Newspaper TV listings still call it WGN.
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WGN tries but fails
- Thread starter seatownmedia
- Start date
Usa today has it as newsnation so no not all of them.
Newsnation is an experiment at best.
IMO
Dan Abrams, once the legal affairs reporter on ABC and who had been hosting Live PD or something like that, will be doing a one hour weeknight show at 8pm ET on NewsNation. So the channel is going ahead with its commitment to news. Spectrum, my cable system, still has it among the entertainment channels, not next to Fox, CNN or MSNBC. Yet HLN is next to CNN, even though that stopped being a news channel in the early 2000s. Maybe NewsNation and HLN should switch spots on my channel line up?
You may remember when it first started, WGN America/News Nation had a five hour news block at 7pm, and repeated it at 12am, seven days a week. Now I see it got rid of newscasts and has hosts doing hour-long talk shows in the evening. I guess a regular newscast is too boring? But opinionated hosts are not?
You may remember when it first started, WGN America/News Nation had a five hour news block at 7pm, and repeated it at 12am, seven days a week. Now I see it got rid of newscasts and has hosts doing hour-long talk shows in the evening. I guess a regular newscast is too boring? But opinionated hosts are not?
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Newsnation is owned by Nexstar as others have pointed out. I will predict this is an experiment that will succeed based on their affiliates ability to add pertinent content.
Let me clarify a few things... the channel is going ahead with its commitment to news/talk. The commitment to news was dumped a long time ago when they introduced Banfield and The Donlon Report.
Also, when it first started, it was three hours of news starting at 8:00 p.m. and repeated it at 11:00 p.m., seven days a week, not five hours initially. Again, it wasn't until they introduced Early Edition (now Rush Hour) and Banfield that it became a five-hours-a-night thing, at least on weeknights.
So basically, NewsNation is trying to be another FOX or MSNBC, I take it.
Hopefully down the line they will see that this won't work and they revert back to WGN Superstation and air syndication programing and WGN News
That ship sailed long ago. Far too many better entertainment options -- on cable and beyond -- to turn the clock back 30 years.
Disagree. Far too much competition to become a competitive news channel. Go back to what worked before.
Going back to "what worked before" is not a realistic option. Streaming has really cut into the competitiveness of the cable networks that only offer up reruns of old sitcoms. For example, TBS is down two-thirds in total viewers from 2012 to 2020. So much so that TBS's 18-49 demo viewership in 2012 was higher than the persons 2+ viewership in 2020.
Whether news is the right choice for WGN America, I can't say. It made strategic sense to me, but NewsNation really doesn't seem to be catching on despite massive advertising on Nexstar's local stations.
Whether news is the right choice for WGN America, I can't say. It made strategic sense to me, but NewsNation really doesn't seem to be catching on despite massive advertising on Nexstar's local stations.
Obviously I should have said some of them.
I would expect Nexstar won’t go quietly here. But the odds of success are weak. Do they keep spending or just throw in the towel? This is a question that will likely play out by mid 2022.
Can I get an amen .
What worked before (well, if you can call it "worked") stopped working long ago, and you can't turn the clock back. If you want to watch WGN News, you can do so on their website now. Outside of News, WGN has very little syndicated fair left, and are no longer affiliated with a network.
When WGN was most successful, it was during a time before streaming services were a thing (even before DVD's!). But now, with the internet, you can pretty much watch anything WGN could "acquire" AND WGN news, so even Tribune abandoned that many years back. Prior to making the switch to NewsNation, WGN America was mostly airing syndicated programming, and really not making money on it.
I suspect that if NewsNation fails, they'll either try something new, or shut it down entirely. As it is, Cable/Pay Linear TV is dying anyway.
Generally things change because what was being done stopped “working.” (Or working well enough to maintain the investment.) That part is constantly ignored.
Will that change, even a little, once "AEW Dynamite" starts airing on TBS in 2022?
In some markets where Nexstar competes against the Network Owned stations or EW Scripps. Nexstar News nation has to respond to streaming news outlets like CBSN National and Local editions in larger TV markets like Los Angeles or EW Scripps Newsy as in San Diego and Las Vegas. Or in some cases Nexstars own affiliates like KTLA+ and KRON On producing their own streaming outlet and beating News nation viewers.
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Banned
Also Newsy in KC area because Scripps station here and WDAF Nexstar.
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