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Sinclair stations in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point to shut down news operations

B

bpatrick

This morning's Greensboro News & Record reports
that Sinclair-owned WXLV/45 (ABC) and WUPN/48
(UPN) will be shutting down their news operations,
date not announced, due to failure to compete with
the more-established WFMY, WGHP, and WXII.

WUPN's 10 PM newscast averaged a 1.08 rating/2 share
in July. WGHP/FOX8 had a 9.11 rating/15 share.

WXLV's 11 PM news had a 1.05 rating/2 share; WXII/12
(NBC) a 9.83 rating/19 share; WFMY/2 (CBS) a 7.98
rating/16 share. (These ratings figures were in the
article.)

WXLV had suspended news operations once before, in
2002.

Sinclair hopes to relocate some of the laid-off employees
at its other stations. WXLV/WUPN is setting up severance
packages, insurance coverage, and job-placement assistance.

In some of Sinclair's markets, if I read the article correctly,
the local news is expanding. But in the Triad, the Sinclair
stations run far behind the competition. In part, I believe,
it is their UHF placement; also, WXLV first tried to start a
newscast when it switched from Fox to ABC in 1995. WFMY has
been doing news since sign-on in 1949, WXII since 1953, and
WGHP since 1963. It's tough to break in when the competition
has been at it that long.
 
Re: Sinclair stations in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point to shut down news operations

> This morning's Greensboro News & Record reports
> that Sinclair-owned WXLV/45 (ABC) and WUPN/48
> (UPN) will be shutting down their news operations,
> date not announced, due to failure to compete with
> the more-established WFMY, WGHP, and WXII.

When it comes to Sinclair, calling it "news" is charitable, especially where "NewsCentral" or "NewsCheap" is involved. So no loss there. Get those M*A*S*H or Seinfeld reruns fired up and ready to go.

I'm hoping they ditch it here in Rochester. The current product is so lousy that the little people selling real estate in that infomercial draws better numbers.
 
Re: Sinclair stations in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point to shut down news operations

> > This morning's Greensboro News & Record reports
> > that Sinclair-owned WXLV/45 (ABC) and WUPN/48
> > (UPN) will be shutting down their news operations,
> > date not announced, due to failure to compete with
> > the more-established WFMY, WGHP, and WXII.
>
> When it comes to Sinclair, calling it "news" is charitable,
> especially where "NewsCentral" or "NewsCheap" is involved.
> So no loss there. Get those M*A*S*H or Seinfeld reruns
> fired up and ready to go.
>
> I'm hoping they ditch it here in Rochester. The current
> product is so lousy that the little people selling real
> estate in that infomercial draws better numbers.
>

As I posted in the Carolina Board, ABC 45/ UPN 48 had zero crediability in the Triad Market. They just never seemed to want to be a serious player. As for start-up news organizations, sucessful ones can be built from scratch and be very competitive. (ABC 33/40 in Birmingham is a fine example) But it takes "commitment" ($$$$) and lots of "commitment" ($$$$+).
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

> When it comes to Sinclair, calling it "news" is charitable,
> especially where "NewsCentral" or "NewsCheap" is involved.
> So no loss there. Get those M*A*S*H or Seinfeld reruns
> fired up and ready to go.
>
> I'm hoping they ditch it here in Rochester. The current
> product is so lousy that the little people selling real
> estate in that infomercial draws better numbers.
>
One has to give Channel 31’s news staff credit for at least attempting to put out a nightly product. After all it’s tough when you have just one full-time anchor and three reporters, along with a skeleton crew.

What will be interesting is what happens when Melanie Barnas goes on maturity leave. Will Ty Chandler be called upon to anchor the nightly news all by herself, or will one of the “newbies” get a chance to sit in the anchor chair a few nights a week?

Also remember that 31 is a FOX affiliate and the orders came down years ago from Murdoch that all FOX affiliates must carry local news. I don’t think that 31 wants to jeopardize losing their affiliation, especially considering how FOX is doing nationally compared to NBC, CBS and ABC.

<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

> Also remember that 31 is a FOX affiliate and the orders came
> down years ago from Murdoch that all FOX affiliates must
> carry local news. I don’t think that 31 wants to jeopardize
> losing their affiliation, especially considering how FOX is
> doing nationally compared to NBC, CBS and ABC.
-----------
How does WUTV Buffalo get away with not having news? Does it have anything to do with the other Sinclair station, WNYO (WB) having a newscast? You'd think Sinclair would put that newscast on WUTV if they had to have news to keep the Fox affiliation.
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

Doesn't WUHF-31 have the only 10 P.M. local news on over-the-air TV in Rochester??

I could still see Sinclair pull the plug on "News Central" in Rochester if they could get either one of the VHF network affiliates or the R News cable channel to produce a 10 P.M. newscast for WUHF.

If R News were to partner with WUHF, it would not be the first time a regional cable news channel produced a news program for an over-the-air TV station.

