Tribune Stations Adding 11PM Newscasts

When the plug got pulled on the Arsenio Hall show, many Tribune stations have decided to fill that hole with news.

On June 30, WXIN Indianapolis debuted NewsPoint, a half-hour 11 p.m. broadcast with nontraditional elements like an anchor standing in front of big screens and weather in the first 15 minutes. The Fox affiliate will also add 7 p.m. news this fall.

KCPQ Seattle will introduce an 11 o'clock newscast on top of its 10 o'clock news on Aug. 17. 

Two others stations will launch 11 p.m. newscasts this quarter, Tribune's SVP of News Katherine Green says. She declinines to identify them prior to the formal announcements. “I think there are other stations that will follow suit in the next six to nine months,” Green says. 

It's not just latenight that is getting newsier at Tribune. Green says there is no group mandate that stations add news, but there “certainly is a request” that they meet viewer demand. “We are seeing audiences coming back to news programming, so we want to deliver in the dayparts when there is an appetite for news,” she says.

H/T TVNewsCheck