TV stations preempting network shows

[bandit957]

I bet there was no other TV market as loaded with preemptions as Cincinnati. And they were often because of the show's content, not because the show they preempted it with was more popular.

One of the most ridiculous was the string of years in the late '80s/early '90s when Channel 12 preempted 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' because it was too much for Cincinnati to handle.

I remember Channel 5 preempting 'Diff'rent Strokes' for 'The Billy Graham Crusade'. It also once preempted 'The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air' for a department store infomercial.

Channel 19 constantly preempted 'The Simpsons' for college basketball games back when it was on Thursdays. I was so relieved when 'The Simpsons' moved to Sundays. But then there was a week when the team refused to play during the week because it was snowing outside (even though the game was indoors). So they moved the game to Sunday.

Channel 12 once preempted 'All My Children' to show an hour of whining from the team because they lost a game.

I know Channel 9 preempted some serious CBS news show once with a college basketball game. (It wasn't '60 Minutes'. I think it was a different show with Ed Bradley.)

Channel 5 once preempted 'American Dreams' to show an election rally by a candidate the station supported. The station never showed opponents' rallies.

Channel 19 once preempted 'Cops' with a 'Star Trek' rerun.

I remember many times having to break out the antenna to try to tune in Dayton stations to watch shows the Cincinnati stations preempted. So we had to settle for snowy reception much of the time. The most commonly repeated phrase in our household was "We have to watch it on Channel 45 again!"

When a station preempts a network show, other stations in town are allowed to pick up that show. But I don't remember this ever happening, even when we had one or two independents.

[Big John]

CBS Station preempted the Maude episode where there was an abortion.

NBC Station in the early 1980s preempted  Saturday Night Live. The independent station picked it up for a little while.

ABC station refused to air Fridays.

[Scott5114]

One time I called KOLR in Springfield MO to complain about them preempting The Price Is Right with some local show I don't know anything about. It reminded me of like a redneck version of Antiques Roadshow, though. The guy on the phone claimed they did it because George W. Bush gave a speech. But he was done by the time The Price Is Right was on. So why didn't they preempt the Redneck Roadshow instead?

[roadman65]

I remember once during the Fall line up of CBS. Two weeks into the start of a season in the nineties, they preempted the shows for sporting events. Soon as those events were over, they cancelled the shows preempted due to low ratings.

How can you get ratings if the shows weren't aired? Plus how can you assess the liking of a program from two airings unless the first episode totally bombed with maybe one in ten thousand TV sets nationwide turned on those two times.

[Henry]

I remember once during the Fall line up of CBS. Two weeks into the start of a season in the nineties, they preempted the shows for sporting events. Soon as those events were over, they cancelled the shows preempted due to low ratings.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you're talking about the baseball playoffs and/or World Series. Remember, CBS had exclusive rights to them for the first four years of the decade (1990-93).

[Big John]

^^ South of Sunset was heavily promoted during the 1993 World Series and was cancelled after 1 episode.

[LilianaUwU]

Preempting still exists today, but mainly for sports events. Also, extremely rarely does it ever happen in Canada, as sports broadcasts are on cable TV. With that said, and with me not watching TV anymore, the last time I can recall seeing a preempting was in the early 2010s, with one of Wheel of Fortune's Saturday reruns on Detroit's NBC affiliate (WDIV-TV), which we had on cable on the Magdalen Islands for some reason.

[Road Hog]

I remember a large number of ABC affiliates pre-empted the first couple of seasons of NYPD Blue in 1993-94 because of its edgy (at the time) nudity and language.

[SectorZ]

Anyone remember when Jay Leno gave up the Tonight Show and NBC gave him that nightly 10 PM show? WHDH, Channel in Boston, then the NBC affiliate, threatened to play news instead of the show. Inevitably they didn't, but somehow it previewed the massive failure the show became.

That station got its wish years later when it lost its affiliation and now plays news for about 10 hours per weekday.

[bing101]

Pre-empting Network shows is common for Breaking News reasons like storms and other major events in certain areas but today if you have a TV that connects to a Wifi then you can find the prempted episodes on TV apps like Hulu, Paramount+, Disney+ and Peacock.

I remember it used to be a big deal in the past but then again we are in a different era.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Boston is one of those markets that preempts network shows for breaking news. Of course, severe weather (blizzards, tornadoes, tropical storms) will do the trick, but also sports (as when Tom Brady announced his departure from the Patriots on St. Patrick's Day 2020).

