major daytime changes in Boston TV come Fall '11

[BoscoGoldBear]

For those who haven't read the Boston Herald on Friday November 12, 2010:

Ellen (on WCVB and WMUR) is switching from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Oprah's current time slot) in September - a big yawner IMHO (i.e. as if we all didn't already know that was happening)

Regis and Kelly (on WHDH) is switching to WCVB (and presumably WMUR as well) in September - a huge surprise! OTOH, I've yet to read the Chicago TV board, but if Disney put up an unrealistic price demand to WGN-TV (R&K's current carriers) so they can get R&K on its own WLS-TV to replace Oprah at 9 a.m. (the only city with Oprah in mornings) I wouldn't be surprised.

WHDH putting late morning news from 9 to 10 a.m. - that may be the biggest surprise, and one which NBC is frowning on, as it expects all of its affiliates to run Today non-stop from 7 to 11 a.m. if they don't have pre-existing programming (i.e. R&K). Don't think for a moment that NBC won't go to CBS-owned WSBK to affiliate with the Peacock network in retaliation - have we all forgotten what happened in Frisco with NBC affiliate KRON/4 having its Peacock feathers pulled from its arse by out-of-town KNTV/11-San Jose (bought by NBC)? Another possibilty (along the KNTV from SJ to SF lines): NBC re-buys WJAR/10, put it closer to Boston (new COL: Walpole, MA), have WJAR be NBC affiliate for BOTH Boston AND Providence, and have WHDH/7 in an uncomfortable situation in having to align itself with The CW while WLVI/56 becomes an infomercial or foreign-language station (same difference IMHO).

Let the fur - or peacock feathers - fly! ;D

 

[taylorjsdad]

For those who haven't read the Boston Herald on Friday November 12, 2010:

Ellen (on WCVB and WMUR) is switching from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Oprah's current time slot) in September - a big yawner IMHO (i.e. as if we all didn't already know that was happening)

Regis and Kelly (on WHDH) is switching to WCVB (and presumably WMUR as well) in September - a huge surprise! OTOH, I've yet to read the Chicago TV board, but if Disney put up an unrealistic price demand to WGN-TV (R&K's current carriers) so they can get R&K on its own WLS-TV to replace Oprah at 9 a.m. (the only city with Oprah in mornings) I wouldn't be surprised.

WHDH putting late morning news from 9 to 10 a.m. - that may be the biggest surprise, and one which NBC is frowning on, as it expects all of its affiliates to run Today non-stop from 7 to 11 a.m. if they don't have pre-existing programming (i.e. R&K). Don't think for a moment that NBC won't go to CBS-owned WSBK to affiliate with the Peacock network in retaliation - have we all forgotten what happened in Frisco with NBC affiliate KRON/4 having its Peacock feathers pulled from its arse by out-of-town KNTV/11-San Jose (bought by NBC)? Another possibilty (along the KNTV from SJ to SF lines): NBC re-buys WJAR/10, put it closer to Boston (new COL: Walpole, MA), have WJAR be NBC affiliate for BOTH Boston AND Providence, and have WHDH/7 in an uncomfortable situation in having to align itself with The CW while WLVI/56 becomes an infomercial or foreign-language station (same difference IMHO).

Let the fur - or peacock feathers - fly! ;D

The question is would Media General (owners of WJAR) go for it? They do have a major market NBC affiliate in WFLA-TV in Tampa so they do know how to run a top 20 market affiliate.

There are two things where I don't think this will work. It reminds me of when the Manchester stations (WMUR and WZMY namely) have tried to reach into the Boston area. It is real difficult to try to focus on both areas and I see the same problem trying to target both Providence and Boston... especially in news and public affairs programming. I bet LIN and WLNE would love it.

The other issue would be the Northern part of the DMA... if WJAR is going to be the NBC affiliate for the Boston DMA they would also have to reach and serve Southern NH. Of course NBC could terminate the LMA of WNEU and farm that out to maybe Hearst with an LMA as an NBC affiliate. Or maybe swtich WMUR to an NBC affiliate. Or maybe Hearst could move WNNE into the Concord area and run that as an NBC affilitate from WMUR's facilities in Manchester... I am not sure that would be approved though.

