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The Hearst Thread


aleckrohto

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Hearst buys majority stake in syndication company Litton Entertainment, best known for its children's blocks on the big three networks and The CW, according to TVNewsCheck.

 

Not far from my prediction on another message board about Sinclair possibly buying a syndicator in 2017.

I'm surprised that a legacy media company like Hearst didn't develop a TV syndication service.

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Hearst did dabble in TV syndication as late as the early 2000s when the former "Kelly News & Entertainment" (KCRA's syndication division) became "Hearst-Argyle Television Distribution." Before that they also had Hearst (formerly King Features) Entertainment, which distributed weekly programs and movies.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I have a couple questions about WCVB.

 

1. Why do their reporters say "WCVB, News Center 5" at the end of their live reports? They used to just say "News Center 5",

. Reciting the call letters at the end of a live report is verbose and unnecessary.

2. Why does the Ch. 5 logo during Chronicle look much sharper and vibrant? Why can't this also be used during the regular newscasts? Instead, the logo is superimposed on 2 blue parallelograms, which looks ugly.

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I have a couple questions about WCVB.

 

1. Why do their reporters say "WCVB, News Center 5" at the end of their live reports? They used to just say "News Center 5",

. Reciting the call letters at the end of a live report is verbose and unnecessary.

2. Why does the Ch. 5 logo during Chronicle look much sharper and vibrant? Why can't this also be used during the regular newscasts? Instead, the logo is superimposed on 2 blue parallelograms, which looks ugly.

 

to answer your first question Hearst has a corporate mandate that their stations brand themselves based off their call letters. Because "newscenter5" is too popular and iconic in Boston they simply add WCVB before newscenter5

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I have a couple questions about WCVB.

 

1. Why do their reporters say "WCVB, News Center 5" at the end of their live reports? They used to just say "News Center 5",

. Reciting the call letters at the end of a live report is verbose and unnecessary.

 

to answer your first question Hearst has a corporate mandate that their stations brand themselves based off their call letters. Because "newscenter5" is too popular and iconic in Boston they simply add WCVB before newscenter5

Isn't another reason the same as with radio... for those who are Nielsen diary reporters? I thought that at least with radio, part of the reason they repeat call letters frequently is to make sure a listener knows (and remembers) what station they're listening to so they can report it later for ratings purpose.

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Isn't another reason the same as with radio... for those who are Nielsen diary reporters? I thought that at least with radio, part of the reason they repeat call letters frequently is to make sure a listener knows (and remembers) what station they're listening to so they can report it later for ratings purpose.

 

Nielsen stopped using paper diaries for TV in the top ten markets a decade ago and has been phasing them out elsewhere ever since. Dozens of markets are now paperless. They'll be completely dead next year.

 

Perhaps WCVB is seeking to reinforce their identity since Boston has been pummeled by news about NBC Boston/WBTS and WHDH in the last year. They might feel there's nothing to lose and no cost involved in reminding people who they are watching. Or something else.

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  • 3 weeks later...

WMOR, the Hearst owned independent station that does not produce news, is launching a new original TV series called Chronicle. The show looks like it will follow WCVB's Chronicle style featuring interviews from Tampa's business, sports and entertainment industry. The show will be hosted by John Wilson.

 

I wonder if this is the start of them launching a new news product in the nations 11th largest market.

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WMOR, the Hearst owned independent station that does not produce news, is launching a new original TV series called Chronicle. The show looks like it will follow WCVB's Chronicle style featuring interviews from Tampa's business, sports and entertainment industry. The show will be hosted by John Wilson.

 

I wonder if this is the start of them launching a new news product in the nations 11th largest market.

 

It's already a competitive market, so they would be foolish to start a new operation IMO. Really, the station should just be sold to Tegna or Scripps and paired with an existing incumbent.

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WMOR, the Hearst owned independent station that does not produce news, is launching a new original TV series called Chronicle. The show looks like it will follow WCVB's Chronicle style featuring interviews from Tampa's business, sports and entertainment industry. The show will be hosted by John Wilson.

 

I wonder if this is the start of them launching a new news product in the nations 11th largest market.

 

Nice to see John Wilson back again on TV.

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It's already a competitive market, so they would be foolish to start a new operation IMO. Really, the station should just be sold to Tegna or Scripps and paired with an existing incumbent.

