NEWSNATION Makes Schedule Changes

NEWSNATION 

            Nexstar owned cable news channel , NewsNation is making some schedule changes with the end of  Dan Abrams Live.   

           Dan Abrams announced in December that his nightly, 9pm ET show would be ending. Wednesday, News Nation announced that On Balance with Leland Vittert will be taking that slot from February 10.  Like  Dan Abrams Live , On Balance premiered in 2021 as part of the network's shift to personality hosted primetime shows. it first aired at 8pm ET before getting its current 7pm ET.  Meanwhile, Elizabeth Vargas Reports will be taking the 7pm ET slot, and Vargas has signed a deal extension with the network. Her program premiered in 2023 at 6pm ET, before moving to 5pmET.  The 5pm ET slot will be filled by a 3rd of News Nation Now with Connell McShane. 

            Here's the line up from February 10, 2025; all time Eastern 

      3-6pmET News Nation Now with Connell McShane 

      6-7pm ET The Hill 

     7-8pm ET Elizabeth Vargas Reports 

     8-9pm ET Cuomo 

    9-10pm ET  On Balance with Leland Vittert 

    10-11pm ET Banfield

Full Press Release after the jump 

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 Expands Live News Programming on Weekends

News Nation 

    

        

        Nexstar Media Group and its cable news channel NewsNation continue the growth of adding live news programming and moving away from the WGN America era of entertainment programming the previous weekend of May 4th the network added a block of news for weekends from Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4pm ET. This replaces 3 hours of the drama Blue Bloods, the network's lone entertainment program as of earlier this year.   A weekend block of "News Nation Now" runs from 1-4pmET with anchor Anna Kooiman  in New York City.   

           This is another latest extension of news programming on weekends for the network, back on April 13, it added a weekend version of "News Nation" airing Saturdays 10am -1pmet and Sundays 11am -1pm ET.   Earlier this year,  a weekend version of "Morning in America" and a Sunday morning talk show "The Hill on Sunday" were added.  The network replaced religious infomercials and scripted comedy and dramas that were airing on the weekend pre 7pm ET slots. "News Nation Prime" was the only news program on weekends prior.    

      Kooiman anchored the launch of that  and now has been shifted to "Now" with Laura Ingle taking over the "Live" slots.  

🚨Programming Alert 🚨
Join me today as I anchor #NewsNationLive from 11a-1pm EST on America’s fastest-growing national cable news network @NewsNation - we kicked off our new weekend lineup with #NewsNationLive 10a-1p this Saturday, followed by #NewsNationNow 1-4pm EST with… pic.twitter.com/vErVDMWMkv

— Laura Ingle (@lauraingle) May 5, 2024

        All this programming also shows a shift of the network having a majority of it's output on weekends from New York City, instead of home base Chicago. Chicago is still home to "Prime" on weekends.  Weekday programming from Chicago is still going from 6AMET to 3pm ET, as much of the afternoons and evenings shifted to New York and D.C modeling other cable news channels.   

  The current weekend line up as of May 5, 2024 is 

Saturdays (all times Eastern) 

7-10am Morning in America 

10-1pm  News Nation Live

1-4pm  News Nation Now 

4-7pm  Blue Bloods 

7-10pm NewsNation Prime 

10pm-7am  Weeknight programming encores, specials, NewsNation Prime replay

Sundays (all times Eastern) 

7-10am Morning in America 

10-11am The Hill Sunday 

11-1pm  News Nation Live

1-4pm  News Nation Now 

4-7pm  Blue Bloods 

7-10pm NewsNation Prime 

10pm-6am  Weeknight programming encores, specials, NewsNation Prime replay

         

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

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

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 

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: Expands programming, "Donlon Report" ending

NewsNation TV News 

           Nexstar owned, Chicago-based news channel, NewsNation  is making programming expansions and changes once again. 

             Already expanded on weekends as of March 5, "NewsNation Prime" weekend version is on for 3 hours 7 to 10pm Eastern.  

  

          Since February 24th, News Nation had been doing a special report news cast at 11pm Eastern  with Prime anchor Marni Hughes and "On Balance" host Leland Vittert. This program is now permeant and will be anchored by  Hughes and Vittert. 

     

     "Morning in America" which launched in September 2021, as a 7-10am Eastern morning show will be expanding to four hours from 6am Eastern come June.  This will be replacing an hour of off-network dramas that currently air in the hour. 

           Also another NewsNation original host is leaving, Joe Donlon, who started when the network launched as a news program in primetime as co-anchor in September 2020, moved to his show in March 2021, "The Donlon Report", will be leaving on March 25. 

   

   Starting March 28, early evening news program, "Rush Hour" will be running 2 hours from 5 to 7pm Eastern.

     For Clarity:

     

• "News Nation Prime" weekends expanded to 7 to 10pm Eastern from March 4th 
• Live newscast at 11pmet to continue, anchored by Marni Hughes and Leland Vittert
• "Donlon Report" is set to end on March 25, and will be replaced by a 2nd hour of "Rush Hour on March 28
• "Morning in America" will expand to 4 hours from June (planned)

  "On Balance with Leland Vittert", "News Nation Prime with Marni Hughes" ,"Dan Abrams Live "and "Banfield" will be staying at their times and hosts from 7-11pmET.  

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 

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 

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