NewsNation fills in the final piece to go 24/7

News Nation  Cable TV News 

       

        Nexstar owned cable news channel is about to complete the goal of going to 24/7 news and news-based programming and has picked and interesting date to start.   As previously mentioned previously mentioned , NewsNation recently expanded their weekend live news programming to run until 4pm ET , then 3 hours of Blue Bloods before returning to the long running "Prime" programming in the evening. The drama Blue Bloods is leaving the line up as the network now finishes its goal of going 24/7. 

            On June 1, the network adds NewsNation Now with Adrienne Bankert airing Saturdays and Sundays 4-7PM ET.   Bankert previously hosted and co-hosted their morning show "Morning in America".  This now gives NewsNation a 24/7 news based line up.  

  

        Earlier this year, weekend programming started to expand with the launch of a weekend version of Morning in America, then later the addition of The Hill Sunday, in March, and the aforementioned launches of  weekend versions of  NewsNation Live and NewsNation Now. 

      June 1 is an interesting date for them to pick,  since that's a date known where CNN, the first cable news channel, launched in 1980.  It helps that it also fell on a Saturday this year to launch cable news programming.   It will also be the end of what was left of WGN America's remains as a cable entertainment channel that also sometimes gave viewers Chicago news and sports from WGN-TV.  The network has slowly been drifting away its final contracts for scripted shows and replacing them with news shows as the slow transition started in March 2021.  Weekdays were completed in April 2023. 

            Here is the Line up starting June 1, all times ET 

Saturdays

7-10 AM ET– Morning in America with Hena Doba
10-1 PM ET – NewsNation Live
1-4 PM ET – NewsNation Now with Anna Kooiman
4-7 PM ET – NewsNation Now with Adrienne Bankert
7-10 PM ET – NewsNation Prime with Natasha Zouves

Sundays 

7-10 AM ET– Morning in America with Hena Doba
10-11 AM ET – The Hill Sunday with Chris Stirewalt
11-1 PM ET – NewsNation Live
1-4 PM ET – NewsNation Now with Anna Kooiman
4-7 PM ET – NewsNation Now with Adrienne Bankert
7-10 PM ET – NewsNation Prime with Natasha Zouves

Full Press release , after the jump

NewsNation expanding Weekend Programming, Making Weekday Changes

News Nation 

      

     Nexstar cable news network, NewsNation, is expanding weekend news programming. Currently the network programs weekend primetime,  with the morning through daytime being reruns of the drama Blue Bloods.   

            The network announced, Thursday, that from  Saturday, January 27,  Morning in America will be getting a weekend version anchored by  Hena Doba, airing Saturday and Sundays from 7-10am ET. Doba comes to NewsNation from the business news channel, Cheddar. 

      Also announced, from Monday, January 22, the network will make some changes to its weekday programming.  

         Morning in America is being reduced back down to 3 hours and will air from 6-9AMET, Markie Martin will become solo anchor with , Adrienne Bankert, becoming a special projects anchor for the network.  

        News Nation Live with Marni Hughes is pushed down 1hour starting at 9AMET and finishing at Noon ET.  Nichole Berlie's edition of News Nation Now moves its start time to Noon ET and will run 3 hours sill finishing at 3PM ET. 

        The Hill on News Nation and Elizabeth Vargas Reports flip timeslots  Vargas moves up to 5PMET and Hill moves down to 6pm ET.  

Here's the week day line up from January 22

all Times ET 

6-9 AM – Morning in America with anchor Markie Martin
9 AM-noon – NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes
Noon-3 PM – NewsNation Now with Nichole Berlie
3-5 PM  – NewsNation Now with Connell McShane
5-6 PM – Elizabeth Vargas Reports
6-7 PM – The Hill with moderator Blake Burman
7-8 PM– On Balance with Leland Vittert
8-9 PM – CUOMO hosted by Chris Cuomo
9-10 PM – Dan Abrams Live hosted by Dan Abrams
10-11 PM  – Banfield hosted by Ashleigh Banfield

CNN Changes Programming Line Up: Including Primetime, Early Morning, and Saturdays

CNN TV News Cable TV News 

            The constant at CNN has been change, and again a programming schedule change. CNN has announced anchor changes and new programs that effect their mornings, daytime, and primetime, along with weekends. 

