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WCSH - Infomercial Wasteland?

N

newsbot

Lots of last-minute pre-emptions of syndicated programming for informercials on the 91-sweeps-wins-in-a-row news powerhouse lately. Today alone the 12:30PM "Millionaire" and the 7:30PM "Deal Or No Deal" were scrubbed for direct response programming. Lots of technical snafus lately, too, with the master control shift to Jacksonville. How bad are things at One Congress Square?
 
KML-224 said:
Jacksonville, FL? Wait...what? You're joking, right?
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Welcome to corporate America :)
It's sad, I remember WCSH being a great little station in the '80's when I lived in NH.
 
And I lived in Old Orchard Beach from 1985 to 1987. Had them on all the time. Even remember their Sports Overtime call-in show. Fun times by all! :)
 
Yeah, that's a real shame. WCSH has historically been the slickest and most professional looking station in the whole state of Maine. Pre-empting syndicated programming for crap infomercials is bush-league indeed. Sorry to hear that they're cheapening their image in this way.
 
Unfortunately there are times when running infomercials can bring in more revenue than a half hour's worth of commercials can these days. Sad, but with station groups clamoring for money, they'll take it any way they can.
 
Believe it or not, it's getting worse. WCSH/WLBZ is preempting an hour of prime time tonight (9-10PM) for - you guessed it - infomercials! Granted, it's repeats on Saturday nights, but what better way to indicate to viewers and advertisers that Saturdays are to be avoided like the plague? And if that's not bad enough, word from Jim Hopkins' excellent Gannett Blog (unfortunately being discontinued) is that big layoffs and a 10% wage cut are coming to GCI next month. Stay tuned...
 
Too bad, I like watching WCSH whenever i'm in Maine/NH for an extended period of time, but last fall, when they Gannet-ized their newscast with those graphics, and that music, it started to look cheap.

I think they could have at least kept Gari's "Good News" (listen here: http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/audioplayer.php?media=opens,1218 ) theme...

But, I may not even be able to get WCSH over the air in the mountains anymore, due to the DTV switch and potentially poor signal quality.
 
newsbot said:
Believe it or not, it's getting worse. WCSH/WLBZ is preempting an hour of prime time tonight (9-10PM) for - you guessed it - infomercials! Granted, it's repeats on Saturday nights, but what better way to indicate to viewers and advertisers that Saturdays are to be avoided like the plague? And if that's not bad enough, word from Jim Hopkins' excellent Gannett Blog (unfortunately being discontinued) is that big layoffs and a 10% wage cut are coming to GCI next month. Stay tuned...
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They really shouldn't be permitted to do this under their affiliate agreements. Yeah, sure, the justification is it's a Saturday night and no one's watching. Well, there are a lot of nights on NBC these days where few are watching. What's to prevent this from happening on another night?

Let's put it this way: WCSH and WLBZ use the exclusivity rights in those affiliation agreements to boot out of market NBC affiliates off of your cable system and/or dish if you're in their respective markets. If they're going to make a habit of showing infomercials in place of network feeds, then they should also lose those exclusivity protections.

Sure, ownership may have a "right" to sell infomercials during prime time. But likewise you as a cable or satellite subscriber should then also have the "right" to obtain your NBC programming from WHDH or the bird feed of WNBC. You're currently prevented from doing so because WCSH/WLBZ have the exclusive rights to show NBC programming in their respective markets.

Honestly, this sort of thing should really result in a legal action. This whole thing is BS and an example of these guys having their cake and eating it too. While you watch Vince from Sham Wow.
 
BRNout said:
Honestly, this sort of thing should really result in a legal action. This whole thing is BS and an example of these guys having their cake and eating it too. While you watch Vince from Sham Wow.
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"You're gonna love my nuts - in prime time!" :D
 
Finally we are starting to see how the rumored cutbacks at Gannett Broadcast are playing out. MinnPost has the corporate memo indicating how employees at various salary levels are affected; although their local coverage necessarily focuses on KARE, the memo appears to address the entire Broadcast Division. Cindy Williams acknowledged the one-week furlough situation on the air the other night. No indication that there are any layoffs at WCSH/WLBZ in this round.

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2009/06/23/9741/beyond_furloughs_kare_socked_with_pay_cuts
 
Hard to believe that Gannett, with their impressive market roster, owns WCSH with the current situation they are in. I guess if Gannett is going to make a quick buck with some infos during the day, it might be better for their reputation to show them on the Bangor station and not their channels in Denver or Washington, D.C.
 
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