TV Tuesday: Keeping It Close

[yourlibrarian]

There’s been discussion before here on tv_talk about U.S. cable networks shrinking away. Now it seems that local broadcast stations are also entering a decline.

"The revenue squeeze also comes at a time when TV stations are actually producing more hours of local news than ever before. The major networks are offering fewer hours to their affiliates in daytime. Syndicated shows are going away as they can no longer attract large enough audiences to support them."

Do you watch your local broadcast stations? What programming do you value most from them?

Comments

[jo]

Neither of your links work. :(

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks for the heads up. I am giving up on the idea that setting the formats to avoid curly quotes will ever hold from one doc load to the next.

[jo]

Also, the 2nd link is paywalled, so here's an archived version: https://archive.ph/9d3d2

[yourlibrarian]

Ah, I didn't realize it. Thanks for that.

[yourlibrarian]

I never watched local news anyplace that I lived with one exception. In the early 2000s in Orlando, the local newspaper teamed up with one of the local stations to run a local Headline News format. Given the lack of mobile internet or very many weather options, it was great to be able to get "weather on the ones" every hour. That got us watching other parts of the broadcast.

There was one anchor in particular we loved, because he had the most soothing voice ever. We agreed that if there were ever a weather disaster headed our way, we wanted to hear it from him. Ironically 9/11 happened during this period but we were watching national coverage.

However more broadly, except for a summer in my early teens when the family was watching Days of Our Lives, I don't think I've ever watched daytime TV. I remember my mom watched Donahue regularly but my memory is that daytime TV was mostly game shows and soaps rather than talk shows. And then after college I was working regular hours so I was never home to watch weekly daytime anyway.

[jo]

I don't watch any news on TV -- local or otherwise. The sole exception might be when there's some MAJOR news story happening -- then I'll maybe check out one of the news channels (usually BBC World, unless it's strictly a Canadian thing).

Not sure how to answer the programming one in relation to "local broadcast stations" since the "local stations" are the Toronto "branches"? of the major Canadian networks (CBC, CTV, Global, etc.). And apart from the CBC, most of the non-news programming on those networks is made up of US shows. By law they have to produce some "Canadian" content, but the bulk of their programming is US network stuff. And it matters not at all to me if I record Will Trent from ABC or CTV -- more often than not they air same day/time, and even if I set my DVR to record it from ABC, it's the CTV feed that is surimposed -- Canadian ads and all.

[yourlibrarian]

Not watching TV news is definitely the way things are going internationally.

I'm sure it varies internationally, but in the U.S. most local stations are owned by a conglomerate (the linked article discusses it) and based on their broadcast network affiliation they get morning and evening programming, most days. But late morning and afternoon are filled by whatever the station either creates or buys. So lots of syndicated programming tends to go in those spots and they get to keep all the advertising for it. They also have the option of not using some of the broadcast programming -- so one city might have 3 hours of the Today show, while another has just one. However the affiliated programming is generally cheaper than what they can produce, and since it's more nationally known should, in theory, attract more viewers.