Will Sinclair Challenge Fox News?

[Kemosabe]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sinclair may launch a cable channel to compete with Fox News: Sinclair Laying Groundwork for Fox News Competitor.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

That story has been persistent ever since Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly got removed from Fox News Channel and the Sinclair/Tribune deal discussions.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

can they get loyal Fox news viewers to switch? that's assuming they even live much longer

 

[TVCOOL]

It took FNC almost 4 years to challenge let alone beat CNN (The infamous Elian Gonzalez raid and the Election 2000 coverage saw FNC rise to #1).

 

[nomadcowatbk]

It took FNC almost 4 years to challenge let alone beat CNN (The infamous Elian Gonzalez raid and the Election 2000 coverage saw FNC rise to #1).

and Fox News viewers aren't getting any younger, neither or CNN's or MSNBC's

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Well also you have Newsmax, Infowars and the Blaze also fighting for right wing audiences besides Sinclair in terms of attempting to get pro Trump viewers away from Fox News.

How this move will pay off is yet to be determined here.

 

[umfan]

Tribune will leverage WGN-A, a station that already has wide carriage to create their network. They will bring in a big name, possibly O'Reilly, to headline their prime time coverage. This will immediately draw viewers from Fox and put them WAY ahead of Newsmax, OAN and other potential Fox competitors. It's unlikely that Fox would be unseated from its top rated spot, but it won't help.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Tribune will leverage WGN-A, a station that already has wide carriage to create their network. They will bring in a big name, possibly O'Reilly, to headline their prime time coverage. This will immediately draw viewers from Fox and put them WAY ahead of Newsmax, OAN and other potential Fox competitors. It's unlikely that Fox would be unseated from its top rated spot, but it won't help.

Wait what about Circa its a Sinclair owned outlet has been mentioned as leverage for this new Sinclair Network. It was mentioned too for places where right wing audiences will go to.

https://www.circa.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circa_News

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Tribune will leverage WGN-A, a station that already has wide carriage to create their network. They will bring in a big name, possibly O'Reilly, to headline their prime time coverage. This will immediately draw viewers from Fox and put them WAY ahead of Newsmax, OAN and other potential Fox competitors. It's unlikely that Fox would be unseated from its top rated spot, but it won't help.

But Jared Kushner mentioned that Sinclair can get more viewers than CNN and others in a 2016 article before the Tribune deal came into play. I say its possible that Sinclair will eventually overtake Fox News for Pro-Trump Viewers given how many markets have a Sinclair station producing the news and broadcasts the "Must Run" segments from Boris Epsteyn and Mark Hyman.

Kushner said the agreement with Sinclair, which owns television stations across the country in many swing states and often packages news for their affiliates to run, gave them more access to Trump and the campaign, according to six people who heard his remarks.

In exchange, Sinclair would broadcast their Trump interviews across the country without commentary, Kushner said. Kushner highlighted that Sinclair, in states like Ohio, reaches a much wider audience — around 250,000 listeners — than networks like CNN, which reach somewhere around 30,000.

“It’s math,” Kushner said according to multiple attendees.

But Sinclair and other networks said such a deal is nothing nefarious or new - just an arrangement for extended sit-down interviews with both candidates, one many campaigns have done in previous years to get around the national media and directly to viewers in key states.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-campaign-sinclair-broadcasting-jared-kushner-232764

 

[TheBigA]

But Jared Kushner mentioned that Sinclair can get more viewers than CNN and others in a 2016 article before the Tribune deal came into play.

The Sinclair stations, which mostly air shows from the four major networks, are seen by a lot of people. Their local newscasts are not as well-viewed as the entertainment programming. That is where their political content usually airs. There is a big tune-out at 11PM. If Sinclair were to replace the network content on their owned stations with national political talk, it would likely be less than what they reach now. Not sure that the company wants to give up the entertainment programming it airs on its stations in order to focus only on political talk.

I think what's being discussed is some form of non-broadcast news channel, which is a different situation from the owned broadcast stations.

 

[Ccook55]

What about markets with no Sinclair stations where Sinclair programming (Ring of Honor Wrestling, Full Measure, Comet TV) may air? Would they be persuaded into running their news?

