South Florida Dumps Out of Oscars Early
Uh Oh! It looks like one West Palm Beach station might be in trouble with ABC after they dumped out of the Oscars early for the late news.
WPBF the ABC station in the market may have violated its contract with ABC last night when the cut out of the live broadscast of the Oscars early!
Gossip Extra writes that by some accounts, the station shaved off up to two minutes from the show’s credits and last commercials — a definite no-no in the television world, especially when it involves high-audience broadcasts like the Academy Awards.
Fines could end up being leveled against the area’s No. 2 station.
Technically, GM Caroline Taplett is supposed to report the boo-boo to the network. She didn’t reply to a request for comment.
“Local stations can scroll down the credits quicker, they can start the news with a small window of the network show on the screen, but they are never, ever supposed to dump network programming before the end,” said a retired TV exec who asked not to be named.
Another television insider said only a high-level decision could trigger the station to dump network about 12:15 a.m., and cut directly to star anchors Tiffany Kenney and Todd McDermott, on rare weekend duty.
Ratings show the 11 p.m. newscast has had trouble retaining local audiences at the end of network programing.
ABC has yet to comment on the WPBF move.
BTW, the story that WPBF exec just needed to know what that a pedestrian was killed late last night.