NBC Bay Area announces its new schedule to fill ‘Ellen’ slot

By Michael P. Hill Article may include affiliate links

NBC’s owned station in San Fransisco has announced its new schedule that reveals how it will fill the hour in the schedule left by the ending of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

Currently, KNTV, which brands on air as NBC Bay Area, airs “Ellen” reruns at 4 p.m. local time, followed by its local news block at 5 p.m.

Starting Sept. 12, 2022, the station will air the east coast feed of “NBC Nightly News” at 4 p.m., tape-delaying it by 30 minutes and placing it immediately following the syndicated talk show “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” “Kelly” had previously been announced as the replacement for “Ellen” on NBC-owned stations in major markets.

That will be followed by a 30-minute 4:30 p.m. local newscast to be solo-anchored by Audrey Asistio. Vianey Arana will contribute weather updates.

The station also confirmed it will carry “NBC News Daily,” the new show NBC is prepping to replace “Days of Our Lives,” at noon.

KNTV’s move is similar to the Los Angeles ABC-owned station KABC’s practice of airing the east coast feed of “ABC World News Tonight” live at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, though the Bay Area station will air “Nightly” 30 minutes later.

KNTV will continue to air “Nightly” at 6:30 p.m. local time as well.

In most markets with owned stations, “World News Tonight,” “Nightly” and “CBS Evening News” air overnight as well, a tactic that allows the networks to not only fill their schedules but also goose the ratings of their signature evening newscasts since the rules allow for any repeats of a program count toward a cumulative total.

Because the stations the networks own tend to be in larger markets, attracting even a small portion of available eyeballs on an encore presentation can boost total viewership noticeably.

It’s not immediately clear what other NBC owned stations will do to fill the hour left by “Ellen,” though sneaking in another hour of local news or lifestyle programming are standout contenders.

Only stations in the mountain and Pacific time zones could conceiveably air “Nightly” earlier in the day, since the central time zone airs the broadcast live at 5:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. eastern).