NBC’s new Boston O&O and WHDH, the network’s former affiliate, kicked off a new era in Boston television Sunday, setting the stage for next-level competition among all the major players in the DMA.
Right off the bat, Sunbeam’s WHDH, which became a news-heavy independent Jan. 1 after losing its NBC affiliation, is claiming victory, saying that each one of its expanded slate of newscasts ranked No. 1 or No. 2 with adults 25-54 Monday – the first weekday of its new existence.
That included the station’s new local morning newscasts beating NBC’s Today Show, which aired on WHDH through last week.
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According to ratings provided by WHDH, WBTS, the NBC O&O, did, in fact, get off to a rough start. On Monday, the vast majority of its newscasts garnered fewer adults 25-54 than its three major competitors.
The NBC-owned station, however, did throw the market a curveball at 6 p.m. Monday, when it was Boston’s most-watched station, according to ratings. That in and of itself is quite a feat for WBTS when you consider the station wasn’t even on the air until the day before and was being delivered by some untraditional methods.
Surely, a great deal more to come.