        Primetime, which had been in a state of a flux since Chris Cuomo's firing in December 2021, and now former anchor, Don Lemon, leaving primetime in 2022.  The 10 pm Eastern hour will be given to political correspondent , Abby Phillip, with 11pm being hosted by Laura Coates, CNN's legal analyst. 

           Phillip's program brings back an old name to CNN, CNN NewsNight , which CNN previously used until 2005.  Coates' program will be branded Laura Coates Live. 

        Now, the mornings.  Kasie Hunt has been named anchor of 5AM eastern program Early Start, and chief White House correspondent Phil Mattingly has been named co-anchor of CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow. 

            Of note, Pamela Brown, CNN's chief investigative correspondent will anchor  a daily 3pm ET hour show, that show will be called The Bulletin . This means that CNN News Central from D.C will be cut to 2 hours. 

        Here's  the weekday line up in review, changed programming in Italics 

5-6am ET: Early Start  (new anchor)

6-9am ET: CNN This Morning with Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly  (new co-anchor)

9am-12pm ET: CNN News Central

12-1pm ET: Inside Politics with Dana Bash

1-3pm ET: CNN News Central

3-4pm ET: The Bulletin with Pamela Brown  (new program) 

4-6pm ET: The Lead with Jake Tapper

6-7pm ET: The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

7-8pm ET: Erin Burnett Out Front

8-9pm ET: Anderson Cooper 360

9-10pm ET: The Source with Kaitlan Collins

10-11pm ET: CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip  (new program ) 

11-12pm ET: Laura Coates Live (new program) 

Now to the weekends.  Victor Blackwell, Christiane Amanpour, Manu Raju, and Chris Wallace will be hosting new programming.  

    On Saturdays, CNN This Morning will be cut one hour ending at 8AMET, to allow for a new show with Victor Blackwell at 8amET.   Chris Wallace will have a new live show on Saturday mornings at 10am ET,  and CNN International's  Christiane Amanpour will host at 11AMET. The 10am-12pm ET block replaces two hours of CNN Newsroom.  

Here's the Saturday line up , program changes in italics 

6-8am ET: CNN This Morning Weekends

8-9am ET: First of All with Victor Blackwell

9-10am ET: Smerconish

10-11am ET: The Chris Wallace Show

11am-12pm ET: Christiane Amanpour

12-4pm ET: CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield

4-8pm ET: CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta

     On Sunday, due to Phillip moving to primetime, her slot on Inside Politics is being given to Manu Raju, CNN's Capitol Hill correspondent. 

     Of note, the weekly primetime show "King Charles" with Gayle King and Charles Barkley will be coming to the network as planned.  Alisyn Camerota seems to be the odd one out in the changes, she will be part of CNN's Sunday magazine show "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper".  It is also interesting to see that Amanpour, who hosts a daily show on CNN(International ) which also runs on PBS, is getting more spotlight on CNN US.  Sadly, Saturday daytime gets news headline focused programming cut by 3 hours. 

The press release is after the jump 

NewsNation Goes 24 hours on Weekdays From April 24

NewsNation Cable TV News 

            The Nexstar owned cable news channel, NewsNation, is going 24 hours of news programming from April 24.  The network is to add a new 4 hour news block called "NewsNation Now". Also on that date is the launch of the previously announced  "The Hill" named after their sister outlet. 

            This is NewsNation filling in the last gap in their daytime line up which is currently filled with off network reruns of "Blue Bloods" a hold over from the networks' WGN America days.  The channel has been expanding its line up on weekdays since the start of NewsNation in 2020. Recently, the overnight paid programming had been replaced with more reruns of primetime news programming and expanded "NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes" to 3 hours.  

