The television landscape is shifting nationally — with ramifications locally. Now that “Oprah” is off to her next chapter, who or what will take her place? Will it be another syndicated talker, a new local newscast or the lure of OWN on cable that beckons?
In prime time, CBS racked up another win in the May ratings sweeps, and the local late newscasts are feeling the effects.
The May sweeps, which set future ad rates for local stations, indicate a narrowing race for No. 1 in Denver’s late news. CBS4 is a few points shy of 9News’ audience share among 25- to 54-year-olds, the prime news audience. With 19 of 20 days counted, the weekday contest looks like this:
• KUSA, hampered by NBC’s fourth-place prime time, dropped to a 4.4 rating from a 4.9 rating a year ago, but remains on top at 10 p.m.
• KCNC, with a boost from the CBS lineup, grew to a 3.4 rating from a 2.9 rating a year ago to finish a strong No. 2.
• KMGH fell from 2.5 rating last May to a 2.0, lagging in third place.
• KDVR’s 10 p.m. news was down to a 0.9 rating from a 1.3 rating last year. KDVR’s 9 p.m. entry slipped from a 2.2 rating last year to a 2.1 rating.
“CSI,” “The Mentalist,” “The Good Wife” — the hot CBS shows leading into local news — are obviously stronger than the NBC lead-ins. (“Law & Order: L.A.” — really?)
“We’re at a bit of a disadvantage, with the exception of ‘The Voice,’ ” allowed KUSA chief Mark Cornetta. “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Losing “Oprah” is a huge blow to most stations that carried the daily hit. Her Tuesday penultimate hour scored a whopping 2.4 rating (3.7 rating among women) for Channel 4.
But at CBS4, they’re minimizing the impact of Winfrey’s exit. With the “CBS4 at 4” newscast ramping up to debut soon, the folks at KCNC express relief that the enormous expense of the syndicated show is lifted; the expense of adding another newscast is minimal.
“We did not see the highest of ratings,” CBS4 boss Walt DeHaven said. On the downside, they did experience the expense, estimated to be in the neighborhood of “Dr. Phil,” “Dr. Oz” and “Ellen” combined.
“For us, it may be a little different than a lot of stations around the country,” DeHaven said. “We’ve had Oprah in two three-year cycles. We didn’t get the top of the ratings; we got “Oprah” as it started to erode the last couple of years.”
Still, having “Oprah” as a news lead-in helped KCNC jump from third to first place at 5 p.m.
Another rationale from DeHaven: “We didn’t have that 25-year attachment. Our newsroom still remembers doing a newscast” in the pre-dinner hours. (Remember when anchor Stephanie Riggs got her walking papers to make way for the talk show?)
At 10 p.m., the May sweeps point to a continued closing of the gap. Denver’s late news race is the tightest it’s been since the 1994 affiliation swap. The trend among viewers age 25-54 shows CBS4 moving up while the competition is losing ground.
KUSA still rules at 10 p.m. as it has for years but by a smaller margin. DeHaven says KCNC is within 11,000 households of KUSA, in the traditional news demographic of 25-54.
Afternoons are in flux. The 3-6 p.m. block is going to be one to watch locally, as Channel 7 launches a 3 p.m. newscast followed by “Dr. Oz.,” and Channel 4 launches a 4 p.m. newscast in Oprah’s old slot.
Lots of viewers are now up for grabs. Will “Dr. Oz” work at 4 p.m. for KMGH? Will “Ellen” on KUSA remain No. 1 at 3 p.m.? (Probably.)
In prime time, as the smart dramas migrate to cable, they seem to be taking lots of viewers with them. Prime-time viewing in Denver showed big declines for each of the Big Three networks; only Fox improved its ratings average.
Among Denver viewers, CBS is No. 1 in prime time, Fox is a very close No. 2, then ABC and, finally, there’s NBC, thankful for “The Voice” — or things would be even worse.
Et cetera.
Comcast offers this breakdown of Denver’s most popular on-demand TV series, in order: “South Park,” “Entourage,” “Sex and the City,” “The Sopranos,” “NCIS,” “CSI,” “CSI: Miami,” “Family Guy,” “Weeds” and “True Blood.”
Looking forward, this summer’s return of Jeremy Hubbard to the market, after a stint as an ABC correspondent and anchor of “ABC World News Now,” is a positive move for Fox31. He’ll anchor the late news as well as the 7 p.m. newscast on sister station KWGN, News2, starting June 13.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
