Anchors leaving. Low viewership. No helicopter. At the Boston 25 TV news station, uncertainty reigns.
WCVB is comfortably in first with WBZ-TV closer to third place WHDH.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Boston Globe takes a hard look at Channel 25 woes
- Thread starter Fenway1912
- Start date
WCVB is comfortably in first with WBZ-TV closer to third place WHDH.
Never realized impressions were based on 2+ numbers in TV
NBC doesn't care as they have similar trainwrecks in Philly, San Diego and San Francisco.
You can get multiple demos, similar to radio. But Nielsen measures 2+ for TV because of channels like Disney and PBS Kids that target young children.
The real thing to look at are the 25-54 numbers, where you'll see a total of about 58,000 prime age adults counted as watching the late local news. That's well under 5% of the total market in that age group watching any of the late local newscasts.
Is Philly considered a trainwreck? I thought NBC owned WCAU was a solid #2 in the ratings. Not realistic to become #1 when WPVI’s Action News has been #1 since the 1970s.
How so? This is given that NBC itself has been putting more emphasis on the Peacock TV app. It's more of having the top shows on Peacock.
For those who want the TL;DR version...
Total viewers in June 2024:
Is anyone surprised honestly? Because I'm not.
Total viewers in June 2024:
- WCVB Channel 5 (ABC)
- WBZ Channel 4 (CBS)
- WHDH Channel 7 (Ind)
- WFXT Channel 25 (FOX)
- WBTS Channel 15 (NBC)
Is anyone surprised honestly? Because I'm not.
The downward spiral of WFXT began in 2013 when Cox's Bay Area station made a mistake that destroyed its credibility with the large Asian population in that market.
FOX had long wanted a Bay Area O&O because of the NFC 49ers and in 2014 they traded Boston and Memphis for Oakland. WFXT managers went to California and the Cox Oakland managers came to Boston.
Cox decided Maria Stephanos made too much money and let her walk.
The Ansin family controls the narrative. They will never agree to Fox branding on local news and it has worked in Miami. WFXT has no leverage at this point.
It's crazy to see a top 4 network affiliated station in a top 10 market not have an evening newscast every day of the week.
Also, I thought KNSD was a respectable #2 behind KFMB.
You might be thinking Hartford-New Haven, where I believe WVIT is #3 behind much-dominant WFSB and closer to second-place WTNH.
When Cox took over WFXT, that was the beginning of the end of its newscast. If Fox was smart, at the time they lost ownership in Boston, they should have affiliated with WHDH which has a strong news operation. That would have been perfect timing when NBC left Channel 7. I'm sure NBC regrets getting NBC 10 Boston which is a ratings disaster.
But most of the value of WFXT was tied to the network affiliation and the deal never would have happened without that Fox affiliation coming with the TV station.
Fox wanted more revenue from the 49ers and Seahawks games this factors in why Fox left Boston for San Francisco and Seattle. This in turn is how KCPQ and KTVU were converted from Fox Contract affiliates to Fox owned stations.
It's complicated. WFXT is the largest Fox affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by the network, although it was previously owned by Fox on two occasions (1987–1990 and 1995–2014).
Murdoch also owned the Boston Herald and was unable to get an FCC waiver to own a newspaper and TV station. He wound up 'selling' the Herald to a loyal employee to get the TV station back but everybody in town knew he still controlled the paper.
When KTVU imploded in 2013 FOX pounced but they had to deal with as a group owner they could not exceed 39% of total US homes. If they added San Francisco they had to cut another market.
Ironically, last season there were *five* Patriots games that aired on Fox.
This season, they're scheduled to have six Fox games! This is, of course, barring any schedule changes.
When WFXT was a Fox O&O, they only got two Patriots regular season games per year.
- Status