NATPE 2016

[BrandonFG]

Chris's Meredith Vieira thread.....

Also wonder what would be in the pipeline to replace the show coming up in the fall.

.....has me wondering, are any new games on the books for this year's NATPE convention? I know Hollywood Squares and Love Connection were proposed last year, but of course fell through. Any word on whether syndicators might try either one again this year, or any other games?

Or is it too early to tell?

[Tony Peters]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

[TimK2003]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

Either news or double- (or triple-) running their existing syndicated shows.

[PYLdude]

Wonder then if any of the other New York stations would try a 4 PM newscast. Only one that has made it work is WABC...WCBS has tried multiple times, and their afternoon lineup is already spoken for with Dr. Phil and Judge Judy, so that ain't happening.

WNBC has Ellen at 4 but I could imagine them bumping her and Steve Harvey back an hour each and plugging in the news there...but then again, this is a station that has in the not-too-distant past tried to find an excuse to NOT air news before 6:00...

WNYW might be a candidate to do that, because I don't think their afternoon lineup performs well. WPIX doesn't really either and they'll look for any excuse to add extra newscasts, as they have in the past.

WWOR has no news department to speak of, so that ain't happening.

Something else I wanna bring up...since Tyra Banks has removed herself from FABlife and the ratings for that are in the crapper as well, are they even going to bother putting out feelers for a second season?

[Sodboy13]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

"Hi, everybody!"
--WGN Chicago

[calliaume]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

"Hi, everybody!"
--WGN Chicago

What this means is WGN is now running ten and a half hours of local newscasts daily (4 AM - 10 AM, 11 AM - 12 noon, 4 PM - 6 PM, 9 PM - 10:30 PM).  By comparison:

WBBM (CBS O&O) - 4-1/2 hours of local news.

WMAQ (NBC O&O) - 6 hours of local news. 

WLS (ABC O&O) - 5 hours of local news.

WFLD (Fox O&O) - 7-1/2 hours of local news.

WPWR (MyNetwork TV, or whatever it is now) - No local news whatsoever. 

WCIU (independent) - 1 hour of local news (produced by WLS and featuring their personnel). 

[SuperMatch93]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

"Hi, everybody!"
--WGN Chicago

What this means is WGN is now running ten and a half hours of local newscasts daily (4 AM - 10 AM, 11 AM - 12 noon, 4 PM - 6 PM, 9 PM - 10:30 PM).

Eleven and a half, actually; the Midday News goes til 1.

[colonial]

There have been reports that NBC is trying to get all of its O&Os to adopt 4p local time newscasts in time for presidential/political ad campaign season, but that the people behind Ellen DeGeneres' talk show are pushing back, saying the show does well opposite news and other programming at 4p and shouldn't be moved (it may also been written in contracts with some stations and station groups that the show airs at a specific time or time frame).

As far as possible game shows appearing in syndication in fall, we already know that "South of Wilshire" is getting an eight-week test on FOX O&Os -- this will probably pitched at NATPE as part of a package with "TMZ Original" and "TMZ Live".

Byron Allen is also apparently launching a game show this fall called "Funny You Should Ask".  It appears to be a revival of the short-lived Lloyd Thaxton-hosted game from a few decades back ...

http://deadline.com/2015/12/funny-you-should-ask-about-new-game-show-from-bryon-allens-entertainment-studios-1201669197/

Not sure if Allen and his 200 or so series do NATPE, but "Funny" will be out there for the taking.



JD

[BrandonFG]

With so many stations going with newscasts (more on that in a minute), I wonder if fewer shows will make their way to NATPE in the future. I think there's still opportunities for 9am-noon and maybe 1-3pmish, but yeah, 4:00 news seems to be a thing across the country. I'm seeing 7:00 newscasts become a bit common as well. Besides, as Tim mentioned, some stations are double-running shows that already have a double run. Case in point: Judge Judy airs new episodes here from 6-7pm...an hour of reruns also airs at noon.

With a narrowing window, I can't see there being as much need for syndicated content, and could see more stations doing in-house talk shows or even game shows, syndicated through the ownership group, a la Let's Ask America. You have companies like Gannett that like streamlining content; I could see them doing something similar.

Around here, we have:
WVEC: 4:30-7am, noon-1pm, 4-6:30pm, 11-11:35pm, TOTAL 6.5 hrs
WAVY: 4:30-7am (with additional news on a sister station until 9am), noon-1pm, 4-6:30, 11-11:35pm. They also air a local talk show from 11am-noon, TOTAL 8.5 hrs
WTKR: 5-7am (with additional news on a sister station until 9am), noon-12:30pm, 4-6:30 (also a 7 and 10pm newscast on sister station), 11-11:35pm, TOTAL 8.5 hrs

WVEC used to have a sister station called LNC, which stood for Local News on Cable. It was a 24-hour operation, but technically only aired live when WVEC had a live newscast. Outside of the 10:00 news, LNC was mostly reruns of the WVEC news until the next live broadcast. It folded five years ago, mostly due to the economy. In spite of that, I think it probably ended five years too early, given the current landscape. IMO, it's probably the one reason WVEC doesn't air more news during the day -- they no longer have a sister station.

[Sodboy13]

WGN has a similar sister station, called CLTV, launched about 25 years ago. Given the current setup at WGN, I don't know why it still exists. I think it rebroadcasts several of WGN's newsathons.

[Strikerz04]

WGN has a similar sister station, called CLTV, launched about 25 years ago. Given the current setup at WGN, I don't know why it still exists. I think it rebroadcasts several of WGN's newsathons.

Still rebroadcasts, but it has "original" news reporting during the day as well…but access is still limited if you don't have concast…

/also doubles if there is a Sox game that airs concurrently against a Cubs game.

[cyclone45]

I don't know about this year, but from what I've been reading (and as far as I can tell about trends in the broadcast television industry), it seems stations are increasingly looking to decrease the amount of syndicated programming they air in general, and replace those shows with more newscasts.

"Hi, everybody!"
--WGN Chicago

Hi, Dr. Nick!

[brianhenke]

  And we will wait to see until summer if WWTBAM is saved from cancellation again...judging from its 1.1-1.2 rating it's been getting this year,  it looks iffy for its renewal (maybe if it defies the odds and gets renewed for 16-17, we may finally see Millionaire Hot Seat here).

  Brian

[TLEberle]

Thing one: That sounds like a whole lot of supposition based on no expertise at all.

Thing two: God forbid we should get Hot Seat here. If Millionaire was replaced by Avanti Un Altro, that would be a fair trade, but Millionaire for Hot Seat is like asking for an Xbox for Christmas and getting a Barney sweater from your well-meaning but addled Nana.

[brianhenke]

  Sure, WWTBAM has seen format changes galore (the Shuffle Format, etc.) over the now-14 seasons in syndication, but if it gets renewed again, maybe The Powers-That-Be should consider getting rid of the traditional format and replace it with Hot Seat, which is a faster-paced version.   I wonder if the show will get ANOTHER host (hey, look what happened with Family Feud!) that could be suitable with the Hot Seat format.
 
 Millionaire Hot Seat has been around for eight series (as they call it) in Australia, and it's still doing OK. 

  Brian