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

WHDH putting late morning news from 9 to 10 a.m. - that may be the biggest surprise, and one which NBC is frowning on, as it expects all of its affiliates to run Today non-stop from 7 to 11 a.m. if they don't have pre-existing programming (i.e. R&K). Don't think for a moment that NBC won't go to CBS-owned WSBK to affiliate with the Peacock network in retaliation - have we all forgotten what happened in Frisco with NBC affiliate KRON/4 having its Peacock feathers pulled from its arse by out-of-town KNTV/11-San Jose (bought by NBC)? Another possibilty (along the KNTV from SJ to SF lines): NBC re-buys WJAR/10, put it closer to Boston (new COL: Walpole, MA), have WJAR be NBC affiliate for BOTH Boston AND Providence, and have WHDH/7 in an uncomfortable situation in having to align itself with The CW while WLVI/56 becomes an infomercial or foreign-language station (same difference IMHO).

Remember Leno's 10'oclock show. WHDH was the the only affiliate that was right about it.The rest of the world ended up with egg on thier face while everyone that they were wrong but ended up being right>

 

[smaug07]

WHDH putting late morning news from 9 to 10 a.m. - that may be the biggest surprise, and one which NBC is frowning on, as it expects all of its affiliates to run Today non-stop from 7 to 11 a.m. if they don't have pre-existing programming (i.e. R&K). Don't think for a moment that NBC won't go to CBS-owned WSBK to affiliate with the Peacock network in retaliation - have we all forgotten what happened in Frisco with NBC affiliate KRON/4 having its Peacock feathers pulled from its arse by out-of-town KNTV/11-San Jose (bought by NBC)? Another possibilty (along the KNTV from SJ to SF lines): NBC re-buys WJAR/10, put it closer to Boston (new COL: Walpole, MA), have WJAR be NBC affiliate for BOTH Boston AND Providence, and have WHDH/7 in an uncomfortable situation in having to align itself with The CW while WLVI/56 becomes an infomercial or foreign-language station (same difference IMHO).

So let me get this straight, you think there is a possibilty that NBC may do any of these outlandish things, such as change stations for its affiliations, all because WHDH refuses to air The Today Show from 9 to 10AM??? Do you honestly think that they would go to all that trouble and spend who knows how much money to make these changes just because a station will not air one hour of its daytime programming? That would make no business sense whatsoever, and even though NBC has had a rocky partnership with Sunbeam, I think they realize that the people of this market associate channel 7 with its NBC brand and therefore not to rock the boat just because of something this minor. Just my two cents worth...

 

[Skynet74]

4 hours of The Today Show is freaking ridiculous. It should go to 9AM. End of story.

 

[MCarney]

NBC isn't going to do anything at the moment. Everything that isn't regular day-to-day buisness is on hold pending the finalization of the Comcast deal.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

Comcast! I've been with DirecTV for so long that I've forgotten that they're the prime cable cluster in Boston! That having been said, Comcast would have to sell its cluster to TW, AT&T, Cox (which has RI already) or Cablevision before pulling a KNTV and buy WJAR/10, move the COL to Walpole, move the trans tower to Gillette Stadium, and put in claim as the prime NBC affiliate for both Boston and Providence, much like WFSB/3 used to do for Hartford and Springfield before they bought a crap stick in Springfield (WSHM/67) and pass that off as Channel 3. In short, WJAR's coverage (mostly through cable) would go from Westerly to Laconia and from Brattleboro to Provincetown. And let's not forget, WJAR no longer has to worry about spacing for other channel 10s in Albany or Augusta/Portland because of their actual digital channels being different from each other. As for the programming, WJAR could always buy back its "Nate Berkus" from 5/9 because its future parent Comcast distributes the series (under the name NBC-Universal), and NBC gets along well enough with Hearst.

BTW, this (and KNTV) wouldn't be the first time NBC pulled rank on one of its stations. NBC bought WKYC/3 in Cleveland, took over KYW/3 in Philly and left Group W with a less valuable station in Cleveland - the courts reversed that sale in 1965, which meant that WKYC's Mike Douglas (then at KYW) was a lot closer to top-notch talent in Philly (100 miles from NYC) than in Cleveland (a plus for us)!

 

[mgpt6]

Dont know if John Lennon and Yoko Ono would have done MIke Douglas if the show was still done in Cleveland. probably the most remembered episodes of the Douglas show. In Boston for many years WSBK carried the NBC lineup from Noon-2pm while WBZ had news and Mike Douglas.

 

[Garrett]

For those who haven't read the Boston Herald on Friday November 12, 2010:

Ellen (on WCVB and WMUR) is switching from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Oprah's current time slot) in September - a big yawner IMHO (i.e. as if we all didn't already know that was happening)

Regis and Kelly (on WHDH) is switching to WCVB (and presumably WMUR as well) in September - a huge surprise! OTOH, I've yet to read the Chicago TV board, but if Disney put up an unrealistic price demand to WGN-TV (R&K's current carriers) so they can get R&K on its own WLS-TV to replace Oprah at 9 a.m. (the only city with Oprah in mornings) I wouldn't be surprised.

