Casey Anthony trial: A tour of media village

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Roger

The Casey Anthony trial has brought unprecedented media attention to Orlando — as well a horde of reporters and satellite trucks now camped outside the Orange County Courthouse. Here’s a quick tour of this temporary media village, which some have dubbed “Casey Town.”

This is the main media village area, directly across Orange Avenue from the Orange County Courthouse. This is where the broadcast and cable networks are positioned, as well as Orlando stations WKMG-Local 6 and WOFL-Fox 35.

This is the south "suburb" of Casey Town, located south of the courthouse and home to WFTV-Channel 9, WESH-Channel 2 and WDBO-AM radio.

This is the northern boundary of Casey Town -- one of the Orlando Sentinel's parking lots. Univision secured space here, with a view of the courthouse parking garage as a background.

Casey Anthony trial outdraws NBA Finals in Orlando

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Roger

Interesting tidbit about Orlando TV ratings for the Casey Anthony trial, courtesy of TVNewser.com…

“Bob Jordan, news director of ABC affiliate WFTV, tells TVNewser more people watched the trial on his station as well as on Fox O&O WOFL and cable station CFN13 combined, than watched the Miami Heat – Dallas Mavericks NBA playoff game in prime time [Thursday] night.” Full report here.

Orlando Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker breaks down the ratings for the O-Town stations…

“Fox-owned WOFL-Channel 35 and ABC affiliate WFTV-Channel 9 were in a tight race Thursday morning with their wall-to-wall coverage. … WOFL drew 91,800 viewers to WFTV’s 91,700. Central Florida News 13, which is available to customers of Bright House Networks, drew 66,800 viewers. …

“From 1:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, WFTV rose to the top with its trial coverage. WFTV averaged 116,500 viewers. WOFL was second with 93,900. News 13 drew 84,800. CBS affiliate WKMG-Channel 6 decided to go wall to wall Thursday afternoon and drew 27,500 viewers. “In Session,” which ends it coverage at 3 p.m., had 16,400 viewers. And HLN drew 11,500.” Full report here.

Casey Anthony trial live video captivating Orlando TV

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Roger

Casey Anthony coverage on all 4 major network affiliates in Central Florida.

Casey Anthony’s murder trial is easily the biggest television news event in Orlando’s history.

Each day, it seems, the local television stations keep turning their coverage up a notch. All aired the opening statements, then planned to settle into live streaming coverage that would appear mostly online. But that plan went out the window almost immediately when Casey’s father, George Anthony, was called as the state’s first witness. Just minutes after they had returned to regular programming, they were cutting in with George’s testimony. It was a sign of things to come.

WKMG-Local 6 began broadcasting the trial on its digital subchannel 6.2, but has been dropping its afternoon programming to air the trial on its main 6.1 channel.

WFTV-Channel 9 opted to start carrying coverage on its sister station, WRDQ-TV 27. But once Oprah Winfrey’s show ended, WFTV replaced it at 4 p.m. with live coverage of the trial to lead into its 5 p.m. newscast. Now, WFTV has moved all Casey coverage throughout the day over to Channel 9.1 – bumping ABC soaps for this real-life drama.

Today, WOFL-Fox 35 — which is also airing the trial on its main channel, aired a station promo touting that its “the No. 1 choice for Casey Anthony coverage” — based on Nielsen ratings. (Really, a promo for that? See for yourself below.)

But its not just Orlando stations that are obsessed with the trial. Tru TV and HLN have been adding live coverage, and HLN’s primetime shows with Dr. Drew and Joy Behar are dominated by Casey trial discussion.

If and when Casey Anthony takes the witness stand, I would not be at all surprised to see CNN, Fox News and MSNBC carry that live. The only question is when the jury finally delivers its verdict, will main networks ABC, CBS and NBC carry that live? I wouldn’t bet against it.