        "NewsNation Now" will air for 4 hours between 1-5pmET,  The 1-3pm ET block will be anchored by a rotating  group of anchors, until one is announced. The 3-5pm ET block will be anchored by Nichole Berlie, who current program "Rush Hour" is ending on the 21st. The rotating block will be anchored by current weekend anchor Natasha Zouves, chief Washington correspondent Blake Burman and correspondents Markie Martin, Keleigh Beeson and Brooke Shafer.  

                Here's the line up from April 24 : 

6-7 AM ET– Early Morning hosted by Mitch Carr

 7-10 AM ET– Morning in America with Adrienne Bankert
10 AM-1 PM ET– NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes
1-3 PM ET – NewsNation Now
3-5 PM ET– NewsNation Now with Nichole Berlie
5-6 PM ET – The Hill
6-7 PM ET– Elizabeth Vargas Reports
7-8 PM ET– On Balance with Leland Vittert
8-9 PM ET– Cuomo hosted by Chris Cuomo
9-10 PM ET– Dan Abrams Live hosted by Dan Abrams
10-11 PM ET– Banfield hosted by Ashleigh Banfield

            The weekend line up stays the same with reruns of "Last Man Standing" ,etc and "NewsNation Prime" from 7-10pm ET. 

Press Release after the Jump 

NewsNation to Launch Political Program "The Hill"

NewsNation Cable TV News 

        Nexstar owned cable news network, NewsNation, is expanding their programming on weekdays for more news-based content.  April 2023 seems to be a pivot month for the network as it launches "Elizabeth Vargas Reports" on April 3.  From April 24, a new program based off sister organization, The Hill, willl launch.

      "The Hill", the program will be a political ensemble program that will be hosted by Leland Vittert, who will also continue to host his 7pm ET program "On Balance". "The Hill" will air weekdays at 5pm ET. This also means that "Rush Hour" which currently airs from 5-7pm will be gone. NewsNation has indicated that they will be going 24/5 by April, so there's a chance they will be doing live news from 1-5pmet from then as well. 

         Part of the program's panel will be: NewsNation's  political editor Chris Stirewalt, senior political contributor George Will, former Obama aide Johanna Maska, and associate editor of TheHill.com, Niall Stanage.  

       The program will be done from Washington D.C and Leland Vittert's 7pm show will also be moving there from it's current spot in Chicago.   

            NewsNation also expanded from March 6, "NewsNation" live to 3hours running from 10am-1pmET. 

Press release after the bump

CNN Announces New Daytime Changes , and a CNN Tonight Update

CNN   Cable TV News  Cable TV 

           More changes are coming to CNN, this time, with a new daytime line up. The programming between 9am ET and 4pm ET weekdays will be broken up into 3 separate programs. 

           The 9am-Noon ET block will be anchored from New York, former New Day co-anchor , John Berman,  with current 11am ET anchor of "At This Hour", Kate Bolduan, and adding in Sara Sidner will be the three anchors of this block.  

            Inside Politics with John King will continue at Noon ET.  Then, the 1-4pm ET block will from Washington D.C.  former New Day co-anchor, Brianna Keilar, current CNN This Morning Weekend co-anchor , Boris Sanchez, and current 9-11am anchor, Jim Sciutto, will be the anchors for this block.    

      Most of the changes here finds spots for people who were shuffled out like Berman and Keilar, their New Day program was canceled last year and replaced with CNN This Morning.  Sciutto's former co-anchor, Polly Harlow moved to CNN This Morning .  Meanwhile, the Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell block will be gone.  Blackwell will be moving back to weekends as co-anchor of CNN This Morning Weekend and the 10AM ET, Saturday hour of  Newsroom. 

           During the fall, Camerota was put on the 10pm-Midnight ET block of CNN Tonight when Don Lemon was moved to mornings.  Camerota will still be anchoring the 10pm ET , while co-host Laura Coates will be on at 11pm ET.   

             Besides, Blackwell moving back to weekends, another weekend change has been made. Jim Acosta will now anchor Saturdays 4pm- 8pm ET and Sundays 4-7pm ET.  Pamela Brown has been named Chief Investigative Correspondent and Anchor for CNN replacing Drew Griffin who passed away in December ,and she be leaving her CNN Newsroom hours on weekends.  

