> > Hey All... I work out in Rockford, IL and we produce a
> > newscast for our WB100+ out here. I know Upstate NY is
> the
> > only other place where there is news on a WB100+ station,
> so
> > I'm wondering if...
> >
> > 1. What are people's opinions of it?
>
> Here's some background on how the "WB11 News at Ten" started
> in Utica.
>
> WBU is operated by WKTV, Utica's NBC affiliate. It's a
> cable-only channel. When WBU first started, it was carried
> on all the cable systems in the market.
>
> At some point, WKTV began produced a 10PM newscast for the
> Fox affiliate in town, WFXV. It was called "NewsChannel 2
> on Fox." This was thanks to Rupert Murdoch's big push for
> all Fox affiliates to have a local news presence. A few
> years ago, WFXV was purchased by Nexstar, who decided not to
> renew the contract with WKTV for the 10PM news on Fox.
>
> Apparently the 10PM newscast was profitable enough for WKTV
> to keep it alive by moving it to WBU. The only problem --
> at some point between WBU's inception and Fox dropping the
> 10PM news, WBU was dropped by TimeWarner Cable. (It's not a
> true on-air signal, so there are no must-carry rules
> involved.) The only system carrying it now is Adelphia,
> which serves Utica and the immediate suburbs. I suppose
> this is better than the other way around (being carried in
> Rome and the valley but NOT Utica), but it still
> dramatically limits WBU's potential audience, compared to
> when the 10PM 'cast aired on WFXV. Being a TimeWarner
> viewer, I've never had the chance to see the "WB11 News at
> 10." TWC only carries the over-air WB affiliate out of
> Syracuse.
>
> Actually, I think TimeWarner areas east of Utica may still
> have WBU... but Herkimer and Ilion are still a much smaller
> segment of the audience than TWC's Rome/Oneida system used
> to provide. And with TWC set to overtake the Utica Adelphia
> system, I wonder if closing the "Utica gap" will result in
> WBU getting bumped altogether in favor of running the same
> channel lineup (altered only as must-carry rules require)
> all the way down the line from Syracuse. (After all, TWC
> will need to shuffle some channels around in Utica to make
> room for their own 24-hour News 10 Now...)
>
> As for the newscast itself... I haven't seen it, but I do
> know that WKTV's primary 6/11pm anchor (a 25+ year veteran
> of the station) is the solo anchor. (The Fox show was
> co-anchored by the WKTV's 5pm anchors, who are considerably
> younger, which you'd expect for a Fox or WB newscast. But
> when the newscast moved to WBU, they decided to put the
> veteran anchor do it, presumably to free up the former
> anchors for more flexible scheduling.)
>
Interesting... We're doing what is currently the only 9pm newscast in our market on our WB 100+ (unless you count WGN's 9pm news). Our reach is pretty good (3 Counties), but it's limited to the Insight cable systems... The Charter systems up north carry WB out of Madison and not WB-14 and we're not carried West of Freeport or on the Comcast systems to the south (they *might* have OTA WGN down there, though, under "significantly viewed" status... I know they have the big 3 from Chicago).
If there's anyone living in an area that can get it, I'd still love to see it.
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