WHDH putting late morning news from 9 to 10 a.m. - that may be the biggest surprise, and one which NBC is frowning on, as it expects all of its affiliates to run Today non-stop from 7 to 11 a.m. if they don't have pre-existing programming (i.e. R&K). Don't think for a moment that NBC won't go to CBS-owned WSBK to affiliate with the Peacock network in retaliation - have we all forgotten what happened in Frisco with NBC affiliate KRON/4 having its Peacock feathers pulled from its arse by out-of-town KNTV/11-San Jose (bought by NBC)? Another possibilty (along the KNTV from SJ to SF lines): NBC re-buys WJAR/10, put it closer to Boston (new COL: Walpole, MA), have WJAR be NBC affiliate for BOTH Boston AND Providence, and have WHDH/7 in an uncomfortable situation in having to align itself with The CW while WLVI/56 becomes an infomercial or foreign-language station (same difference IMHO).

Let the fur - or peacock feathers - fly! ;D

How much longer until NBC announces "Boston's New NBC Affiliate, NBC 62?" Which stuff like this, probably not too much longer, eh?

When is WCVB/WMUR's contract with ABC up again? Could we someday see NBC 5 and ABC back on 7?

 

[DToTheJ]

An "NBC 62" in Boston would not be far-fetched. There is currently a CBS O&O "CBS 62" in Detroit.

 

[BRNout]

When is WCVB/WMUR's contract with ABC up again? Could we someday see NBC 5 and ABC back on 7?

Why? Is is 1964 again?

It would make NO sense for Hearst-Argyle to give up their very successful ABC affiliation in favor of the lower-rated NBC network. With that affiliation, WCVB is Boston's #1 station. Affiliation switches are not always a good thing. Just ask WBZ-TV. When they were sold off and became a CBS O & O, they also cratered in the ratings. That even extended to their news ratings. Now, it's easy to forget how WBZ-TV was once the go-to place for news in Boston. I doubt that the management of WCVB cares to head down that road - especially when there's no reason to do so.

So, no is the sure answer to your question.

 

[BoscoGoldBear]

An "NBC 62" in Boston would not be far-fetched. There is currently a CBS O&O "CBS 62" in Detroit.

except that Detroit's CBS/62 has lower ratings than the more established UPN/50 (makes sense) AND My/20 (makes no sense) plus a couple of crap infomercial stations - besides that CBS/62 has no local news, and you'd need a local newscast just to keep from getting better ratings than your UHF PBS station - I don't think NBC is that stupid - far more people in Boston know Providence's channel 10 than know Boston's channel 62 - BTW, there already is a connection with NBC/Universal and channel 62 through most of its programming (A-Team, Knight Rider, Incredible Hulk, Dragnet, etc.)

 

[chitchatjf]

I would not be surprised if there was NO NBC come Fall 2011.
If comcast can move today to MSNBC, the late night stuff to USA and NFL Football to Versus wave the broadcast network bye bye.

or at the very least go down to a syndication service.

 

[DToTheJ]

Hoda and Kathie Lee can go over to E! ... :

 

[ding12]

I would not be surprised if there was NO NBC come Fall 2011.
If comcast can move today to MSNBC, the late night stuff to USA and NFL Football to Versus wave the broadcast network bye bye.

or at the very least go down to a syndication service.

I think Comcast would consider that; however, for example, the Today show is #1, so that in there lies a problem in that Comcast would be shooting itself in the foot taking a #1 show off broadcast and mucking with the formula. If Comcast was inheriting NBC that had the Early Show instead, and all the loser or mediocre programming of network tv, there would be no qualms to just move it over and or dump it.

It will be interesting to see how Comcast treats its NBC division.

If say Matt and Meredith's contract is up for renewal, and Comcast wants to cut costs and (their salaries)...most likely Matt and Meredith wouldn't be pleased. If both defect to CBS or ABC, yes it would hurt the Today show. But it might be in Comcast's ultimate goal (by using cost cutting) to move the show to cable, and following a similar strategy for the remaining NBC content. So that in 10 years, NBC broadcast would be equivalent to ION broadcast now.

 

[ding12]

Ellen (on WCVB and WMUR) is switching from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Oprah's current time slot) in September - a big yawner IMHO (i.e. as if we all didn't already know that was happening)

I wonder if that will happen in Baltimore and other Hearst markets, where Ellen inherits the 4pm slot. My guess is most likely.