       The programming names, dates, and etc for daytime haven't been effective yet and will be announced later.  Also of note, CNN hasn't announced at 9PMET replacement yet.  

Press release after the jump

NewsNation to add Elizabeth Vargas

NewsNation    Cable TV News 

            

       Nexstar owned cable news network, NewsNation, continues to expand and change programming. Tuesday they announced that former ABC News anchor, Elizabeth Vargas, will be joining the network to host at 6pm ET show called "Elizabeth Vargas Reports"  The show is set to start on April 3. 

             Vargas will be anchoring from New York City, and not from their Chicago headquarters. Newsnation says the program will "...feature one-on-one interviews with headline makers across the country and on-the-ground reporting by Newsnation's team of seasoned journalists." 

             Currently, the network runs "NewsNation Rush Hour" from 5-7pm ET,  and it's assumed that Rush Hour will go back to being one hour. Reruns of off network drama, Blue Bloods runs from 12pmet-5pmet, at present. 

             

Press release after the jump 

CNN Makes Primetime Changes (For Now)

CNN TV NEWS Cable TV News 

         Last week, CNN announced a new morning show is coming soon.  Part of that shift was that Don Lemon will be leaving his show Don Lemon Tonight  which leaves a 2-hour gap in CNN's line up. The cable news network has announced that, for now, they will have CNN Newsroom anchor Alisyn Camerota 

 and  CNN Senior Legal Analyst Laura Coates to share hosting duties for  CNN Tonight, going back to that name from October 10 to November 11th, the midterms. 

        The Lead anchor Jake Tapper, will be doing hosting duties for CNN Tonight during the same period,   each weeknight at 9PM ET.   Tapper's program will be shortened an hour, current New Day hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar will host The Lead, rotating.  The 5pm ET hour will be Wolf Blitzer's The Situation Room .   The rest of the line up between 4pm-12amet are un changed, meaning "Outfront" and "AC360" still air their normal slots with their normal hosts. 

    CNN says this is for the midterms, but alot could be read into the ideas going on here, CNN said that Berman and Keilar were going to gave new roles at the network and Jake Tapper being tried, again, in primetime could also noted as maybe a test try. CNN could still hold off on finding new primetime hosts for while, the 9PMET hour has been still mostly CNN Tonight  since Cuomo's firing last year in December.  

    The new morning show's launch date , name, and other details haven't been announced. 

Full press release

CNN to Revamp Mornings Again (Again)

CNN   TVNEWS 

image: CNN PR 

            CNN has been through a lot of change this year: they've lost Jeff Zucker, and they have new owners (again!)  The new head of CNN, Chris Licht, has decided that mornings needs to be reshaped, again.  "New Day" which was started by Jeff Zucker in 2013 to replace the last morning show that CNN did that replaced a morning show before it, is now being replaced. 

        So far there's no name , but there is talk of  a fresh name (ooh) , fresh format, and fresh set (picked freshly hopefully)  but they have announced whom shalt be the new hosts of this program.  Well, that will be Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins.  Licht says they have a 'rare and palpable chemistry' I hope that's good.   The show is start 'later this year'. 

      Don Lemon currently hosts the primetime two hours of "Don Lemon Tonight" he started in that time slot in 2014, he'll be leaving that slot to come to this morning show, now CNN has to find something for those two hours, along with 9pm ET hour they have yet to fill. Poppy Harlow currently co-anchors "CNN Newsroom" from 9-11amET. 

    The current "New Day" hosts  John Berman and Brianna Keilar will continue for now, and CNN says they will be given new roles at the network in the future. 

      The idea is that a new CNN president wants to eschew stuff from the old president and since "New Day" was the main baby it's gone.  Licht has also indicated he wants CNN to move closer to the center, though that does make the opinionated Don Lemon getting the morning co-host slot interesting.  Collins was a White-House correspondent for CNN during the Trump years and also there was some fire between her and the administration.  

     The only consistent thing is how inconsistent CNN been with mornings.  "American Morning" was their first morning show that wasn't in hometown Atlanta ,but flashy New York, and that show went host changes.  Then in 2012, "Starting Point" took the slot, then Zucker came in and launched "New Day" which revamped a few times, here we go again!

