WBBZ-TV - Programming

Programming

Syndicated programming on WBBZ includes Cash Cab, cars.tv and The Daily Buzz.

The first original program to air from the WBBZ studios was Political Buzz, a weekly political interview and talk show hosted by prior longtime WIVB-TV reporter/anchor Mylous Hairston, which debuted Thursday, June 21, 2012; tapings take place on the Wednesday preceding the original airing. (Hairston left the show after a few months; DiSciullo took his place.) The Fred Jackson Show airs live Monday nights at 6:30 pm, while Sports Rap-Up airs live Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm. All three of these programs can be seen by an audience; reservations must be made through the station's website. Additional airings take place take place shortly after the original airing.

Off Beat Cinema, the long-running hosted movie series formerly on WKBW-TV, moved to WBBZ on August 4. This locally produced program follows Svengoolie a similar hosted movie series from Me-TV. A television version of America's Car Show was added September 2012.

WBBZ broadcast a three-hour "Buffalo Night in America" broadcast, available worldwide on Ustream, on July 21, 2012. The broadcast included live streaming video from various parties around the United States and various forms of variety entertainment centered around Western New York culture.

Local programming Arno had announced in 2011 that he was seeking to add to the station included "a morning show (which would include local segments inside The Daily Buzz), a game show, a local late-night talk show with a local comedian as host, a local talk show version of ABC’s The View (which will likely include former Buffalo TV personalities Susan Hunt and Susan Banks), a show geared to the military, a local Battle of the Bands and a show that reviews video games that is aimed at younger viewers. Also slated for the future were a sports talk show hosted by Sabres Hockey Network personalities Rob Ray and Danny Gare, "a weekly made-for-TV play produced in conjunction with a local theater company drawing on its actors and production crew," and a weekly Buffalo Bills postgame show. The morning show was expected to launch September 6, 2011 while the local version of The View was slated to debut in October 2011. A late start in construction of a studio forced the delay of these programs. No talent has yet been announced to host any of those shows. As of December 2011, only three local non-paid shows, "Come Dine with Me" (since moved to WKBW-TV), "Swagg University and "Buffalo Backstage" were on the schedule, appearing weekly (all three being produced off-site). In early 2012 the station began to advertise during station breaks for applicants for positions as actors, producers, etcetera and stating something big would be happening.

In addition to Yankees games, Arno has proposed purchasing the rights to select Buffalo Sabres games through the Sabres Hockey Network as the result of a prolonged contract dispute between current rights holder MSG Network and Time Warner Cable. The two sides came to an agreement before any action could be taken on Arno's proposal.

WBBZ announced the acquisition of the rights to a Thursday Night Football broadcast featuring the Buffalo Bills during the 2012 season, following an "aggressive" bidding process. Those rights had previously resided with WKBW. WBBZ had made the bid in part because as it stood, the channel would be the only place on Time Warner Cable that viewers could see the game (NFL Network was not available on Time Warner Cable at the time of the bid), but Time Warner Cable and NFL Network signed a carriage agreement during the course of the 2012 season, rendering the advantage moot. Most of the other programming on the channel comes from Me-TV. The amount of time devoted to infomercials has increased displacing some of the daytime Me-TV programming. Me-TV's complete schedule airs on subchannel 67.3.

WBBZ's programming to date has proven competitive with other stations in the market, having finished in a near statistical tie with WNLO and WNYO-TV in the Nielsen Ratings; this is despite the fact that both of those stations have local newscasts (a particular ratings boost to WNLO) whereas WBBZ, as of December 2011, does not. However, by summer 2012, ratings had fallen to a third of their 2011 highs. The ratings later rebounded in November 2012.