Florida News Center

(from GossipExtra.com) - WPBF-Channel 25 may have violated its contract with ABC last night when the West Palm Beach/Treasure Coast station cut out of the live broadscast of the Oscars a tad early!

By some accounts, the station shaved off up to two minutes from the show’s credits and last commercials — a definite no-no in the television world, especially when it involves high-audience broadcasts like the Academy Awards.

Fines could end up being leveled against the area’s No. 2 station….Cont….

(from SFLTV.com) – WFOR reporter Gio Benitez is leaving the station and jumping ship to the ABC Network.

Benitez is joining as a correspondent for the network and according to the announcement sent out by ABC News president Ben Sherwood, he will be  reporting on “all platforms” and will be based in New York City. He starts early in 2013….Cont….

(from Politico.com) – ABC News and Univision News have officially closed the deal on their new joint 24-hour news channel.

The two networks officially announced the channel in May, following a Wall Street Journal report three months earlier that the two were in talks. The definitive agreement reached today means that ABC and Univision will charge ahead on what will become the first 24-hour, English-language channel aimed toward the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic audience. (By 2050, Hispanics are expected to make up a third of the U.S. population.)

“ABC News and Univision News share a goal of serving the thriving Hispanic audience that makes up such an influential and essential part of America,” ABC News president Ben Sherwood said in a statement today….Cont….

(from TBO.com) – WFTS-TV meteorologist Stephanie Roberts had planned to make her fifth trip to New York as a fill-in forecaster for “Good Morning America” this weekend.

But she won’t, and ironically, she can blame a hurricane.

Hurricane Irene is projected to be pounding the East Coast on Saturday.

Roberts says she and producers at “Good Morning America” have decided that she should not travel to New York this weekend to work on the show. The hurricane changed the network’s coverage plans…..Cont….

Our friends at SFLTV.com report that WPLG morning meteorologist, Scott Padgett spent the weekend forecasting weather at ABC’s Good Morning America. He was flown to New York on Friday and then back to Miami on Sunday night, just in time to return to his duties at WPLG on Monday.

CLICK HERE FOR A SLIDESHOW OF THE GMA TRIP

In the past year, GMA has been inviting local meteorologists, from all over the country a chance to appear on the national stage. WFTS’ Stephanie Roberts has worked on GMA weekend twice in the past four months.

Sources tell Florida News Center that WFTS morning meteorologist Stephanie Roberts will be, once again, guest meteorologist/anchor on this weekends (3/12-13/11) edition of ABC’s Good Morning America. ABC will fly Roberts to NYC Friday night and back home to Tampa Sunday afternoon to return to work at WFTS on Monday.

As Florida News Center reported, Roberts previously was guest meteorologist/anchor on the December 4th and 5h, 2010 weekend editions of GMA. Watch below as Roberts talks about her GMA debut.

Sources tell Florida News Center that WFTS morning meteorologist, Stephanie Roberts is joining ABC’s Good Morning America.

Ok, now the rest of the story…

Roberts was selected to be a guest meteorologist on this Saturday and Sunday (12/4, 5) editions of GMA. ABC is flying her to New York on Friday afternoon and then back to Tampa on Sunday afternoon, to return to WFTS on Monday morning.

The network morning shows have a history of having affiliate anchors, meteorologists and reporters fill in for a day or so, while regular anchors are on assignment or vacation.

Good luck Stephanie – we will be watching!

(from TVNewsCheck.com) - The E.W. Scripps Co. today entered into an agreement with the ABC television network to extend the affiliation of six Scripps stations with ABC through Jan. 31, 2015.

The stations involved are WXYZ Detroit (DMA 11); KNXV Phoenix (DMA 12); WFTS Tampa, Fla. (DMA 14); WEWS Cleveland (DMA 18); WMAR Baltimore (DMA 27); and WCPO Cincinnati (DMA33).

The ABC stations in the Scripps television division cover approximately 8% of U.S. households.

The previous long-term affiliation agreement ended on Jan. 31. The stations had continued operating as ABC affiliates through short-term extensions since that date….Cont….

(from WFTS-TV Press release) – When the polls closed in Florida, ABC Action News was the number one source of local political coverage for Adults 25-54 according to the Nielsen LPM Overnights.

ABC Action News won this important night with special coverage at 7:30 p.m. and the 11 p.m. newscast.
 
More people in other demographics measured by Nielsen turned to ABC Action News, the Associated Press’ 2010 Best Overall News Operation, on Election Day than any other station. 
 
NEWSCAST                                       STATION                   W25-54           W18-49
ABC Action News at 6:00PM               WFTS-ABC                3.0                   2.4
Fox 13 News at 6:00PM                      WTVT-Fox                  2.4                   2.2
Newschannel 8 at 6:00PM                   WFLA-NBC                1.2                   0.4
Tampa Bays 10 at 6:00PM                  WTSP-CBS                 0.5                   0.5
 
 
NEWSCAST                                       STATION                   W25-54           A25-54
ABC Action News at 11:00PM             WFTS-ABC                1.5                   1.7
Fox 13 News at 11:00PM                    WTVT-Fox                  1.3                   1.3
Tampa Bays 10 at 11:00PM                WTSP-CBS                 1.2                   1.3
Newschannel 8 at 11:00PM                 WFLA-NBC                 0.9                   1.1

Click below to check out some screen captures taken from various networks and local channels (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, CNN, WTVT, WFLA, WTSP, WFTS, WSVN, WESH, WOFL, Univision), via Florida News Center on Facebook. Enjoy!

And remember to follow Florida News Center on Facebook if you have not already!

CLICK HERE FOR THE CAPTURES

Also, check out these pictures for a behind the scenes look at election coverage from Orlando’s WESH-TV.