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36-540: ANC primarily syndicated its news programming in blocks of varying length, determined by each carrier station, to local television stations across the United States . The channel was also offered to pay television providers across the country from its inception, though beginning in 1994, it was carried mainly by direct-broadcast satellite providers United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB) and, after its 1999 acquisition of USSB from Hubbard, DirecTV . All News Channel

72-822: A strand in British broadcasting) is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attract and hold a given audience for a long period of time. Notable examples of overt block programming were NBC 's Thursday evening " Must See TV " lineup, which included two hours of sitcoms and one hour of ER , and Channel 4 's " T4 " program which often ran sitcoms back-to-back for an hour or more. Reruns on cable television are often assembled into similar blocks to fill several hours of generally little-watched daytime periods. A particularly long program block, especially one that does not air on

108-1025: A subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting , in Chicago . Anchor Angela Miles , reporters Chuck Coppola and Bill Moller, and executive producer Harvey Moshman brought viewers commentary from the floors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange , as well as from their studios in the West Loop . The program, which typically aired before local and national morning news timeslots, had been marginalized as those shows began to start earlier (as early as 4:00 a.m.), with First Business often moved to lower-rated and lower-viewed graveyard slots . The program's cancellation ended 47 years of Weigel Broadcasting and their flagship station WCIU-TV (channel 26) carrying and originating business-focused programming from Chicago. As of

144-399: A cash-plus-barter basis) via All-American Television , in part as a defensive strategy against network-supplied overnight newscasts. The channel's reach was boosted on June 17, 1994, when Hubbard Broadcasting launched United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), including ANC as the direct-broadcast satellite service's only option for news; CNN and other news channels were carried on DirecTV,

180-456: A regular schedule, is known as a marathon . Block programming in radio also refers to programming content that appeals to various demographics in time blocks, usually corresponding to the top or bottom of the hour or the quarter-hour periods. For example, various musical genres might be featured, such as a country music hour, a three-hour afternoon block of jazz, or a four-hour Saturday night '70s disco show. Generally speaking, block programming

216-577: A replacement. (From January 1990 to October 1994, KSTP offered ANC programming and live locally produced newscasts in rotating half-hour blocks, as part of an overnight news block branded as Eyewitness News All Night .) In addition, since ANC's newscasts never contained any copyrighted music (by design), stations broadcasting the ANC feed could stay on the air longer without increasing their ASCAP , Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), and/or SESAC fees. Block programming Block programming (also known as

252-505: A self-imposed limit of 125 in 1999); Hubbard continued to maintain their videotape archives and sell transponder time. (A trio of ex-CONUS employees then partnered to buy some of CONUS' assets, including a satellite truck, to form ARCTEK Satellite Productions in January 2003.) The closure of CONUS also meant the closure of All News Channel, which shut down on September 30, 2002, with veteran anchor Stan Turner thanking those watching and those behind

288-503: Is alive and well on outlets like public radio (such as NPR , the BBC , or CBC ) and in multicultural radio serving broad ethnic and cultural audiences, although even in this realm the idea of block programming is declining due to competition for donations. Some programming blocks have become so popular that they have been transformed to full-fledged 24-hour channels. Current channels which started as program blocks include Disney Junior (which

324-422: Is also a Cartoon Network Programming Block. However, since the 2010s, new programming blocks have become rare due to airing programming in a regular format or with little or no brand reference within the programming block. First Business First Business (full name First Business News ) is a nationally syndicated financial news and analysis television program, produced by First Business Network LLC,

360-488: Is anathema to modern competitive commercial radio, which traditionally uses uniform formats, other than a handful of speciality shows in off-peak hours such as weekends (for instance, the infamous beaver hours in Canadian radio). The general rationale for not using block programming is that listeners expect a certain type of music when they tune into a radio station and breaking from that format will turn those listeners away from

396-506: Is still a program block on Disney Channel ); the Nick Jr. Channel (based on the Nick Jr. block that still airs on Nickelodeon); Boomerang (which was once a program block on Cartoon Network ); PBS Kids (which is still a program block on PBS ) and MeTV Toons (which was once a programming block on MeTV ). In addition, TV Land airs older shows that were once aired on sister channel Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite program block. Adult Swim

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432-506: The USA Update news interstitials for USA Network from 1993 to 2000 (assuming production responsibilities from Group W 's Newsfeed Network satellite video service and Philadelphia station KYW-TV , which had produced the segments since their January 1989 debut, as a consequence of corporate cutbacks that prompted Newsfeed's closure and asset sale to CNN). From 1991 to 1994, VH1 (also owned by Viacom) carried ANC-produced interstitials during

