WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) soon will be carrying two new newscasts on its streaming channel WGRZ+ as part of an initiative on all stations owned by Tegna.
The initiative arrives as Tegna awaits FCC approval of Nexstar Media Group’s $6.2 billion acquisition of the media company.
In an email to the staff, recently named Channel 2 News Director Judy Moore said that, effective Nov. 3, WGRZ+ will have newscasts at noon and at 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The broadcast station Channel 2 does not air a noon newscast. Instead, it carries a newscast at 11 a.m., leaving WIVB-TV (Channel 4) and WKBW-TV (Channel 7) to battle it out for noon viewers.
The new 6:30 p.m. newscast on WGRZ+ will air at the same time Channel 2 airs “The NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas.”
WIVB-TV (Channel 4), which is owned by Nexstar and is WGRZ’s chief rival, has gone in a different direction. Its digital channel, WIVB+, streams all of Channel 4’s newscasts, but focuses original WIVB+ content on non-news original programming.
Moore told Channel 2’s staff that the noon newscast to be anchored by Kelly Dudzik on WGRZ+ will be similar to the 11 a.m. newscast on Channel 2, “with added updates/breaking news.”
The 6:30 p.m. newscast, which will be anchored by Scott Levin, will be similar to the 6 p.m. newscast on Channel 2, she wrote. The 6 p.m. newscast is co-anchored by Levin and Maryalice Demler.
Demler has already added a 7 p.m. newscast on Channel 2 to her duties. Demler and Levin now will be anchoring three half-hour newscasts each from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Claudine Ewing anchors the 5:30 p.m. newscast on Channel 2.
Moore ended her email by writing, “Thank you to everyone for all their hard work on a daily basis, I know things are changing rapidly and I appreciate all of your willingness to adapt.”
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While Elliott Hunt and Chris Lillis performed “Take On Me,” a song from the Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha, Snoop Dogg was the first coach to turn his chair, quickly followed by Reba McEntire.
The bigger question is whether audiences will adapt and decide they need additional newscasts.
WGRZ and WGRZ+ already air newscasts from 4:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., at 7 p.m. and at 11 p.m. That’s eight and a half hours, which will expand to nine and a half Nov. 3.
To get WGRZ+, viewers need to download the free WGRZ app via Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire. Channel 2 explains the procedure to download its app on its website.
In her email, Moore wrote that WGRZ’s “leadership team has been meeting with production to try to figure out the best way to staff these additional shows.”
It isn’t as though there will be any more news to cover or any more reporters to cover stories.
Pergament catches up on some local TV and radio news after taking some time off.
The Buffalo News emailed questions to Channel 2 General Manager Mark Manders, asking whether the station would be adding staff, and what the station hopes to achieve. Manders responded that the newscasts will be “produced by the same trusted team and on-air talent as our linear broadcasts. This expansion supports our commitment to making local news accessible whenever and wherever our audiences want.”
“Our goal is to better serve our communities by offering flexible news options and new opportunities for advertisers. We aim to deliver trusted local news, weather, and sports to viewers wherever they’re watching,” he wrote.
With news ratings declining on broadcast channels, media company owners are looking for ways to expand their advertising revenue by carrying more programs on their streaming channels with an eye on the future.
The airing of a 6:30 p.m. local news program on WGRZ+, at the same time that NBC, the network it is affiliated with, carries its national news program, can’t make NBC happy to lose some potential viewers.
But it looks as though networks and their affiliates may be increasingly at cross purposes because of streaming. The recent decision by the Sinclair and Nexstar broadcast groups to keep “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off their ABC affiliates during the free speech controversy for a few extra nights highlighted the tensions that can occur between networks and affiliates.
Because networks can stream their programs, it wouldn’t be surprising if they eventually decide they don’t need any affiliates other than the ones they own in big city markets. But that is likely a long way down the road.
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Alan Pergament
TV Critic
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