The other question I have is how much is this coverage costing Orlando’s stations’ pocketbooks? In addition to fees for parking their mobile “studios” across the street from the Orange County Courthouse and the Monday-Saturday staffing for trial sessions, they are losing commercial revenue during non-stop trial coverage. (I won’t even get into the online costs involved with bandwidth fees for all the streaming video folks are watching online.)

Will it all be worth it?

Blast from the Past: INN on WOFL-TV 35

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Roger

Today’s “Blast from the Past” newspaper advertisement comes from the February 15, 1981, edition of the (Orlando) Sentinel Star.

It highlights the weeknight information programming on then-independent WOFL-TV 35. Like many independent stations, WOFL picked up the syndicated Independent Network News, produced out of WPIX-11 in New York City. For many small stations, including TV 35, this was the only newscast they carried. WOFL did air “News Capsule” updates in prime time, but I’m pretty sure they had not yet started when this newspaper advertisement appeared.

If you have trouble making out the type, here’s what it says: “Catch national and international news as it happens! Anchors Pat Harper, Bill Jorgensen and Steve Bosh keep you up-to-date on top news, sports and weather.

INN was followed at 10:30 p.m. on TV 35 with the short-lived syndicatesd show, World of People. “Tonight, Sara Edwards takes us out on the town with 80-year-old Disco Sally, to find out why she married a man 52 years her junior.” (Gee, I think I would like to know the answer to that myself.)

INN ran from 1980 to 1990. The start of Cable News Network and the birth of the Fox network make the need for a national 10 p.m. newscast on independent stations less important for viewers. That’s too bad.

Here’s a YouTube clip of Independent Network News.

And click here for previous entires in our Blast from the Past series.

Orlando is test market for new Fran Drescher show

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Roger

Fran Descher — aka “The Nanny” — is taking baby steps into the talk show world right through Orlando.

“The Fran Drescher Tawk Show” premieres Friday at 11 a.m. on WOFL-Fox 35 and five other Fox owned-and-operated stations. It’s a three-week experiment to see if the show generates enough audience to warrant a national rollout, and it’s the same way Fox started the Wendy Williams Show.

MediaWeek.com reported: Drescher said her show would “cover all my passions, everything from pedicures to politics.” As a rape and cancer survivor and author of Cancer Schmancer in 2002, she’s also looking forward to “sharing my life lessons.”

The show is based in Los Angeles. Besides WOFL, the other Fox stations carrying the show are WNYW-Fox 5 in New York, KTTV-Fox 11 in L.A., WTXF-Fox 29 in Philadelphia, KMSP-Fox 9 in Minneapolis and KSAZ-Fox 10 in Phoenix.

To see the show’s website, click here.

Fox Sports Florida, Sun Sports reach deal with Dish

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Roger

Dish Network subscribers who are fans of the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat can see the teams play this season. And they’ll also avoid losing WOFL-Fox 35 and WRBW-My 65.

Dish and Fox Networks on Friday announced a wide-ranging distribution agreement for continued access to programming from Fox Broadcasting and Fox local television stations in major cities, plus FX, National Geographic Channel, and Fox’s 19 regional sports networks. The channels were restored for Dish Network viewers Friday.

Fox Sports Florida as well as Sun Sports had been blacked out on Dish since the old deal expired on Oct. 1.

“After prolonged negotiations to reach a fair deal, we’re pleased to enter into a long term agreement with Fox and to assure our customers that they can continue to enjoy these channels,” said Dave Shull, Senior Vice President of Programming for Dish Network, in a news release. “We thank our customers, our retail and channel partners, and our employees for their support through these negotiations, which we believe resulted in a fair deal that reinforces DISH Network’s position as the best value in television.”

According to the release, Dish will continue to provide programming from the local Fox and MyNet television stations in the following markets: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore (MyNet 24 only), Boston, Chicago, Cleveland/Akron, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Gainesville (FL), Greensboro/Winston-Salem, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Tampa, and Washington D.C.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

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