NBC Considers Cutting Back Programming Hours in Prime Time

[landtuna]

It's a well known fact it costs less to produce reality shows so the networks love them.

There are no 'reality' shows. While those shows are not scripted in the usual sense they are 'directed' to achieve an expected behavior. And they tend to be absolute garbage.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

And get off my lawn, again

 

[CommunicationsMajor]

Comcast/NBC has a giant albatross around it's neck:

The Olympics.

Once as big a TV event as almost any, the last two Olympics (the 2021 Summer games in Tokyo and this past February's Winter games in Beijing) saw ratings only half of the 2016 Summer games in Rio and the 2018 Winter games in Pyongchang, South Korea, inspite if the fact that there were favorable time differences with the U.S. East Coast that allowed much of NBC's prime time coverage to be live in all four cases (for Pyongchang, Tokyo, and Beijing, many key events were held in the morning, which allowed for live prime time coverage in the 'States).

There may have been reasons like the growth of streaming, being able to see events live instead of waiting for them to be on tape in prime time, family members of athletes weren't allowed to attend because of the covid epidemic, no crowds which for many sports detracted from the excitement, or even, as my girlfriend suggests, going overboard with what she calls "sob stories" (better known as athlete profiles or "Up Close And Personal" segments, although it seems to me there have fewer such features at recent Olympics, and they've been shorter).

The next two Olympics (the 2024 Summer games in Paris and the 2026 Winter games in Milan, Italy) may be worse ratingswise as there will be no live prime time coverage available. NBC will be able to go back to their old formula of "slice and dice", with all of America's gold medals that day being shown in the final hour of prime time.

Ratings for the 2028 Summer games should be much better as they will be held in Los Angeles, and a domestic Olympics should get strong ratings, as almost everything from 11 A.M. through 3 A.M. EDT (8 A.M.-12 Midnight PDT) being live.

And NBC's final Olympics under the current deal will be the 2032 Summer games is Brisbane, Australia. Again, I'd expect many major events will be held in the morning local time for live prime time coverage on the East Coast.

The 2030 Winter games (the last Winter Olympics under NBC's current deal) have yet to be awarded. I would guess that either Salt Lake City or Vancouver will get them (as both cities have hosted Winter Olympics in the past two decades and have facilities already in place) with whichever city losing the 2030 Winter Olympics getting the 2034 games. Plus, a Winter Olympics in North America would mean almost everything gets shown live, which could help NBC's cause.....unless the TV landscape by then is totally unrecognizable from what it is now.

NBC also has a long-term deal with the NFL and a deal just signed with the Big Ten college sports conference. I would think they will at least break even, due to the popularity of football, especially the NFL.

In other sports, NBC has rights to Notre Dame football, some golf tournaments (including the British Open Championship and the FedEx Cup), half of the NASCAR Cup series races (the second half of the season), all of the Indycar races (including the Indianapolis "500"), the English Premiership soccer league, while NBC's Peacock streaming service has late morning or very early afternoon (11:35 A.M. or 12:05 P.M. EDT) Major League Baseball games on Sundays, among others (although some of these events are on the USA Network, CNBC, or Peacock). After a decade and a half, NBC walked away from the National Hockey League after the 2020/21 season.

I don't think any of these are nearly as profitable to NBC as the NFL might be, but then again, I don't think any of NBC's sports properties outside the Olympics are in danger of losing money either.

I agree I don't like the sob stories either. Sometimes the story is longer than the event they are going to show. And why does NBC show so much diving during the summer games? They also lost the rights to The Triple Crown of Horse Racing to FOX.

The occasional infomercial can still be entertaining. Nobody could light a car on fire like Mike Levy.

My father who is anti-infomercial only likes the music ones. Because according to him they have music in them so they are ok to watch.

 

[tvnut]

NBC lost the Belmont Stakes to Fox, which has an arrangement with the NYRA for other races as well. NBC retains the Kentucky Derby (the year-in, year-out ratings leader) and Preakness Stakes. The Belmont is most valuable if a Triple Crown is on the line.