[Stephane Dumas]

I remember a time when NBC Today show was pre-empted by reruns of the Jetsons and some other cartoons on WPTZ NBC Plattsburgh around 1992-1994.

Preempting still exists today, but mainly for sports events. Also, extremely rarely does it ever happen in Canada, as sports broadcasts are on cable TV. With that said, and with me not watching TV anymore, the last time I can recall seeing a preempting was in the early 2010s, with one of Wheel of Fortune's Saturday reruns on Detroit's NBC affiliate (WDIV-TV), which we had on cable on the Magdalen Islands for some reason.

It did once happen in Canada before sports channels like TSN and RDS became popular. In the early 1980s, teleromans (Quebec's version of soap-operas) like "Terre Humaine" or "Le Temps d'Une Paix" was pre-empted for the NHL playoff games.

[vdeane]

Around here, News10 ABC preempted one of the 10 pm shows one week last year to air a special on winter weather (not anything that was happening at the time, more like explaining terminology and things like how nor'easters work).  IIRC, the preempted show aired on Fox23 (which is also owned/operated by Nextar and has shared news coverage), which makes me wonder why they didn't just put the special on Fox23 to begin with.  Or air it at 7 in place of Wheel and Jeopardy like they do most specials.

It's even still possible to watch it online.

https://www.news10.com/video/news10abc-winter-weather-guide/8179705/

[zachary_amaryllis]

When I was a kid, all you got here without the giant dish, was Channel 5, from Cheyenne. It was fuzzy but watchable.

Depending on the time of day, and really it seemed the mood of the station, it was all 3 networks. I bet bandit here WAS the guy running it.

[SectorZ]

Around here, News10 ABC preempted one of the 10 pm shows one week last year to air a special on winter weather (not anything that was happening at the time, more like explaining terminology and things like how nor'easters work).  IIRC, the preempted show aired on Fox23 (which is also owned/operated by Nextar and has shared news coverage), which makes me wonder why they didn't just put the special on Fox23 to begin with.  Or air it at 7 in place of Wheel and Jeopardy like they do most specials.

It's even still possible to watch it online.

https://www.news10.com/video/news10abc-winter-weather-guide/8179705/

WBZ, the CBS affiliate here, does that same exact thing once or twice per year. Oddly enough they're owned and operated by CBS.

[1995hoo]

Until the writers' strike ended a week or two ago, ABC affiliates were airing Monday Night Football (which normally airs on ESPN) to fill the programming gap. At least here in the DC area, that meant they preempted Jeopardy. On the plus side, they did air Jeopardy late at night and in today's world, a DVR will pick up on the schedule change and record it so you can watch later. On the downside, at least once football ran long, so the shows after football were delayed and the DVR only recorded part of Jeopardy (the YouTube TV cloud-based DVR doesn't allow for padding the record time the way a hard-drive-based DVR does for technical reasons).

Looks like ABC is no longer airing Monday Night Football with the strike over, or at least they didn't this week.

I remember when I was a little kid I knew the Saturday morning cartoons would be preempted one weekend every summer for some sports event (it was Wimbledon, but as a kid I didn't know that, I just knew "no cartoons"). My brother is two years younger than I am and wasn't aware of it and used to get really mad about it, as if there was anything anyone else in the house could do about it.

[Big John]

^^ ABC will be airing Monday Night Football all season: https://abc7news.com/monday-night-football-schedule-2023-abc-espn/13796933/

[wriddle082]

I vaguely remember this, but during much of the 80's, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was pre-empted on WSMV-4 who instead showed old sitcom reruns, but you could still watch it on WZTV-17 (independent at the time, and didn't become Fox till later on after that network was founded, but I digress).  When the syndicated Arsenio Hall Show started, WZTV started to carry it, and WSMV carried The Tonight Show once again.

[1995hoo]

^^ ABC will be airing Monday Night Football all season: https://abc7news.com/monday-night-football-schedule-2023-abc-espn/13796933/

If you say so. Either it wasn't on our local ABC station this week or it was a 9:00 game, as Jeopardy aired at the normal time.