 

If they did it would be news department #5 (#6 if you count Bay News 9 and #7 if you count WWSB), so it probably would not be successful. I thought that it could have been spectrum auction bait but Hearst decided not to sell its spectrum, which I was very surprised about.

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  • 4 weeks later...
I have a couple questions about WCVB.

 

1. Why do their reporters say "WCVB, News Center 5" at the end of their live reports? They used to just say "News Center 5",

. Reciting the call letters at the end of a live report is verbose and unnecessary.

2. Why does the Ch. 5 logo during Chronicle look much sharper and vibrant? Why can't this also be used during the regular newscasts? Instead, the logo is superimposed on 2 blue parallelograms, which looks ugly.

That's like from 1998-2011 KOCO's newscasts were known as "Eyewitness News 5" in 2012 they added "KOCO" to the Eyewitness News 5 name making it known as "KOCO Eyewitness News 5" and then when KOCO got new graphics and music in 2013 they dropped the Eyewitness News brand/format and became known as "KOCO 5 News"

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If they did it would be news department #5 (#6 if you count Bay News 9 and #7 if you count WWSB), so it probably would not be successful. I thought that it could have been spectrum auction bait but Hearst decided not to sell its spectrum, which I was very surprised about.

 

It's one of the highest rated independent stations in the country so it's basically a cash cow that Hearst can run at little to no cost.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know KOCO has gone from these:

 

 

To these:

 

 

Nowadays I think Hearst has turned over whatever changes the stations make to the tunes of the current music, to the way the opens and talent rejoins animate and they can even change the look of the copyright bar (which was first introduced by WJCL in Savannah, GA after WJCL finally got the Hearst graphics/music package in 2015) but as far as the new theme music goes that's hubbed at WESH so I say Hearst has turned over all of the music/graphics responsibilities to the stations.

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[MEDIA=tumblr]did=ef45a272812b3de08c2a2bdd657a81ca00dc243f;id=160595853686;key=TjrONMrWX75ztNHlxRAsmQ;name=matthewkoonsreports[/MEDIA]

 

New style of L3 and sweep gfx here for WGAL. Only appearing so far on promos.

 

-- Matt

 

I've only seen that on one or two promos here in Baltimore. The way they had the anchor name uptop looked a bit unique. Is this a possible lower third or just a new template?

 

I know Hearst has embedded the triangles and diagrid on sets, helicopters and live trucks. It should be interesting if they include the triangles when they do an update or launch a new package.

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I know KOCO has gone from these:

 

 

To these:

 

 

Nowadays I think Hearst has turned over whatever changes the stations make to the tunes of the current music, to the way the opens and talent rejoins animate and they can even change the look of the copyright bar (which was first introduced by WJCL in Savannah, GA after WJCL finally got the Hearst graphics/music package in 2015) but as far as the new theme music goes that's hubbed at WESH so I say Hearst has turned over all of the music/graphics responsibilities to the stations.

I don't think the music is hubbed at WESH. All stations would have access to that. And most Hearst stations have picked up the Strive updates because they sound so good, and it seems like the package is updated almost constantly. They've got to have over 30 discs by now. I don't think Hearst ever "mandated" how the stations use the graphics. I think they must have just released new templates and/or stations have decided to get more creative. Very few Hearst stations still use the original 2012 open look.
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I don't think the music is hubbed at WESH. All stations would have access to that. And most Hearst stations have picked up the Strive updates because they sound so good, and it seems like the package is updated almost constantly. They've got to have over 30 discs by now. I don't think Hearst ever "mandated" how the stations use the graphics. I think they must have just released new templates and/or stations have decided to get more creative. Very few Hearst stations still use the original 2012 open look.

 

This WTAE headline cut is awesome!

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Looks like KMBC and WCVB are ditiching opens for now cold opens ... wonder if it will go group wise ...

 

 

-- Matt

 

Eh, seems more like KMBC going with what the market is doing. KSHB has been using cold opens for many months now. I don't know what WDAF and KCTV do, but I'm more inclined to believe it's them following KSHB's lead. Less open = more news.

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I would describe that as more of an "umbrella open," KMBC trying to make it look like they have several urgent stories when they really don't. That's a producer/executive producer decision, not a Hearst thing.

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