CHCH Fall 2014 Lineup

[lostjon]

NEW SHOWS TO CHCH - FALL 2014
Access Hollywood
Burn Notice
Cristela (ABC)
Last Man Standing (ABC) (formerly on City)
The Simpsons
Tiny Talent Time

RETURNING SHOWS
20/20 (ABC)
48 Hours (CBS)
60 Minutes (CBS)
Bones
CSI: Miami
The Originals (The CW)

Movies

http://www.chch.com/shows/

I assume there's going to be announcement or press release issued sometime next week by Channel Zero/CHCH, where we will learn more about what's coming up this fall.

[lostjon]

Notable shows missing from the list:
Supernatural
Hart of Dixie (midseason)
Wheel of Fortune
Jeopardy!

Presumably dropped
Spin Off (likely cancelled)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (syndicated, but only aired once a week)

I'm assuming that Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! will continue running between 7 and 8 weeknights. If they dropped Supernatural, it probably moved back to one of Bell Media's specialty channels like M3 or Space. Too soon to say whether they also dropped Hart of Dixie, since it's not due to return until midseason.

Interesting that they continue to pick up series that have ended - last year, it was CSI: Miami, this year it's Burn Notice.

After being dropped by CTV Two and E! last year, Access Hollywood is back on Canadian airwaves - I predicted that CHCH would pick it up last year.

And in terms of network primetime programs, as expected, they picked up Last Man Standing (dropped by Rogers) and the new sitcom Cristela, both of which are sitcoms, and marking the first time that they have added sitcoms since Channel Zero bought the station.

The Simpsons - is this going to run daily or only once a week like a lot of the syndicated shows they've acquired?

Overall, I figured CHCH would get their hands on at least one returning show dropped by City and one new show not already acquired by a Canadian network. Especially with City's decision to drop programming at 10:00pm, I thought CHCH would have taken advantage of this by acquiring more of the remaining new shows as well as returning shows that were dropped.

On an interesting note, this marks the first time since 2010 that not all of the new U.S. network shows on the fall schedule were picked up by a Canadian network.

Coincidentally, the shows from that year all ended up getting cancelled after just one season on the air:
Better With You (ABC sitcom)
Detroit 187 (ABC drama)
My Generation (ABC drama)
Running Wilde (FOX sitcom)

This year, here are the new shows without a Canadian broadcaster (so far, barring any new updates):
Jane the Virgin (CW comedy-drama)
Manhattan Love Story (ABC sitcom)
Selfie (ABC sitcom)
Red Band Society (FOX comedy-drama)

As for the returning shows dropped by a Canadian broadcaster, we have The Biggest Loser (NBC) and Nashville (ABC).

In the case of the latter, the show has already aired on two networks in as many seasons, first on CTV Two and some of Bell Media's channels then last season on City. Considering that the show has already been dropped by two networks, there was probably no incentive for another Canadian broadcaster to pick it up - perhaps Netflix will distribute it in Canada.

[TVViewer]

Channel Zero's lack of experience really shows with their programming pickups. Although it is good they are moving away from buying CW shows (it's so odd to see a channel that airs so much older skewing news, newsmagazines, and game shows to then also air CW dramas) they don't seem to realize why some of their shows are available in the first place. For example, even though they had nothing to simulcast in the time slot, City did not renew/pickup the ABC Friday comedies and is opting to air comedies out of simulcast in the time slot. Both comedies are distributed by FOX, which Global has an output deal with, and Global is also going with out of simulcast comedies in the time slot instead. So CHCH is picking up a comedy which was barely registering in the ratings on City and scheduling it in the exact same time slot where it will have more comedy competition than ever before as both City and Global will be airing comedies in the hour. If it could barely register on City, will it even register on CHCH with more comedy competition in the time slot? CHCH should be counter-programming against the big networks, and with no network airing drama Fridays at 8:00PM they should have scheduled one of their syndicated dramas there.

Notable shows missing from the list:
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (syndicated, but only aired once a week)

I never understood this. Why buy a 5 day a week game show and only air 1 episode per week? Perhaps the format changed, but I remember usually contestants wouldn't finish by the end of the 22 minute episode and would continue playing the next day, which would make CHCH's scheduling idiotic as it would take weeks to watch a contestant finish one game. Even if the episodes were self contained (which I don't see how is possible), it still doesn't make any sense. The only reason I can think of why they would do this is because they wanted to stretch one season out over several years, which may sound like a good way to control costs but that only works if viewers are willing to tune in, and I doubt anyone is willing to follow this bizarre once a week schedule.