 

[CTListener]

I agree I don't like the sob stories either. Sometimes the story is longer than the event they are going to show. And why does NBC show so much diving during the summer games?

It all targets 24-45 females, the demo most likely to fall for a sales pitch and spend on impulse. Even with fewer total viewers, the men having largely abandoned the Olympics for the reasons you state, the networks can attract a higher concentration of viewers who are most attractive to advertisers.

 

[Don CT]

NBC lost the Belmont Stakes to Fox, which has an arrangement with the NYRA for other races as well. NBC retains the Kentucky Derby (the year-in, year-out ratings leader) and Preakness Stakes. The Belmont is most valuable if a Triple Crown is on the line.

How many people watch all 4 hours of coverage or just the final 20 minutes when the race starts.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Informercials are the television equivalent of advertising inserts in newspapers, or better yet, "shoppers," those multi-page advertising-only things that used to come in the mail all the time or were the only reading material available at the laundromat. Like those aggravating little publications, infomercials have little to no entertainment value, nor are they interesting to anyone but someone interested in buying certain merchandise. So why don't people who don't want to watch an infomercial just find something else to watch in that time slot, the equivalent of ignoring the shopper or tossing the insert in the trash? Beats me. Somehow people have gotten it in their heads that TV stations are violating some commandment chiseled in stone ("Thou shalt always entertain.") when they choose to air a program-length advertisement instead of a series, game show, movie or sporting event. The stations are under no such obligation, nor have they ever been.

I read those advertising inserts.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The occasional infomercial can still be entertaining. Nobody could light a car on fire like Mike Levy.

I was mad about "Jeopardy" being pre-empted but I've never again seen an infomercial for classic country music that I would have liked.

 

[vchimpanzee]

How many people watch all 4 hours of coverage or just the final 20 minutes when the race starts.

Yeah, more than an hour and a half was too much. I just want to see Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey (Tom Hammond left and I don't care about the new guy) and the horses walk past the crowd, and the ceremony and analysis afterward. I don't care about the hats or the fashions or the celebrities. Occasionally a story about one hose will be interesting. I can't believe I ever watched all of it.

Oh, yeah, there's usually a second race or even a third. Who cares?

 

[gr8oldies]

I was made about "Jeopardy" being pre-empted but I've never again seen an infomercial for classic country music that I would have liked.

When Wheel and/or Jeopardy is pre-empted on the main channel, it moves to the subchannel that mostly carries reruns of the latest newscast (and a million My Pillow commercials).

 

[CTListener]

Yeah, more than an hour and a half was too much. I just want to see Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey (Tom Hammond left and I don't care about the new guy) and the horses walk past the crowd, and the ceremony and analysis afterward. I don't care about the hats or the fashions or the celebrities. Occasionally a story about one hose will be interesting. I can't believe I ever watched all of it.

Oh, yeah, there's usually a second race or even a third. Who cares?

Gamblers. Either FS1 or FS2 has been carrying New York racing daily, from first race to last, since late spring 2020, when horse racing defied the pandemic and reopened for business around the country. Actually, a few tracks never stopped running races, just shut their premises to the public, which is what New York did as well although it didn't restart until May. I'd imagine the New York Racing Association is paying for all this airtime, but since online wagering on its product is way up since 2020, the people who are watching have been worth the investment.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Gamblers. Either FS1 or FS2 has been carrying New York racing daily, from first race to last, since late spring 2020, when horse racing defied the pandemic and reopened for business around the country. Actually, a few tracks never stopped running races, just shut their premises to the public, which is what New York did as well although it didn't restart until May. I'd imagine the New York Racing Association is paying for all this airtime, but since online wagering on its product is way up since 2020, the people who are watching have been worth the investment.

I know there are people who want to see those extra races. I meant me.

 

[landtuna]

I read those advertising inserts.

They line my bird cage.

 

[davideduardo]

They line my bird cage.

