Local television broadcaster Sinclair, Inc. is expanding the availability of its national news program “The National News Desk” on a handful of its stations across the country.
The move impacts stations in markets like Seattle, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Omaha and Bakersfield, where one or more Sinclair-owned local TV station will begin carrying additional blocks of The National News Desk this week.
In Seattle, The National News Desk will offer more than an hour of new broadcasts on KUNS (Channel 24), the market’s CW Network affiliate that is operated in tandem with KOMO (Channel 4, ABC). The latter station will maintain its current output of local news in the afternoon, sources confirmed to The Desk; viewers there who prefer national news reporting instead will be able to flip over to KUNS from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
KUNS already carries The National News Desk during morning and evening hours, with KOMO producing a local morning program between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Sinclair’s CW Network and independent stations in other markets will also expand their news programming by offering The National News Desk in time slots that previously occupied syndicated shows or paid programming, a source familiar with the move said.
In some cities, Sinclair-owned stations that are affiliated with a major network will also offer The National News Desk at 5 p.m. local time if the station is part of a duopoly with another news-producing station or doesn’t have its own news department, the source confirmed.
That afternoon programming block will franchise a morning edition of The National News Desk anchored by Jan Jeffcoat, with Live Desk anchor Mark Boyle and National Reporter Angela Brown also contributing.
In a press release on Monday, Sinclair said the expansion reflects its continued investment in news and its effort to provide more live programming throughout the day. The National News Desk draws on reporting and video from Sinclair newsrooms across the country, combining national news coverage with regional stories from its local stations, many of whom air The National News Desk as a complement to their own local news broadcasts.
The company describes the program as a real-time, commentary-free news product focused on major national and regional developments.
“The expansion of The National News Desk gives us another opportunity to increase the amount of news programming we provide and serve viewers with timely reporting throughout the day,” Scott Livingston, the Senior Vice President of News at Sinclair, said on Monday.
The expansion also comes at a time when Sinclair is closing out commitments from political campaigns and causes to air advertising spots ahead of the November midterm election. Local and national news programming is often seen by political groups as a key driver of interest to campaigns and causes, and inventory aired against local and national news shows is highly sought.
Sinclair launched The National News Desk in 2021. Then called “The National Desk<‘ the company rebranded the programming initiative to its current name two years ago. In addition to its traditional TV broadcasts, shows stream online through the websites of Sinclair-owned TV stations and on YouTube.
