Fox News Tops Cable for 4th Time This Year

A big news week and a slow summer TV season helped put Fox News on top of the cable ratings.

 For the fourth time this year, Fox News Channel ranked No. 1 among all cable network in primetime total viewers.

 The shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee helped put Fox on top. FNC last topped the heap the week of April 13, which was littered with politicians announcing their White House bids. 

While FNC clocked in at No. 1 with 1.77 million primetime viewers, MSNBC ranked No. 22 with 621,000 primetime viewers. CNN came in 27th, with 551,000 viewers.

H/T Deadline

Baseball Knocks News off the Air at Chicago's WLS

Chicago's number one newscast is being bumped from the air this evening for Chicago Cubs baseball. 

ABC's World News Tonight is also taking a backseat to baseball.

The Cubs are playing a day-night doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds and it will bump the station's 5 and 6 p.m. local newscasts as well as “ABC World News Tonight” at 5:30 p.m.

WLS agreed to carry cubs games on Wednesdays during the day. But a rainout forced a double header this week and news ends up on the losing end.

Viewers who want to watch the news are being directed to the station’s digital and over-the-air Channel 7.2 or to its website.

Of course, WMAQ and WBBM are hoping that some of the station's viewers might switch over to them and like what they see. 

H/T Robert Feder

San Antonio Station to Add Newscast

KABB, Fox San Antonio says that they are expanding news this Fall.

The station says that in September, Fox San Antonio will expand our popular local morning news and lifestyle programming lineup with the launch of a new local newscast. FOX NEWS MIDDAY will premiere at 11 a.m. on Monday, September 14th.

Anchored Ernie Zuniga, Jessica Headley and Shaun Stevens… FOX NEWS MIDDAY will appear in a time period currently without local news in the market.

“Anytime you expand your News Product, you want to expand from a position of strength,” said Fox 29 General Manager Dean Radla. “The success and growth of FOX News First will allow us to do just that while providing our viewers a familiar platform for breaking news and news of the day. I’m very excited about this expansion, as well as the other upgrades in our line-up for the Fall Season.”

Wait! Did He Just Say That?

A BBC anchor accidentally dropped the C-word on live TV during an early morning blunder while discussing cancer.

"BBC Breakfast" presenter Bill Turnbull said "c---" instead of "client" while reading a viewer's response to a public health story Tuesday.

The 59-year-old British journalist quickly recovered after stumbling on his words and continues with his broadcast, later appearing to joke about the gaffe on Twitter.

Here's the video:

500 Days and Still Nothing

500 days ago from Today, CNN went crazy with their coverage of missing flight MH370. For weeks the network covered nothing but the missing plane.

500 days later and CNN barely mentions the plane, even though it's still missing and no one has a clue where it is. 

It is thought to have ditched into the southern Indian Ocean more than 2000km west of Perth but an extensive air, sea and underwater search has found no trace of the aircraft. No even a seat cushion has washed up on any shore. 

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan said in the early stages, the complexity of the search mission was not immediately apparent.

“Once we started looking and defining the search area, it became quite clear it could take up to two years,” said Commissioner Dolan.

“We still remain confident it will be found in the next year.”

In a year, CNN may have ditched new altogether and gone with 24 hours of entertainment programing.

So what happens first, they find the missing plane? Or CNN gives up doing news entirely?

Place your bets now. 

Buzzkill..... Denver Station Pulls Plug on Pot Ad

FTVLive told you that KMGH in Denver had planned to air the first ad for a legal marijuana company in this week. 

Then yesterday we told you that the station was having second thoughts as the Scripps lawyers looked into the airing of the ad. 

Not be a buzzkill or anything, but now the station says they will not be airing the ads after all. 

"Scripps has decided not to accept marijuana advertising at this time," said Valerie Miller, spokeswoman for the E.W. Scripps Company, which owns the station. "We are proud to be a company of free speech and open expression, but we have concerns about the lack of clarity around federal regulations that govern broadcast involving such ads."

Damn! Somebody just harshed my mellow. 

