Sinclair’s police procedural multicast network Charge is getting its own morning show — at least for an hour.
Starting this week, Charge — stylized as CHARGE! — began airing “The National News Desk” on its local TV affiliates across the country, with 60 minutes of morning news offered at 8 a.m. Eastern Time (and on a three-hour tape delay for the West Coast).
The one-hour block is the first time Sinclair has offered a coast-to-coast simulcast of The National News Desk on one of its multicast channels. In the past, Sinclair has offered The National News Desk on some of its local TV stations during major events like presidential and congressional midterm elections; a few Sinclair-owned local TV stations also air The National News Desk in place of a locally-produced newscast during the early morning hours.
Sinclair began testing its national simulcast of The National News Desk on Charge over the weekend, when a one-hour version of the program aired during Super Bowl LX, according to a source familiar with the matter.
It isn’t clear if Sinclair will offer additional hours of The National News Desk on Charge or its other multicast networks anytime soon. The National News Desk produces three hours of news in the morning, a half-hour early evening program and two hours of news at night.
All Sinclair-owned or operated local TV stations offer The National News Desk for free on their websites, and a simulcast is also available on YouTube.
Charge is available on broadcast TV stations across the country and on premium streaming TV services like YouTube TV and Sling. The channel offers repeat airings of premium police dramas like “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “The District,” “Criminal Minds,” “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: NY” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
In addition to Charge, Sinclair operates three other multicast networks: Comet, Roar (formerly TBD) and The Nest.
