Infomercials On Major Network Affiliates In Daytime

[DToTheJ]

A question previously went unanswered in the "Regis & Kelly on NBC Stations" thread:

WWLP... someone wanna tell me why they think an Infomercial and a rerun of Friends is a good lead-in to their 12PM News? And why they think airing infomercials 2PM-3PM is a good idea?

I guess WWLP could get away with it, being Springfield, MA is not a highly-ranked market. If you can get more bang for your buck during the day, why not go for it? In fact, there are many affiliates of the major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS - and yes, Fox can be considered a major network, but since they have no daytime programming, they are not a factor in this discussion) that carry infomercials during the day. I believe WBTV, a CBS affiliate in Charlotte, NC, does this, among many others. The fact that many more stations are going this route, it would not surprise me if such stations in the top markets followed suit. (Even O&O's - remember in the 90's when WCBS pre-empted "Entertainment Tonight" for infomercials for a few nights? It was reported that WNBC, also in New York, most recently aired infomercials in the same time period.)

In short, infomercials to these kinds of stations today is what cartoons were to them about thirty years ago.

 

[bpatrick]

Last time I checked WYFF Greenville, SC (NBC) was
running infomercials at 12:30 PM, between its noon
news and "Days Of Our Lives." I also think another
NBC affiliate in South Carolina, WIS Columbia, does
the same thing.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I notice sometimes on my local stations that an infomercial will pop-up at an unexpected time
when the listings show they should be running some other program. I guess anything is for sale
if the price is right.

 

[Mario500]

WKRG-TV (CBS) in Mobile, Alabama airs paid programming between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM Monday through Friday. A one-hour local newscast once aired in that timeslot before it was reduced to a half-hour newscast before it was finally cancelled. On Saturdays and Sundays when a network sports program ends shortly after 5:00 PM, the station airs an entire "paid program" or local newscast before joining "The CBS Evening News" all ready in progress.

WPMI-TV (NBC) airs paid programming between 12:30 PM and 1:00 PM and 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM Monday through Friday. "Judge Joe Brown" airs between the "paid programs" on weekdays.

 

[azumanga]

On Saturdays and Sundays when a network sports program ends shortly after 5:00 PM, [WKRG] airs an entire "paid program" or local newscast before joining "The CBS Evening News" all ready in progress.

In other words, the station usually shows news, but is willing to give it up if an infomercial company has the bucks for it. Correct?

 

[philosofy]

KNSD here in San Diego runs paid programming after Today ends. They used to have an 11 or 11:30a newscast but canned that last year and replaced it with informercials instead.

 

[Mario500]

In other words, the station usually shows news, but is willing to give it up if an infomercial company has the bucks for it. Correct?

Incorrect, as WKRG-TV usually has local news at 6:00 PM on Saturdays and 5:00 PM on Sundays. Paid programming usually begins at 5:00 PM on Saturdays before "The CBS Evening News" unless a sports program ends after 5:00 PM and the stations airs the entire "paid program".

 

[mjlarochelle]

WDIV in Detroit has been airing some infomercials in daytime, although not consistently. Normally they air a repeat of Jeopardy! weekdays at 12:30, but on some occasions in the past few months they have shown a infomercial for a local hospital instead.

 

[DToTheJ]

While such a station in Detroit is going this route, one would have thought it would be WWJ and not WDIV!

 

[firepoint525]

Channel 4 here in Nashville recently ran infomercials during the 9:00 hour on Saturday night in prime time! I have no idea what NBC programming they were bumping in order to do this, but it came as a shock to me.

 

[DToTheJ]

That's 9 PM Central, correct? Right before the late news? How enthusiastic was Channel 4 News to have Time-Life Music as a lead-in!

Then again, Saturday night is usually considered the least-watched night of broadcast prime time, so I'm sure not that many people noticed...

 

[firepoint525]

That's 9 PM Central, correct? Right before the late news? How enthusiastic was Channel 4 News to have Time-Life Music as a lead-in!

Correct, but how did you know it was Time-Life? I didn't even specify what it was. Is Time-Life doing a major buy? By the way, I don't like those types of compilations, but the programming itself (with old music video footage) is actually quite entertaining! 8)

Then again, Saturday night is usually considered the least-watched night of broadcast prime time, so I'm sure not that many people noticed...

Right, I'm sure that not many people noticed. As for the lead-in for the news, I'm supposing that channel 4 management made the decision to air that programming when they did, so it was an in-house decision.

 

[DToTheJ]

Just a wild guess about the infomercial being Time Life; IIRC, it was their infomercial that the aforementioned WCBS/New York aired right before prime time back in the 90's...

 

[ssetta]

I think sometimes WHDH (NBC) in Boston airs an Infomercial on Saturday night at 7:30 right after Access Hollywood. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually went this route in daytime.

 

[searadiofreak]

This is a total Catch-22. Infomericals like the big affiliates because of their ratings, big affiliates like the informericals for their revenue. At what point do these goals converge and cancel themselves out? As in, the ratings drop and the infomercials lose, and the affiliates lose because their ratings lose, and then nobody wins. Of course, nobody looks past the current quarter, do they?

BTW, weekend TV on basic cable has become unwatchable. Between the affiliates and the cable nets, Saturday morning has become a complete wasteland, with infomercials on probably 50% of the channels. I swear this Saturday morning I saw only the following: Informericals, Kids tv, and home improvement shows knocking down walls. Good grief!

 

[kenrayc]

Last time I checked WYFF Greenville, SC (NBC) was
running infomercials at 12:30 PM, between its noon
news and "Days Of Our Lives." I also think another
NBC affiliate in South Carolina, WIS Columbia, does
the same thing.

KSEE NBC 24 in Fresno does the same thing.

 

[tothedj]

I wonder how many stations who carry "Oprah" may have to go this route after next year?, especially if they can't secure a replacement that does anything in the ratings, this could also open the door for many major network affiliates to drop the
5:00 P.M. Newscast, a good example is WNBC-TV in New York, and besides i have wondered for quite sometime how long
will it be before more newscasts could be cancelled?, with the advent of the internet, many viewers are losing interest in
TV News, in my opinion, they run stories that most people don't care about!, but it's bad enough that we have a constant
bombardment of these "infomercials", and while some are OK, others need to go away!

 

[KTN Corp]

I wonder how many stations who carry "Oprah" may have to go this route after next year?

I wonder what KHOU will be doing next year. I was hoping news but KPRC cut the news to a 1/2 hour a couple years ago and KTRK is the only one left with an hour long newscast. Maybe there will be a block of the Sony TV programs (Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune) back-to-back at 4pm. Moving Jeopardy back to the afternoon might make room for Craig Ferguson to start on time (11:35 vs. the current 12:05).

 

[bpatrick]

Don't forget, too, that programs like "Daytime" on the Media
General stations, and "Atlanta & Company" on WXIA and
"Colorado & Company" on KUSA, are informericals disguised
as talk shows (the "Better" shows on the Meredith stations
may be as well, but I haven't seen any of them).

Since WKRG is a Media General station, does it air "Daytime"
from 9 to 10 AM?

 

[Mario500]

Since WKRG is a Media General station, does it air "Daytime"
from 9 to 10 AM?

Yes, but on digital channel 5-3, which has programming from the Retro Television Network. WKRG-TV has also once aired paid programming (two half-hour programs) in prime time on a Saturday night.