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The Turmoil Saga of NewsNation


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Million dollar idea here....to fill in the late night hours.

 

Pillow Talk with Mike Lindell!!!!

 

Not only does it give him a platform to spew his views to an interested audience, it's also the perfect opportunity to sell off all of those pillows that all of the other stores cancelled their orders of!

 

You're welcome, Uncle Perry.  This will be ratings gold!!!!

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1 hour ago, mrschimpf said:

I want to know the drama going on behind the WGN News Twitter account before they were forced by Perry (with this embarrassingly bad soundbite) to throw this on their feed

I have a feeling that the WGN people knew what they were doing when they put in the “embarrassingly bad soundbite.” FWIW, it’s getting the amount of attention it deserves: a whopping 13 likes.

 

I don’t know if anyone here works at a Nexstar station or knows someone who does, but I’d be curious to know how local newsrooms feel about promoting this garbage.

43 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Million dollar idea here....to fill in the late night hours.

 

Pillow Talk with Mike Lindell!!!!

One small problem: that title’s been taken for Jeffrey Toobin’s new show on NewsNation.

 

Harsh joking aside, given that they’re now going after every creep and talking head reject out there, it wouldn’t even shock me if they tried to hire Toobin, or even someone like Matt Lauer, and dump more fuel on this dumpster fire. The real journalists at that network can’t get out of there fast enough.

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I guess this might bump NewsNation's average viewership from 50K to maybe 60K?

 

Is Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer far behind in joining NewsNation too?

 

NewsNation should give ParamountGlobal and WBD pause in selling the WB to Nexstar.

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Fun fact:  Perry Sook and Matt Lauer both worked at WOWK in the 80s.  Sook was an AE, and Lauer was a news producer.

https://www.nexttv.com/news/sook-builds-broadcast-powerhouse-105694

 

Years later, Sook would own the station through Nexstar's purchase of Bray Cary's West Virginia Media.

 

Maybe NewsNation is holding out for Bill O'Reilly too...maybe as a last ditch effort before pulling the plug?

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By the way, we thought NN had made a mistake sending us the promos for the Cuomo interview earlier today. I didn't realize they had decided to rerun the interview tonight.

Edited by TheRob
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Hey guys, I'm new here.

 

I joined because due in part to my father, I had developed a growing fascination for TV news and how it works. I wanted to be bringing my thoughts on TV news to here, so here I am.

 

Now with the introduction finished...

 

 

I can't believe NewsNation would stoop to that level! Is the morale of the staff that low that they have no choice but to pat themselves on the back in a 30-second promo for Fox News' Greg Gutfeld and actor Dean Cain so much as recognizing NewsNation? It's so hilarious! And to think this was once a superstation of WGN!

Edited by DJonNews
Removing extra spaces
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The ratings are in for the Chris Cuomo interview turned announcement that he will be joining NewsNation and...

 

https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/7/27/the-ratings-for-fredos-return-to-tv

 

I think this may be why NewsNation staff were so frustrated that something as small as Greg Gutfeld and Dean Cain so much as mentioning them got their spirits up?

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Harry Caray and Bob Bell are rolling in their graves.

In fact, they might get better ratings if they give Bozo an hour-long talk show. Where's Joey D'Auria? The whole network is a circus, no pun intended, and an insult to what WGN used to be as a cable superstation. When reruns of a particular Tom Selleck program beat Dan Abrams and Fredo, they are in deep trouble.

I can't see too many people returning to Chris Cuomo, tainted from his brother's COVID nursing home death and sexual scandals.

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But on the bright side, regarding Chris Cuomo's announcement of joining NewsNation at the 9pm hour, the channel finally beat an opponent for the first time in what seems to be forever...

 

Newsmax. Who also posted pathetically low ratings in the demo that hour. By a small margin.

 

https://www.mediaite.com/daily-ratings/cable-news-ratings-tuesday-july-26-lawrence-odonnell-leads-msnbc/

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We were discussing NewsNation in the Discord the other day, and I went browsing through Nexstar's latest Annual Report to see what mentions of NewsNation they make in it.

