[opendtv] Re: NBC turning flagship O&O into 24/7 news channel
- From: "James Albro" <jalbro@xxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 11:55:17 -0400
I see the WNBC announcement as more the "msNBCization" of local news. The
business plan behind msNBC was to take an underutilized resource (NBC News)
that had to be paid for in any case and gain any additional revenue
available by reusing the product on a 24 hour news channel. New York City
(and most other big to medium size cities) already have local news channels,
so there's obviously some revenue available for local full-time news. The
WNBC move would allow NBC to pick up some of that revenue with news
production product that's already been paid for.
The other speculation (replace the NBC affiliate network entertainment
programming with 24/7 news) has already been tried by KRON in San Francisco,
with disastrous results.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 10:43 AM
Subject: [opendtv] Re: NBC turning flagship O&O into 24/7 news channel
> At 10:26 PM -0400 5/12/08, Jim Albro wrote:
> >Where does it say that the entertainment programing will be affected?
> >According to Broadcasting & Cable the 24/7 news channel will be a
> >DTV subchannel and available on cable digital tiers, just like
> >WeatherPLUS. I imagine it will replace the current WNBC-DT channel
> >4.3, which currently carries endless reruns of "wine country"
> >travelogues from KNTV.
>
> You're right Jim. It does not say that the entertainment programming
> will be affected and it is logical that they would carry the News
> Channel as a sub-channel on the digital broadcasts. But the story
> also suggests that the entire broadcast operation could go away, as
> the real play here is to get more content onto cable.
>
> I would not be surprised if within 5 years NBC pulled the plug on
> broadcast operations and goes direct with cable and DBS across the
> country, possibly opening up more regional content centers to feed a
> national 24/7 news operation.
>
> The article notes the declining profitability of local stations. Much
> of this has to do with the local news audience, but it is also
> rippling into all of the programming outside of prime time - and
> prime time ratings are down substantially as well.
>
> If NBC were to move to cable distribution, they would pick up all of
> the non-prime time inventory that is now filled with syndicated
> programming. They could easily fill up that time with shows that
> would develop talent for higher profile shows...
>
> We could even see the networks get back into the game show business.
>
> Funny how the old saw - "what goes around comes around" seems to apply.
>
> Looks like broadcasting is returning to the heady days of the '50s,
> only this time on the way down instead of the way up.
>
> Regards
> Craig
>
>
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