To be known as NBC Boston, the O&O will air on low-power WBTS on virtual chs. 8 and 8.2 and rely heavily on cable and satellite distribution. The O&O will replace long-time affiliate WHDH, owned by Ed Ansin, starting Jan. 1. NBC also announced programming for the new O&O along with the teams for each of its newscasts. The news operation is being built atop NECN, NBC's regional cable news service.
DMA 9: BOSTON
NBC’s New Boston O&O, WBTS, Sets Lineup
NBC Owned Television Stations Group today announced that its newest owned and operated station in Boston set to launch Jan. 1 will air on WBTS, a low-power station NBC just purchased.
WBTS operates on ch. 46, but it will be available to over-the-air viewers on virtual 8 or 8.2 depending on their location. The station will be available to cable and satellite subscribers primarily on cable ch. 10.
NBC bought WBTS (fomerly WTMU) from ZGS Communications for $100,000. The FCC approved the deal earlier this week.
The new station, branded as NBC Boston, will also stream over the TV Everywhere platform.
The moves follows the decision earlier this year by NBC to drop its longtime Boston affiliate, WHDH, owned by Ed Ansin’s Sunbeam Television.
Beginning Nov. 10, a “Countdown NBC Boston” channel will be available to over-the-air viewers via WBTS in preparation for the Jan. 1 launch. During this time, OTA viewers will be urged to rescan their televisions or set-top boxes to add channels 8 or 8.2 to their channel lineup before the launch.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
NBC also announced programming for the new O&O along with the teams for each of its newscasts. The news operation is being built atop NECN, NBC’s regional cable news service.
On New Year’s Eve, “Countdown NBC Boston” will feature a full night of First Night Boston coverage live from Copley Square. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.
The new station’s local news lineup will feature including:
NBC Boston Today (4:30-7 a.m.)
Nick Emmons, anchor
Melody Mendez, anchor
Matt Noyes, chief meteorologist
Natasha Verma, traffic anchor
Latoyia Edwards, breaking news anchor
NBC Boston Now (noon)
Brian Shactman, anchor
Latoyia Edwards, anchor
Michael Page, meteorologist
NBC Boston at 4 (4 p.m.)
Joy Lim Nakrin, anchor
Shannon Mulaire, anchor
Pete Bouchard, meteorologist
NBC Boston at 5 (5 p.m.)
Chris Emma, anchor
Audrey Asistio, anchor
Pete Bouchard, meteorologist
NBC Boston at 6 (6 p.m.) and NBC Boston Tonight (11 p.m.)
Phil Lipof, anchor
Shannon Mulaire, anchor
Pete Bouchard, meteorologist
Raul Martinez, sports anchor
NBC Boston at 7 (7 p.m.)
Phil Lipof, anchor
Joy Lim Nakrin, anchor
Pete Bouchard, meteorologist
Raul Martinez, sports anchor
Weekend Morning News Team
Jeff Saperstone, anchor
Desiree Wiley, anchor
Jackie Layer, meteorologist
Weekend Evening News Team
Kristy Lee, anchor
Frank Holland, anchor
Chris Gloninger, meteorologist
NBC Boston’s weather coverage will include an exclusive 10-day forecast, the SkyRanger helicopter, Weather Warrior storm chaser and the state-of-the-art StormRanger, a fleet of mobile weather radar vehicles with a live Doppler radar that are exclusive to NBC and Telemundo-owned stations.
NBC Boston Responds, a 24/7 consumer unit, “will respond to every email and call the station receives from consumers with complaints from across the region,” the station said. There will also be a dedicated investigative reporting unit called The Investigators.
NBC Boston will premiere an all new daily lifestyle program called The Hub Today that will air Monday through Friday at 12:30 p.m. and focus on the top fashion, food and travel stories of the day.
Each Sunday morning This is New England, a new public affairs program, will feature a panel of newsmakers from around the region discussing local issues.
Additionally, NBC Boston will carry NBC’s signature programs including The Today Show (7 a.m.), NBC Nightly News (6:30 p.m.), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (11:30 p.m.), Late Night with Seth Meyers (12:30 a.m.) and Sunday Night Football. Daytime syndicated programming will also air on WBTS including Rachael Ray (11 a.m.), Days of Our Lives (1 p.m.), Access Hollywood Live (2 p.m.), Harry (3 p.m.) and Access Hollywood (7:30 p.m.).
NBCBoston.com will be the new website and will launch Nov. 10 followed by an NBC Boston app, bringing NBC Boston news and weather to audiences on the go. The desktop and mobile website will provide coverage across the region.
