Bloody Promo Wars in NYC

With today marking the launch of WNBC New York’s new lifestyle program, LX New York, at 5, Fox O&O WNYW takes a shot at its NBC O&O competition with a promo about the death of 5 p.m. news on WNBC.

The 20-second promo starts with a NYPD cruiser skidding into a crime scene. A detective and a plain-clothes step under the police tape and examine the victim–a TV with a smashed screen.

“One station just killed its 5 p.m. newscast,” the voiceover says in its best noir. “Now that’s a crime!”

The voiceover then tells the viewer that 5 p.m. news on Fox 5 is “still very much alive.”

I’m a wee bit surprised WNYW didn’t call out WNBC by name, seeing as the typical viewer probably doesn’t know which of the stations is scrapping its 5 p.m. news as of today.

Unless, of course, the typical viewer reads B&C.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.