How Will WHDH Handle NBC Cancelling Leno @ 10 PM?

[DToTheJ]

It is being reported that NBC is considering moving Jay Leno's nightly show back to late nights, after dismal performances in primetime:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/update-nbc-plans-leno-at-1130-conan-at-12/

Such a fate was predicted by many NBC stations, including Sunbeam's WHDH, which had threatened to replace Leno's primetime show with a new 10 PM hourlong newscast.

What do you suppose WHDH will do now that Leno appears to be on his way out at 10 PM? One could make the argument that Leno's failure at 10 PM - which Ed Ansin had called long before the show first aired at 10 PM - could justify WHDH's right to go ahead with 10 PM news, replacing whatever NBC would replace Leno with in the 10 PM hour, as sort of a "see, I told you so" to the network. This is what I would like to see. The worst NBC can do is yank the affiliation from WHDH and place it elsewhere. NBC was proven wrong about Leno in primetime, and WHDH was proven to be right. This should get interesting.

 

[Blackroc]

They would obviously hope the network would come up with some dramas in the 10pm slot, that would be strong lead-ins to HDH's news at 11.00.
If NBC doesn't do that, it won't matter if Leno's gone or not. The Winter Olympics should be big for ch.7. But they are likely to return to the status quo in March unless NBC cranks out some decent programming.

 

[TexasTom]

What do you suppose WHDH will do now that Leno appears to be on his way out at 10 PM? One could make the argument that Leno's failure at 10 PM - which Ed Ansin had called long before the show first aired at 10 PM - could justify WHDH's right to go ahead with 10 PM news, replacing whatever NBC would replace Leno with in the 10 PM hour, as sort of a "see, I told you so" to the network. This is what I would like to see. The worst NBC can do is yank the affiliation from WHDH and place it elsewhere. NBC was proven wrong about Leno in primetime, and WHDH was proven to be right. This should get interesting.

Wow, what an utterly stupid idea!

In essence, you're suggesting that WHDH should preempt NBC's final hour of programming as a petulant "I told you so" gesture and risk their relationship with NBC. If Sunbeam is interested in running WHDH as an independent, don't you think that they would have already made it happen?

 

[MassMusicMan]

You're missing the point, Tom.

It would stand to reason that Ed Ansin is playing with house money right now. He showed NBC his d***, and he won. Ball's in NBC's court now. Ansin proved how irrelevant they've become. He doesn't want to make WHDH independent, he wants to carry NBC shows on his terms, not the network's. The question here is what the Peacock will let him get away with.

And to think this is the network that gave us Seinfeld and L.A. Law. Sheesh.

 

[formeraa]

Then again, our society runs on hyperspeed these days. Some of the best series in history took a FULL year or more to catch on. Now, we measure success in weeks or, even, days.

 

[mescutia]

This thread feels strangely familiar...

The worst NBC can do is yank the affiliation from WHDH and place it elsewhere.

Which would be a major headache for NBC. Yeah, there's WWDP, but they would have to build a news department from scratch.

 

[qunewsguy]

Then again, our society runs on hyperspeed these days. Some of the best series in history took a FULL year or more to catch on. Now, we measure success in weeks or, even, days.

M*A*S*H, Cheers, Seinfeld, I could go on and on. I remember a quote from Jeff Zucker saying that if Seinfeld had debuted in the fall of 2008 it wouldn't have made it past the two week mark on the air with the early ratings it got.

 

[necrat123]

I remember a quote from Jeff Zucker

Mark my words, Jeff Zucker's days are numbered.

 

[BRNout]

I remember a quote from Jeff Zucker

Mark my words, Jeff Zucker's days are numbered.

If he doesn't get fired over this, he's guaranteed a job for life!! What a mess he got the network into! A ratings, affiliate relations and PR nightmare! I can't recall ever seeing a major network embroiled in such a programming disaster as this is. I am surprised he wasn't already torched.

As for WHDH, if they were going to jump ship on 10 ET prime time - they would have done it already. At this point, Jay is gone and that's what Ansin undoubtedly wanted to see. If NBC replaces Leno with horrible programming that garners even worse ratings, the issue may pop up. However, I seriously doubt that NBC will do strip programming so each night will vary (as it always has) and WHDH will live with it (as they have for years now).

 

[mescutia]

At this point, the only real question is whether or not NBC as we know it will outlive Ansin...



















(Yeah, that was morbid. Sorry. But it had to be said.)

 

[TexasTom]

In any event, Ansin has spoken:

Ansin, who has owned the Boston NBC affiliate station since 1993, said his prediction may have been correct, but he was in no mood to gloat.

And the station's GM, from the same article:

Chris Wayland, general manager at WHDH, said the station has no plans to air a new local newscast at 10 p.m., as Ansin had previously attempted to do. But for now, he said, the station is still awaiting answers.

The full article is here: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/01/12/he_resisted_leno_shift_from_start/

 

[mescutia]

Ansin, who has owned the Boston NBC affiliate station since 1993, said his prediction may have been correct, but he was in no mood to gloat.

Now that's interesting.

Also... Ansin's been in television since 1962? I didn't know that. I thought he was a real estate guy who wound up owning WSVN on the side.

 

[MCarney]

Both Comcast and Jeff Zucker think in terms of cable content and not over-the-air programming. Their goal is not to help out the affiiates. Their goal is to acheive advertising revenue for NBC durining prime time, and if the affiliates newscasts suffer that is the affiliates problem. That's why this may not be the last attempt (whether Zucker stays or not) to move the pricier dramas out of 10pm.

As for Ed Ansin, he may have overplayed his hand this time. I've always had the impression that he would like to have sold WHDH and WSVN to NBC and Fox respectively, but only under his terms. He has a grudge against NBC that stems from some business with the Miami station and NBC was interested in WHDH in the past. I don't know about Fox but with Zucker's mindset and now Comcast in the picture NBC isn't going to buy more stations.

 

[BRNout]

As for Ed Ansin, he may have overplayed his hand this time. I've always had the impression that he would like to have sold WHDH and WSVN to NBC and Fox respectively, but only under his terms. He has a grudge against NBC that stems from some business with the Miami station and NBC was interested in WHDH in the past. I don't know about Fox but with Zucker's mindset and now Comcast in the picture NBC isn't going to buy more stations.

The Miami incident had to do with NBC buying another station down there and dumping their affiliation with WSVN - something like that. For a little while, WSVN was the odd-man-out independent until they snagged the Fox affiliation. They seem happy now. As for your reference to Fox buying stations, I won't comment on that nationally - but it's not going to happen in Boston, where they already own WFXT ("Fox 25"). They just wouldn't get much value out of buying WHDH.

You're probably right about NBC - with Comcast as their owner, they'll be jettisoning stations left and right (to the extent that they can find buyers)....not buying them.