 

One thing did jump out at me, in a mention of how much money they've saved cutting syndicated programming and other types of rights (emphasis mine):

Quote

Amortization of broadcast rights was $121.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $137.5 million for the
same period in 2020, a decrease of $16.4 million, or 11.9%. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction of NewsNation’s film
rights costs by $17.5 million as it continues to shift its focus from syndicated programming to national news programs

Dropping syndicated programming and other shows from NewsNation through 2021 saved them $17.5 million dollars. They now control all of that ad inventory, on programming they are paying much less for than what it replaced (hell, dropping syndicated programming very likely paid for the NewsNation programming outright.) This is an important part of the NewsNation strategy, the same strategy the local stations use when they drop an hour of Judge Judy for more local news. The "ratings" might not be as good, but if they're now paying $4,000 an hour to program NewsNation Prime where they were previously paying $8,000 for an hour of Law and Order: Parking Enforcement Unit, they are coming out ahead.

 

 

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41 minutes ago, Weeters said:

Dropping syndicated programming and other shows from NewsNation through 2021 saved them $17.5 million dollars. They now control all of that ad inventory, on programming they are paying much less for than what it replaced (hell, dropping syndicated programming very likely paid for the NewsNation programming outright.) This is an important part of the NewsNation strategy, the same strategy the local stations use when they drop an hour of Judge Judy for more local news. The "ratings" might not be as good, but if they're now paying $4,000 an hour to program NewsNation Prime where they were previously paying $8,000 for an hour of Law and Order: Parking Enforcement Unit, they are coming out ahead.

Come to think of it, that might partially explain the shift to being commentator-heavy. Talking-head programs can’t be that expensive to produce. All you need is one person with an opinion, a reasonable backdrop, some guests that will appear on any network that throws cash at them, and you have a show. Why fill your schedule with original documentaries, international news coverage, or investigative specials when you can generate more revenue with talking heads? And while Nexstar will certainly be paying the stars of such talk programs generously, their salaries will likely pale in comparison to the Carlsons and Maddows of the world. Not to mention, some of those personalities aren’t even exclusive to NewsNation.

 

I remember reading a quote from Perry Sook from a conference call regarding the Tribune acquisition. This was his statement on Tribune’s management of WGN America (via Deadline)

Quote

“I will compliment management,” Sook said on the conference call. “They’ve done a great job of turning it around over the past two years, from a money-losing asset to a nine-digit money-making asset now, in terms of EBITDA contribution.”

This was in reference to WGN America cancelling nearly all of its expensive original programming in favor of cheaper syndicated reruns. This should’ve been an indicator that Sook wanted his new cable network to generate revenue on the cheap, rather than investing in expensive programming to draw eyeballs. Now, Nexstar not only invests in cheap programs; they invest in cheap programs that they own. Horrible move for journalism, but smart business move for a cable network that few were (or are) watching.

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14 hours ago, Weeters said:

The "ratings" might not be as good, but if they're now paying $4,000 an hour to program NewsNation Prime where they were previously paying $8,000 for an hour of Law and Order: Parking Enforcement Unit, they are coming out ahead.

Well, if barely anyone is going to watch it, might as well not pay as much to program it, I guess.

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On 7/27/2022 at 3:56 PM, mightynine said:

187,000 total viewers for The Chris Cuomo Interview. 14,000 in the 25-54 demo. 
 

https://www.mediaite.com/daily-ratings/cable-news-ratings-tuesday-july-26-lawrence-odonnell-leads-msnbc/

On Patrol: Live did over 1 million viewers on its third outing Friday night 7/29. #1 25-54, 18-34. 340,000 25-54 viewers. On a channel with about 2/3 the subs as NewsNation and on a number of cable systems on a more costly tier. Congrats to Hubbard. 

 

Nexstar and NewsNation ARE A JOKE 

https://twitter.com/OnPatrolFNation/status/1554201511885946882?s=20&t=aS38y6H_lrx3mdXsnYSVUQ

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At the same time as Reelz On Patrol: Live on Friday 7/29, which is live in all time zones, Dan Abrams competing with himself on NewsNation only attracted 7,000 25-54, 50,000 total viewers. Absolutely pathetic. Something Nexstar could have had to promote their lackluster failing network.

 

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