O-Town News Director is Out

A message went out to the staff at WKMG this morning, saying that News Director Steve Hyvonen had "resigned".

Hyvonen had been at the Orlando station since 2008. 

Back on June 1st, FTVLive told you that WKMG General Manager Skip Valet was kicked to the curb, so the writing was on the wall for Hyvonen as well. 

Before coming to O-Town, Hyvonen was the ND at WEWS in Cleveland. 

On Second Thought...

KATV in Little Rock teased a story on social media about a controversy involving some local high school girls.

The station pulled pictures from one of the girls Instagram accounts and planned on doing a story about them on the newscast. They posted the pictures and teased the story on Facebook.

Then the station pulled the the pictures, deleted the post and replaced it with this instead: 

FTVLive did not see the original post and does not know what the story was about. But, judging by the comments, it seems that at least one of the girls (a cheerleader) was dressed in black face in the posted picture.

After KATV decided not to cover a story that they had already teased, viewers continue to scold the station for their actions. 

Must Have Been a Very Slow Weather Day in San Antonio

We're guessing it was a slow weather day in San Antonio yesterday.

Why?

Well, according to his Twitter, KENS Meteorologist Jeremy Baker was doing this:

I know when things get slow around here at FTVLive, I love heading downtown and talking about syphilis with the people. It's a great way to pass the time. 

We Didn't Do It

I'm always shocked by how many emails I get from regular TV viewers that don't work in the industry.

Many times that want to weigh in on a station or network.

But sometimes, they think FTVLive has control over the stations and networks. We once got an email sent to us, that was directed at HLN's Robin Meade and how she should do her eye make up. We passed the email onto to Robin.

This weekend we got this email:

From: "Lois" <lomuz@cox.net>
Date: June 15, 2015 at 3:41:24 PM EDT
To: <ftvlive@gmail.com>

Sadly, I will not be watching Channel 12 News anymore.  Why did you have to go to an outside person?  Either Fay Fredericks or Tram Mai would have been excellent choices.  You have no loyalty.

OK, I don't know which Channel 12 she's talking about and I can promise this Lois, I didn't hire anyone from the outside.

But Lois, you are right, I have no loyalty. 

Stick a Fork in Longtime Dallas Reporter....He's Done

After more than four decades reporting the news, longtime KTVT Reporter Bud Gillett says he's done. 

Gillett has been at the station since September 2001 after a long career across the street at KDFW.

Back in July 2009, Gillette filed a lawsuit against KTVT charging the station with retaliation and reverse discrimination based on his age, sex, race and national origin. 

He later dropped the lawsuit.  “It’s resolved. That’s all I’m authorized to say,” he said at the time. 

Gillett was a first-hand witness to some milestone Texas news events, including the Branch Davidian cult standoff in Waco in 1993 and the rescue of toddler Jessica McClure from a Midland well in 1987.

He will likely be replaced by some kid, on their second job out of school that will shoot, write and edit their own story for about a quarter of what Gillett was making.

Is this a great business or what? 

H/T Ed Bark

Playing in Traffic

Meisha Johnson started yesterday at KYW in Philly as the station's new morning traffic reporter. 

Johnson comes to Philadelphia from KMSP, the Fox station in Minneapolis-St. Paul where she had been a traffic reporter since 2013.

Interestingly, KYW's new GM Brien Kennedy also came from the Twin Cities and WCCO. 

He obviously liked Johnson’s work at the Fox station across the street and took her to Philly with him. 

The station is still looking for a News Director, sources tell FTVLive that Kennedy is this/close to naming one.

Stay tuned.... 

Houston Station in Retrans Pissing Match with Dish

KPRC is this/close to falling off Dish Network over a new retransmission agreement between the two.

“We’ve been working very hard to negotiate a fair deal for everybody.” Said KPRC Vice President and General Manager, Jerry Martin. “We’ve negotiated dozens, if not hundreds, of similar deals over the years with other providers and have never been taken off the air, so that should tell you something about where the issue lies.”

The station says that Dish charges its subscribers a monthly fee to get these programs, so essentially their estimated 247,000 Houston area customers will not be getting what they pay for. That includes important local news and weather information in emergency situations from the Channel 2 News team.

