WFLD, WNYW to continue Living In "Oz"

But Fox loses show to KABC in Los Angeles

In moves that come off somewhat surprising, Fox Television Stations has renewed Sony's Dr. Oz through the 2013-14 season on WNYW New York and WFLD Chicago, which keeps the show from jumping to competing stations. In addition, it secured Oz for WTXF in Philadelphia, stealing the show from CBS-owned KYW-TV in the process, beginning in 2011.

But in Los Angeles, Fox lost the show to KABC-TV, the market's ABC-owned station. KABC is scheduled to air Oz at 3 p.m. weekdays, beginning September 12. 2011 replacing The Oprah Winfrey Show. The program now airs at 5 p.m. on KTTV in Los Angeles.

So far, KABC is the only ABC O&O to acquire Oz (no ABC O&Os currently air the show.) With the Los Angeles deal, it is unlikely ABC will pursue a group deal to replace Oprah, which airs on seven of its stations - six as news lead-ins (with WLS-TV in Chicago the lone exception of course.)

But with Oz renewed on Fox stations in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, it keeps the show away from ABC-owned stations in those markets.

On WFLD, Dr. Oz has been averaging a rather unimpressive 1.0 household rating and a 3 share (with a 0.6/3 in females 25-54) in its 4 p.m. weekday time slot, while the show has fared better in the other three large markets.

Sony sells the show on a cash/barter basis, with four minutes of commercial time set aside for national advertising sales and the rest of the commercial time for stations to sell locally.

Did You Know? What was the last program to occupy Oprah Winfrey's 3 p.m. time slot on KABC in Los Angeles before her show began? It was a local talk show hosted by Tom Snyder, which ran during the 1985-86 season and was beaten in the ratings by Phil Donahue's talk show on KNBC. Snyder died in 2007.