I'm assuming that Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! will continue running between 7 and 8 weeknights.

The fact that they are not listed under "returning favorites" makes me think they dropped them. I can certainly understand the reason for dropping them (like most game shows, they skew incredibly old, well outside the 18-49 & 25-54 demo advertisers want) but it's another example of how they don't know what they are doing in regards to buying programming. It's not like these were new untested shows, it was well known what their ratings were like when CHCH picked them up.

After being dropped by CTV Two and E! last year, Access Hollywood is back on Canadian airwaves

It seems like every year or so they replace a low rated celebrity newsmagazine with another low rated celebrity newsmagazine.

This year, here are the new shows without a Canadian broadcaster (so far, barring any new updates):
Jane the Virgin (CW comedy-drama)
Manhattan Love Story (ABC sitcom)
Selfie (ABC sitcom)
Red Band Society (FOX comedy-drama)

I figured that ABC Studios would be hurt the most by Rogers decision to cut back on Citytv's program spending. Global practically never buys anything from ABC Studios so City was really their only hope of unloading shows CTV passes on.

[PokerFace]

Last year (or the year before?), I occasionally watched Access Hollywood Live on CityTV (I didn't see it listed on any Buffalo channel) at Noon (although I believe it was LIVE at 11am EST), but this year it was moved to 11am on Omni 1. Will it soon move to CHCH, or be dumped? I'm assuming it will be dumped, or perhaps moved to another time.

The clips from previous Live shows are available on its official website, as well as the full version of the latest episode.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/acces..._video_2219037
[Yesterday's episode of AHLive]

http://www.accesshollywood.com/accesshollywoodlive
[AHLive clips]

[bigoranget]

TVViewer; CHCH isn't trying to compete with the likes of Global, CTV and City. The shows they buy aren't that expensive. Their main focus is their news programming. Go to almost any business in the Hamilton area during the week; almost all the time the set is tuned to CHCH. They are doing something right. Buying expensive primetime programming is what made them bleed money for years under the ownership of WIC and then Canwest. I don't know exactly what the finances are today but I doubt they are bleeding nearly $30 million year like they did under Canwest.

[lostjon]

Last year (or the year before?), I occasionally watched Access Hollywood Live on CityTV (I didn't see it listed on any Buffalo channel) at Noon (although I believe it was LIVE at 11am EST), but this year it was moved to 11am on Omni 1. Will it soon move to CHCH, or be dumped? I'm assuming it will be dumped, or perhaps moved to another time.

Access Hollywood consists of two shows - one is the regular half-hour edition that is a more fast-paced and informative celebrity newsmagazine show like all the other ones including etalk, Entertaiment Tonight, Extra, etc. The other is Access Hollywood Live, an hour-long spinoff which is more of an entertainment style talk show that covers stories and has special guests in studio, but without an audience.

The half-hour version has previously aired on various CTV affiliates. It was then picked up across the entire CTV network in 2008 before moving to A/CTV Two along with bonus airings on E! until last year.

The hour-long show debuted in 2010 and the Canadian rights were acquired by Rogers, where it originally aired on City before moving to OMNI. All indications are that Rogers has dropped the rights as it was nowhere to be seen on the Fall master planners for both City and OMNI.

That being said, I'm not sure if the acquisition of Access Hollywood by CHCH includes either only the regular half-hour edition, Access Hollywood Live, or both shows.

[TVViewer]

[QUOTE=bigoranget;66333]

TVViewer; CHCH isn't trying to compete with the likes of Global, CTV and City.

I'm not saying they should.

The shows they buy aren't that expensive. Their main focus is their news programming. Go to almost any business in the Hamilton area during the week; almost all the time the set is tuned to CHCH. They are doing something right. Buying expensive primetime programming is what made them bleed money for years under the ownership of WIC and then Canwest. I don't know exactly what the finances are today but I doubt they are bleeding nearly $30 million year like they did under Canwest.

That doesn't mean they are good at buying programming. The amount of programming they drop every few years is a clear indication that they are not good at picking shows. They wouldn't be dropping shows that are working. Buying the leftovers for cheap doesn't always work out as there is usually a big reason why they are leftovers to begin with. Again, not saying they should be bidding against the big networks for programming, just pointing out that they aren't the best when it comes to which shows they do pick up.

