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Could KCOP do primetime news to compete against KCAL?

R

Radiogeek500

You would figure such a move would be stupid at first sight. KCAL has long owned the 8-11 news block and is sucessful despite being owned by 3 different companies over the past 10 years(Disney, Young, and CBS).

But then again, Fox does have their national news channel(CBS doesn't) and mabye they might want a local news block to complement that. But that would require them reinstating the 10 pm news slot that they gave up a few years back in favor of having a 11:00 pm newscast.

Thoughts?<P ID="signature">______________
Happy 20th Birthday Power 106

JOSH, Moderating the whole Radio-Info radio state of California and Indiana too!

www.myspace.com/radiogeek500</P>
 
> You would figure such a move would be stupid at first sight.
> KCAL has long owned the 8-11 news block and is sucessful
> despite being owned by 3 different companies over the past
> 10 years(Disney, Young, and CBS).
>
> But then again, Fox does have their national news
> channel(CBS doesn't) and mabye they might want a local news
> block to complement that. But that would require them
> reinstating the 10 pm news slot that they gave up a few
> years back in favor of having a 11:00 pm newscast.
>
> Thoughts?
>
KCOP, whether it's UPN or not, has a nice little franchise with that 11pm show: young, hip, high story count, and loaded with eye candy. Newscast for people who really don't want hard news to get in the way of their fluff. Can't see FOX pouring money into a two-or-three hour block of that every night. Then again, stranger things have happened in Los Angeles TV (see also, "Good Day LIVE").
 
> You would figure such a move would be stupid at first sight.
> KCAL has long owned the 8-11 news block and is sucessful
> despite being owned by 3 different companies over the past
> 10 years(Disney, Young, and CBS).
>
> But then again, Fox does have their national news
> channel(CBS doesn't) and mabye they might want a local news
> block to complement that. But that would require them
> reinstating the 10 pm news slot that they gave up a few
> years back in favor of having a 11:00 pm newscast.

I don't see them doing it, even with the argument of Fox owning FNC. They use very little FNC material on KTTV, and since that is the Fox-branded station, if they were going to tap that resource it would be there.

If they don't go back to a movie at 8:00, I would think that the prime-time programming will be some mix of the following:
[*]First-run syndicated sci-fi, presently running weekend afternoons
[*]Repurposed Fox network shows
[*]Sports (although a lot of that won't come until teams are renegotiating their television contracts)
[*]Repeat of the daytime Montel and Tyra shows

Does anyone think Fox will dump the UPN programming before the end? Maybe once all the first-run episodes have aired?<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> Sports (although a lot of that won't come until teams are
> renegotiating their television contracts)

As I mentioned in the big thread on the National TV board, the Angels TV over-the-air contact is up for grabs, as KCOP and KTLA are in talks for a 50-game package, while KPXN and KDOC are in contention for another 50-game package. You figure with the loss to the Dodgers to KCAL, KCOP would try to counter with getting the Angels. KCAL already has the Lakers locked up for at least another 8 years, and KTLA has the Clippers for at least another year (I think it's a year-by-year contract). Hockey doesn't get good ratings, which is why the Kings have been cable-exclusive for the last 7-8 years (they had a small number of games each year on KTLA & KCAL during the Wayne Gretzky era), and the Ducks had their number of OTA games on KCAL reduced to 20 a year (mostly Sundays) to just 4 this year. With the resources of sisters FSN West and West 2, KCOP could concieveably go after some sports telecasts, as long as it makes ecomonical sense.

> Does anyone think Fox will dump the UPN programming before
> the end? Maybe once all the first-run episodes have aired?

I wouldn't be surprised if that happens, after all Fox sure as hell isn't happy about this situation, but they'll adjust, as any good broadcaster would. If it does happen, maybe in the interim, CBS/UPN has KCAL they could go to in case this happens. In their other markets, especially in New York City (where the only the true indie is rim-shotter WLNY on Long Island), it could be a problem if there's no other station available.
 
Re: KCOP

I suspect that now that it will become (again) an independent, KCOP-13 will bid for the complete (100 games or so) over-the-air TV package for the Angels. Since they will soon have no network affiliation, they'd have no problem being able to schedule the full broadcast-TV package.

And with all of the local over-the-air broadcasts on one station, the ratings should be higher than were the broadcast-TV package split between two stations. Except for occassional Saturday matinees on Fox (and sister station KTTV-11), Angels fans will know where to tune-in.

On the other hand, the Angels are considered the "number two" baseball team in Southern California. The Dodgers have a much bigger following; hence the reason KCAL-9 decided to dump the Angels: Dodger games will bring in more viewers.

I think KCOP will also bid agressively for other local sports packages as they come up.

In Dallas/Fort Worth, Fox owns a duopoly with one of those stations being an independent with a heavy sports commitment.
 
Re: KCOP

> In Dallas/Fort Worth, Fox owns a duopoly with one of those
> stations being an independent with a heavy sports
> commitment.
>

Yep...KDFI airs about 70 Rangers games (a handful of which are picked up by KDFW) and 30 Stars games a year, and BTW, has the same "Get It On" imaging as the Fox-owned UPNs.
 
Re: KCOP

> I suspect that now that it will become (again) an
> independent, KCOP-13 will bid for the complete (100 games or
> so) over-the-air TV package for the Angels. Since they will
> soon have no network affiliation, they'd have no problem
> being able to schedule the full broadcast-TV package.

