[mark]

That's really interesting that there won't be local news on KCBS itself before 6am from Monday.

I'm guessing most people tune in after 6 - but I wonder how many people who normally watch before 6 will make the move to KCAL as opposed to KABC/KNBC/KTLA further down the dial.

[Medianext.MX]

Indeed, it will be a long way before KCAL gains traction and a stable audience against KTLA and KTTV, which are the longer established shows. We need to wait and see if CBS has indeed made the right move.

---

To other news now, Gray-owned WPTA, a trio ABC/NBC/MyNetworkTV affiliate, is merging the separate news operations of the ABC and NBC subchannels into a single operation; the process began on October 31, when their separate morning shows were merged into a single one; this merger process continues into 2023: the NBC subchannel broadcasts will air their final shows on Friday, December 16, with the main WPTA shows replacing them on January 9 (no news during Christmas in order to prepare the changes); that same day, WPTA will launch a 4pm newscast, alongside a morning news expansion on the MNTV sub channel. Additionally, WPTA will return to its longtime 21 Alive brand and expand it to its NBC subchannel; the 21 Alive brand was dropped in 2016 after Quincy Media (bought by Gray last year) launched a standardized graphics package on the station; it is also expected to debut the new Atlanta News First graphics by Matt Quinn, which is likely to become Gray's new standardized package (replacing the mishmash of horrible graphics packs designed by the teams at WNDU and KOLN).



www.wpta21.com 

[sky303]

That's really interesting that there won't be local news on KCBS itself before 6am from Monday.

I'm guessing most people tune in after 6 - but I wonder how many people who normally watch before 6 will make the move to KCAL as opposed to KABC/KNBC/KTLA further down the dial.

I believe KCAL is the stronger watched station,  that's why they are having KCBS essentially reduce itself to a 1 hour simulcast newscast in the morning.    The hard part is the habit, the people who normally watch the other channels out of routine might  be hard to switch to  channel 9, after watching on 4,5,7,or 11.  Hopefully the people who watched KCBS in those hours also don't decide to switch to anything but 9.

[Charles]

That's really interesting that there won't be local news on KCBS itself before 6am from Monday.

I'm guessing most people tune in after 6 - but I wonder how many people who normally watch before 6 will make the move to KCAL as opposed to KABC/KNBC/KTLA further down the dial.

I happen to have a copy of the LA ratings, and literally nobody is watching KCBS before 7am. They are dead last in the ratings, so there's nowhere to go but up. The most watched part of the morning in most markets is from 6:30-7:30, and that is the case for LA.

I actually don't think the KCBS half of this idea is a horrible one. They'll still have local news on KCBS at 6am, which is the most important hour anyway, and running the national show from 4-6am is at least different.

I think the KCAL half of this is mostly about doubling the station's ad inventory in the morning, which should hopefully translate to increased revenue assuming viewers tune in and they can convince advertisers to pay for ad space.

KCAL's primetime block from 8-11pm actually does pretty well and are generally the most watched newscasts on either channel. The only problem is KCAL has never done morning news, so people are just not trained to look for news there before noon. KTLA still dominates in the morning, and even KTTV does okay, so it'll be hard to siphon viewers away.

[W. Knight]

Staying with CBS, looks like CBS News Detroit is almost ready to go, at 4, 5, 6 and 11 to be exact:
youtu.be 

[steve]

Do the American news shows in the early hours (4/5am) get decent audiences? Do people really start their day that early in the States? I say this as someone who used to work on the radio at breakfast-time here and the audience at 6am was basically one woman sat in a bath...

[W. Knight]

Do the American news shows in the early hours (4/5am) get decent audiences? Do people really start their day that early in the States? I say this as someone who used to work on the radio at breakfast-time here and the audience at 6am was basically one woman sat in a bath...

If you're referring to the promo above, I think there's a misunderstanding - the times there are in pm

[steve]

Sorry yes , I wasn't sure but thank you!

My point generally stands though - so many of the morning newscasts start crazy early (for the UK!)

[Medianext.MX]

New details on the KCBS/KCAL relaunch coming Monday… According to rumblings at TVNewsTalk.net, the CBS 2 and KCAL 9 brands are being dropped in favor of CBS Los Angeles and KCAL (sic). The CBS Los Angeles new brand apes how recently WWJ rebranded as CBS Detroit in the run-up to their news launch. Additionally, the CBS 2 News and KCAL 9 News brand are being replaced by CBS News Los Angeles, as expected with the new O&O plans to integrate the local stations with the rest of CBS News. Other than the new KCAL morning news and possibly the new look, KCBS’s set will remain the same, but will be adapted to the new look. Additionally, their weather and traffic department is taking the Next Weather/Traffic brand.

Additionally, there is some confusion on how the newscasts will be handled from Monday: local cable guides have changed their names of the KCBS and KCAL names to “KCAL News at 11p on CBS Los Angeles” and “KCAL News at 10p”, and the new morning newscast being billed as “KCAL Mornings” and “KCAL Mornings at 6a on CBS Los Angeles”. Although technically KCBS and KCAL retain their existing separate offerings, this means the relaunch will mean increased cooperation between both stations, akin to the failed NewsCentral operation in 2009, in which both stations’ reporters began filing stories without any distinction for both stations.

Also, it turns out that they might be not one, but two O&Os which could switch to the new CBS News O&O brand on Monday: at a segment of last night’s 6pm newscast, an on air mistake led to a wide shot of KPIX’s set which had a different thing on the BDI anchor desk: the current CBS 5 logo has been replaced with the KPIX call letters in the TT Norms font used by CBS. KPIX is expected to get the CBS News Bay Area name.



Additionally, the local streaming service’s headlines segment “The Minute” already uses some elements of the new look, which could point to an imminent launch:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/394023245269172225/1047238504058458152/RPReplay_Final1669751193.mov

[JexedBack]

American local TV is so complicated! Utterly fascinated but totally no clue. So many brands, so many brands within brands! It’s difficult to keep up.