community they said it! stations amping up ...b&c sister company ratings intel-ligence sorted...

Community 4 BROADCASTING & CABLE SEPTEMBER 21, 2015 BROADCASTINGCABLE.COM STATIONS AMPING UP COVERAGE OF ‘ROCK STAR’ POPE’S U.S. TOUR SINCE THE MOMENT last fall when Pope Francis announced his first U.S. tour, from Sept. 22-27, news stations in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia and beyond have been planning their coverage of the historic visit. “The guy’s a bit of a rock star,” says Rich Graziano, WPIX New York president/GM. But with so many stations covering the papal visit, promoting their “wall-to-wall” coverage and buying into the same pool coverage, stand- ing out will be a challenge. Extending and adding newscasts and preempting syndicated programming are almost a given, as is pooling resources from sister stations and sending crews to other markets. Hearst’s Washington bureau, for instance, is sharing video from the trio of cities throughout its station group. Time Warner Cable is providing customers the “Papal Visit Channel,” a special temporary channel with 24/7 coverage of the visit from its NY1 local news network. The secondary channel gives stations across TWC’s roster flexibility to balance the papal visit with local news, says Steve Paulus, senior VP of news and local programming. “It’s the best of both worlds for us.” Fox’s WNYW in New York has produced nearly 30 stories about the visit’s significance, while Fox’s WTTG in D.C. is looking at angles of interest for non-Catholics. Tribune-owned WPIX is focusing on New Yorkers’ emotional connection to the Pope. NBC’s WCAU Philadelphia even sent crews to Pope Francis’ childhood home of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and current home of Rome. It is the biggest story in Philadelphia this year, says Ric Harris, president/GM. “Our coverage will spare no expense.” —Jonathan Kuperberg For more on media coverage of the Pope’s tour, go to broadcastingcable.com/Sept21. Pope Francis, who has never been to the U.S., will visit three cities over five days. STATOF THEWEEK $17.7B Amount Altice is paying in cash and assumed debt to acquire Cablevision, in a deal announced Sept. 17. LATE-NIGHT BATTLE FINDS FAMILIAR GROOVE Fallon quickly outpaces newcomer Colbert with spate of high-profile guests THE LATE-NIGHT WARS heated up Sept. 8 with the premiere of CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Colbert got off to a strong start with 6.5 million total viewers on night one, ahead of NBC’s Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with 2.9 million viewers. But Colbert and his first-week guests—presdential candidate Jeb Bush, actress Scarlett Johansson, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Vice President Joe Biden— were no match for Fallon and his star power, which included Justin Timber- lake, Ellen DeGeneres, Donald Trump and Empire star Terrence Howard. B&C sister company Ratings Intel- ligence sorted through Nielsen data to take a measure of late night. —B&C Staff THEY SAID IT! “I think it’s just the essence of our industry right now. It is consolidating.” —Gray president and CEO Hilton Howell Jr. during a Sept. 15 investor call, on the growing number of mergers in local TV. Gray TV announced Sept. 14 that the group is acquiring TV and radio stations from Schurz. “Sometimes as journalists we get derided for stick- ing microphones in people’s faces. How people cope with disaster is a big part of the story.” —Jeffrey Marks, president and general manager of WDBJ Roanoke, Va., on Sept. 17 at the TVB Forward conference in New York City, referring to the recent on-air murders of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS; Douglas Gorenstein/NBC; Randy Holmes/ABC Fallon Kimmel Colbert 0903_Community.indd 29 9/18/15 3:41 PM

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Community

4 B R O A D C A S T I N G & C A B L E S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 5 B R O A D C A S T I N G C A B L E . C O M

STATIONS AMPING UP COVERAGE OF ‘ROCK STAR’ POPE’S U.S. TOURSINCE THE MOMENT last fall when Pope Francis announced his fi rst U.S. tour, from Sept. 22-27, news stations in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia and beyond have been planning their coverage of the historic visit.

“The guy’s a bit of a rock star,” says Rich Graziano, WPIX New York president/GM.

But with so many stations covering the papal visit, promoting their “wall-to-wall” coverage and buying into the same pool coverage, stand-ing out will be a challenge.

Extending and adding newscasts and preempting syndicated program-ming are almost a given, as is pooling resources from sister stations and sending crews to other markets. Hearst’s Washington bureau, for instance, is sharing video from the trio of cities throughout its station group.

Time Warner Cable is providing customers the “Papal Visit Channel,”a special temporary channel with 24/7 coverage of the visit from its NY1 local news network. The secondary channel gives stations across TWC’s roster fl exibility to balance the papal visit with local news, says Steve Paulus, senior VP of news and local programming. “It’s the best of both worlds for us.”

Fox’s WNYW in New York has produced nearly 30 stories about the visit’s signifi cance, while Fox’s WTTG in D.C. is looking at angles of interest for non-Catholics. Tribune-owned WPIX is focusing on New Yorkers’ emotional connection to the Pope.

NBC’s WCAU Philadelphia even sent crews to Pope Francis’ childhood home of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and current home of Rome. It is the biggest story in Philadelphia this year, says Ric Harris, president/GM. “Our coverage will spare no expense.” —Jonathan Kuperberg

For more on media coverage of the Pope’s tour, go to broadcastingcable.com/Sept21.

Pope Francis, who has never been to the U.S., will visit three cities over fi ve days.

STATOFTHEWEEK

$17.7BAmount Altice is

paying in cash andassumed debt to acquire

Cablevision, in a deal announced Sept. 17.

LATE-NIGHT BATTLE FINDS FAMILIAR GROOVEFallon quickly outpaces newcomer Colbert with spate of high-profi le guests

THE LATE-NIGHT WARS heated up Sept. 8 with the premiere of CBS’The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

Colbert got off to a strong start with 6.5 million total viewers onnight one, ahead of NBC’s TonightShow Starring Jimmy Fallon with 2.9 million viewers.

But Colbert and his fi rst-week guests—presdential candidate Jeb Bush, actress Scarlett Johansson, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Vice President Joe Biden—were no match for Fallon and his star power, which included Justin Timber-lake, Ellen DeGeneres, Donald Trump and Empire star Terrence Howard.

B&C sister company Ratings Intel-ligence sorted through Nielsen data to take a measure of late night. —B&C Staff

THEY SAID IT!“I think it’s just the essence of our industry right now. It is consolidating.”

—Gray presidentand CEO HiltonHowell Jr. during a Sept. 15 investor call, on the growing

number of mergers in local TV. Gray TV announced Sept. 14 that the group is acquiring TV and radio stations from Schurz.

“Sometimes asjournalists we get derided for stick-ing microphones in people’s faces. How people cope with disaster is a big part of the story.”

—Jeffrey Marks, president and general manager of WDBJ Roanoke, Va., on Sept. 17

at the TVB Forward conference in New York City, referring to the recent on-air murders of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

Jef

frey

R. S

taab

/CB