 Meanwhile, their sister network HLN  has one of the longest running cable morning shows and consistency with Robin Meade. 

 

Press release from the jump

NewsNation to expand into daytime

Newsnation Cable TV News   

    

       Cable news and entertainment network , NewsNation,  is making changes from September 19th by expanding live programming.    The news that Chris Cuomo is coming to Newsnation  (Ed note: I'm not a fan  of)  has meant sadly, NewsNation's mission of just having the news in primetime is really over as  NewsNation Prime with Marini Hughes will be ending.  

    Hughes will be moving to a new 2 hour block called "NewsNation Live"  which will air weekdays 10am-12pmet replacing  2 hours of "Blue Bloods" the network has been shedding away it's non live programming, it seems that "In the Heat of the Night" has left.    "NewsNation Live" will premiere on September 19th.  Hughes is the last standing of the original three NewsNation anchors from the launch, she had been holding the primetime slot solo for a year, so no more primetime news programming and now talk reigns. 

   

        Cuomo will be sliding into primetime in October.   

 Here's the line up from September 19th (all times ET)

                                                 6am  Early Morning

                                                  7am  Morning in America 

10am NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes 

12-5pm  Syndicated rerun programming        

Press release after the jump

NewsNation to Launch 6 AM ET News Program

Newsnation  TV News 

        The Nexstar owned news and entertainment cable channel is expanding it's news offering to 6AMET starting June 27.   

  

        Early Morning will air for 1 hour from 6-7AMET , anchored by Mitch Carr. Carr, joins News Nation from KPNX-TV in Phoenix where he was a weekend news anchor. Early Morning will lead into Morning in America  , the network's morning show.  Carr will also appear on Morning in America which his hosted by Andrienne Bankert. 

       News Nation currently runs reruns of the drama "Elementary" in the slot.  The network's morning line up look like this from  June 27: 

   

                          6am ET  : Early Morning

                          7amET : Morning in America (3 hours) 

                          10amET: Reruns  of off network syndicated programming 

 

     The channel's news offering has been expanding since the launch in 2020. It does 7 hours per weeknight, 3 hours on weekend evenings, and 3 hours in the morning, this expansion will put them at 86 hours. 

 

         Press release after the jump

                    

NewsNation Expanding Programing in September

News Nation   Cable News 

      

        Nexstar Media Group's  news channel, NewsNation, is expanding its programming from September 27th.  

        Beginning on September 27, NewsNation' adds a new morning show  Morning in America airing  from 7 to 10am ET, hosted by former ABC News anchor, Adrienne Bankert.  Replacing NewsNation's current morning programing of religious  infomercials and an hour of "Jag".  

  Meanwhile, in primetime, veteran journalist and analyst, Dan Abrams, will be hosting Dan Abrams Live  will be airing from 8 to 9pm ET.   This is latest change to the news network's line up, which launched a programming block on WGN America in September of 2020.  In March 2021, WGN America rebranded as NewsNation and expanded news programming live from weeknights 6pmet to 11pmet (repeating 11-3amet)  and weekends 7-9pmET.  (repeating 10-1amet) . 

  

   Earlier this month, Newsnation announced slight changes to their line up starting for today, July 19, with the 6pm newscast "Early Edition" being rebranded as "Rush Hour" and evening newscast "Prime" be cut to 1 hour at 9pmet, with a new show "On Balance with Leland Vittert" which starts at 8pmet. Its currently unknown what will happen with this new program and the 9pm "Prime" with these changes coming in September. 

Full Press Release after  the Jump 

CNN moves Brianna Keilar to Mornings and more CNN Changes

CNN TV News 

       CNN is making changes to their line up, in daytime, starting from April.  First, off their morning program "New Day" is switching out co-anchors.  Current daytime anchor  Briana Keilar is replacing Alisyn Camerota, as co-anchor of "New Day", John Berman is staying as co-anchor. 

 

    Meanwhile, Alisyn Camerota is moving to afternoons  and will joined current "New Day Weekend" co-host Victor Blackwell, weekdays from 2-4PMET.  Current 3PMET anchor, Brooke Baldwin announced she is leaving the network in April. 