However, one thing I forgot is that CHCH was likely unaware that both Global and City would be airing comedies in the Friday 8:00PM hour, so their projections for how much success they would have with the ABC comedies would have been better than what they are now. Also, CHCH hasn't confirmed a simulcast, maybe they plan to air them on Saturday nights following Tiny Talent, despite the buzz, I'm not sure how Tiny Talent is going to do, but if it does do well I can see why they would want to hold some of the audience after the show with some comedies.

[TVViewer]

The hour-long show debuted in 2010 and the Canadian rights were acquired by Rogers, where it originally aired on City before moving to OMNI. All indications are that Rogers has dropped the rights as it was nowhere to be seen on the Fall master planners for both City and OMNI..

At their licence renewals, Rogers stated that it is one of the shows they dropped from OMNI, Rogers also dropped the rights to their syndicated court shows. They also said they dropped "more" shows that they didn't name, I'm assuming they dropped the rights to all of OMNI's talk shows and will just air strip comedies (which they are not able to get rid of as they come with multi-year commitments)

[bigoranget]

That doesn't mean they are good at buying programming. The amount of programming they drop every few years is a clear indication that they are not good at picking shows.

What do you expect them to do? All the top rated programs are purchased by CTV and Global for the most part. Primetime has never really been Channel Zero's focus. If anything they should stop buying first run programming altogether and just buy second run programming like Bones and CSI Miami.

[InMontreal]

Buying the leftovers for cheap doesn't always work out as there is usually a big reason why they are leftovers to begin with. Again, not saying they should be bidding against the big networks for programming, just pointing out that they aren't the best when it comes to which shows they do pick up.

However, one thing I forgot is that CHCH was likely unaware that both Global and City would be airing comedies in the Friday 8:00PM hour

Soooo what ?
First of all, CHCH is not a national network, it's a Hamilton-based local station, which happens to operate repeaters in the province. Remember an argument when Rogers brought CJNT Montreal, they said it was a strategic acquisition so they could access national advertisers, but they knew they're gonna lose money anyway. CHCH ain't no access to such national advertisers that CTV, Global and Citytv can enjoy.

Another thing to take into consideration, CHEK Victoria airs most of CHCH's primetime programming, so acquisition decisions aren't probably made alone (if CHCH and CHEK can afford it). With limited ressources and asvertisement money, their decisions are probably based on what they can afford and what they can't anymore regardless of its ratings performance.

Buying both Last Man and Cristela, it's logic that both sitcoms will air in simulcast on fridays. Who cares what CTV, CTV2, City and Global will air at the same time? Are every canadian stations and specialties morphing into a small ball in their corner while CTV simulcast Big Bang Theory with its 4 million viewers rating ? Let's get real.

At least, let's give CHCH some credit for trying different things as an independent broadcaster. They can't just keep airing movies every night...

[lostjon]

All things considered, the acquisitions made by Channel Zero/CHCH were not for a lack of trying. I honestly thought they would have gone after the new ABC sitcoms on Tuesday night (Selfie and Manhattan Love Story). No other American networks have sitcoms in the Tuesday 8pm hour for the fall, and neither do the Canadian networks, so that could have been a potential counterprogramming strategy. Then again, it might have been risky given the heavy competition already there with hit series like NCIS and The Voice, plus other newcomers including action-adventure drama The Flash which has generated buzz, and reality show Utopia. Though newer sitcoms have not been hit performers as of late, it did not stop CTV and Global from acquiring some of them, but it's likely that these ABC sitcoms were showing least promise and ended up getting passed over. City could have easily picked these up instead of Utopia, but the latter was cheaper for them following all the money spent on NHL.

SoChannel Zero/CHCH opted to play it safe and add stuff on Friday where overall viewing levels are lower and therefore less competition and expectations in terms of ratings (although that could somewhat change with The Amazing Race moving there). But still, in picking up Last Man Standing and Cristela, they not only added variety to their lineup (as these are the first time sitcoms have been added to their schedule since Channel Zero owned the station) but simply took advantage of getting a show dropped from another network, and that they are able to air in simulcast. True, simulcast programming does not always guarantee hit status or many viewers, but it's not like the sitcoms airing on Global or City in the same hour are going to be huge performers either, especially since they are all airing in post-release.

