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WGN America begins the transition to 24/7 News.

I think WGN America should stay until all the general entertainment shows run out before calling it News Nation just my opinion.
 
RadioPatrol said:
www.thewrap.com

Ashleigh Banfield's NewsNation Debut Draws Just 17,000 Viewers

Former WGN America's Monday relaunch averaged only 37,000 primetime viewers
www.thewrap.com www.thewrap.com

That is crazy even Nexstar local O&O's would have to have higher viewership numbers than News Nation.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know how many viewers wgn America had at its height? Guessing it was during cubs or bulls telecasts. It had to be more than 17000 why not go off that model that attracted more viewers. Part of the reason that news isn't doing good right now is because there really isn't a lot going on in politics. Biden is pretty much a calm boring president unlike trump that made people want to tune in to see what he was going to do or what he tweeted. Wgn should have started this launch back in 2017 and they would have probably been much more successful. They started too late. News nation and newsmax already established too many viewers as the alternative to cnn and fox there's not much room for news nation at this point in my opinion.
 
Syfy said:
Does anyone know how many viewers wgn America had at its height? Guessing it was during cubs or bulls telecasts. It had to be more than 17000 why not go off that model that attracted more viewers. Part of the reason that news isn't doing good right now is because there really isn't a lot going on in politics. Biden is pretty much a calm boring president unlike trump that made people want to tune in to see what he was going to do or what he tweeted. Wgn should have started this launch back in 2017 and they would have probably been much more successful. They started too late. News nation and newsmax already established too many viewers as the alternative to cnn and fox there's not much room for news nation at this point in my opinion.
Click to expand...
The other issue is that people SAY they want straight news, but they don't actually want to WATCH straight news. CNN learned this almost a decade ago now. And more recently we have had the failure of Al Jazera America, and the lackluster performance of "Newsy" to point to. Plain and simple, drama sells. News, on a national scale, is boring and people won't watch it.
 
They will be gone in 3-6 months' time.
Even a full simulcast of the Ch 9 Chicago feed would get higher ratings at this point. I wonder how the Superstation ratings were in the '90s when they were still partially simulcasting channel 9?
 
crainbebo said:
They will be gone in 3-6 months' time.
Even a full simulcast of the Ch 9 Chicago feed would get higher ratings at this point. I wonder how the Superstation ratings were in the '90s when they were still partially simulcasting channel 9?
Click to expand...
Them playing replays of the old cubs games would probably get better ratings at this point.
 
If I wanted to watch a TV newscast during primetime, then I would tune to BBC World News. They have a 30-minute newscast every hour during primetime, whether Eastern or Pacific.
 
Renaming the entire channel News Nation doesn't make sense for now. They should either give the times with non-news programming a different name like is done with Nick/Nick at Nite or Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, or stay with WGN America until the full transition to news.
 
RadioPatrol said:
www.nytimes.com

Journalists Rebel at NewsNation, a Newcomer in Cable News (Published 2021)

Two top editors at the channel’s new prime-time newscast resigned amid staff complaints of a right-wing tilt and concern over the involvement of the former Fox News chief Bill Shine.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

Here is more on the Nexstar outlet.
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Yeah, they billed themselves originally as “neutral” news, but I was already seeing a right wing slant to coverage last week. Back to Newsy for me.
 
A right-wing slant...and even Newsmax has better ratings than the new 'NewsNation'. Once again, 6 months and done MAX. A full simulcast of WGN, Tom Skilling's weather and all, would get better ratings than any of whatever they are trying to do now.
 
I feel bad for ex-WGN'ers Tom Negovan and Nancy Loo who have to deal with this.
 
anotherguy said:
Renaming the entire channel News Nation doesn't make sense for now. They should either give the times with non-news programming a different name like is done with Nick/Nick at Nite or Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, or stay with WGN America until the full transition to news.
Click to expand...
I agree but at this point it's a rock and a hard place on how Nexstar does not get run over by their competition.
 
mnradiofan said:
The other issue is that people SAY they want straight news, but they don't actually want to WATCH straight news. CNN learned this almost a decade ago now. And more recently we have had the failure of Al Jazera America, and the lackluster performance of "Newsy" to point to. Plain and simple, drama sells. News, on a national scale, is boring and people won't watch it.
Click to expand...
But wait the people that actually want to watch "Straight News" on the national level gets it from their local PBS affiliate such as PBS NewsHour and in places that get a local edition of Newshour. Also for international news it's from the BBC here in the USA. But that audience is confined to certain cities within the USA.
 
So...the ratings are awful. And they expand as if this is the magic potion for growth. Hmm. I will wish them the best, as I enjoy options with news coverage. That said, I predict this whole concept will be dumped sometime this year.
 
ktla.com

New KTLA+ streaming app now available for free on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV

KTLA is introducing KTLA+, its new streaming video app for smart TV platforms that has officially launched on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV devices. In addition to regularly scheduled live news…
ktla.com ktla.com

I bet some of the local Nexstar O&O's will beat NewsNation in the ratings. In the Local division of Nexstar KTLA-TV Los Angeles is releasing KTLA+ on their streaming app as a response for them to go after CBSN Los Angeles in their case.

I doubt NewsNation will go anywhere on the level of success that some of the Nexstar O&O's have.
 
Right, because you can’t do a local news-like program on a national platform such as WGN. They can’t compete with the big boys pure and simple. This idea was DOA. I would expect the rebranding has already begun at nexstar. I fully expect this enterprise will take on a new persona by this summer.
 
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seatownmedia said:
So...the ratings are awful. And they expand as if this is the magic potion for growth. Hmm. I will wish them the best, as I enjoy options with news coverage. That said, I predict this whole concept will be dumped sometime this year.
Click to expand...
So what happens to the channel? Maybe they could turn it into a video game streaming channel and get top streamers like ninja and shroud to sign deals for exclusive shows it could be the first network of its kind. Although most young people don't watch cable tv as much anymore but maybe wgn could launch a wgn plus streaming channel in connection with it to gain interest.
 
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