NBC affiliate WHDH Boston says it will run a new newscast at 10 p.m. come fall-at the expense of the new primetime Jay Leno program. The Sunbeam-owned station announced its new 10 p.m. news on its Website.
"Starting in September, you will be able to watch 7NEWS at 10 p.m. on 7NBC," reads WHDH.com. "For those of you who have a hard time staying awake, Frances Rivera and Kim Khazei will bring you a full hour of local news an hour earlier, followed by 7NEWS at 11."
WHDH's move was previously reported on the Boston Globe Website.
The NBC affiliates are to debut the as-yet untitled Leno program in the fall. General managers are mixed on the show-thankful that Leno is not jumping to another network, but fearful the program will post middling ratings and harm their late news ratings.
Updates:
NBC plans to fight this:
The decision quickly drew fighting words from NBC, whose TV Network president John Eck released this statement: "WHDH's move is a flagrant violation of the terms of their contract with NBC. If they persist, we will strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC owned-and-operated station." -via THR.Com
Nikki Finke reports NBC has some alternatives should things with WHDH not work out:
We have a number of other strong options in the Boston market, including using our existing broadcast license to launch an NBC owned and operated station." Also playing Hardball is Rick Cotton, General Counsel: “It is clear that WHDH is contractually required to air NBC programming as scheduled by the network." But the question remains: will others among NBC's long suffering affiliates also revolt? I'm told that, as of now, no other affiliates are threatening to not to carry Leno.
This can’t be a good sign. While it’s not NY or LA, Boston is the #7 market this season.
Wait, they’re going to broadcast two local news shows back-to-back? That doesn’t seem slightly excessive to them?
i know few people click over to read the full story, but this time they should. it talks about how NBC plans to fight back saying WHDH would be in violation of its contract. I should’ve included that in the post…
If other affiliates follow suit, this could get very interesting…
Can I also ask, doesn’t Leno start at 10PM over the summer? So they’ll broadcast the first months of his 10PM run but then switch to a news cast in September? That seems a little backward. On the off chance that their audience actually really likes the Leno show it would be a slightly embarrassing climb down for them…
The NBC reaction is interesting but I do wonder how much of it is just talk to try and scare the affiliates into being quiet and do what they’re told. Are they really going to switch their affiliates or launch new NBC owned stations if more decide to follow suit and dump Leno in favour of a news cast? That seems like the kind of thing that could become very expensive and take up a lot of time and energy.
Wow. Seems like they would wanna give it a shot before counting it out entirely.
Do they really think Leno is going to do worse leading into their newscasts than Law & Order, My Own Worst Enemy, Lipstick Jungle, and Dateline? Where was the outrage when NBC was scraping in the 10pm hour on half of their nights this season?
In the end it’s just another example of how poorly NBC is being run. If they had pitched this in a way other than, “oh crap, we suck at launching shows, and declining ratings are a reality we must face, so we will plug a bunch of holes with something we desperately hope works”… well maybe they could have gotten better public opinion about this.
And of course those in the media are going to question this no matter how sunshiny they had stated it, but you would think they would at least be able to spin something to their affiliates to get them on board.
Reading their press releases proves they still have people at the network that can spin bad news in a positive way… why not let whoever writes those be in charge of announcing moves like Leno to the world?
Alex, I don’t think Leno @10pm starts until the fall.
[QUOTE]“We feel we have a real opportunity with running the news at 10 p.m. We don’t think the Leno show is going to be effective in primetime,” [Sunbeam owner Ed Ansin] said. “It will be detrimental to our 11 o’clock. It will be very adverse to our finances.”[/QUOTE]
As someone who lives in WHDH’s market, thank the heavens for this move! I don’t hate Jay Leno, but if I were forced to endure just knowing he was on five nights a week in a primetime slot that used to feature scripted programs, it wouldn’t take long for the loathing to start.
I won’t be watching WHDH at all from 10-11pm, whether news or Leno is scheduled, but I feel better knowing that every NBC affiliate isn’t drinking the network’s cop-out programming Kool-Aid. I hope Ansin and WHDH don’t back down.
The Super Bowl ads all said fall.
I can’t imagine that NBC wants to add a new O&O to its ledger, and I wonder just how easily they’ll be able to strip WHDH of its affiliation. No one made much of a fuss when some FOX affiliates refused to broadcast Osbournes Reloaded, but maybe if it’s just one show one time the network isn’t going to put up a fight?
Another Bad Move NBC
no matter how you slice it, losing a top 10 market wouldn’t be good for Leno’s ratings. But in the event WHDH gets to punt, I don’t think the move would be to get a new affiliate. They could try some weird maneuver where NBC would be able to license Leno to another station locally. Personally I think WHDH should get to punt, but I don’t think they should get to punt in a way that prevents Leno from airing in Boston. I’m not sure how to rate the chances that WHDH will get to punt, but if they do, there’s no doubt in my mind they’ll be competing against Leno on some station in Boston.
Hmm, maybe the local MNT will want it. They don’t do news at 10, do they?
Fall in New England will be all weather all the time for local newscasts. WHDH will be in ratings heaven, if NBC doesn’t pull the plug on them as an affiliate.
As Ed Ansin (WHDH’s head honcho) points out in the article, WHDH has a unique licensing agreement with NBC — one that was established when WBZ became a CBS outlet — that allows them to do this. He’s incredibly cagey and they don’t make decisions recklessly — they obviously believe they can do this because of their arrangement with NBC, which leads me to think they can and will.
NBC has all kinds of options, there are indie stations like WSBK (which is now owned by CBS) where they can put Leno on. That said, the reach of whatever outlet they go with will pale in comparison to WHDH. And at this point, with NBC falling apart, maybe Ansin feels losing NBC wouldn’t even be the worst thing in the world.
This is bad, bad news for NBC, no doubt about it, especially it happening in Leno’s hometown.
“Do they really think Leno is going to do worse leading into their newscasts than Law & Order, My Own Worst Enemy, Lipstick Jungle, and Dateline?”
The answer is apparently yes. Or at least they feel NBC should be putting new, and better, scripted shows or reality shows during that hour instead of settling for Leno. I’d be curious to see the ratings breakdown for the Boston area. I bet its slightly different than the country as a whole. In fact, I’d be curious to see Leno’s current ratings for the Boston viewing area.
Doc Michaels said:
“especially it happening in Leno’s hometown.”
That’s the part that shocked me. You’d think they’d be the happiest to have Leno.
What are the odds NBC cans Jimmy Fallon and moves Conan and Leno back to where they were? Like, not soon, but somewhere down the road. Or cans Carson Daly and puts on 3 solid hours of late night at some point. I feel like they’re going to have to do something because this Leno in primetime thing doesn’t seem likely to work.
I sense… “The Late Shift II” in the making..
Ok, since you brought it up, what are the top 10 markets at this date? I take it they change from time to time like everything else.
dovepage, see this link:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/09/10/nielsen-local-television-market-universe-estimates/5037
I work for one of the bigger affiliates and WHDH is not going to be the only one playing this hand. NBC can claim breach of contract but they drew first blood. We are not confident that Leno can maintain any kind of numbers for long in that slot. To take up every 10PM slot is a slap in the face of the affiliates who are confident they can gain bigger ratings with news or alternate programming. NBC shoved this down our throats in an effort to keep Leno from going to FOX. They don’t even have confidence in his ability to hold the numbers for long. NBC hopes to keep him around long enough to give Conan a chance to build up his audience before Leno fails at NBC and does Late Night on FOX. We are afraid that Leno’s ratings will be lower in a month than the lowest NBC rated show is right now.