Here in Boston, New England Cable News produced a nightly half-hour newscast at 10 P.M. for WFXT-25 for a couple of years in the early-to-mid-1990's. This newscast continued until WFXT decided to launch an in-house local news operation. A very young (reportdely, she was only twenty years old when the NECN/WFXT newscast premiered) Heather Kahn (who later moved over to WCVB-5) was the weeknight anchor. Last I heard of Kahn, she was living in Philadelphia with her husband and children, having moved there when her husband was transferred. I've heard she is now a full-time mom and is no longer working in the news business.

Back to New England Cable News, they later produced a nightly 10 P.M. newscast for WSBK-38 (prior to the CBS/Viacom merger) for a year or two.
 
The inevitable WUTV question, yet again

> How does WUTV Buffalo get away with not having news? Does
> it have anything to do with the other Sinclair station, WNYO
> (WB) having a newscast? You'd think Sinclair would put that
> newscast on WUTV if they had to have news to keep the Fox
> affiliation.

This comes up every year or two here.

WUTV can continue doing what it does because it makes a LOT of money for Sinclair and for Fox.

It has analog cable carriage throughout much of Ontario, reaching probably a third of Canada's population. No other potential Fox affiliate in Buffalo (whether Sinclair's WNYO, LIN's WNLO, Pax's WPXJ or - heh heh - WNGS) can ever have that level of carriage, thanks to changes in Canadian regulations over the years. Fox doesn't want to lose that Canadian audience, so they have a strong incentive to bend the rules in order to keep WUTV as an affiliate. Sinclair has additional leverage to keep Fox, since Fox needs Rochester's WUHF, another Sinclair station, as an affiliate. (There are only four full-power commercial stations in Rochester, and the other three are in long-term deals with their nets.)

Putting a U.S. newscast on WUTV at 10 would lose pretty much the entire (and substantial) Canadian audience that the station enjoys at that hour. (WUTV is the last of the Buffalo TV stations that still maintains a Toronto sales office and sells a fair amount of advertising across the border.) Sinclair has the best of both worlds - it can offer a 10 PM "news" product to the entire US side of the market on WNYO, while providing entertainment to both US and Canadian viewers on WUTV. Why mess with what works?<P ID="signature">______________
Tower Site Calendar 2005 NOW AVAILABLE! - <a target="_blank" href=http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html#calendar>www.fybush.com</a></P>
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

>
> What will be interesting is what happens when Melanie Barnas
> goes on maturity leave. Will Ty Chandler be called upon to
> anchor the nightly news all by herself, or will one of the
> “newbies” get a chance to sit in the anchor chair a few
> nights a week?



"Maturity leave"?


KL


<a href="http://home.nc.rr.com/gttyson/lastradio.html">The Last Radio Station<a>
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

> >
> > What will be interesting is what happens when Melanie
> Barnas
> > goes on maturity leave. Will Ty Chandler be called upon to
>
> > anchor the nightly news all by herself, or will one of the
>
> > “newbies” get a chance to sit in the anchor chair a few
> > nights a week?
>
>
>
> "Maturity leave"?
>
>
Yes maturity leave. Barnas and her husband are expecting, I believe, their first child. And as a new grandfather ( granddaughter born July 24th) I wish them the very best.


<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>
 
Re: Why It Won't Happen

> Doesn't WUHF-31 have the only 10 P.M. local news on
> over-the-air TV in Rochester??
>
(Answer) You are correct; WUHF has the only 10 p.m newscast on over-the air TV in Rochester.

> I could still see Sinclair pull the plug on "News Central"
> in Rochester if they could get either one of the VHF network
> affiliates or the R News cable channel to produce a 10 P.M.
> newscast for WUHF.
> If R News were to partner with WUHF, it would not be the
> first time a regional cable news channel produced a news
> program for an over-the-air TV station.
>
(Answer) While "News Central" might get the ax, as some are predicting, I just don't see R-News producing a newscast for WUHF. My reasoning is why should Time Warner go through the extra effort and expense of producing a newscast for another company, especially one that competes against them for advertising?

Scott Fybush might have the correct answer for this but I believe that one time Time Warner was going to put a 10:00 P.M. news on a low-power over-the-air TV station in Rochester to compete with Channel 31 using R-News personnel. But that idea never went any where.



>
<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>
 
Re: Sinclair station in Rochester

> > "Maturity leave"?
> >
> >
> Yes maturity leave. Barnas and her husband are expecting, I
> believe, their first child. And as a new grandfather (
> granddaughter born July 24th) I wish them the very best.

I think you mean "maternity leave" then.<P ID="signature">______________
Derek
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.tvvancouver.cjb.net>TV.Vancouver</a>: Covering TV stations in Vancouver, BC</P>
 
Re: Maybe I should leave

> > > "Maturity leave"?
> > >
> > >
> > Yes maturity leave. Barnas and her husband are expecting,
> I
> > believe, their first child. And as a new grandfather (
> > granddaughter born July 24th) I wish them the very best.
>
> I think you mean "maternity leave" then.
>
You're correct. This is what happens when I stay up late nights playing with my new granddaughter. Sorry for the misspelling folks.

:)
<P ID="signature">______________
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted and I won't be laid a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them".</P>
 
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