To help count down the days to the launch of NBC Boston, the “Countdown NBC Boston” calendar will be seen at the top of the homepage. NBC Boston’s content will also be available on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
Comments (21)
alicia farmer says:
November 1, 2016 at 9:38 am
Train wreck dead ahead.
John Bagwell says:
November 1, 2016 at 9:58 am
Everything is an awful, negative, train wreck to you.
alicia farmer says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:43 am
For you: The new NBC low power – 7th Boston local TV news station will do great.
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:28 pm
Considering Boston is 2nd highest MVPD sub in America with only 3.2% OTA, they will do fine.
Mark Kammerich says:
November 1, 2016 at 9:44 am
Seems like they have it figured out to me.
Dale Godfrey says:
November 1, 2016 at 1:05 pm
Other markets have ‘Big four’ affiliates operating on low power facilities. Rapid City and South Bend-Elkhart come to mind. If the OTA audience is significant in the Boston DMA then NBC will have reception problems, but if the OTA audience is insignificant, NBC’s reliance on Cable and Satellite will be enough to give them a shot at decent ratings. Should be an interesting experiment!
Mike Henry says:
November 1, 2016 at 4:00 pm
FTR, the cities you mentioned are smaller markets where the major networks have little other choice but to affiliate with a low-power station. Combine the total population of Rapid City and South Bend-Elkhart and you still wouldn’t reach the population of Boston. Why NBC didn’t court any of the miscellaneous full-power stations that has full-market coverage of Boston about purchasing one of them to make into their O&O, I don’t know.
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:29 pm
And Tom Scanlan shows his ignorance talking about a big OTA base in Boston.
Teri Green says:
November 1, 2016 at 1:25 pm
How much of Boston is covered by Providence? The cities are only like 50 miles apart. Not sure where the transmitters are. When I lived in DC, even in Virginia I could get Baltimore easily, so the two markets might be comparable.
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:31 pm
No issue for Boston DMA OTA Viewers who cannot receive WBTS to get NBC Programming from Providence.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 1, 2016 at 1:53 pm
The new Boston NBC.. perfect example of how most “broadcasters” are really just glorified cablecasters…
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:32 pm
And 1,000,000 times better at it than you
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 2, 2016 at 1:31 am
Not too good a record since they probably have about 10,000,000 more in resources…
Wagner Pereira says:
November 2, 2016 at 9:40 am
Yes, because the people that own it did it the old fashion way…..they were successful and earned it. Unlike the renter of a part time leased analog cable channel in a town of 8k.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 2, 2016 at 3:44 pm
LMAO!! You just keep posting dumber and dumber statements… and you can’t even get the population figures correct!! What would one expect from an anonymous goldbricker…
Colin MacCourtney says:
November 1, 2016 at 2:39 pm
NBC primary affiliation on an LPTV in the 8th largest DMA – will this announcement impact Round 3 of the Reverse Auction that begins today?
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:32 pm
No
Brad Dann says:
November 1, 2016 at 2:59 pm
Just look at CBS in Detroit on WWJ-TV (Full Power Ch. 62) and has been there for 20 years, way underperforms, even for a CBS O&O
Patrick Burns says:
November 1, 2016 at 6:17 pm
Worked in Beantown for 10 yrs , so here goes.
NBC should have purchased a Full Power from Norwell owners or the Ion Full Power for Hyannis Mass.& paired it.
The stick in N H that is the full power has a rotten coverage area & the OTA for this hodge podge will be dubious. If people continue to OTA & OTT their viewing , the suits at NBC will wish their added more sticks.
Boston’s DMA is shaaped kinda funny.
The key here is going to be getting habits changed. It just may be that WBTS can not get habits changed that easily.
However if they drop about 3 -5 million in cash promotion they may be able to penetrate Bostonians & get decent numbers.
With ALL the channels that are available & OTT movies etc , they have a real mountain to climb.
If they were really serious they would have bought all bldg along Storrow Drive or Route 128 & built a statement facility. We shall see !!!
Wagner Pereira says:
November 1, 2016 at 10:36 pm
I am sure that Comcast will run so much promotion in the local breaks of their cable channels so that alone will make your $3-$5m number Look low.
Matt Lawson says:
November 2, 2016 at 8:56 pm
NBC is also going to likely use some of their Telemundo station’s bandwidth and map the WBTS signal to virtual 8 or 8.2 as well to fill in the northern half of the DMA just as other markets/stations/groups are doing. You can have multiple transmitters thruout the DMA airing the same virtual channel in a digital universe. NBC knows exactly what they are doing.