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Las Vegas TV Station to phase out syndicated programs for news

G

gwise96557

I noticed a TV news check articile that was posted on the Arizona TV (Jan 2013) update post of the Pheonix TV board on this forum. Apparently the NBC station KSNV DT 3 plans to drop all syndicated programs when the contracts expire and switch to all news and Net work programs. They expect to have the switch over completed by 2016.
 
No, it used to be the flagship Sunbelt Communications station, calling itself Valley Broadcasting Company (hence the former calls KVBC).

Scripps did try that format in 1979 when they opened KNXV-TV 15 Phoenix, but it didn't work out well for them and they soon dropped it.
 
dhett said:
Scripps did try that format in 1979 when they opened KNXV-TV 15 Phoenix, but it didn't work out well for them and they soon dropped it.
Click to expand...

Scripps bought the station in 1984 or '85. The previous ownership, which I think called itself New Television Corporation (the "N" in KNXV) did the happy-news thing, when it wasn't running ON-TV.
 
KeithE4 said:
dhett said:
Scripps did try that format in 1979 when they opened KNXV-TV 15 Phoenix, but it didn't work out well for them and they soon dropped it.
Click to expand...

Scripps bought the station in 1984 or '85. The previous ownership, which I think called itself New Television Corporation (the "N" in KNXV) did the happy-news thing, when it wasn't running ON-TV.
Click to expand...

That's right - I forgot that the FCC database shows the current owner on all applications, even those filed before the current owner took over.
 
Although I don't care about watching all news on local TV during the day, this would be better to me than most of the garbage in syndicated daytime TV. ::)
 
dhett said:
No, it used to be the flagship Sunbelt Communications station, calling itself Valley Broadcasting Company (hence the former calls KVBC).
Click to expand...

It still is the flagship of the station group, the company just renamed itself "Intermountain West Communications" about 3 years ago. I noticed the name change when it popped up on KTVH-12 Helena, MT (NBC affil in Helena, default/satellite NBC affil for Great Falls, MT) when I was living up there.

As for the call letter change, I recall reading that they wanted to tie it into their other Nevada stations better (KRNV-Reno, KENV-Elko)
 
Oh god. 2.5 hour morning newscast, followed by Today, followed by two hours of news, DOOL, five more hours of news, NBC prime time, another hour of news. OVERKILL!!

-crainbebo
 
Add to that 2 1/2 hours of late night, two hours of late night Today and Cramer reruns (or infomerical crap), Early Today, "lather, rinse, repeat."

So how much of that "local news" time do you think will end up going to infomercial hell?
 
crainbebo said:
Oh god. 2.5 hour morning newscast, followed by Today, followed by two hours of news, DOOL, five more hours of news, NBC prime time, another hour of news. OVERKILL!!

-crainbebo
Click to expand...

Only if you watch it all.
 
If they are thinking about this, then maybe they can yank the NBC affiliation. Turn it into "LV3N"- "Las Vegas 3 News". :D :D :p

-crainbebo
 
KeithE4 said:
dhett said:
Scripps did try that format in 1979 when they opened KNXV-TV 15 Phoenix, but it didn't work out well for them and they soon dropped it.
Click to expand...

Scripps bought the station in 1984 or '85. The previous ownership, which I think called itself New Television Corporation (the "N" in KNXV) did the happy-news thing, when it wasn't running ON-TV.
Click to expand...

KNXV's original daytime programming was old movies and older syndicated reruns. There was a brief time in 1981-82 in which they ran the Financial News Network during the day, and ON-TV at night. Their news department didn't open until 1994.

As for KSNV's news-intensive focus, it's a better idea than the original low-budget strip concept that Scripps is implementing at its stations. And, I believe it will deliver better results too, especially during election years (I read that KSNV ran the most political ads out of any station in the United States during the 2012 election, and this will give them a lot more avails).
 
KCRA 3 Sacramento tried something similar maybe 20 years ago or more. They programmed mostly local news when NBC wasn't airing network programming.

And those were the days when you didn't do 2 or 2.5 hours of news before Today or a 4pm newscast. It was quite a move when they tried it. I think they may have even programmed some local news, or repeats of local news, overnight.

