[BC] bonehead move in TV CR

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'24' Gets Cut Off In Last 10 Minutes
TV fans hit the roof when local newscast begins before show ends
By <http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/13635789.htm>ADAM BEAM
Staff Writer
The State (South Carolina)

Midlands fans of the FOX show "24" are used to cliffhangers - but 
nothing like what happened during the fifth-season premiere Sunday night.

WACH-TV, Columbia's FOX affiliate, cut away from the last 10 minutes 
of the blockbuster show to start its 10 p.m. newscast - leaving fans 
in the Midlands hanging.

"Somebody has lost their mind," said Steve Arnold, a fan who was 
watching the show at his Irmo home.

FOX has been promoting the show's two-part, two-hour season premiere 
for weeks. It was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., after the conclusion 
of the NFL playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bears.

The game went long, pushing the start of "24" back about 10 minutes - 
and ideally pushing back the start of the newscast.

WACH has a contract with WIS-TV, which produces WACH news programs, 
to broadcast its news at 10 p.m. If, for some reason, WACH has to 
delay broadcast, the station can record the newscast and air it later.

Sunday night, that didn't happen.

"They should have realized that it was running over," WACH station 
manager Scott McBride said from his home Sunday night. "They just 
opted to take the news live, and that was a mistake.

"WIS or WACH-TV did not communicate to each other that the game was 
running long and that it was going to be a problem."





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