5 p.m. newscast dropped

[rbreton]

Jun 25, 2009 13:49:58 GMT -5 doubleyoubeezee said:

If they jumped into midday, it'd be at 11am. Fox has had success with other affiliates broadcasting at that time, so if they were to do anything, it'd be then.

Then why not go 5-noon? lol, jk.

[pei]

I no longer watch the 5:30 portion of the news due to their 'coverage' of American Idol. I feel as if I am watching an informecial. Give us a better newscast than what 4,5 and 7 air and people will tune in. Questions: Why are the anchors not anchored to the anchor desk and how does positioning the anchors on the staircase make for a better newscast ?

[des]

I wonder whether the new 6:00 P.M. news will have a more serious tone?

Apparently, Ch. 25's Sunday morning news was cancelled, too. I suppose Fox can eliminate a shift of employees by doing this.

[avon58]

Can anyone confirm that Fox's Sunday morning news was cancelled. I watch that news every week and will be lost without it.

[fluffernutter523]

I heard it was cancelled... you'll be lost without it? A little drastic, channels 5 and 7 have late morning news on Sundays

[avon58]

Of course 5 and 7 have morning news on Sundays ~~ but I don't care for their newscasts ~~ "hence the I'll be lost without it". What a strange response you posted, did you not understand the comment? Don't reply ~~ I'm not interested in getting into a pissing contest with you.

[BTVNadmin]

It's comments like that that start pissing contests. You're suspended for a week.

[tmac505]

Speaking of pissing contests, in general i've seen a lot more of them on the threads recently. Not to get too preachy, but people should try to take things less seriously; just because a comment may seem a tiny bit offensive when viewed in a particular light does not mean its an insult.

Sorry, i'll get off my soapbox now and throw in my two cents. I agree that cutting the 5pm makes a lot of sense. Its more cost effective to do a half hour and it will hopefully be more serious. i've noticed that their 11pm is more serious than the 10pm, and i think that'll be true for early evening as well.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know if fox is ever going to consider an evening broadcast on the network? I remember there was something about doing one with shep smith a few years back, but that fizzled out pretty quickly. FNC, regardless of what you think of its bias, has a strong following. Could that translate to a network show?

[BTVNadmin]

Just trying to nip things in the bud.

Anyway, to answer your question about Fox, I'm not sure they could "get away with it"; evident bias is less palatable at network level than on cable. NBC have tried putting Keith Olbermann's show on Sundays at 7PM once or twice and it got killed in the ratings. I love that program, indeed, I use many of its style points in my own current affairs radio show, but I was unsurprised at how badly it bombed when they tried to put it on the mothership.

[bigtime]

That and Simpsons/Seinfeld re-runs on the Fox stations get far better demos than a network newscast ever would.

Shep's show is doing just fine on FNC... they know better than to mess with the formula.

Plus, simulcasting Shep to the O&O group/affiliates would cost the affils ad money they can hardly afford to surrender right now (because they control most of the inventory in syndicated programming)

[bigtime]

And it should be noted, there have been a LOT of cuts recently at Fox 25... a little at a time so as not to peak anyone's interest, but it's starting to approach the levels of WBZ's last round of layoffs with more to come.

The cancellation of the Sunday AM show is further evidence of the belt tightening.