1. I want to start with some personal news❤️ 📺 I will be leaving @CNN in April. I came to this network as a freelancer in 2008. I scribbled my name on a post it and stuck it outside a temporary office determined to fulfill my dream of becoming a full-time correspondent at CNN. pic.twitter.com/v4zeG5XMQX

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBaldwin) February 16, 2021

     Meanwhile current weekend "Newsroom" anchor Ana Cabrera is moving to weekdays, she'll anchor the 1-2pmet  block.  

 

Personal news— After 4 years of anchoring weekend evenings at CNN, I’m moving to weekdays: 1-2p ET starting in April. I look forward to sharing this next journey with you. I will always strive to seek truth, to make a positive impact, & to serve you to the best of my abilities!

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) February 17, 2021

    Boris Sanchez will replace Victor Blackwell on "New Day Weekend" and Jim Acosta  will anchor weekends  3-6pmet .  Previously announced, Jake Tapper's program will be expanding to 4-6pmet around that time as well. 

Press Release after the Jump 

WGN America to Rebrand as NewsNation

Cable TV News WGN America  NewsNation 

 

      Nexstar Media Group's WGN America will be rebranding as News Nation, on the 6th month anniversary launch of "News Nation" also on that date , they are adding two new live hours of programming.  

  

    On  March 1st, cable network WGN America, will be full rebranding into NewsNation.  Weekdays live programming which currently runs from 8-11pmet/ 7-10pm CT will be expanding to start at 6pmet.  

  

    NewsNation Early Edition  will launch  at 6pmet , Nichole Berlie, who currently co-anchors the weekend  version of NewsNation  will be the anchor of this new hour.  

       

        The Donlon Report    current co-anchor  of the weeknight version of NewsNation , Joe Donlon will host his own hour long program weeknights 7pmet.  This program will have a  mixture of news and interviews. 

         The current News Nation program will be branded as NewsNation Prime;  Marni Hughes and Rob Nelson, who have been part of the anchoring team since launch will continue to anchor that. The program will be cut to 2 hours as , the previously announced,  Banfield program launches that evening at 10pmet. 

  

           NewsNation launched on September 1st 2020 on WGN America, Nexstar purachased WGN America along with it's parent company, Tribune, in 2019.  News Nation is viewing themselves as a news service to against the opinion filled cable news channels on American TV.   

 Currently, WGN America airs reruns of dramas and sitcoms through the day with News in the evening, it does come to wonder what happens to those on March 1st as the rebrand happens, or is Nexstar doing a piece meal approach and will wait a while to expand further? 

Press release after the jump 

MSNBC makes some Weekend Changes and 1 Early Morning Show Change

MSNBC  Cable TV News 

             MSNBC is adding programs to the weekend primetime with Alica Mendez and Joshua Johnson hosting weekend shows.   Also, the name "Way too Early" Returns with  Kasie Hunt, with her show on Sunday Evening ending this Sunday.   Also, current "First Look" anchor  Yasmin Vossoughian is moving to weekends. 

     Starting September 19th, MSNBC's new weekend afternoon and prime time line up starts. 

        Yasmin Vossoughian will anchor two hours of "MSNBC Live" on Weekends from 3-5PMET. 

     

Vossoughian will deliver sharp reporting and analysis from years of international journalism taking a no-nonsense look at the day’s important stories and focusing on solution-based conversations.

                                                                        -via press release

            "American Voices with Alicia Mendez" will air on Saturdays and Sundays from 6-8PMET.

                 MSNBC anchor Alicia Menendez will focus on the biggest political stories of the week while elevating news on under-reported issues with under-represented voices that require a national platform.

                                                                      -via press release

          "The Week with Joshua Johnson"  will air Saturdays and Sundays  8-10pmet .

               MSNBC anchor Joshua Johnson will connect everyday people, newsmakers and trailblazers for candid conversations about each week’s big stories, thinking through the challenges we all face and prepping viewers for the days ahead.

