The Hearst-owned Boston ABC affiliate will introduce half-hour news broadcasts at 4:30 and 7 p.m. starting Jan. 11.
DMA 8: BOSTON
WCVB Adding Two Weeknight Newscasts
Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate WCVB Boston (DMA 8) will launch two, new half-hour weeknight newscasts at 4:30 and 7 p.m. beginning on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.
“WCVB is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve how we deliver news to our viewers, via all of our platforms — on air, web and mobile — which includes the WCVB news app, and social media,” said Bill Fine, WCVB president-GM.
“With the addition of these two newscasts, as well as the recently announced news expansion Sundays at 5 p.m., WCVB is better positioned to provide the news our viewers want at the times they want it,” said Andrew Vrees, WCVB news director.
“WCVB will be the only Boston television station with news at 7 p.m., and a perfect companion program for market favorite Chronicle at 7:30 p.m.,” continued Fine.“Independent research showed that nearly half of the viewers that are available to watch TV at 7 p.m., would be extremely or very interested in a local newscast at that time.”
The news expansion at 4:30 and 7 will change WCVB’s program schedule as follows.Effective Jan. 11, Ellen will move to 3 p.m. (from 4 p.m.), Inside Edition will move to 4p.m. (from 7 p.m.), and Meredith will move to 1:05 a.m. (from 3 p.m.).The station’s full schedule:
WCVB 2016 Monday-Friday Program Schedule:
BRAND CONNECTIONS
4:30 a.m. — NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener at 4:30
5 — NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener at 5
6 — NewsCenter 5 EyeOpener at 6
7 — Good Morning America
9 — Live with Kelly & Michael
10 — Steve Harvey
11 — The View
Noon — NewsCenter 5 Midday
12:30 — Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
1 — The Chew
2 — General Hospital
3 — The Ellen DeGeneres Show
4 — Inside Edition
4:30 — NewsCenter 5 at 4:30
5 — NewsCenter 5 at 5
6 — NewsCenter 5 at 6
6:30 — ABC World News Tonight with David Muir
7 — NewsCenter 5 at 7
7:30 — Chronicle
8 — ABC Network Programming
11 — NewsCenter 5 Tonight
11:35 — Jimmy Kimmel Live
12:35 a.m. — ABC News Nightline
1:05 — The Meredith Vieira Show
Comments (3)
Amneris Vargas says:
October 26, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Subtext: Creating local news inventory for 2016 political. Not being critical, as I think it’s smart.
Greg Johnson says:
October 27, 2015 at 9:50 pm
Is this change the result of consumer research that says the market needs more news from WCVB or any other carrier? What criteria is used to make such a counterintuitive decision? Is it possible that there were no better syndicated alternatives or did the sales department need more sales inventory for the upcoming political season? WCVB is a respected news brand in Boston. Why not announce new mobile products since the demand is clearly shifting in that direction. I challenge whether there is objective research that is telling any local broadcaster that the consumer is clamoring for more newscasts. Will the new programs enterprise more news content? How can you expand news without recognition of where the audience is at 4:30 and 7 PM. News programming is a product. Products recognize the changes in distribution channels to better serve the audience and remain relevant. This is a clear indicator of what is driving the local broadcast business. I am sure these newscasts will be nominated for self-serving awards right next to “Car of the Year” awards (plural) in industry trades. I appreciate supply and demand. However, the audience is no longer factored in to programming decisions like these.
Greg Johnson says:
October 28, 2015 at 2:29 pm
Politicians will ultimately buy audiences. Programs are meant to create audiences. If the purpose of a program is to add sales inventory, where does that leave the audience? If the audience switches to other channels to find a better program as crazy as that sounds, how much will it cost to get them back? Of course, political advertisers will buy a 35+ demo so whatever audience you produce is marketable. Look at a 10 year track on demo news ratings in Boston and for WCVB, does that data tell you to expand news programming. The DNC has developed one of the most sophisticated CRM’s anywhere, meaning significant dollars will shift to find targeted audiences on mobile, tablets, and computers. As a mercenary play, I get it. If I were a shareholder, I would ask if WCVB had a business strategy.