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.
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.
