After nearly five months, WGN America, which reaches 75 million homes, has barely made a dent in the news ratings. It ranked 87th among all cable networks in prime-time during the week of Jan. CNN was the top-rated cable news network in prime time.
It ranked 2nd among all cable networks behind ESPN with an average of 3. Shaking up the lineup may give them more reasons to tune in. While expanding the news programming was on the table from the outset, the rebranding and lineup changes reflect a network that has failed to find an audience, despite a fertile news environment that included a pandemic, a polarizing presidential election and ongoing civil arrest. In September, WGN America executives had high hopes that a one-on-one interview with then-President Donald Trump , conducted at the White House by Donlon, would catapult the newscast into the big time.
This was part of a "network revamp", with many speculating that Sinclair hoped to turn WGN into a Fox News competitor. Sinclair later stated that WGN America's carriage contracts with cable companies are contingent on it being an entertainment channel. Ultimatly, the Sinclair deal was called-off due to Sinclair basically trying to keep every single Tribune station and not spin anything off. Sinclair's equally-big, if not quite so odious, rival Nexstar Media succeeded in their bid to acquire Tribune and did so in September The goal is to leverage Nexstar's immense amount of stations and dissatisfaction among people with heavily-politicized newscasts and networks.
In January , Nexstar announced they were dropping all pretenses and would rebrand the channel as NewsNation beginning in March of , corresponding with the launch of additional news blocks.
Part of the announcement also included that the WGN America brand would live on during daytime general entertainment blocks in between news segments, at least until the syndication contracts expire and the network can launch more news blocks into those time slots. Community Showcase More. Follow TV Tropes. Cable news channels have seen their audience levels surge in recent years as TV viewers turn to streaming for scripted sitcoms, dramas and movies.
They are also watched live, making them appealing to advertisers who want audiences to see their commercials. Company Town. The network previously announced it will launch a news-driven talk show with journalist Ashleigh Banfield at 10 p. Eastern and 7 p. Pacific on March 1. The other new programs include an hourlong program at 6 p. Nexstar will continue to run repeats of sitcoms and dramas on NewsNation during the day until they are replaced by news programming.
He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind.
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