It's being made official later tonight (Thurs., 8/11/05) that KOVR, 13, Stockton (Sacramento) will stick with early prime time in order to keep it's top-rated 10 p.m. newscast on track to beat market leader KCRA in the late-news ratings race:
In a Sacramento Bee story today
http://www.sacticket.com/tv_radio/story/13392638p-14234113c.html
General Manager Bruno Coehn told The Bee's Sam McManis:
"We're going to be making a big investment in our local news product, and being on the air at 10 o'clock is a big competitive advantage," Cohen said in an interview earlier this week.
Mc Manis writes: "There had been widespread industry speculation in the wake of the station's purchase in late April by Viacom, CBS' parent company, that Channel 13 would follow other CBS-owned-and-operated stations and abandon its early lineup.
No need to speculate any longer.
"We certainly discussed making the change (at a corporate level)," Cohen said, "but at the end of the day, the view we shared was that local television needs to make the most prudent and effective local decisions about their programming. The networks end up being stronger if the affiliates are stronger. We made that case to CBS."
In something of a concession to Viacom, Cohen said that in the fall, Channel 13 will dump "Jerry Springer" at midnight and move up "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" from its 1 a.m. slot to follow "The Late Show With David Letterman."
Cohen said "Jerry Springer" will continue to air at 3 p.m. weekdays until September 2006, when "Dr. Phil" will move over from Channel 3 (KCRA) and take its place."
KOVR also plans to buy a helicopter, Cohen told McManis.
A chopper is something the station once had, several ownership changes ago. The new aircraft will join a satellite truck as items that have returned to KOVR's array of newsgathering tools since the Viacom purchase.
In fact, there's a helipad on the KOVR's roof, which will soon be home to Viacom's Sacramento UPN station, KMAX, 31. The UHF station is moving into KOVR's West Sacramento facilities from its original studios along Highway 160.
A chopper for the two Viacom stations will leave only Tribune owned Fox affiliate KTXL, 40, Sacramento as the only station in Sacramento doing news without a chopper.
That's not usually a problem for KTXL, home of Sacramento's original 10 p.m. newscast, which recently added a morning newscast. KTXL has been developing a network of microwave receive and relay points for newsgathering, the last local station to do so. KTXL was the first station to have a satellite uplink truck, and for many years depended on just that method to send live pictures back from breaking and important news locations.
Once by itself in the local 10 p.m. news business, KTXL faces two strong competitors: KQCA's offering from market leader KCRA, which recently expanded to an hour, and KOVR's hour-long broadcast that's the number one 10 p.m. news.
KOVR usually ran third when it last had an 11 p.m. weekday news. On the weekends, it competes head to head with Hearst-Argyle's NBC affiliate KCRA and Gannett's ABC affiliate KXTV "News 10."
CBS's improving ratings fortune and NBC's fourth-rated network performance may play a role in how soon and how easy it may be to the late news crown off of KCRA's head.
That's because the network shows that "lead in" to a newscast often play a significant role in carrying viewers over into the newscast.
If changes and improvements to KOVR's presentation and coverage are promoted during well-watched CBS prime-time shows, that could also get viewers who get their news elsewhere to sample KOVR's late news.
Stay tuned.
Ted.
In a Sacramento Bee story today
http://www.sacticket.com/tv_radio/story/13392638p-14234113c.html
General Manager Bruno Coehn told The Bee's Sam McManis:
"We're going to be making a big investment in our local news product, and being on the air at 10 o'clock is a big competitive advantage," Cohen said in an interview earlier this week.
Mc Manis writes: "There had been widespread industry speculation in the wake of the station's purchase in late April by Viacom, CBS' parent company, that Channel 13 would follow other CBS-owned-and-operated stations and abandon its early lineup.
No need to speculate any longer.
"We certainly discussed making the change (at a corporate level)," Cohen said, "but at the end of the day, the view we shared was that local television needs to make the most prudent and effective local decisions about their programming. The networks end up being stronger if the affiliates are stronger. We made that case to CBS."
In something of a concession to Viacom, Cohen said that in the fall, Channel 13 will dump "Jerry Springer" at midnight and move up "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" from its 1 a.m. slot to follow "The Late Show With David Letterman."
Cohen said "Jerry Springer" will continue to air at 3 p.m. weekdays until September 2006, when "Dr. Phil" will move over from Channel 3 (KCRA) and take its place."
KOVR also plans to buy a helicopter, Cohen told McManis.
A chopper is something the station once had, several ownership changes ago. The new aircraft will join a satellite truck as items that have returned to KOVR's array of newsgathering tools since the Viacom purchase.
In fact, there's a helipad on the KOVR's roof, which will soon be home to Viacom's Sacramento UPN station, KMAX, 31. The UHF station is moving into KOVR's West Sacramento facilities from its original studios along Highway 160.
A chopper for the two Viacom stations will leave only Tribune owned Fox affiliate KTXL, 40, Sacramento as the only station in Sacramento doing news without a chopper.
That's not usually a problem for KTXL, home of Sacramento's original 10 p.m. newscast, which recently added a morning newscast. KTXL has been developing a network of microwave receive and relay points for newsgathering, the last local station to do so. KTXL was the first station to have a satellite uplink truck, and for many years depended on just that method to send live pictures back from breaking and important news locations.
Once by itself in the local 10 p.m. news business, KTXL faces two strong competitors: KQCA's offering from market leader KCRA, which recently expanded to an hour, and KOVR's hour-long broadcast that's the number one 10 p.m. news.
KOVR usually ran third when it last had an 11 p.m. weekday news. On the weekends, it competes head to head with Hearst-Argyle's NBC affiliate KCRA and Gannett's ABC affiliate KXTV "News 10."
CBS's improving ratings fortune and NBC's fourth-rated network performance may play a role in how soon and how easy it may be to the late news crown off of KCRA's head.
That's because the network shows that "lead in" to a newscast often play a significant role in carrying viewers over into the newscast.
If changes and improvements to KOVR's presentation and coverage are promoted during well-watched CBS prime-time shows, that could also get viewers who get their news elsewhere to sample KOVR's late news.
Stay tuned.
Ted.
