KDVR declines to renew Marcia Neville’s Contract.

Marcia Neville Picture via kdvr.com

As reported in Denver Post on August 5th by Joanne Ostrow, KDVR declined to renew Neville’s contract due to the belt tightening the station is going through to keep the budget under control and most likely she was one of many that have contract’s that are not being renewed because of Local TV, LLC’s  station group as a whole are under strict budgetary constraints due to the under performing advertising market in this time of recession. KDVR is still one of the stations that still have a sports department, some stations around the nation are completely scrapping the department and either having one of the main anchors reporting on sports or outsourcing to one of the regional or national sports networks.

KRDO and Jennifer Brown part way’s.

By: Nick Brungardt

Today was Jennifer’s last day at KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs she Anchored the “Good Morning Colorado” morning newscast and the News at Noon with Zach Thaxton for the past two years, there was no word on why she left and her biography was removed from the news team page on krdo.com who they are replacing her with we will have to see.

KRDO's NewsChannel 13 Logo via Wikipedia

Although it is not known why she left it may or may not have anything to do with the station being mired in 3rd place in ratings but the May Sweeps have shown a uptick in the people viewing the station in the 25-54 demo where as KOAA and KKTV have shown some decrease in that demo.

But as you may know that Kellie MacMullan the current Solo Anchor at KWGN’s 7pm newscast used to be the anchor of KRDO’s morning and noon newscasts. And another KRDO alumni Nina Sparano is also at KWGN at 7pm as the Technology and Social Media Anchor/Reporter she formally was the Anchor for the evening newscasts at KRDO.

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CBS Might be making more deals during daytime.

By: Nick Brungardt

CBS earlier this year pulled the plug on the long running soap opera “Guiding Light” it is being replaced by “Let’s Make a Deal” (hosted by comedian Wayne Brady) which will debut this September. But another CBS soap opera’s fate is yet to be determined ” As the World Turns “  is being looked at closely as the ratings falter to be replaced possibly by another game show revival, a national talk show or even possibly give back the hour to local stations. But it is all up to CBS president Nina Tassler and her minions of programming executives.

CBS Logo via Wikipedia.org

Programming daytime is a ever mounting problem for networks as ratings continue to decline and only the strong survive, and either go with more news ( NBC’s Today show is 4 hours ) or have been giving back daytime programming block’s to local affiliates which FOX did several years ago with its afternoon kids block. But it is pretty much a sure thing at this point that “As The World Turns” will be on for at least this next season until CBS see’s how “Let’s Make a Deal” pans out.

Should the even consider giving back the hour to it’s affiliates could actually bode well for it’s bottom line as it is one less hour it has to deal with even though the production of the soap operas is relatively low compared to their primetime cousins and bring in something new and untested might be a complete disaster or a welcomed improvement. But one thing is local stations could program it with more local news or other local programming that could help stations in a difficult advertising environment.

KDVR Still working on replacing “Marie”

By: Nick Brungardt

Quick update as of today sources close to the situation at KDVR are working on some “deals” right now to replace the Marie Osmond Talk Show that was supposed to be slotted in the 2pm hour this fall. Once I get any information I will update the blog. But it may not be until Friday afternoon.

Fallout: Marie not going to be on KDVR or any station for that matter!

By: Nick Brungardt

On Friday it was announced via Variety that the Marie Osmond talk show will not launch this fall, and might be shelved

Marie Osmond

until market conditions improve, it was scheduled to launch at 2pm on KDVR “FOX31″ this September. It is not known as of this posting what will fill it’s time-slot. Most likely not News or anything local, but we will see. I will find out!

See you next week for further details.

Colorado Springs to get a 9am Newscast on KKTV 11

By: Nick Brungardt

I have received information this morning that KKTV 11 the CBS affiliate in Colorado Springs is launching a new 9am Newscast starting Monday and it will be the only newscast in Colorado to air in the time slot, as that KDVR 31 the Fox affiliate in Denver stopped broadcasting the 9am hour of Good Day Colorado and replaced it with Martino TV a Paid Advertisement / Consumer hour which hasn’t been well received. KKTV will launch with the basics of News and Weather as well as new segments that are not in the 5am-7am morning newscasts. According to TitanTV guide the

KKTV 11 " CBS Affiliate " in Colorado Springs image via: wikipedia.org

show will only be a half hour and be call ” 11News Mid-Morning News ” and will be anchored by the “11News Morning News” crew.

