracts were not being renewed in anticipation of wider cuts and a newscast cutback expected later this month. What is expected is that Channel 9 will end their 10pm weekend newscasts.

 

Also on the rumored chopping block is both Ch.2 and Ch.4 ending their local Weekend Morning Newscasts and Weekend 6pm shows as well.

 

 

Burns said, however, that the 5 p.m. change at Ch. 4 won't result in job cuts.

 

"This is all about a growth opportunity for WNBC," Burns said.

 

"This show is an investment," she added. "The fact of the matter, doing news is our core. We will continue to do that, the same amount, if not more, just distributed on many different platforms."

 

rhuff@nydailynews.com

 

c)2009 NY Daily News, Inc.

 

Reactions? So the weekend newscats could be rare in NYC if you dont have cable and more infomericals is on the way.B)

It has already happened as legendary ABC Sports the home of "Wide World of Sports' is now gone and replaced by ESPN.

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SubwayGuy

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This is all a reflection of today's society. 5 oclock news is unpopular because people are still working at that time - no one's home by 5 anymore! Especially in the so called "White collar jobs". The people that ARE home by and large tend to watch mind rot crap like Springer, Oprah, and those judge shows, so this LX show which just sounds like an "E" imitation with cooking, is just another in a long line of that "brain off, keep up with celebrity news and fashion and you'll feel famous" crap.

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Shortline Bus

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TV news is useless. Its so far from being unbiased and impartial. There are better news sources on the internet that are much closer to being unbiased and impartial now that broadband is so widely available.

 

 

Slightly disagree Mession. BBC News, and the Associated Press are two of the handful of tv news outlets imo that very good in being 'unbias' in reporting the tv news. Most TV News outlets here in America and globally these days are crap herebys only high ratings/profits and or their political agenda matters.

Too bad other than online there not much choice and we as viewers are stuck with the current cable news/tv stations.

 

Bring back the days of Jennings, Brinkley, Huntley Edward R Morrow and of course Uncle Walter, newsmen who told the trurth with no 'bs' and no entertainment aspect to it.

 

Back to local tv news biz. If Ch 4 (recently firing Len Berman) and Ch. 11(Sal Marchino(correct me if i mispelled his name)wants to let them go find. I am mad at Ch 4 and 11 for finding awful replacements. Lotlita Lopez now doing sports at Ch.11 other than baseball knows little ot nothing about basketball and the NHL.

 

Ch.4 and Ch. 11 should just end the sports segment period on their newscasts of instead of having clueless people like Lopez reporting the sports.

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Messino

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Slightly disagree Mession. BBC News, and the Associated Press are two of the handful of tv news outlets imo that very good in being 'unbias' in reporting the tv news. Most TV News outlets here in America and globally these days are crap herebys only high ratings/profits and or their political agenda matters.

Too bad other than online there not much choice and we as viewers are stuck with the current cable news/tv stations.

 

Bring back the days of Jennings, Brinkley, Huntley Edward R Morrow and of course Uncle Walter, newsmen who told the trurth with no 'bs' and no entertainment aspect to it.

 

Back to local tv news biz. If Ch 4 (recently firing Len Berman) and Ch. 11(Sal Marchino(correct me if i mispelled his name)wants to let them go find. I am mad at Ch 4 and 11 for finding awful replacements. Lotlita Lopez now doing sports at Ch.11 other than baseball knows little ot nothing about basketball and the NHL.

 

Ch.4 and Ch. 11 should just end the sports segment period on their newscasts of instead of having clueless people like Lopez reporting the sports.

 

True, I watch BBC online and read their website often.

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Maserati7200

Maserati7200

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ok young man(maserati) explain why BBC has a 'bias?"

 

If you watch BBC news then you know what I'm talking about. They have a very liberal bias, and are somewhat anti-american. It is clear when I watch BBC news that they have a bias in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

 

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52574

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4umBmJHjg

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Shortline Bus

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If you watch BBC news then you know what I'm talking about. They have a very liberal bias, and are somewhat anti-american. It is clear when I watch BBC news that they have a bias in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

 

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52574

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY4umBmJHjg

 

 

Maybe that true and i misspoke about the BBC. I meant to say is that the BBC is best reports on global stories that none of the American stations including CNN covers. There are times I seen that the BBC 'world service' is the more balance and less bias than any of the US news stations.