I have not subscribed to a print newspaper for about 7 or 8 years; I have a number of digital newspaper subscriptions, though.

But every week I get a huge set of ads in a weekly all-ads publication that is filled with inserts and one-sheets. Fortunately, our block's mailboxes have a big trash receptacle next to the mailbox kiosk where I put that bunch of stuff. Usually, on the day the ad mailer arrives, the receptacle is almost filled with everybody else's set of the ad mailer.

I wonder if those who pay for inclusion in that mailer evaluate the ROI. I don't think anyone in my neighborhood actually takes them home.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

I notice that quite a few of these stations which have cut down to one, two, or even no syndicated
shows are owned by Gray Television (WBTV, WAVE, and WSMV have eliminated syndicated programs;
WGCL is down to one; WMC is down to two). Granted that some of their stations carry Wheel and
Jeopardy!, I still wonder how long it will be before Gray drops syndicated programs
completely.

Not shocking when syndicated programs leave the main OTA channel for subchannels networks and the various TV apps that agree to air the show. My guess of Freevee, Tubi and Pluto TV will be or are the main place for syndicated shows going forward.

 

[CTListener]

I have not subscribed to a print newspaper for about 7 or 8 years; I have a number of digital newspaper subscriptions, though.

But every week I get a huge set of ads in a weekly all-ads publication that is filled with inserts and one-sheets. Fortunately, our block's mailboxes have a big trash receptacle next to the mailbox kiosk where I put that bunch of stuff. Usually, on the day the ad mailer arrives, the receptacle is almost filled with everybody else's set of the ad mailer.

I wonder if those who pay for inclusion in that mailer evaluate the ROI. I don't think anyone in my neighborhood actually takes them home.

I look to see if there are any sheets of Arby's or Subway discount coupons to clip and throw the rest of the junk mail away in the huge bin next to the mailboxes for my apartment complex. That stuff never makes it as far as my car seat. There are lots of much more serious coupon clippers than me out there who are taking all those inserts home and going through them, so I can see the ROI actually being acceptable.

 

[CTListener]

Not shocking when syndicated programs leave the main OTA channel for subchannels networks and the various TV apps that agree to air the show. My guess of Freevee, Tubi and Pluto TV will be or are the main place for syndicated shows going forward.

The best of those commercial-supported streaming TV services, IMO, is Comcast's Xumo.

 

[Don CT]

Gamblers. Either FS1 or FS2 has been carrying New York racing daily, from first race to last, since late spring 2020, when horse racing defied the pandemic and reopened for business around the country. Actually, a few tracks never stopped running races, just shut their premises to the public, which is what New York did as well although it didn't restart until May. I'd imagine the New York Racing Association is paying for all this airtime, but since online wagering on its product is way up since 2020, the people who are watching have been worth the investment.

The national broadcast doesn't care about the gamblers, they want the women audience to show them the fashion.

 

[CTListener]

The national broadcast doesn't care about the gamblers, they want the women audience to show them the fashion.

Yes, but I was responding to the comment about the other races on the telecast. The "meat" was the Travers Stakes, with its long tradition and the presence of the Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (who finished fourth; the winner was Preakness runner-up Epicenter), but the "potatoes," two races of interest to practically no one but gamblers who intensely follow horse racing, padded out the show.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I look to see if there are any sheets of Arby's or Subway discount coupons to clip and throw the rest of the junk mail away in the huge bin next to the mailboxes for my apartment complex. That stuff never makes it as far as my car seat. There are lots of much more serious coupon clippers than me out there who are taking all those inserts home and going through them, so I can see the ROI actually being acceptable.

I used to use coupons but at some point it hit me that buying store brands is cheaper. So unless there is some really good reason for buying the name brand, I will. Charmin usually has coupons that save me 25 cents. Seriously? Yesterday, however, I used a coupon that saved me $3. Now that's more like it.

I lost interest in what brand the toilet paper was but I couldn't pass up a deal like that. Didn't check to see if I really saved money not buying the store brand.