We'll just bite our tongue on that last line. 

H/T Mike McGuff
 

NBC to Lend a Hand to Help Animals

Anyone that knows FTVLive, knows that I am a HUGE animal love (it's people that I hate), so big props to NBC and their O&O's "Clear the Shelters” Day.

 The goal for the NBC-owned stations to help get cats and dogs waiting for new homes successfully adopted. 

Clear the Shelters day is set for August 15th and the ultimate goal of the event is to help as many animals as possible find their perfect match.

NBC says that surprisingly, only about 20 percent of people adopting a pet choose a shelter animal. No shelter wants to see any animals caged. Finding these pets quality homes is even more critical during the summer after the populations at shelters swell due to abandoned and surrendered pets following spring births.

Back in January, FTVLive headed to the local shelter here to find Rory (pictured), our Vice President of Cuteness. 

Even if you live in a market without an NBC O&O, or you don't work for an NBC station, we urge you to go adopt a pet at your local shelter. 

Like I have said before, one dog or cat can't change the world, but you can change the world of that one dog or cat.

Adopt a pet and congrats to NBC for trying to make a difference. 

Fox News Moves Loser Debate, Cuts Time

Good news and bad news for the GOP candidates that are not making the main debate on Fox News.

Fox News inaugural Republican primary debate in Cleveland, Ohio, has limited inclusion to candidates who finish in the top 10 in an average of national polls.

In June, it announced that the remaining candidates would participate in a 90-minute forum at 1 p.m., eight-hours before the main event.

The good news is FNC is now moving the loser debate to 5PM, instead of just after the lunch. The bad news, they are shortening it from 90 minutes to 1 hour. 

The move to 5 p.m. will give the second-tier candidates a far greater audience than they would have had at mid-day -- the channel's 5 p.m. ratings are nearly double the daytime average -- and will allow Fox News to transition directly from the forum into its pre-debate coverage.

The decision to shorten the forum to one hour will be less celebrated by candidates who already feel spurned by the network's cap. However, the forum is likely to include about half as many participants as the primetime debate, providing each candidate with roughly equal time.

Fox News still has yet to reveal the specific polls it will consider when determining inclusion in the debates. The network has said that candidates must place "in the top 10 of an average of the five most recent national polls, as recognized by Fox News leading up to August 4th at 5 PM/ET," and that the polls "must be conducted by major, nationally recognized organizations that use standard methodological techniques."

If the debate were held tomorrow, such criteria would likely see Rick Santorum, John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham and George Pataki relegated to the 5 p.m. forum.

H/T Politico

Robert Redford to Play Dan Rather in Movie About Rather's Firing

Dan Rather is heading to the big screen.

Well Robert Redford as Dan Rather is. 

Redford will play Rather in the upcoming movie, "Truth" which will detail how Rather lost his Anchor job. 

In 2004, Rather reported that President George W. Bush’s powerful father arranged to keep his son in the National Guard to prevent serving in Vietnam. The report caused such hoo-hah that a treasured 24-year anchorman lost his job.

Rather: “I’ve read the script. It’s serious. People behind it do a good job. It’s two great actors. You couldn’t want for a better cast. Redford playing me makes me feel humble — which is not a word usually associated with anchors.

“The nuanced, not preachy, script makes clear our report was true. Facts can’t be denied. But today it’s more about big corporations having big power than about truth. Bush was up for re-election. Sumner Redstone wanted him re-elected and would have his news division do what he wanted. What develops is the habit of pulling back, working from fear.

“Media, consolidation under large international corporations, take control of news entities. News gets done to their benefit. Lobbyists constantly work with big government. Legislation, regulation, corporations need many things out of DC.

“Our newsroom was a team. With pride in Edward R. Murrow’s network, we all stuck together. We had a sense of camaraderie. I believe in CBS News through and through. When it happened, I just didn’t respond quickly enough and smart enough.”

 Cate Blanchett plays his CBS producer Mary Mapes.

The movie is coming in October. 

H/T Page Six