                                                              -via press release

              MSNBC is also bringing back the name of the program "Way Too Early" the original program replaced the repeat of "First Look" at 5:30amet, in 2009  and ran until 2016 when they replaced it and merged it with "First Look" to create "Morning Joe First Look" from 5-6amet.   Kasie Hunt  will be the new anchor of the program, this launches on September 21st.




Press release after the jump

First Watch: WGN America does News in Primetime

WGN America News Nation  Cable TV News  Opinion 

     From 1978 to 2014,  WGN America (known of a few years as Superstation WGN) beamed WGN TV channel 9 from Chicago to America.  It aired Chicago sports and WGN News. During the last decade of that time it aired WGN's  last hour of Midday news and the nine pm news. You even got the lottery.  WGN America pulled that in 2014.   Viewers who missed WGN Chicago news could watch online as modern world had allowed for that, but it was a change.

    In 1980, Ted Turner launched CNN, the first 24 hour cable news channel, over time though the idea of a cable news channel being there just for the news has kind of died.  In 2014,  Al Jazeera America tried and put on a good product , but it had low  ratings and when oil prices dropped AJ thought it would be better to cut loses and give up in 2016.  (AJ is owned by the Qatari government)   Most  American cable news is more about how to keep viewers watching with excessive use of breaking news, debates and annoyance.   MSNBC started as a news channel with NBC News and Mircosoft found success in not doing that and instead having opinion shows that lean politically left, doing the mirror of FOX News leaning to the right. 

              Cable news has  an average of 700,000 viewers watching their daily prime time programming, FOX news leans towards the 2 million mark, MSNBC in the 1 million. CNN tried middle of the road and doing the news, but their prime time has filled with panels or the anchors being talking heads themselves.    The prime time programming has become more join a camp you like and get daily affirmation.  It does make the country look more divided and like Twitter, doesn't offer a full picture of society because  they are fighting for a small amount of viewers compared to the population.  Most Americans trust local news over any  other media, with The Weather Channel  being the highest in trust for a national news channel.

       In 2019, Nexstar, a large local media conglomerate, bought the Tribune Company, which owned WGN and WGN America.  Nexstar owns mostly local TV stations whose main thing is local news. They have alot of them, the largest owner in the country. They have reporters at stations who work in the television markets  most national stories are someone's local story.

more after the jump

CNBC's the News With Shepard Smith Stars September 30th

Cable TV news  CNBC

image CNBC

          The previously announced CNBC news program , "The News with Shepard Smith" has received a launch date.   The program was set to start in the fall after being announced in July

         CNBC announced on Monday that the program will start on Wednesday September 30th at 7PMET.

Mark your calendar. Don't miss the premiere of The News with Shepard Smith! Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. ET on @cnbc. 📺 👀 📅 https://t.co/sUcW9AKhYU pic.twitter.com/GwEncBZTCL

— The News with Shepard Smith (@thenewsoncnbc) August 24, 2020

             The program will air live at 7pmet, weeknights,  and repeating at 12am and 4amet.

Press release after the jump

Shepard Smith Coming to CNBC

Cable News TV News  CNBC 

          Former Fox News anchor, Shepard Smith, is coming to CNBC as a general news anchor.  CNBC announced Wednesday that Smith will be anchoring a new 7pm ET newscast bringing back "The News" title,  a name that was  used on MSNBC with Brian Williams from 1996-2002, when the program moved to CNBC in 2002 until 2004, when Williams was preparing to take the NBC Nightly News anchor desk.

           Smith is joining CNBC as their general news and chief general breaking news anchor. He joins after leaving Fox News Channel in October of 2019 ,after 23 years being their chief news anchor , appearing for breaking news on both Fox News Channel and the FOX network. He anchored programs like "Fox Report", "Studio B" and "Shepard Smith Reporting".   

     CNBC has been running a "Special Report" on the network since January in the 7PM ET slot , this will  be replaced by "The News with Shepard Smith" sometime later this year. 