 

The BBC News within the UK maybe have that anti-US view and a bias in the

the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

 

Anyhow shfting gears i wanted to talk about news outlets/stations closer to home here in New York and the USA. Can we get back talking to that please?[B]:confused:[/b]

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SubwayGuy

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Yeah they definately have bias, after all its the BBC, but not like FOX news or CNN those two are pretty bad.

 

Fox news is ridiculous and sucks. One of the white house aides or assistants was in explaining about the whole Iran election controversy and why the US was doing nothing and basically said "at this point we are letting events unfold before we react" which is perfectly reasonable...and the jackass from fox has the nerve to ask him "you mean you're going to let more Iranians die in the riots before you react?" and of course he said, "no we're trying to get the full picture and give the Iranian clerics a chance to respond to the claims of a rigged election first so we respond appropriately"

 

but what the hell did that prick expect, him to say yes? Him to be like "Dubya" and say "you know what you're right let's go storming into another middle Eastern country, pissing off half the world and getting into another long drawn out war that will cost American lives and American sons and daughters, just because you Mr. Fox news a-hole want to call me out for being from the opposite political party on your BS tv show that you shouldn't even have because your outfit is a sham of media" how about that?

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SubwayGuy

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While Fox News is very biased, I'm glad to see a network that is not praising Obama 24/7. All news sources have some bias and it is up to the viewer to be able to sort through the BS.

 

There is a difference between not praising him 24/7 and constantly knocking everything he does while bringing in so called "experts" who are all his political opponents as guests to criticize him more.

 

That would be like constantly running articles about how "bad" it is to work a certain job and only interviewing people who quit or were fired rather than including any employees who like their job.

 

That's where I draw the line and why fox news is so ridiculously biased. It's complete BS that they are still able to advertise with "fair and balanced" in their tagline because nothing could be further from the truth. It's unclear what the hell they're trying to do. All they do is knock everything a Democrat does without proposing any reasonable solution. Basically Rush Limbaugh/Dick Cheney/other disconnected from reality stodgy old religious white man type thought that maybe was relevant many years ago but is completely out of touch with today's diverse and more tolerant culture which favors dialogue and compromise over extremism and arrogance.

 

In a perfect world I'd say leave it alone, but when people are bombarded with this BS from the day they are small children they don't grow up to know the difference between what is mind rot crap and what is useful, just like those Islamic kids that are raised by extremists and told that blowing themselves up will give them 72 virgins and give them glory have no idea of the difference between right and wrong and can read the same koran passage as a real muslim and not get it.

 

TV influences thought...heck there was that news article in the T/O thread about how after reporting suicides when using the term "successful" the number of suicides jumped in the weeks after just because of a news report. News does affect people and they have an obligation as media to be unbiased. There is difference between an "op ed" in a paper that states its clearly an opinion, or one guy ranting on a talk show, vs. the way the whole newscast is presented and thats the line that keeps getting crossed.

 

thats also why i get most of my news from the internet

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VinnyBrooklyn

VinnyBrooklyn

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I never understood why the news was on a 5pm, I am eating dinner at that time and the last thing I need to watch is the "Bad news of the world" while I am sitting down to dinner.

 

By the time the 5pm news comes on I already knew about it from the internet. I had time warner cable removed from my house because every news story on NY1 was a shooting, stabbing or a robbery. Who the heck needs that. It is not the NY I live in.

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R68 Subway Car

R68 Subway Car

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NBC 4 has sucked in the 5pm broadcast for the last couple of years. No one watches local TV news much anymore anyway. Television Stations such as NBC 4 were successful in the news department back in the day because the internet was not as heavy in use then like it is now. Now with the internet, you can get news faster, and you no longer have to wait for the 5, 6 or 11 pm newscast. And of course you have WCBS NewsRadio 880 and 1010 WINS, where you can get news at any time of the day. Also, Cable News channels like CNN, the Fox News Channel, NY1 and News 12 also give news 24 hours. And if you want sports news on tv, you can watch ESPN or one of the regional channels like SNY and YES. If you want it on the radio, you have stations like WFAN and 1050 ESPN to listen to. Face it, Local TV News is finished. Only ABC 7 and Fox 5 are watched for news.

