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NBC News Special Report question?


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KUSA put an NBC NEWS SPECIAL REPORT on KTVD/ MyNetwork TV instead of KUSA, is this normal?

 

KUSA is currently carrying Ellen, why wouldn't they just bump ellen for the special report? (they are running a crawl at the bottom of the screen on KUSA telling folks to tune to KTVD for the special report) KCNC, KMGH, & KDVR are overriding there regularly scheduled programing.

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Beats me. I do remember the time KONG aired NBC's breaking news coverage at the time KING 5 was airing New Day Northwest. I also remembered the time both KING and KONG simulcasted NBC's breaking news coverage of a minute of silence in remembrance of the Las Vegas shooting victims.

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Ellen = ad dollars. Much of this ad time is lost when longform SRs are run. Also, station management may not want to hear the complaints from angry viewers about missing their shows. Not to mention, the GM/ND may prefer to cover locally because “people recognize local faces and prefer local coverage.”

 

Also, none of the Denver locals are “overriding” their local programming... these special reports are typically optional, especially in the case of Fox. I wouldn’t think too much into it; it’s a routine Presidential News Conference, not a terrorist attack. A crawl suffices in this case.

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Ellen = ad dollars. Much of this ad time is lost when longform SRs are run. Also, station management may not want to hear the complaints from angry viewers about missing their shows. Not to mention, the GM/ND may prefer to cover locally because “people recognize local faces and prefer local coverage.”

 

Also, none of the Denver locals are “overriding” their local programming... these special reports are typically optional, especially in the case of Fox. I wouldn’t think too much into it; it’s a routine Presidential News Conference, not a terrorist attack. A crawl suffices in this case.

You make an excellent point, I think we are nearing a point where all network SRs will be optional barring a major national emergency

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I’m sure if it’s an optional SR NBC would not care if the station shifts it over to a subchannel or sister station as long as it’s not ABC, CBS or Fox.

 

When WCMH was O&O and LMA’d they’d often shift a few SRs to WWHO (then WB) especially if NBC had their daytime lineup (Sunset Beach, DOOL, or Another World) or in “local time” (i.e. Extra, Leeza, Access Hollywood) Mind you this was before NBC began to hub their O&Os and master control was still here in Columbus.

 

I’m not sure if WJAR/WLWC did the same.

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I’m sure if it’s an optional SR NBC would not care if the station shifts it over to a subchannel or sister station as long as it’s not ABC, CBS or Fox.

 

They likely have permission from NBC to do that kind of thing. I’ve seen duopolies move nbc/abc/cbs programming to cw/mynetwork/independent stations when they’re preempting regular programming on the mothership. I’ve also seen non-duops do that or simulcast special reports on subchannels.

 

You definitely want to get advance clearance for it, but the network usually doesn’t mind (ymmv)

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They likely have permission from NBC to do that kind of thing. I’ve seen duopolies move nbc/abc/cbs programming to cw/mynetwork/independent stations when they’re preempting regular programming on the mothership. I’ve also seen non-duops do that or simulcast special reports on subchannels.

 

When WRAL was with CBS, they got permission to send golf over to WRAZ/FOX to cover something, it might have been Elizabeth Edwards' funeral service.

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When WRAL was with CBS, they got permission to send golf over to WRAZ/FOX to cover something, it might have been Elizabeth Edwards' funeral service.

 

Wow. That is a new one by me. Would have taken some cojones to even come to Fox for permission to air CBS on their Fox affiliate. Fox is not traditionally flexible when it comes to affiliate relations.

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Wow. That is a new one by me. Would have taken some cojones to even come to Fox for permission to air CBS on their Fox affiliate. Fox is not traditionally flexible when it comes to affiliate relations.

 

Could be possible if Fox wasn’t broadcasting anything and it was local. Normally planned preemptions affecting network time need to be cleared but if it was local AFAIK it’s not needed.

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Could be possible if Fox wasn’t broadcasting anything and it was local. Normally planned preemptions affecting network time need to be cleared but if it was local AFAIK it’s not needed.