       Thoughts:  It is interesting to see that CNBC, a business news focused channel , at least in daytime, is interested in going into general news, though as stated above that isn't out of their wheel.  The idea of having a news show that might be a better counter weight to what the cable news channels could bring in viewers who want the news of the day without any of the excess you get on CNN or MSNBC.  Shepard Smith  is  a good news anchor  and makes for a good choice for a lead anchor , especially if there is a big news story that needs to be brought.

  You can read the press release after the Jump

WGN America's NewsNation announces anchor teams

WGN America  News 

         
         WGN America's  national newscast  is coming  September 1st , and on Tuesday the anchor teams have been announced.
         
         "News Nation" will run  news in primetime from 8pmet to 11pmet  7 nights a week, as an unbiased less political news stories. It will be anchored from WGN-TV studios in Chicago.  Today
Nexstar, the parent company, has announced who will be anchoring the program.


              The Weekday anchor team will consist of  Joe Donolan, who is currently an anchor at WGN-TV,  Marni Hughes, a reporter from KCPQ-Seattle,  Rob Nelson, who has worked at ABC News, and Albert Ramon, will be the Chief Meteorologist, comes from KVUE-TV.

               The weekend anchor team will consist of  Rudabeh Shahazi, who was recently an anchor a WFOR-TV in Miami. Nichole Berlie who comes from WCVB-TV in Boston,  Aaron Nolan comes from KARK-TV (also Nexstar).  Gerard Jebally, will be weekend weather, coming from KSHB-TV in Kansas City. 


            They have also announced  bureau correspondents.   Tom Negovan, from WGN-TV becomes their New York correspondent,  Nancy Loo, from WGN-TV becomes their  LA correspondent,   Markle Martin, Dallas Correspondent, coming from KOCO-TV, and Brian Entin, willbe the Miami correspondent coming from WSVN-TV.

                          Reporting will be coming from  Nexstar's 110 newsroom and teams of reporters across the stations they own.


              You can read the press release here 

 and visit WGN America's website here 
             

WGN America to Have News Once Again

TV NEWS 

    Nexstar Media the owners of over 170 local stations in the United States, announced Wednesday that come summer they will be launching a new 3 hour national prime time newscast on cable network owned by the company , WGN America.

     For those that might not remember , WGN America was launched in the 1970's as cable repeater of WGN-TV Chicago it brought the nation, programming relayed from the independent station in Chicago. This is how much the nation was able to see Cubs game, along other Chicago mainstay teams.  Also WGN's newscasts aired nationally on the station. At one point, the station was called Superstation WGN  aired WGN Chicago's Midday and 9pm newscasts.  Even after the station stopped being a full national relay of WGN-TV In 2014,  the station had dropped airing these simulcasts in the idea of moving to full national general channel.

        In 2019, Nexstar Media completed a purchase of the Tribune Company (named after the Chicago Tribune, which started WGN-TV in 1948) the owners of WGN-TV and WGN America. WGN America has tried it's hand at original and original to the channel programming, but now it seems they want to go a news direction.

       Nexstar announced Wednesday, they will be launching "News Nation" will be broadcast from WGN-TV's home in Chicago, a 3 hour prime (7-10 PM CT) newscast on WGN America.  This will be Nexstar's first attempt at working in the national news casting realm , as they normally only broadcast in local news. They have the resources to do such thing with a mass over over 170 local stations, stretching across the nation.

      The primetime idea is interesting  to note as the US cable news channels fail to provide news in those hours , as they focus on politics and opinions, it may provide an oasis for an audience looking for something different.

   From the press release:

Nexstar’s Sean Compton, Executive Vice President of WGN America, believes News Nation will fill an important void in the current television news landscape.
“No one else is delivering news in prime-time,” said Compton. “Others are airing entertainment programming, sports programming or opinion shows, which creates a great opportunity for WGN America to provide an alternative in this daypart with News Nation. Across our markets, we consistently hear from viewers who are seeking straight-ahead, unbiased news reporting that is grounded in fact, not opinion. News Nation will deliver exactly that.”

       WGN-TV's  current presidential/  news director, Jennifer Lyons, will be overseeing the task.   News Nation is also set to be launched as an app called newsnationnow.   The program is set to launch in the summer.

More after the jump