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Shortline Bus

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NBC 4 has sucked in the 5pm broadcast for the last couple of years. No one watches local TV news much anymore anyway. Television Stations such as NBC 4 were successful in the news department back in the day because the internet was not as heavy in use then like it is now. Now with the internet, you can get news faster, and you no longer have to wait for the 5, 6 or 11 pm newscast. And of course you have WCBS NewsRadio 880 and 1010 WINS, where you can get news at any time of the day. Also, Cable News channels like CNN, the Fox News Channel, NY1 and News 12 also give news 24 hours. And if you want sports news on tv, you can watch ESPN or one of the regional channels like SNY and YES. If you want it on the radio, you have stations like WFAN and 1050 ESPN to listen to. Face it, Local TV News is finished. Only ABC 7 and Fox 5 are watched for news.

 

Dont forget the Weather Channel for National/Local Weather and CNBC/Fox Business News and Bloomberg TV for Wall St/Business news as well.

So in 10 years or so R68 Subway Car you predict most of the 'free' over the air nyc tv station will have no local news at all right?

 

FYI. When i was in high school 20 years ago, there was no internet sites and only forunate 500 business compaies used the intrnet.

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R68 Subway Car

R68 Subway Car

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Dont forget the Weather Channel for National/Local Weather and CNBC/Fox Business News and Bloomberg TV for Wall St/Business news as well.

So in 10 years or so R68 Subway Car you predict most of the 'free' over the air nyc tv station will have no local news at all right?

 

FYI. When i was in high school 20 years ago, there was no internet sites and only forunate 500 business compaies used the intrnet.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant to say that the internet was non existant or not in full use at the time.
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Shortline Bus

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Sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant to say that the internet was non existant or not in full use at the time.

 

No problem young man:)

I forget what was the #1 song in the USA this week lol(june 18,2009)was so no big deal on knowing the tv news biz from then before you were born?

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Shortline Bus

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It offical. Starting July 13th ch.5 and CH.9 merge. Here Daily News story.

 

 

Ch. 9 trims weeknight newscasts to half hour, eliminates weekends

BY Richard Huff

DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR

 

Thursday, July 2nd 2009

 

 

 

Harry Martin and Brenda Blackmon will continue to anchor weeknight newscasts at WWOR/Ch.9, though the program will be shortened to a half hour.

 

WWOR/Ch. 9 will officially cut its nightly newscasts in half, and move them to 11 p.m. starting July 13, the Daily News has learned.

 

Also, the station will eliminate weekend newscasts the following Saturday.

 

As previously reported, the changes are the result of rounds of talks within the management of the Fox-owned station on how to dramatically cut costs, while continuing to serve the audience.

 

Harry Martin and Brenda Blackmon will continue to anchor the weeknight newscasts, which will be a half-hour under the new structure. The newscats is also planned to be renamed the "Fox 5 News at 11 on MY9.'

 

 

"The Wendy Williams Show," which launches that day at 10 a.m. on sister station WNYW/Ch. 5, will be rerun in the 10 p.m. slot on Ch. 9.

 

The shift to a shorter newscast comes after station brass opted to not renew the contracts of correspondents and fill-in anchors Jennifer Jordan and Megan Vega, and the elimination of several writers and production staffers. Word is no other staffers will be cut with the new schedule. The other change is long time Ch.9 sports Anchor Russ Salsberg hosting a post game Giants show at 1030pm on Sunday Nights during the NFL season now will air on Ch.5 "Sports Extra."

 

Moving the shortened newscasts to 11 p.m. marks the most dramatic change to the 10 p.m. news landscape in decades since the mid 1970's when then WOR-TV first got into the news business.

 

Ch.9 officals note that viewers on that station will get announcements on getting morning and weekend news on Channel 5.

 

The upside for Fox is that it keeps news on the station, while removing a news competitor of in 'sister station' Ch. 5's in the time period. Station officials even considered getting rid of news altogether, however, they privately fear politicians would rail against such a move because the broadcast license is filed in New Jersey. Ch.9 is the only major local affliate that based in New Jersey.

 

Sister station Ch. 5 is also changing its news schedule July 13, when "Good Day New York" expands an hour to 10 a.m. and the station's half-hour 11 a.m. news is cancelled.

 

c)2009 NY Daily News, Inc.

 

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