468-462: The 1980s, it was not uncommon to mix various blocks of talk programming together on one station, but this has declined dramatically in the late 1990s and beyond. A listener to a conservative talk radio station will have little interest in a progressive talk radio , sports radio or hot talk block, which reaches a different demographic; stations that have attempted the block strategy have historically been unsuccessful. Block programming of this nature

504-805: The Chamber, the First Business program production team was led by BizNet News Director Densil Allen. The production of First Business was later taken over from BizNet by CONUS Communications, a joint venture of Viacom and Hubbard Broadcasting also responsible for All News Channel , who would produce the program until 2003. Barton Eckert hosted the program from CONUS' bureau in Washington, with his anchor segments being fed via satellite to Hubbard in St. Paul, Minnesota , where news packages acquired from CONUS' local member stations nationwide and other sources would be inserted into

540-515: The Hubbards, who would ultimately refuse, to serve as the cornerstone for what would become FNC.) CONUS itself began to be squeezed out of the newsgathering marketplace by rival CNN Newsource, as well as the major networks' own affiliate news services (ABC NewsOne, CBS Newspath and NBC News Channel). As a result, Hubbard announced the closure of CONUS' newsgathering operations in the fall of 2002 (by which time CONUS only had 100 or so affiliates, down from

576-561: The Money (a financial analysis program intended for weekend timeslots). Upon the completion of Hubbard’s $ 1.3-billion sale of USSB to then-DirecTV parent Hughes Entertainment , All News Channel—along with the remainder of USSB’s channel suite—migrated to DirecTV’s channel lineup on July 1, 1999; the deal included a long-term programming agreement that allowed DirecTV to distribute up to three Hubbard-owned channels, including ANC and sister arts/culture network Ovation (an additional channel, Reelz ,

612-494: The day. This format featured national and world headlines at the top of the hour (:00/:30); a national news summary (titled "Across America") at :08/:38 after the hour; national weather forecasts (including a rundown of daily forecasts for 20—later, 15—U.S. cities, accompanied in later years by a notable weather headline and a daily summary of national temperature extremes) at :15/:45 after; consumer reports and stock market summaries at :17/47 after; sports headlines and scores (during

648-555: The evening and overnight hours) or health and medical news (in the morning and daytime) at :20/50 after; and entertainment and lifestyle reports at :25/:55 after. If mistakes were made during the live broadcasts, a corrected segment would be produced (sometimes live) for the repeat broadcasts. ANC operated on a fixed schedule, where each news block ran the same length every day, and commercials (which consisted mainly of direct response advertisements, and from 1994 to 1999, promos for USSB's slate of general entertainment and premium channels;

684-405: The explicit backing of its satellite provider. All News Channel was never profitable throughout its history and could not withstand the challenges of MSNBC and Fox News Channel (both launched in 1996), which pushed ANC to fifth place in the ratings—behind Headline News—among all cable news channels. (Ironically, then- News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch made an offer to buy ANC and CONUS from

720-417: The fall 2011 season, the program was carried daily on more than 100 US broadcast stations and in outlets across 46 foreign countries, with affiliates across all the major networks, as well as independent stations. Air times varied, though the timeslots for the show in the majority of markets was 4:00am through 7:00am leading into early morning national newscasts or local morning newscasts. The only requirement

756-418: The morning music video block Hits, News & Weather . ANC/CONUS also produced long-form programs for broadcast syndication including the morning financial news program First Business (which saw its national distribution rights transferred to MGM Television shortly after the channel's shutdown), The American Times (a daily evening newscast that was primarily carried nationally on America One ) and On

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792-453: The next live newscast aired; however, exceptions to this set scheduling were made for major breaking news stories, with updates being regularly incorporated into the newscasts as new information became available. Like CNN Headline News and Satellite News Channel before it, ANC's newscasts utilized a news wheel format, which was intended to allow viewers to receive updated information on national and international headlines at any time throughout

828-520: The overnight carriage of Headline News that was also common among stations during the same timeframe). In later years, as NBC , ABC and CBS launched their own overnight news programs ( NBC Nightside , World News Now and Up to the Minute respectively), ANC programming continued to air on many of their affiliates—including Hubbard-owned stations—as a complement to these programs and also to provide an overnight news option on weekends, when no such option

864-456: The program along with Eckert's anchor segments fed in from Washington, with the finished program being delivered via satellite to local stations from St. Paul very weekday. During this era, the program also aired weekday mornings at 6:30 AM on the USA Network ; at the time CONUS produced short USA Update news briefs for the network. In 2003, Weigel Broadcasting took over the program and moved