In spite of just airing only once a week, their acquisition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was just to accompany their original game show Spin Off and nothing more. Spin Off was given a run of 13 episodes last fall, but did not get any extended order or renewal as far as I know. If that was the case, then no incentive to keep Millionaire in their lineup. Also, they were trying to capitalize on their weeknight game block of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! Speaking of which, if those game shows have been dropped by Channel Zero/CHCH for the fall, what broadcaster in Canada would be interested in picking them up? Historically, I think both shows have aired on just about every Canadian network including CBC, CTV, Global, OMNI, and City at some point in their run. Given their old demographic skew, who would want them now? CTS (they currently carry Family Feud although it's moving to City) or perhaps ZoomerMedia for Vision?

Not seeing Supernatural on the list leads me to think that Bell Media has bought exclusive rights to the show for next season on its specialty channels. Previous seasons are currently airing daily on M3. They also had second window runs this season - they will probably regain the first run rights in simulcast on Tuesday nights. I'm not sure whether CHCH would have held on to Supernatural if they acquired the new ABC sitcoms just so they would have aired two hours of leftover simulcast programming on Tuesday night, but probably not, as a pair of unproven sitcoms leading into a show like Supernatural would not really flow well together unlike when it was paired with The Originals this season.

As I mentioned in my first posts on this thread, four new shows from this fall remain without a Canadian broadcaster. Red Band Society (FOX) and Manhattan Love Story (ABC) are both from ABC Studios, while Selfie (ABC) is from Warner Bros. and Jane the Virgin (CW) is a joint production between CBS and Warner. In all likelihood, all these shows were sold to CTV via their output deals with ABC Studios and Warner Bros. Subsequently, they were offered to City who took a pass in the aftermath of the Rogers NHL contract. Jane the Virgin is a show that might be of interest to Corus at some point. The premise, tone and subject matter seems suitable for a channel like YTV, ABC Spark or even Telelatino (being a loose adaptation of a telenovela from South America). Another CW show from few seasons ago that has since been cancelled, Life Unexpected, never had a Canadian broadcaster, but following the end of season 1, was acquired by Corus and aired on YTV, as well as in French on Radio-Canada.

[InMontreal]

while Selfie (ABC) is from Warner Bros. and Jane the Virgin (CW) is a joint production between CBS and Warner. In all likelihood, all these shows were sold to CTV via their output deals with ABC Studios and Warner Bros.

Could also go with Netflix. 90210 (CBS Prod) ended its run there, and The 100 (Warner) went there : http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...cws-100-687941

Jane will probably get there as well. Not sure Selfie could get there, but its a possibility rather than nothing.

Life Unexpected, never had a Canadian broadcaster, but following the end of season 1, was acquired by Corus and aired on YTV, as well as in French on Radio-Canada.

LUX never aired on Radio-Canada. It was picked up by Séries+ back in may 2012.
http://blogue.bellmediatvplus.ca/de-...eries-cet-ete/

[TVViewer]

What do you expect them to do? All the top rated programs are purchased by CTV and Global for the most part. Primetime has never really been Channel Zero's focus. If anything they should stop buying first run programming altogether and just buy second run programming like Bones and CSI Miami.

I'm not saying they should be buying more expensive shows. I'm saying they shouldn't be buying shows just because they are cheap and nobody else wants them. Again, if they were good at picking up shows they wouldn't be dropping so many of them every few years. It would be interesting to see them explain why they pick up the shows that they do.

[TVViewer]

[QUOTE=InMontreal;66344]

Soooo what ?


First of all, CHCH is not a national network, it's a Hamilton-based local station, which happens to operate repeaters in the province. Remember an argument when Rogers brought CJNT Montreal, they said it was a strategic acquisition so they could access national advertisers, but they knew they're gonna lose money anyway. CHCH ain't no access to such national advertisers that CTV, Global and Citytv can enjoy.

Another thing to take into consideration, CHEK Victoria airs most of CHCH's primetime programming, so acquisition decisions aren't probably made alone (if CHCH and CHEK can afford it). With limited ressources and asvertisement money, their decisions are probably based on what they can afford and what they can't anymore regardless of its ratings performance.

None of this has anything to do with the point I was making.

Buying both Last Man and Cristela, it's logic that both sitcoms will air in simulcast on fridays. Who cares what CTV, CTV2, City and Global will air at the same time?

CHCH should. Advertisers will. Ignoring what your stronger competitors are airing in the time slot is idiotic.