 

[TheBigA]

What about markets with no Sinclair stations where Sinclair programming (Ring of Honor Wrestling, Full Measure, Comet TV) may air? Would they be persuaded into running their news?

Sinclair, as of now, doesn't have any news product to offer. They only news they do is local station news, with the national editorials. Could those national editorials be offered to non-owned stations? Sure. But why would anyone carry them? Nothing real unique or exclusive about them. The only reason the Sinclair stations run them is because the company requires them.

If Sinclair wants to get into the national program syndication business, it can use the part of the Tribune Company that does syndication. But they can't do that until the merger is approved. So that's what seems to be the hold up.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

What about markets with no Sinclair stations where Sinclair programming (Ring of Honor Wrestling, Full Measure, Comet TV) may air? Would they be persuaded into running their news?

I don't see San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta and Detroit the largest tv markets without a Sinclair owned station airing must runs for now on OTA TV for now unless Sinclair decides to promote Circa News and Ring of Honor over YouTube TV, Hulu tv, PlutoTV, Film on and playstation vue through the internet tv subscription provider in its lineup.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjo...nel-remains-as-dominant-as-ever/#5d069121460a

Here a Forbes Article about Fox News is dominant for Cable News/Talk for now though in the post Ailes era though.

Yes the Article was right to mention that Fox News during the Ailes removal and O'Reilly removal was facing uncertainty. But However the article failed to mention that Fox News faces a new uncertainty like Sinclair named in various rumors to challenge Fox News over demographics like getting more conservatives to their venue but that's still pending until the Sinclair/Tribune deal is resolved.

 

[TheBigA]

But However the article failed to mention that Fox News faces a new uncertainty like Sinclair named in various rumors to challenge Fox News over demographics like getting more conservatives to their venue but that's still pending until the Sinclair/Tribune deal is resolved.

Fox News has managed to create a brand that goes beyond personalities. That's unusual. And as you say, it has no competition, at least not at this time. The question is if the competition comes before or after the election.

 

[Kemosabe]

Fox News has managed to create a brand that goes beyond personalities. That's unusual.

That's an excellent point. Devotees of Fox News exhibit the sort of fierce loyalty usually found among ardent fans of major-league sports franchises (in which the overall team is far more important than its individual players).

 

[grey_dan]

I was actually having a discussion on this topic last weekend, specifically related to cord-cutting.

If you get your news & commentary from CNN or MSNBC but decide to cut the cord, you have some pretty good online alternatives. For news that leans a bit more critical of the current President, you have CBSN and now ABC News Live. If you want the full-on Trump-bashing opinion shows, you've got the Young Turks and FSTV.

But there's really not much out there competing with Fox News' mix of news from a conservative perspective with some full-on opinion shows. Most of the conservative alternative networks (NewsMax, TheBlaze, CRTV) almost entirely consist of "talk radio on TV" programs. One America probably comes the closest to following Fox's news/opinion hybrid formula, but nearly all of their hosts are virtual unknowns, and in terms of production quality, they're well behind Fox.

Something else worth noting... nearly all of the MSNBC/CNN online alternatives (CBSN, ABC Live, TYT, etc.) are available for free. Whereas the conservative online options almost all require some type of subscription. (NewsMax is an exception, but it also suffers from virtual unknown hosts and production quality issues.)

If this Sinclair network pans out, I think there is a market for it. However, I think it needs to have a strong news component and not just be a "talk radio on TV" network, if they want to compete with Fox. Sinclair should have a pretty good news division framework in place already, between the national news content they produce and all the local news resources they can pull from.

For the opinion programming, they'll need some strong conservative names. O'Reilly should still be available, and perhaps they can poach some known talent from TheBlaze or CRTV.

Finally, they need to keep an eye toward cord-cutters. It doesn't have to be an OTT-only network, but it should be easy and hopefully free for online viewers to access. Conservatives who are considering cord-cutting might be more willing to give up Fox News if they feel they can get the news & views that represent them elsewhere, without having to subscribe to something else. What Sinclair has done with Stadium would probably be a good path to follow--not necessarily making it a digital sub network, but having a significant & easily accessible presence both on traditional TV and online.

