We told you the other day about Boston station WHDH and their decision to show another local newscast instead of Jay Leno's new show at 10PM. Now NBC says that the new show will air in the Boston market, no matter what.The network says that four other stations in the area could air the show. One of them is a Telemundo station owned by the network, and the other three are independent stations. Even if they do find another station for Leno's show, NBC will probably still strip WHDH of its NBC affiliation. WHDH says that they can't do that, but NBC says that the contract with them says that they can't pick and choose programming like this.
WHDH might be doing this for ratings/money, but losing the affiliation of a major network can almost destroy a station. The station says that they don't want to air Leno's show because it will be a bad lead-in to their 11PM newscast, though I'm not sure how better a lead-in to a newscast is another newscast.
NBC hasn't said what the three stations in Boston are, and I'm trying to think which they could be. My first thought was WSBK-TV 38, but I believe that's a sister station to the CBS channel in town, WBZ.
Leno is doing a special standup show at Salem State College near Boston tonight for a old friend who gave him his first break years ago, so maybe he'll have a comment for the local stations about all this. Curious to see if someone from WHDH will be there.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2009 @ 9:24AM
Pingles said...
You'd think everyone would lawyer these things out before making such a crazy statement.
Be interesting to see if it's anything other than publicity.
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4-06-2009 @ 10:45AM
CRVBOY said...
Yes, Ch 38 is owned by CBS/Paramount/Viacom or whatever they are calling themselves these days.
And I believe that Ch 38 still shows (or shows again) the Red Sox so they'd end up bumping Leno for them just like they used to do with Voyager and other UPN programming...
But stripping WHDH of it's NBC affiliation would be great. Especially if it means we get rid of the tabloid/sensationalist news they spew.
Although knowing the idiot that owns the station, he'd just turn it into a 24 hr tabloid news channel.
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4-06-2009 @ 12:43PM
Bill said...
Channel 38 no longer shows the Red Sox, so Leno wouldn't be getting pre-empted. My guess is that it will be another station altogether.
http://tvnewsandnotes.blogspot.com/
4-06-2009 @ 11:36AM
Lisa said...
Telemundo is a spanish station so if I were to want to watch Leno here in Boston, I presume I'd need to become bilingual. I don't know of any other NBC affiliates in the Boston area, there may be some but I don't know of them.
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4-06-2009 @ 11:54AM
Christopher said...
I don't get it. If Leno is given the 10/9c spot, what will NBC do about there shows in that slot right now? Are they going to give shows the ax?
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4-06-2009 @ 12:44PM
Bill said...
Chris,
What it's going to mean is that there will be 5 less primetime slots open on the fall schedule. So renewals will be hard to come by for shows that are considered "on the bubble"
http://tvnewsandnotes.blogspot.com/
4-06-2009 @ 12:40PM
JW said...
I don't understand how any local news station can do this. St. Louis's NBC and FOX stations cut out some of their programming to show a preview of baseball this past week. I know there's a lot of sports fans here, but can't it wait until the sports segment of the newscast? The CW here changed their newscast from 9pm to 7pm; which really screwed up my DVR. But as for Boston, they could just put their news on at 10 instead of 9 like everyone else. It all should be written in stone by the networks, I think.
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4-06-2009 @ 1:34PM
ADR1975 said...
I absolutely support NBC here. You can't just have local channels in markets pulling stunts like this or it would happen all the time. It would set a terrible precedent and wreak havoc on broadcast shows.
I hope NBC strips them of their affiliation and then files a lawsuit that sends these jerks back to the stone ages.
And NO ONE wants two hours of local news. I can barely watch ten minutes. What's most insulting for Jay Leno here is he is a Boston native.
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4-06-2009 @ 3:25PM
Racedriven said...
WHDH is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
First, WSBK-TV, channel 38, is an independent television station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, owned by the CBS Corporation. The station shares studio facilities in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood of Boston with sister station WBZ-TV (channel 4), and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts. (From wikipedia.org)
Second, if WHDH loses there NBC afflication, its basically over, third, I live just south of worcester massachusetts, so I have two NBC stations, one in Boston and one in RI, however for boston residences, doesn't New Hampshire have a NBC station so they can watch?
Fourth, quote from the LAtimes (The Boston TV party began boiling Thursday when Ed Ansin, owner of WHDH, told the Boston Globe newspaper that his station would run local news at 10 because Leno would be "detrimental to our 11 o'clock newscast" and "detrimental to our finances.") So it is about money, what a shocker there.
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4-06-2009 @ 3:28PM
Carl said...
WLVI 56 is 7's sister station and currently airs the 7-branded 10pm news. 56 is also the local Boston CW affiliate. What about the transition to digital? Shouldn't there be enough room on the dial for both Leno and a 10pm newscast on 7 and 7.1? I guess that's the same as asking, "Why not just leave WHDH's 10pm newscast on channel 56?"
i'd love for this story to play out during the summer, just so I can learn more about this improbably ratings clause in their contract with NBC.
7's newscast is sensationalist and horrible anyways, so I hope NBC wins this one, despite Leno's appeal to the LCD.
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4-06-2009 @ 8:57PM
beth said...
The Boston channel is right in taking a stand even it will inevitably fail. Leno for 5 hours a week in primetime is going to take a serious dive in their ratings. They know the news would be even worse in the ratings but who ever is running that station is trying to make the most of a bad situation that NBC is forcing down their throats. I don't think any NBC affiliate anticipated the parent company forcing them into taking the Leno show for 5 prime hours a week. Where is the outrage over the loss of 5 hours of network programming? I know NBC doesn't have much on its plate right now but they did and everything comes back around in time. But only if those hours are available.
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4-13-2009 @ 6:12PM
Edward said...
Ed Ansin loses this battle.
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