Sinclair Expands The National News Desk Across Local Station Schedules

Sinclair Inc. expanded The National News Desk on September 21, adding nationally produced newscasts to afternoon and early-evening schedules across its local-station footprint without reducing existing local news hours.

A new 5 p.m. edition anchored by Taylor Murray began airing in Seattle, Nashville, Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio; Mobile, Alabama; Wilkes-Barre–Scranton, Pennsylvania; Flint, Michigan; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Greenville–New Bern, North Carolina; Reno, Nevada; and Chico–Redding, California. Sinclair said the expansion replaces syndicated programming in some time periods rather than displacing local newscasts.

The affected outlets include KUNS in Seattle, WUXP in Nashville, WBFF-DT2 in Baltimore, WWHO in Columbus, WFGX in Mobile, WQMY in Wilkes-Barre–Scranton, WBSF in Flint, WTGS in Savannah, WCIV in Charleston, WCTI-DT2 in Greenville–New Bern, KNSN in Reno and KRVU in Chico–Redding.

The scheduling strategy differs by market. Savannah’s WTGS, which does not operate a local news department, replaced The People’s Court at 5 p.m. with The National News Desk. WTGS already carried the program during morning, late-evening and late-night periods. In Seattle, the newscast airs on KUNS as an alternative during a period when co-owned ABC affiliate KOMO-TV offers local news leading into ABC World News Tonight with David Muir. In Nashville, The National News Desk on WZTV precedes a 5:30 p.m. local newscast on sister station WUXP.

Sinclair also added daytime half-hour editions anchored by Jan Jeffcoat, joined by Live Desk anchor Mark Boyle and national reporter Angela Brown, within afternoon programming blocks in 21 markets. Those markets include St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Grand Rapids, Oklahoma City, Birmingham, Omaha, Chattanooga, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Eugene, Bakersfield, Corpus Christi and Gainesville, as well as several markets receiving the 5 p.m. edition.

Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s senior vice president of news, said the additional hours draw on the group’s content centers and journalists while complementing local reporting. Launched in 2021, The National News Desk now airs on 90 broadcast stations and is also available free through TheNationalDesk.com and live or on demand through YouTube.

ConsumerEXP analysis: The expansion gives Sinclair more control over programming and advertising inventory in daytime periods otherwise filled by syndicated shows. It also turns reporting gathered across Sinclair newsrooms into content that can be distributed simultaneously through local broadcast stations and free streaming outlets.