NewsNation Launch Thread

[Georgie56 2,094]

Dean Reynolds is out.

[Newsjunkie24 130]

7 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

Dean Reynolds is out.

 

Wow. Maybe he still wanted to work during the election as he was fired by CBS in the midst of it and retire sometime after Biden's inauguration. 

[ScottJ 89]

14 minutes ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

 

Wow. Maybe he still wanted to work during the election as he was fired by CBS in the midst of it and retire sometime after Biden's inauguration. 

The article says he signed a six-month contract with NewsNation to take him through the inauguration,  so this isn't a surprise. 

[jrh1985 53]

41 minutes ago, ScottJ said:

The article says he signed a six-month contract with NewsNation to take him through the inauguration,  so this isn't a surprise. 

So not a Bombshell, Good!

[newsman123 63]

I mean.. if the gig was a good one, he would have likely stayed and re upped. I think he saw the ship sinking and said no thanks. 

[ScottJ 89]

17 minutes ago, newsman123 said:

I mean.. if the gig was a good one, he would have likely stayed and re upped. I think he saw the ship sinking and said no thanks. 

This quote makes it sound like Nexstar didn't offer him a contract renewal.

Quote

“It just ran out. I’m totally fine with that. I have nothing but gratitude for them,” he said, adding: “But I get why the timing looks kind of funny.”

Which makes sense from the company's side of things. Now that the election is over, there's no reason to pay an experienced political correspondent like Reynolds when they can hire someone younger/more inexperienced/cheaper during a time when interest in politics won't be as high as it was in the last few years. I'm sure NN won't lose a significant number of viewers because Dean Reynolds isn't on anymore.

[polyiguana 14]

I thought that was what Michael Shure was for - general national reporting (Rich McHugh for investigations, although clearly he needs more practice in front of the camera). Dean doesn't travel, and I haven't seen Joe Khalil leave Washington, but all the other correspondents, and the weekend anchors travel.  

[mrschimpf 638]

The listings for the first weekdays as NewsNation are out, and outside the new additions in primetime (and a repeat of Banfield after the West Coast re-loop)...no real changes to the schedule. The early morning infomercial/God block remains unchanged, along with the block marathons of JAG, Blue Bloods, and In the Heat of the Night. DailyMailTV airs at 3am, and it looks like Last Man Standing is off the schedule.

 

Still wondering how their weekends will be scheduled, though.

[tvtime07 149]

14 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

The listings for the first weekdays as NewsNation are out, and outside the new additions in primetime (and a repeat of Banfield after the West Coast re-loop)...no real changes to the schedule. The early morning infomercial/God block remains unchanged, along with the block marathons of JAG, Blue Bloods, and In the Heat of the Night. DailyMailTV airs at 3am, and it looks like Last Man Standing is off the schedule.

 

Still wondering how their weekends will be scheduled, though.

I remember reading an article saying that the network will honor the remainder of their syndicated contracts. Sort of odd from a branding perspective but then again progressive-leaning Freeform remains attached to the hip of Pat Robertson and The 700 Club for all eternity. 

[Newsjunkie24 130]

1 hour ago, tvtime07 said:

I remember reading an article saying that the network will honor the remainder of their syndicated contracts. Sort of odd from a branding perspective but then again progressive-leaning Freeform remains attached to the hip of Pat Robertson and The 700 Club for all eternity. 

 

Seems like Last Man Standing is the first show to have its contract run out.

[Wildish 7]

It's a pretty messy rollout though, waiting til they all ran out and premiering with a full schedule would have been better. This is just confusing and reads as a hail mary or something they're not sure of. It's almost like they don't want to go all in on news, cause they're scared.

[Nelson R. 185]

20 hours ago, Newsjunkie24 said:

 

Seems like Last Man Standing is the first show to have its contract run out.

Just checked and it will still be on WGN locally in Chicago, at 8 and 8:30 CT. So obviously it was two separate contracts.

[CalItalian2 91]

On 2/19/2021 at 7:14 PM, mrschimpf said:

The listings for the first weekdays as NewsNation are out, and outside the new additions in primetime (and a repeat of Banfield after the West Coast re-loop)...no real changes to the schedule. The early morning infomercial/God block remains unchanged, along with the block marathons of JAG, Blue Bloods, and In the Heat of the Night. DailyMailTV airs at 3am, and it looks like Last Man Standing is off the schedule.