I don't think it lasted more than a couple of years.
 
KSNV carries Cozi and Antenna TV as its subchannels, so at least they'll continue to provide entertainment programming for viewers who tire of all-news (of course, if both networks are still around by 2015-16).

Here's the station's current weekday schedule, just as a point of reference...

4am Early Today
4:30 Wake Up with the Wagners (a husband-and-wife team doing the morning news)
7am Today Show
11am Rachael Ray
12pm News
12:30 The Agenda (public affairs)
1pm Days of our Lives
2pm The Doctors
3pm Dr. Phil
4pm News
5pm News
5:30 NBC Nightly News
6pm News
6:30 Jeopardy!
7pm Wheel of Fortune
7:30 Ralston Reports (public affairs)
8pm NBC Primetime
11pm News
11:35 Tonight Show
12:35 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
1:35 Later with Carson Daly
2:05 Today All Night
3am Mad Money with Jim Cramer

So, eliminating Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, Wheel, and Jeopardy! clears up four hours of syndicated product each day; the rest is either local or NBC.
 
Geez, I gotta say that's a gutsy move. Last time I checked, Wheel and Jeopardy are the two most successful fringe shows on U.S. television. Rachel Ray also seems to be quite popular. The Doctors and Dr. Phil also get pretty good ratings, as far as I know.

Now they'll be handing their competitors those programs so they can do news most of the day. I guess Las Vegas doesn't have a local cable news operation?
 
Gregg said:
Geez, I gotta say that's a gutsy move. Last time I checked, Wheel and Jeopardy are the two most successful fringe shows on U.S. television. Rachel Ray also seems to be quite popular. The Doctors and Dr. Phil also get pretty good ratings, as far as I know.

Now they'll be handing their competitors those programs so they can do news most of the day. I guess Las Vegas doesn't have a local cable news operation?
Click to expand...

Wheel and Jeopardy appeal to a largely older audience.

TV news is cheap to produce. Syndication is expensive. You give up both cash and some advertising inventory (cash plus barter) for the national commercials within the syndicated show.

In Phoenix (a larger market than Las Vegas), the syndication fee for Dr. Phil was reportedly $70,000 a week a few years ago.

Let's just pretend that in Las Vegas, Dr. Phil, Wheel and Jeopardy could be had for $25,000 plus barter apiece and you could get Rachael for $15,000 and barter. That's $90,000 a week and (assuming 5 minutes of barter spots per hour) 45 30-second ads you're giving up. If those are worth $500 each, that's another $22,500 a week, for a total of $112,500.

Adding three hours of news to an existing operation probably means another photog, another reporter (maybe you get an MMJ, a reporter that shoots their own stuff) and another producer or two. In a market the size of Las Vegas, you can probably do that for $112,500 a year, which means the other 51 weeks a year of savings go straight to the bottom line.

That's $5.7 million.
 
Gregg said:
I guess Las Vegas doesn't have a local cable news operation?
Click to expand...

They do in 8NewsNow, which is a joint venture of CBS affiliate KLAS and Cox Cable; looking at the schedule, however, it's repeats and simulcasts of the main station's newscasts (including CBS News programming).
 
WTMJ, NBC's Milwaukee affiliate is doing 8 Hours of Local News/Locally produced shows per day(Monday through Friday)on average, leaving them with no syndicated shows, And I think KSNV is trying to follow Today's TMJ-4's lead as that station will ditch all of its currently syndicated TV shows-Like "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune".
 
Gregg said:
KCRA 3 Sacramento tried something similar maybe 20 years ago or more. They programmed mostly local news when NBC wasn't airing network programming.

And those were the days when you didn't do 2 or 2.5 hours of news before Today or a 4pm newscast. It was quite a move when they tried it. I think they may have even programmed some local news, or repeats of local news, overnight.

I don't think it lasted more than a couple of years.
Click to expand...
I remember reading about that experiment. Imagine a live newscast starting at 2am, 3am or 4am 20 years ago. It was ahead of its time.
 
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