[bing101]

https://awfulannouncing.com/golf/eight-cbs-owned-cw-affiliates-several-others-will-not-air-liv-golf.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Here is a recent one this was prior to Paramount ending its affiliation deal with Nexstar owned CW in August. In the case of Paramount it was tied to LIV Golf contract violating a contract that Paramount signed with the PGA tour for CBS. This is why the now former CW affiliates had to pre-empt LIV Golf from CW. Example KPYX San Francisco and KMAX Sacramento had to pre-empt CW sports programming due Paramounts CBS Sports contract reasons and in places like Sacramento and San Francisco KPYX and KMAX are extensions of the main CBS affiliates KPIX and KOVR in their respective cities. This is how KRON became the CW affiliate in San Francisco is because Nexstar owns CW and KRON. Also another factor Paramount the owners of CBS wanted to put more of their resources on Paramount+ app.

https://deadline.com/2023/05/cbs-stations-eight-drop-cw-go-independent-this-fall-1235357388/#comments


https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-cws-liv-golf-deal-has-led-to-sports-rights-talks-with-everyone-and-potential-new-deals-as-early-as-this-fall-nexstar-ceo-perry-sook-says-1235370464/

In Sacramento the former CW affiliate KMAX is promoted as an extension of KOVR CBS Sacramento. In that case Hearst Television got the CW affiliation for KQCA.

[texaskdog]

In Saint Paul they used to pull Mr Belvedere for a syndicated show "She's the Sherriff" that wasn't remotely funny.

[rickmastfan67]

https://awfulannouncing.com/golf/eight-cbs-owned-cw-affiliates-several-others-will-not-air-liv-golf.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Here is a recent one this was prior to Paramount ending its affiliation deal with Nexstar owned CW in August. In the case of Paramount it was tied to LIV Golf contract violating a contract that Paramount signed with the PGA tour for CBS. This is why the now former CW affiliates had to pre-empt LIV Golf from CW. Example KPYX San Francisco and KMAX Sacramento had to pre-empt CW sports programming due Paramounts CBS Sports contract reasons and in places like Sacramento and San Francisco KPYX and KMAX are extensions of the main CBS affiliates KPIX and KOVR in their respective cities. This is how KRON became the CW affiliate in San Francisco is because Nexstar owns CW and KRON. Also another factor Paramount the owners of CBS wanted to put more of this resources on Paramount+ app.

https://deadline.com/2023/05/cbs-stations-eight-drop-cw-go-independent-this-fall-1235357388/#comments


https://deadline.com/2023/05/the-cws-liv-golf-deal-has-led-to-sports-rights-talks-with-everyone-and-potential-new-deals-as-early-as-this-fall-nexstar-ceo-perry-sook-says-1235370464/

Well, because of this, CW moved channels in Pittsburgh. Channel 19 is now 'KDKA+', and Channel 22 is now the CW.

[rickmastfan67]

I know awhile back when ABC had NASCAR in the early 2010's, WTAE-4 Pittsburgh would almost always preempt the pre-race coverage for local stuff, and only join in right before the race would really start (especially the night races).

I had to attempt to pick up WATM-TV ABC-23 (via 8.2) back when they had a higher power signal in the early days of digital that reached where I live in the Pittsburgh area to see it.  Now I can't even pull in Channel 8 sadly since they've lowered the power.

[LilianaUwU]

It did once happen in Canada before sports channels like TSN and RDS became popular. In the early 1980s, teleromans (Quebec's version of soap-operas) like "Terre Humaine" or "Le Temps d'Une Paix" was pre-empted for the NHL playoff games.

Not gonna lie, I would rather watch hockey than Le temps d'une paix by a LONG shot.

[Route66Fan]

Some examples that I've either seen or heard of:

KQTV-TV, Ch. 2 in St. Joseph, MO, would, in the mid 90's, tape delay ABC's Saturday Morning showing of the Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show (Which aired at 9-10AM CT Saturdays at that time.) for a hour long newscast. The show would air at 5:30-6:30AM on, I think, Sunday morning.

WDAF-TV, Ch. 4 in Kansas City, MO would, for several years in the 80's-early 90's, during it tenure with NBC, preempt NBC's Sunday night 6-7PM programming for Hee Haw.

KMBC-TV, Ch. 9 in Kansas City, MO, for close to a few decades, refused to clear ABC's World News Sunday opting to instead air reruns of Rescue 911 (Or other syndicated programming.) followed by a half hour newscast & later a full hour newscast from 5-6PM on Sundays. They wouldn't clear WNS until sometime in the mid 2010's when the Sunday 5PM hour long newscast was shortened to a half hour at 5-5:30PM.

There is a bunch of others that I can also think of that I may make a post about later.