In other KKTV news they have requested a move in their digital signal from the low powered digital signal on Channel 10 to a higher powered digital signal on channel 49 with the FCC siting that they can only reach around 50% of the market with the current VHF channel and would be able to reach the majority of the market if they are allowed to switch to the new UHF Digital signal. Which would operate at a effective radiated power of 550kW. and it would allow better reception when it comes to new mobile TV signals a lot of broadcasters are looking into so they can extend their brand. To read the full article click here.

“Everyday” is Appointment TV

By: Nick Brungardt

When I first heard of the concept of the show “Everyday w/ Libby & Natalie” I thought will it work? Will it last? Then I tuned in June 1st and everything I thought was answered.

The show has a level of professionalism of a national show with the sensibilities of a local show, Libby Weaver and

Left to Right: Dave Fraser, Libby Weaver, Natalie Tysdal, Chris Parente (Promotional Image via Everyday's Facebook Profle.)

Natalie Tysdal seem like old friends catching up and have great chemistry together. But with the public outcry over KDVR FOx31 taking Natalie from KWGN is what I believe unfounded and wrong, the first day on the show she (Natalie) publicly said she welcomed the change, as she is a expectant mother and needed a change from the 7 year routine of getting up at 3am in the morning.  I don’t doubt that is the truth and when I am in the chatroom on 2thedeuce.com I have let the patrons know it was her decision. But the outrage has continued and frequently I see people ( You know who you are ) post they want “Everyday” on the “Deuce” or Natalie back on the morning show and that they have stopped watching Daybreak.

Well let’s just say from the information I have obtained that is not in the cards for at least the foreseeable future that “Everyday” will not air on KWGN. I certainly don’t think that the mash-up station of KDVR/KWGN should count out viewer thirst for show’s like this one or even having a show that could air in the mornings on KWGN, they will not give up, I know because I am one who believes local programming will become king in the next couple of years as it once was when Television was in it’s infancy and that “Everyday” represents the tip of a iceberg that is going to bring in more advertising revenue and viewers to stations.

Natalie and Libby bring a caliber and experience as well as warmth and humor  to the 4pm hour that other stations show’s just don’t have. The only problem the show presents is that it leave’s audiences wanting more local programming that is relate-able and easy to watch, but they also have two very well liked and lovable men that help them bring viewers a well rounded show. Dave Frasier is the venerable weather man that is as much a mainstay in the weather department as he is behind the grill with his once weekly segment “Fraser’s Favorites” which airs on channel 2 as well at 7pm. Then we got ourselves local favorite Chris Parente who is quirky and fun when he is bringing us the gossip from Hollywood and is just as fun covering local events.

So if you are looking for a great alternative to the summer reruns of national talk show’s check out “Everyday w/Libby and Natalie”.

Airs: 4pm on KDVR Channel 31

How can Denver tap into DTV effectively?

By: Nick Brungardt

I have had a lingering desire to know what is going on in the heads of the programming and news directors at the local tv stations in Denver. I know they have a lot going on, and thinking about what is going to be on in the fall and what is happening right now. But the fact is there is only a few commercial stations in Denver taking advantage of DTV multicasting ( KUSA, KMGH, KRMA, KPXC ) but what about the rest of the stations, have they even figured out what to do with the extra space? In a resounding thought that goes through my head I say NO!

KCNC – CBS4 is the lone Owned & Operated station in Colorado, and a lot of what happens there is usually directed from the higher ups at the CBS mother ship, but again some decisions do come from the local news director and General Manager. So having the chance to expand there news coverage and programming would be extremely beneficial since they don’t have a Duopoly partner or Local Marketing Agreement.