 

Still wondering how their weekends will be scheduled, though.

Yes there are changes to the schedule. For one, the (west coast times) 5 PM news will now repeat at 9 PM. A 4 HOUR OLD NEWS! LOL! Bad enough that it was 3 hours old.

 

Now spots running on non-WGN America channels for NewsNation not mentioning WGN America nobody will never know where it is. Not that they did before.

 

LOVE those ratings from this past weekend! One of the lowest EVER! There are more crickets in my backyard than that are watching FAILED NewsNation! Just sell the damn channel to someone, Nexstar.

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:41 PM by CalItalian2

[RCA TK47 179]

Plain & simple, NewsNation is late to the ballgame.  There's no Presidential campaign/election going on, no Trump Twittering in the White House, no real salacious stories going on right now, etc.  It's going to be hard for them to get any traction to build viewership in this slowing news cycle right now.  The average viewer just has no reason to make it 'appointment viewing'.  The news market is already saturated as it is.  And offering up a four hour old newscast for those of us on the west coast?  Um... no.  Nexstar should've taken WGN in a totally different direction other than news.... but...  Nexstar's other problem is that they don't have a library of programming to broadcast like NBCUniversal or ViacomCBS does.  On your cable/dish lineup, WGN/NewsNation is like that weird guy at the end of bar that nobody talks to.... just taking up space.  There could be a hot babe sitting there instead!

[ABC 7 Denver 894]

12 minutes ago, RCA TK47 said:

Plain & simple, NewsNation is late to the ballgame.  There's no Presidential campaign/election going on, no Trump Twittering in the White House, no real salacious stories going on right now, etc.  It's going to be hard for them to get any traction to build viewership in this slowing news cycle right now.  The average viewer just has no reason to make it 'appointment viewing'.  The news market is already saturated as it is.  And offering up a four hour old newscast for those of us on the west coast?  Um... no.  Nexstar should've taken WGN in a totally different direction other than news.... but...  Nexstar's other problem is that they don't have a library of programming to broadcast like NBCUniversal or ViacomCBS does.  On your cable/dish lineup, WGN/NewsNation is like that weird guy at the end of bar that nobody talks to.... just taking up space.  There could be a hot babe sitting there instead!

And they aren't the last one going to be trying to find viewership in especially with a Conservative slant. There are two other Conservative opinion networks slated to open in the next year or so. So consider that Fox News, Newsmax, OANN, NewsNation, and two additional networks are vying for the same 30% of Americans. This is increasingly appearing to be an allegory of the fractured GOP.

[mightynine 48]

If NewsNation had come out of the gates with exclusive stories that they had enterprised on their own - ones that would've led those stories to be talked about on other outlets and given them basically free pub - there might've been a different story here. But they never bothered, just giving viewers a somewhat staid newscast with little of thousands of reporters they loved to mention in the build-up.

 

Now? It'll slowly fill out the schedule with reheated news, some more opinion and either become a milquetoast attempt at being not quite as right as Fox or try to go even further right and fight for the sliver of that audience slice with OANN and Newsmax.

 

With the reveal Bill Shine has been there since the beginning, their claim of bias-free is suspect, so it'll be that much harder to grow their news side, if they even really want to since we know Compton isn't happy with the results so far.

 

Ultimately, NewsNation will limp along, helped by carriage agreements drawing minimal eyeballs, or filling the time between local newscasts on Nexstar's sites or on an app if the company decides they want to make one too.

 

I do wonder if Compton's leash is getting shorter with the flop sweat growing on this product.

Edited Tuesday at 08:32 PM by mightynine

[AJClementeFan69 452]

The writing on the wall should have been seen early on. Just look at this post from one of its consultants.

 

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2020/9/25/is-this-why-news-nation-went-so-soft-on-trump

 

Full of conservative tropes about how everyone else is biased, "the possibility of a rigged election", etc.

 

And you look at the other aspects. Talent opens, emphasis on WX, anonymous local news talent (sorry--your weekend guy coming from Little Rock is not network level) just goes to show what a clown show it is. They tried to format a national newscast like local news.

 

Instead of being a fresh choice, it's been nothing more than an ego project for Perry Sook and it's unfortunate that so many resources have been and continue to be devoted to this, rather than beefing up its local stations.

Edited Wednesday at 04:35 AM by AJClementeFan69