900-629: The proprietor of the Digital Satellite System (DSS) that USSB also utilized to transmit its services. All News Channel/CONUS also produced news content for third parties. Beginning in January 1991 as a response to the Gulf War , All News Channel produced daily news updates for premium cable channel Showtime (at the time, owned by ANC co-parent Viacom and also partially responsible for management and distribution of ANC) that aired during its prime time promotional breaks. The channel also produced

936-425: The satellite provider's ads were also seen at times on some stations that carried ANC programming) aired at the same time every day. The on-air talent was mostly exclusive to All News Channel, though some anchors from Hubbard flagship station KSTP also served as ANC anchors, most notably Stan Turner , who worked for the network from 1992 until its closure; KSTP meteorologists and weather producers ( Dave Dahl , who

972-565: The scenes; stations that carried ANC have since replaced the channel's programming with syndicated and/or paid programming (especially common with NBC stations as the network no longer has an overnight newscast since NBC Nightside ended in 1998) or have expanded their clearance of overnight news programs supplied by their affiliated network. ANC aired up to five live half-hour newscasts each day (airing at 4:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m., noon, 4:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m. Central Time , with an occasional sixth at 4:30 a.m.), with each edition being repeated until

1008-430: The service was mainly targeted at home satellite dish users, while sales material for ANC largely focused on the ability for broadcast stations to use ANC programming to fill holes in their schedules, as a replacement for programming blacked out by syndication exclusivity restrictions, or as part of localized news services. Beginning in 1992, ANC switched to an all-barter syndication model (having been previously offered on

1044-644: The show enforced was that the program must air before the NYSE opening bell at 9:30am ET (except for Alaska or Hawaii, where time zones necessitated a post-opening bell airing). The show was syndicated by Weigel Broadcasting and sold by Edward. E. Finch & Company. The First Business program was originally launched in 1989 by BizNet, the broadcast division of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. From its inception through its BizNet years with

1080-499: The slogan that it used from 1994 to 2001, "News Straight from America's Hometowns".) CONUS also maintained a small news bureau in Washington, D.C. It was the second nationwide challenger to established cable news channel CNN after the Satellite News Channel (SNC), as well as the first since SNC folded in 1983. All News Channel, like many other cable networks, struggled with cable carriage throughout its existence; indeed,

1116-410: The station; likewise, a station that airs its programming in hodgepodge blocks will have difficulty building listener loyalty, as listeners' music will only be on for a few hours of the day. This argument for homogenized radio was also a driving force behind the effective death of freeform radio in the late 20th century. The case of talk radio is indicative of the decline of block programming: prior to

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1152-423: Was a news video-sharing cooperative service for local television stations nationwide, particularly those affiliated with a major broadcast network ; nearly all of ANC's video came from these stations, who in turn utilized satellite news-gathering trucks that had been invented, built and sold by Hubbard beginning in 1984. (The channel's use of video and story packages from local CONUS client stations lent credence to

1188-461: Was added in 2006). ANC benefited in part by being the only news channel on the USSB satellite service, though arguably any advantage enjoyed by ANC was undercut by the fact that many USSB subscribers also subscribed to DirecTV and vice-versa; after USSB merged into DirecTV, it was then one of six such channels (alongside CNN, Headline News , Fox News, MSNBC and Newsworld International ), and it no longer had

1224-639: Was headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota at the studios of Hubbard's flagship television and radio stations , including KSTP-TV (channel 5), the ABC affiliate for the Minneapolis–St. Paul market. All News Channel was launched on November 30, 1989; it was co-founded by Hubbard and Viacom as a joint venture between divisions of the respective partners, news wire service CONUS Communications (CONUS being an acronym for Continental United States ) and satellite programming distributor Showtime Satellite Services. CONUS

1260-529: Was offered (outside of Nightside during its 1991–98 run). Some Hubbard stations ran ANC as a substitute for their affiliated network's overnight newscasts—including KSTP, which offered ANC programming overnights from January 1990 until ANC ceased operations in September 2002, when it began clearing ABC's World News Now (which had been preempted in the Minneapolis–St. Paul market since its August 1991 debut) as

1296-534: Was the station's chief meteorologist throughout ANC's existence, among them) also presented taped weather segments for All News Channel until early 2002. Later, ANC show producers voiced their own weather segments, along with other stories. Broadcast television stations in many markets carried All News Channel newscasts as filler programming , usually during the overnight and early morning hours in lieu of signing off , or scheduling movies , infomercials or other syndicated programming during those timeslots (similar to

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