The Miami Herald is confirming what I wrote about yesterday, WPLG is dropping it’s 5pm newscast to air Dr. Phil and has aquired the rights to Judge Judy which it will broadcast at 4pm. WFOR and WSVN have said that this will allow them to “showcase themselves as more committed to local news”.
The change however will not occur untill the fall of 2006 when the new contracts for Dr. Phil and Judge Judy begin.
Now here’s my guess as to how things would turn out. WSVN has a hole in the 4pm slot, WFOR in the 3pm. Both stations will have news at 4pm – WFOR will take Oprah down from 4-5pm to 3pm slot so they’d have a nice lead-in for their 4pm newscast. WSVN on the other hand doesn’t have much in terms of afternoon programming, but I’m pretty sure the Judge Judy slot will be news much like their sister station WHDH who have a newscast at 4 in the afternoon.
Insiders have said that WPLG General Manager David Boylan has pretty much given up trying to push the ailing 5pm newscast from it’s miserable 3rd place in the ratings and has decided to “find other ways to sell the station”.
Miami Herald
Channel 10 to add Dr. Phil, drop 5 p.m. news
It’s doubtful that any station will add a 4 p.m. newscast. That timeslot doesn’t work in this market