What could they do with a digital sub channel? Well A lot since they don’t have the access to a large network partner like The CW, they could program it with more local news, and local programming, extra run’s of syndicated programming and Daytime programming in the evening. This could be a great move and one that could be a prototype with other CBS O&O’s.

KDVR/KWGN – FOX31 & The Deuce has had a turbulent past few months and the dust is starting to settle, they have the ability to offer so much more to viewers. For instance expanding news coverage on the two main channels and simulcasting those newscasts on a News Channel on one of the digital sub-channels with added headline news, Storm Force weather updates, entertainment and business reports as well. And with all of the extra syndicated programming yet to air, they could re-purpose some of that programming to air on a extra sub-channel and mix it with programming from High Noon Productions ( a local production company that produces for HGTV, DIY, TLC and others ) to create a lifestyle channel geared towards the younger demographics as well as women 25-54.

KTVD “My 20″ – part of the duopoly with KUSA which has two digital sub-channels occupied with “9News Weather Plus” and “Universal Sports”, but KTVD’s spectrum is needing to be used, maybe they could rebrand the main channel to just 20 and add ThisTV to it’s digital sub-channel, then add more news to it’s main channel to compete with other stations in the Denver area.

The point is with this article is to expand the options viewers have in Denver/Northern Colorado because if they can capture audiences that no longer believe that cable tv is affordable or have no desire to have a extra bill every month it would be smart to give more choice to people who love local tv and promote Digital TV as a alternative to Cable TV and it is FREE! A lesson all of the stations in Denver could learn is from Freeview in the United Kingdom is that the broadcasting companies gathered together and created a brand that was easily marketed to consumers across all stations. And for the Denver television market to do that on a smaller scale would impact local stations positively.

This article can apply to other television markets as well, to promote competition and cooperation as well among advertisers, stations and viewers.

TV on the Internet

By: Nick Brungardt

I have been toying around with starting my own online tv station, why you say? Well because I can and it has never been easier to do it. There has been computer programs that have come out in the past year or so that allows you to create your own tv show, newscast or talk show at a minimal cost then what it would to get a license from the FCC for some spectrum, getting investors to buy the transiting equipment and so on.

There are site’s that allow live streaming like livestream.com ( formally Mogulus ), justin.tv and ustream.com that give you the capability to stream a program even in High Definition. And there are other services like YouTube, blip.tv, DailyMotion, Vimeo and others that allow you to upload a pre-recored show as well. But again even more places to place your content is on iTunes through submitting yourself on there and services like it and that is called Video Podcasting but those are buzz terms that just kinda all meld into one fact it is personal broadcasting, and no middle man is needed.

One very successful website that produces it’s own content is Revision3 which is a online TV network that initially started to appease the audiences that craved techno-geek programming that had died for a short time after TechTV was merged with G4 the Gaming cable network. Then some of the former personnel like Kevin Rose (who founded digg.com ) banned together to fill that niche with a Video Podcast Network, and most of these show’s are not filmed out of living rooms or basements ( except diggnation which is mostly filmed in Kevin Rose’s living room ), And this has intrigued me since I watched my first episode of Tekzilla and how they incorporated advertisements by doing the ad’s with in the program and read by the hosts, it keeps the viewers and creates loyalty to the program by support the show by visiting the sponsors website and using promotional codes when ordering services on those sites.

One thing local tv stations could learn to increase ad revenue is to create local programming exclusively for their websites, perhaps shows that are geared to business, sports, politics, entertainment and become extensions of the broadcast content and have one or two sponsors for the programs and make it interactive in the since of having some shows live and others pre-recorded. And it is different then just posting left over content from tv it is creating a new way for viewers to use the site and push them to newscasts on tv and back to the website.

2 years from now we will not be thinking of TV as something you sit down on the couch and watch, you can access it anywhere, anytime. It is getting to that point now, but with the advent of new 4th Generation wireless networks that will allow mobility of high speed internet and video services will allow for video content in the palm of your hand.

So I think it would be a fun for me to get some money to by a MacBook so I can get BoinxTV and a good digital video camera that allows for live streaming. That will set me back less then $2000 if I do it right. So I can create nice polished Vlog postings or take it up a notch to a full blown TV show or newscast.