 

Yeah it was a Saturday afternoon and this was before they had college football rights. So I believe it would have just been pre-empting infomercials or Cosby Show/Coach reruns (which WRAZ would normally go to anyways during long NASCAR or MLB rain delays)

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I know here in Nashville today we were going to break out of the Kavanaugh hearings at 11am for our lifestyle/pay-for-play show but ended up continuing to run the special report through until 4pm. We had a special 30 minute noon show from 11:40 until about 12:10 during the lunch recess. We also continued to go in and out of it during our 4pm show. From what I understand, carrying the hearing from the network was optional but strongly encouraged. Days of our Lives is being delayed an entire day by the network.

 

Meanwhile WTVF carried CBS' coverage through the day bumping their afternoon shows to their NC5+ subchannel. WKRN was in and out for the most part. Shockingly, or perhaps not shockingly depending on how you look at it, Sinclair's WZTV did not carry the hearings at all today.

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I know here in Nashville today we were going to break out of the Kavanaugh hearings at 11am for our lifestyle/pay-for-play show but ended up continuing to run the special report through until 4pm. We had a special 30 minute noon show from 11:40 until about 12:10 during the lunch recess. We also continued to go in and out of it during our 4pm show. From what I understand, carrying the hearing from the network was optional but strongly encouraged. Days of our Lives is being delayed an entire day by the network.

 

Meanwhile WTVF carried CBS' coverage through the day bumping their afternoon shows to their NC5+ subchannel. WKRN was in and out for the most part. Shockingly, or perhaps not shockingly depending on how you look at it, Sinclair's WZTV did not carry the hearings at all today.

 

Many Sinclair run Fox affiliates did not. WTTE and WRGT opted not to.

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other sources indicated it was mandatory

 

The only way a special report can be "mandatory" is if it's fed during network time. There's nothing stopping a station from continuing to run local/syndicated programming while network feeds a SR during local time. If the management wants to keep running syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls during a special report, that's their choice.

 

The only real exception is FOX level ones with the splicer, but even that can technically be bypassed.

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The only way a special report can be "mandatory" is if it's fed during network time. There's nothing stopping a station from continuing to run local/syndicated programming while network feeds a SR during local time. If the management wants to keep running syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls during a special report, that's their choice.

 

The only real exception is FOX level ones with the splicer, but even that can technically be bypassed.

 

Fox is the most anal out of the big 4 when it comes to engineering. They can control all types of receivers and wire chains. They’re very adamant that their product looks the way THEY want it to on your air.

 

This was not a network override event for Fox - the last one that I can recall was the Trump/Kim summit, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if network recommended that stations take the coverage or at least simulcast FNC if they opted not to take the SR.

 

Stupid question, but can’t the affiliate take back control at the local level during a Level 1? I recall seeing it happen during the Boston manhunt a few years back, when Fox Broadcast simulcasted The O’Reilly Factor from FNC — WRGT pulled out and went back to Fox primetime when Geraldo appeared for analysis and came back with Shep covering the President’s remarks.

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Stupid question, but can’t the affiliate take back control at the local level during a Level 1?

 

The splicer does not lock out local control. The splicer only responds to two commands: Splice to Network and Splice to Local. The command sent to start a Level 1 is the same command being sent when The Simpsons is about to start. The Splicer can also be bypassed, so it doesn't respond to any commands coming from the network. You would bypass if you were going to do longform local breaking news coverage in network programming or do something like air a severe weather ticker or school closings ticker during network programming.

 

In the end, this isn't some tool FOX uses to keep their stations "in line", it's a setup to ensure that the video signal is the best it can be. The bits you are getting OTA in your house are basically the same ones the station is getting off the satellite. This isn't the case at other networks, where the satellite receiver outputs a signal that's then chained through 7 or 8 more devices (ticker systems, weather alert systems, graphics systems, master control switchers and routers... The list goes on) before it's finally sent to the transmitter.

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Everyone keeps saying SR are optional given proper circumstances, but I know someone at an ABC affiliate who said ABC requires all special reports be taken by affiliates. Period.

 

According to my contacts at the ABC network, this is entirely untrue.

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Everyone keeps saying SR are optional given proper circumstances, but I know someone at an ABC affiliate who said ABC requires all special reports be taken by affiliates. Period.

 

Not true. Even the ABC O&Os are NOT required to take special reports.

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Everyone keeps saying SR are optional given proper circumstances, but I know someone at an ABC affiliate who said ABC requires all special reports be taken by affiliates. Period.

 

Completely false. Just look at their flagship station, WABC in New York, which has opted plenty of times to not carry a special report.

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