Without its PBS affiliation, KCET-TV’s prime-time ratings have suffered, the Los Angeles Times’ ShowTracker blog reports.
The station’s prime-time viewership is down 38% in the first three weeks of January compared with the same weeks a year earlier, according to the report.
The article points out that the station’s daytime ratings have fared even worse. Throughout the broadcast day, KCET has lost half of its viewers when compared with its year-earlier ratings.
The station averages just 10,000 households, which could lead to a reduction in donor households, the article points out. KCET left the PBS network at the end of 2010 over a fee dispute, and its schedule now consists of British reruns such as "Prime Suspect" and imported news programs.
Uh oh, does that mean the new Roger Ebert show is in trouble? Actually I didn’t care for the female host’s slightly snooty attitude or that it was 100% polarized opinions – she hated and he saw something worthwhile in each film, hmmm, not good for a show we’d like to watch for any period of time. Too bad Roger couldn’t have brought on Richard Roeper and one of the other more seasoned critics from the last days of Ebert and the Movies…So far it’s the only thing I’ve watched on KCET. They may have just cooked their own goose.