 

[TheBigA]

Sinclair should have a pretty good news division framework in place already, between the national news content they produce and all the local news resources they can pull from.

That's the problem. They really don't have a national news department. Most of their stations are affiliates of the big four, so the national news comes from there. They do a few national commentaries that are required to air on the local stations. Their local news departments are about the same as everyone else. There's been talk of using their stations in DC (WJLA and WDCA) to become a base for a national news network, but AFAIK it hasn't happened yet.

For online, they own Circa, and that is national. But I haven't seen any of those reports on their local stations.

This bit of news was announced today, courtesy of TheWrap.com:

Sinclair Broadcasting has hired Kaelan Dorr as the company’s new “executive political producer,” who will work alongside the channel’s political guru Boris Epshteyn and his “must run” segment for the channel’s local stations: “Bottom Line With Boris.”

Dorr is a veteran of the Trump administration, first working on the 2016 campaign and then serving in the White House as director of congressional communications for over a year.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://www.thewrap.com/sinclair-br...use-alum-as-new-executive-political-producer/

Update Sinclair has announced that a former Trump staff member will join the Sinclair team

Sinclair Broadcasting has hired Kaelan Dorr as the company’s new “executive political producer,” who will work alongside the channel’s political guru Boris Epshteyn and his “must run” segment for the channel’s local stations: “Bottom Line With Boris.”

Dorr is a veteran of the Trump administration, first working on the 2016 campaign and then serving in the White House as director of congressional communications for over a year.

“I’m proud to announce I’ve joined Sinclair Broadcast Group as Executive Political Producer!,” said Dorr in a tweet Tuesday, adding that he was “eager to bring my unique experience as a campaign veteran and Trump WH alum to an already stellar group.”

Epshteyn himself is also a veteran of many GOP campaigns including President Trump’s. The Dorr hire signals Sinclair chief David Smith’s desire to mine talent (and perhaps curry favor) from the current administration.

Epshteyn and his political opinion operation within Sinclair came to wide public attention after Deadspin published a lengthy exposé on his segments and other “must run” commentary that Sinclair forced their local station anchors to read in March.

Despite coming in for wide criticism, Epshteyn shot back, in a “Bottom Line With Boris” segment defending his work as clearly marked commentary, as opposed to mainstream media which he said veils opinions as news.

 

[grey_dan]

That's the problem. They really don't have a national news department. Most of their stations are affiliates of the big four, so the national news comes from there. They do a few national commentaries that are required to air on the local stations. Their local news departments are about the same as everyone else. There's been talk of using their stations in DC (WJLA and WDCA) to become a base for a national news network, but AFAIK it hasn't happened yet.

In saying "the national news content they produce," I'm mainly thinking of the Kristine Frazao reports, Terrorism Alert Desk, and perhaps Full Measure with Sheryl Atkinson. Despite the Bush-era connotations in the TAD name, both those and the Frazao reports are straight news segments with no more obvious bias than big four segments*. The Atkinson program is more investigative/issue-driven, but is closer in tone to 60 Minutes than Hannity/Ingraham/Maddow.

Of course, those features alone aren't enough to make a national news division. If Sinclair wants to make a go at it, they'll need to put a lot more resources into creating a solid news division. I'm just thinking they at least have something of a baseline to start, should they decide to do so.

(*For the record, I get my news from a variety of sources--conservative and liberal-leaning, domestic and international. So I'm not knowingly writing this with a pro-Sinclair bias. I think all of the "mainstream" outlets do certain things well within their news divisions, and I don't particularly care for any of them to be labeled "fake news." But I do think they all spin in one direction or another to some extent. I also think it's important to recognize the stark difference between straight news and opinion shows on either side. In today's hyper-partisan media environment, I guess I'm a bit of an oddball. )

I don't count the Boris bits as news; those obviously are straight commentary.

FWIW, I have seen a few Circa segments on my local Sinclair-owned station (a CBS affiliate). But they were on the B-tier newscasts (i.e., "First at 4:00," "News at 10 on MyTV"), rather than the main newscasts.

If they decide to do something more with Circa, I think it will be more Sinclair's answer to Newsy, rather than a full-on Fox News competitor.