Not exactly...from what I read in the L.A. Times and what I mentioned in my previous thread, the Angels are looking for two OTA partners if they can't get Fox Sports Net West to take on more than the 50 games they plan on carrying this season. FSN West has said that they want to carry more games, as a matter of fact, there's a 10-year, $340 million deal that FSN West has put on the table for the Angels to take, but Arte Moreno is sorta holding because he wants to start his own regional sports network. So, if FSN West is to stick to its 50-game committment for this season, then a 3rd broadcast partner will be brought in, with KTLA or KCOP being the primary OTA broadcast partner (my bet is 13, in the wake of this CW scenario), and KPXN or KDOC being the secondary partner (my bet is KDOC, since they have the better programming base and is the more familiar station of the two). Remember that in 2004, KDOC and KPXN carried a handful of Angels games, next to FSN West and KCAL.

> On the other hand, the Angels are considered the "number
> two" baseball team in Southern California. The Dodgers have
> a much bigger following; hence the reason KCAL-9 decided to
> dump the Angels: Dodger games will bring in more viewers.

True enough, that's part of the reason why KCAL took the Dodgers instead of reupping with the Angels. However, the ratings for both teams have been pretty even since the Angels won the World Series in 2002. Also, the attendance numbers have been even as well, and even though the Angels may have a higher percentage of seats sold, Dodger Stadium has a larger seating capacity (56,000) than Angels Stadium (roughly 46,000).

> I think KCOP will also bid agressively for other local
> sports packages as they come up.
>
If they're smart, they should, that way Fox has a 4th outlet (if you throw in KTTV) for local sports coverage in the Los Angeles market.
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

> It's an interesting article, and an nice idealistic sentiment. But even in those halcyon days of which Lloyd speaks - probably 80% of KCOP's daily programming day was off-network re-runs (such as all 26 episodes of The Munsters over-and-over-and-over for probably 4 years), grade D late-night movies from the 1940s, and low budget Bill Burrud travelogues which consisted of often grainy and silent 16mm travel footage with music and narration laid over the top. Actually, it was the other L.A. independents that did a better job, and managed to produce a small amount of interesting programming. KTTV had some good local provocative talk shows in the mid and late 60s, with hosts like Louis Lomax (Civil rights activist), Les Crane, and Mort Sahl. Channel 9 (then KHJ-TV) tried a noble experiement for a couple of years with their "Tempo" programs - about 5 hours a day of live interview and call-in talk programming with Regis Philbin, "B-1" Bob Dornan, Maria Cole (Nat's wife, and Natalie's Mom), and others. Even KTLA had all the lesser local sports in prime-time - boxing, wrestling, and roller derby. But KCOP never seemed to produce much local programming of note...the great Lloyd Thaxton being the big exception.

Here's an article, rather it's more of an essay, by Robert
> Lloyd addressing what KCOP should do when they go back to
> being an independent station. Interesting read, Lloyd
> basically says that he's a fan of the old KCOP, back in the
> days of Lloyd Thaxton and Hobo Kelly.
>
http://www.calendarlive.com/> tv/cl-et-kcop27jan27,0,1259628.htmlstory?coll=cl-tv-features
>
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

I always thought KCOP was a decent indie, when I was a kid in the 80s it was a lot like its then sister station KBHK in San Francisco. IIRC 13 was the original LA outlet for the original Ninja Turtles cartoon.
I always thought the old KHJ Channel 9 was the dog (Elvira being the exception).



>
> >
>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bigbubby on 02/01/06 05:36 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

> I always thought KCOP was a decent indie, when I was a kid
> in the 80s it was a lot like its then sister station KBHK in
> San Francisco. IIRC 13 was the original LA outlet for the
> original Ninja Turtles cartoon.
> I always thought the old KHJ Channel 9 was the dog (Elvira
> being the exception).
>
KCOP was indeed the home of the original Ninja Turtles cartoon, I used to watch it every morning before I went to school. Probably at one point, KCOP had a much better syndicated product than two of the other indies and KTTV...by the late 80s and early 90s alone, they added The Cosby Show, Growing Pains, Night Court, and A Different World, as well as still having oldies like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Rockford Files, The Dukes of Hazzard and Hawaii Five-O in the lineup (Diff'rent Strokes was also part of KCOP's lineup before it went to KCAL around 1990). Add in first-run syndies like Arsenio Hall and Star Trek: TNG & DS9, KCOP was a pretty good station and had a much better movie library than of the stations in town, with very few commericals.
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

> I always thought KCOP was a decent indie, when I was a kid
> in the 80s it was a lot like its then sister station KBHK in
> San Francisco. IIRC 13 was the original LA outlet for the
> original Ninja Turtles cartoon.
> I always thought the old KHJ Channel 9 was the dog (Elvira
> being the exception).
>
> You're probably right. I'm older, and left LA in 1973. In the 60s, KCOP was the worst, almost laughably bad, though I've heard they improved in the 80s. KHJ-TV Channel 9 probably went down the dumper in the last years of RKO General's ownership (before KCAL). RKO had a lot of corporate problems ("General" made tires), including problems with the FCC over some of their radio properties. I've also heard that Channel 13 did some great local programs in the early days of TV (late 40s and early 50s), before Chris Craft bought them. I'm not THAT old...
>
> >
> > >
> >
>
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

When I think of KCOP one word comes to mind: "Ricki Lake"!
 
Re: KCOP article in L.A. Times' Calendar section

That's what I thought. KCOP during that time was basically KBHK South. Of course, KBHK had been a Kaiser/Field station, so they had a built-in heritage.
 
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