Sinclair Scales Back (seven) WB Affil's Newscasts

[Newsjock]

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001009198

By Katy Bachman

Sinclair Broadcast Group, which three years ago launched News Central, a centralized news operation to bring news to stations at a fraction of the cost of a locally-produced newscast, is finding that news is still an expensive proposition. The group announced Wednesday plans to scale back its newscasts for seven of the group's WB affiliates in seven markets.

Beginning the week of Aug. 22, stations in Raleigh, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Birmingham and Tampa will air a half-hour of news rather than one hour, adding a half-hour of entertainment programming.

The Hunt Valley, Md.-based group, which owns 61 TV stations in 38 mid-size markets, also said it would discontinue its 10 p.m. newscast on WUPN-TV and WXLV-TV, its UPN and ABC affiliates in Greensboro, N.C. beginning Aug. 11.

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[ovidsen]

1. They must be doing something wrong.

Sinclar is clearly screwing up, and not just editorially.

I'm not a TV expert, but I understand that local newscasts at most stations are profit centers, not income liabilites.

[SoCalDem]

2. Gee.. everyone knows that what we really need is MORE entertainment

News can be so "inconvenient"..

[dbt]

3. An hour-long "news"cast? THERE'S your trouble.

Since the Dawn of Time, even before bu$hler flew that jet onto the aircraft carrier all by himself at the end of his Grand War In Iraq, the local news has been a HALF hour in length. It has also come on at a certain time, 10:00 PM here in the Central Time Zone. The sun rises in the east and the ten-o'clock news is on for thirty minutes. That's just how the world is and you will not convince the majority of views any differently.

If Sinclair has been fool enough to violate these two Givens, they'd be better off pouring their money into a hole in the ground. The broadcast landscape is littered with the corpses of the "Innovators" who have launched bold and daring hour-long 'casts at 9:00 PM. There's a Fox affiliate in Little Rock about to learn that lesson.