Are every canadian stations and specialties morphing into a small ball in their corner while CTV simulcast Big Bang Theory with its 4 million viewers rating

No, but they counter-program with hit non comedy programming that goes after a different audience (if they do air comedy they know they are going to perform poorly), which is the exact opposite of what CHCH will be doing if they simulcast the ABC comedies Fridays at 8:00PM.

? Let's get real.

Says the person who thinks what stronger networks are airing in the time slot does not matter.

At least, let's give CHCH some credit for trying different things as an independent broadcaster. They can't just keep airing movies every night..

I stand by that picking up the ABC comedies was a poor decision. Nobody wanted these shows for a reason. The ratings were horrible on City and they are going to do even worse as the time slot is going to be a lot more competitive this fall vs last season. They may not have been aware that Global would be airing comedies in the time slot, but they did know that both Global and City passed on these shows despite the fact that they had nothing to simulcast in the slot. City's programming strategy is cheaper shows CTV and Global don't want and getting as many simulcasts as possible, the fact that City passed on cheap shows and a simulcast hour and is instead airing other low rated comedies out of simulcast should have been a warning sign to CHCH.

[InMontreal]

None of this has anything to do with the point I was making.

CHCH should. Advertisers will. Ignoring what your stronger competitors are airing in the time slot is idiotic.

OK, so, based on your Shaw Media opinion, CHCH should air something else on fridays 8pm because they should be scared of Global's post-release airing of NBC's About a Boy and whatever other low-rated NBC sitcom that will be programmed after ?

Wow. Just, wow.

As I said earlier, whatever CHCH can simulcast will be effective in Hamilton-Toronto-Niagara. If CHEK get on board, it will be effective in the Vancouver-Victoria area. Whatever Global programs will always get better BBM ratings. So what's the point of debating what CHCH picked up for their lineup ?

[TVViewer]

[QUOTE=InMontreal;66366]

OK, so, based on your Shaw Media opinion, CHCH should air something else on fridays 8pm because they should be scared of Global's post-release airing of NBC's About a Boy and whatever other low-rated NBC sitcom that will be programmed after ?

Wow. Just, wow.

If CHCH is going to air extremely low rated comedies in a time slot, they should be scared of higher rated comedies airing in the same time slot on a stronger network. ANY network is going to be concerned about a stronger network airing similar programming as them in the same time slot.

As I said earlier, whatever CHCH can simulcast will be effective in Hamilton-Toronto-Niagara. If CHEK get on board, it will be effective in the Vancouver-Victoria area. Whatever Global programs will always get better BBM ratings. So what's the point of debating what CHCH picked up for their lineup ?

CHCH should be counter-programming against the big networks, not airing lower rated shows that go after the same audience. Fridays at 8:00PM, CTV and CTV2 both have reality shows, Global and City both have comedies, CHCH should be counter-programming with something else, IF they decide to air the ABC comedies in simulcast, they wont be counter-programming, they will be going after the same audience as the other networks but with lower rated shows.

NBC has a newsmagazine scheduled Fridays at 8:00PM, which no Canadian network owns the rights at the moment, and it would fit perfectly with their existing schedule which is very heavy on news and newsmagazines. Not only are newsmagazines cheap, but they are compatible with the rest of the schedule and can be promoted throughout the day during their news programming.

[TVViewer]

CTS has picked up both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy

[ottawasnowdog]

CTS has picked up both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy

That can't be a cheap pick up for them.

[lostjon]

CTS has picked up both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy

I figured that was the case - CTS dropped Family Feud for two other game shows. CTS is carried OTA in both Ontario and Alberta. For BC, I'm guessing those shows will move from CHEK to JoyTV (ZoomerMedia).

Meaning that The Simpsons and Access Hollywood will probably occupy the 7 to 8 slot weeknights on CHCH.

Out of curioisity, where's the source of this news? And when can we expect an actual announcement from Channel Zero/CHCH about their fall 2014 lineup?

[lostjon]

Wow, it looks like that's not all that CTS picked up. They also got:

American Idol (looks like it's been dropped officially by CTV)
The X Factor UK
America’s Funniest Home Videos (dropped by Rogers?)
The Biggest Loser (Dropped by Rogers)
Judge Judy (Dropped by Rogers)
Hot Bench (new to syndication)

CTS is looking to give CHCH a run for their money.

http://www.marketingmag.ca/uncategor...is-fall-115857