I'm sure there's a good reason for all of these changes just weeks in advance. But do local stations know what they are?
Sadly, my guess is that all these titling and timing tweaks are intended to manipulate national peoplemeter results to benefit network posts of schedules already sold with guaranteed delivery.
So, 180+ local stations scream "how high?" whenever 30 Rock decides to play a game with timing. Do you think all of them change all of these programs each time NBC sneezes?
In reality, the vast majority are so exhausted from the constant changes of programming, most stations do not have accurate inventory in their sales systems. But no one will admit it.
Posted: 01/28/2014 10:43:02 PM
Air Date: 02/23/2014 Sunday
Start Time: 08:30:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Duration: 02:08:00
Type: Time Change
Message: OLYMPIC
WINTER GAMES: PRIMETIME B moves to 8:30pm ET (previously at 8:00pm ET)
and is now 2:08:00 in duration (previously 2:38:00). Please see updated
feed and format tabs, and contingencies on this day for further details.
Posted: 01/28/2014 10:41:32 PM
Air Date: 02/23/2014 Sunday
Start Time: 07:00:00 PM [ET]
Show Name: OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Duration: 01:30:00
Type: Duration
Message: OLYMPIC
WINTER GAMES: PRIMETIME A is now 1:30:00 in duration (previously
1:00:00). Please see updated feed and format tabs, and contingencies on
this day for further details.
Posted: 01/28/2014 10:37:50 PM
Air Date: 02/23/2014 Sunday
Start Time: 07:00:00 AM [ET]
Show Name: OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Duration: 03:00:00
Type: New Booking
Message: OLYMPIC
WINTER GAMES: DAYTIME A GAME is booked (replacing second 3 hours of
Daytime A). Please see format tab and contingencies on this day for
details.
Posted: 01/28/2014 10:36:41 PM
Air Date: 02/23/2014 Sunday
Start Time: 06:30:00 AM [ET]
Show Name: OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Duration: 00:30:00
Type: New Booking
Message: OLYMPIC
WINTER GAMES: DAYTIME A PRE-GAME is booked (replacing first half hour
of Daytime A). Please see format tab and contingencies on this day for
details.
After redoing the estimates for these program splits on 2/23, I growl when I see that they've done another "Kentucky Derby bait and switch" tactic. Tell all the local stations the event will be three hours. Have them sell the block. Position the spots in the first half hour later, while it's still one block. But just before airing, re-title the block into two chunks... and suddenly announce a format change with most spots falling in the lesser valued PAV.
Posted: 01/28/2014 09:47:33 PM
Type: Format
Message: FORMAT REVISION: Formats for OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES - PRIMETIME have been revised on the following dates: 2/12, 2/15, 2/19, 2/21, 2/22 and 2/23. Note for 2/23: Primetime-A and Primetime-B have been revised. Please see format tabs and contingencies on these dates for complete details.
That way, the network spots sold in the actual event earns the event rating, and the station avails... "well, they ARE the little people, aren't they? Are they even smart enough to figure this out? Heck, we've been hosing the stations for decades... why would they complain now?"
Think I'm wrong? Notice the Closing Ceremony, now broken into two halves, isn't broken when it's replayed overnight? It's all about SALES on the network level; they probably just bonus these overnights.
