DAYS: NBC's Las Vegas affiliate dropping "Days", will air on CW

[JAS0N47]

NBC'S LAS VEGAS AFFILIATE IS DROPPING DAYS; "DAYS" WILL AIR ON CW AFFILIATE IN THIS MARKET BEGINNING AUGUST 19

NBC's Las Vegas affiliate, KSNV, is dropping "Days of Our Lives" from its lineup as of this Friday, August 16 as it makes a major overhaul to its entire lineup. The syndicated series "The Doctors" will be moving to the 1PM "Days" timeslot on Monday, August 19. KSNV GM Lisa Howfield said: “We have not forgotten the fans of Days of Our Lives. We have made arrangements with NBC and Sinclair Broadcast Group to broadcast Days of our Lives at its normal time 1 p.m. each day” on Sinclair’s CW affiliate KVCW.

UPDATE:

OWNER OF KSNV HAD HARSH WORDS FOR "DAYS" BACK IN JANUARY...GETS HIS WAY 8 MONTHS LATER WITH "DAYS" OFF HIS AFFILIATE

Jim Rogers, the owner of the Intermountain West group, thinks he has a duty to the viewers in his home town of Las Vegas to provide high-quality local news, and a lot of it. He's replacing syndicated programming with news on his NBC affiliate as the shows' contracts expire and by 2016 should have filled just about all the slots with it before primetime starts. If all goes as planned, KSNV Las Vegas by 2016 will be as close to a non-stop news station as a network affiliate can be. Jim Rogers, whose Intermountain West Communications Co. has owned the NBC affiliate since 1979, says he wants to do away with syndicated programming altogether, and replace it all with news.

Once that’s done, only Days of Our Lives, which airs at 1 p.m., will stand between Rogers and his goal of airing only news and public affairs — local programs complemented by the network’s Today and Nightly News — from 4:30 a.m. until NBC’s primetime lineup starts at 8 p.m. And if the soap opera “would cease to be in business,” he’d be happy to replace that with news, too. “I didn’t go into broadcasting to be in someone else’s business,” Rogers says. “The only thing we as broadcasters can do better than cable is local news. So that’s where I have to go.” In many ways, Rogers’ plan is like a pumped-up version of the strategy being executed by a growing number of stations around the country: replace high-priced syndicated shows with local news, which is generally less expensive.

“I want something I can be proud of and, if it’s got to cost me some money,” that’s OK, he says. “I’m also very politically oriented and because I own my stations with no partners, I can pretty much do what I want to,” he says.

For the full story, visit http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/64921/jim-rogers-betting-big-on-news-on-ksnv

[DRW50]

I hope this won't be a trend.

How big is that market for DAYS?

[sungrey]

It's the 42nd-largest market in the country.

I don't know how well KVCW rates in the market, but you have to wonder if it's a higher-rated station.

I do know those 1.8's are going to start hurting if they keep up. I hope they don't for the show's sake.

[ReddFoxx]

It covers three counties in Nevada, Clark and a couple of the cow counties. An affiliate dropping is not great news, but a station change makes it a little less discouraging.

[jo.frank88]

What!?! Is there anywhere else in the country where Days airs not air on the NBC affiliate? I know we've heard of others in the past (GL, Sunset Beach) being dropped by affiliates, but I've never heard of that from Days. Jason, do you know if this is the first time this has happened to Days?

[JAS0N47]

I don't have a record of any affiliate switches, so it may have happened in the past. NBC has over 200 affiliates, so it's hard to keep track of, but from memory, this is the first time I can remember seeing a story about one dropping Days.

[Mr. Vixen]

I am going to look at this as encouraging news that will make it possible for future soaps to make network switches if necessary.

Don't ruin it for me.

[JAS0N47]

OWNER OF KSNV HAD HARSH WORDS FOR "DAYS" BACK IN JANUARY...GETS HIS WAY 8 MONTHS LATER WITH "DAYS" OFF HIS AFFILIATE

Jim Rogers, the owner of the Intermountain West group, thinks he has a duty to the viewers in his home town of Las Vegas to provide high-quality local news, and a lot of it. He's replacing syndicated programming with news on his NBC affiliate as the shows' contracts expire and by 2016 should have filled just about all the slots with it before primetime starts. If all goes as planned, KSNV Las Vegas by 2016 will be as close to a non-stop news station as a network affiliate can be. Jim Rogers, whose Intermountain West Communications Co. has owned the NBC affiliate since 1979, says he wants to do away with syndicated programming altogether, and replace it all with news.

Once that’s done, only Days of Our Lives, which airs at 1 p.m., will stand between Rogers and his goal of airing only news and public affairs — local programs complemented by the network’s Today and Nightly News — from 4:30 a.m. until NBC’s primetime lineup starts at 8 p.m. And if the soap opera “would cease to be in business,” he’d be happy to replace that with news, too. “I didn’t go into broadcasting to be in someone else’s business,” Rogers says. “The only thing we as broadcasters can do better than cable is local news. So that’s where I have to go.” In many ways, Rogers’ plan is like a pumped-up version of the strategy being executed by a growing number of stations around the country: replace high-priced syndicated shows with local news, which is generally less expensive.

“I want something I can be proud of and, if it’s got to cost me some money,” that’s OK, he says. “I’m also very politically oriented and because I own my stations with no partners, I can pretty much do what I want to,” he says.

For the full story, visit http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/64921/jim-rogers-betting-big-on-news-on-ksnv

[DRW50]

So he's replacing the show with that high-quality program The Doctors.

Spare me.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah how does The Doctors count as local news. *confused*

[JAS0N47]

Surprisingly, it seems it was easier to get rid of an NBC show rather than a syndicated show. Affiliates pay for shows well in advance (they might buy Judge Judy, or in this case, The Doctors, for a 5-year block). So, The Doctors (and the other syndicated shows mentioned) are forced to be on his schedule until 2015/2016, at which time KSNV will just not pay again for those shows and they will find other affiliates in Las Vegas. So, The Doctors is a "temporary" 1PM timeslot holder until KSNV's contract with that show expires at some point between now and 2016, and then The Doctors will be replaced with local news.

[Nate4]

Hopefully there will be a "DAYS moves to CW" commercial.

[quartermainefan]

The guy just sounds like a kook who has this TV station as a toy and sees himself as a new Ted Turner.

[SFK]

Dude sounds like a real dick.

I don't mind the move back to more local programming, but all news is overkill. At least work in some local lifestyle and children's shows. News has already taken over Saturday mornings and kids without cable can't even enjoy a proper Saturday morning cartoon experience. Plus, anyone who has ever watched two or more local news broadcasts on the same station knows that there's a great deal of repetition from hour to hour. This is fine for people who catch the news one hour a day. But this is not how you keep viewers watching your station all day long. After a while, you're basically watching a loop.

[LindaTNo1]

It's the ratings people. Las Vegas does have lots of entertainment going on.