Nexstar to launch national nightly newscast on WGN America
Nexstar Media Group, which bought Tribune Media in September, is launching a nightly three-hour national newscast on cable channel WGN America beginning this summer.
Competing with established cable news networks such as CNN and Fox, “News Nation” will be broadcast to more than 75 million homes from new facilities being built at WGN’s studios in Chicago. The program will air daily from 5 to 8 p.m. Pacific Time, employing reporters from local Nexstar TV newsrooms across the country to provide content.
Irving, Tex.-based Nexstar is positioning the network as an “unbiased national news” alternative to the current offerings on cable.
“No one else is delivering news in prime-time,” Sean Compton, executive vice president of WGN America, said in a news release Wednesday. “Others are airing entertainment programming, sports programming or opinion shows, which creates a great opportunity for WGN America to provide an alternative in this daypart.”
In addition to the nightly newscast, “News Nation” will update stories 24/7 online. Jennifer Lyons, news director at WGN-TV in Chicago, has been promoted to vice president of news for WGN America, and will oversee the new cable news broadcast.
Anchors for the national newscast have yet to be named. Nexstar plans to hire 120 new employees in Chicago dedicated exclusively to producing the newscast, a Nexstar spokesman said Wednesday.
Nexstar has been shaking up the Chicago properties it acquired as part of its $4.1 billion purchase of Tribune Media, which created the nation’s largest TV chain, with 197 local stations. The deal moved “Chicago’s very own” WGN-Ch. 9, national cable channel WGN America, WGN-AM 720 and CLTV under the Dallas company’s ownership.
In December, Nexstar pulled the plug on CLTV after nearly 27 years as a local Chicago cable news network, citing increased competition from digital news sites and national cable news networks as factors in the decision.
Nexstar also replaced WGN Radio morning man Steve Cochran with another well-known Chicago air personality, Bob Sirott, who started on air earlier this month. WGN promoted Mary Sandberg Boyle to general manager, replacing Todd Manley, who was cut loose by the station as part of the September sale of Tribune Media to Nexstar.
The debut of “News Nation” will mark the end of nightly syndicated entertainment programming on WGN America, another transformation of the cable channel that was once best known for airing Cubs games and “Andy Griffith” reruns.
WGN America, which started as a superstation in the 1970s by uploading WGN’s broadcast schedule to satellite, dropped Cubs baseball and Chicago news several years ago, converting to a full-fledged cable channel with original and syndicated programming.
The shift to a prime-time news network puts WGN America in a crowded but potentially lucrative field. In the news release Wednesday, Perry Sook, the chairman and CEO of Nexstar, said “News Nation” is positioned to compete against established news networks “without incurring incremental operating expenses” by leveraging the 5,400 journalists already employed at local Nexstar TV stations.
“We get to the scene of important breaking news first and provide live coverage delivered by local reporters who know the local community and can provide the proper context for what’s happening,” Sook said.
The Nexstar-Tribune Media merger created the largest TV station group in the U.S., unseating Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, which was forced to abandon its own takeover attempt for Tribune Media in 2018 after the proposed $3.9 billion transaction drew the ire of regulators.
The proposed deal sparked speculation that Sinclair might convert cable channel WGN America into a conservative news network to rival Fox News Channel.
Nexstar is promising its national cable news offering will be different – by running straight down the middle.
“This will be a newscast that serves as a refuge for viewers across the country who are disenchanted with current news offerings and looking for fact-based news that’s delivered without bias or opinion,” Lyons said.