As of Monday night, NBC owned stations in eight of the nation’s biggest markets replaced what would have normally been the first 25 minutes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with more local news.
At the same time, five O&Os have ushered in a new 7pm newscast, while three others are debuting a local newscast at 7:30pm Eastern.
From 11:30pm-Midnight, as of March 16, an additional 30 minutes of local news can be seen on NBC owned stations WNBC-4 in New York, KNBC-4 in Los Angeles, WCAU-10 in Philadelphia, KXAS-5 in Dallas-Fort Worth, KNTV-8 in the San Francisco Bay Area, WBTS-TV in Boston, WTVJ-6 in Miami, and KNSD-7/39 in San Diego.
Three NBC O&Os — WMAQ-5 in Chicago, WRC-4 in Washington, and WVIT-30 in Hartford will air regularly scheduled programming, presumably encore episodes of Tonight.
Production of Tonight has ceased due to the coronavirus emergency in New York and across the globe.
“The expanded newscasts help local audiences stay informed about the latest developments occurring in their communities around the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” NBC said.
The late-night news expansion comes at the same time NBC O&Os in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and in Connecticut added at 7pm 30-minute newscast. At WRC-4 in Washington, a half-hour of local news from 7:30-8pm is now on the slate.
In Chicago and in Dallas, the 6:30pm CT time slot is now home to local 30-minute newcasts
NBC owned stations in Philadelphia and Boston already air local news at 7pm.
KNSD in San Diego will continue to air regular programming in the 7pm hour, NBC says.
