Little Brother Wins With 'Big Brother' in Big Apple

WCBS New York got a taste of the benefits of duopolies Thursday night, as it moved CBS primetime over to its newish acquisition, WLNY, to make room for the Jets-Eagles pre-season game. Airing on WLNY, Big Brother retained 100% of its Thursday average this summer in adults 25-54, says CBS, and won the night in 25-54 (2.1 rating/5 share) and 18-49 (2/6).

The No. 2 show in New York Thursday night? Jets-Eagles on WCBS.

Viewership was affected by the RNC proceedings in Tampa.

WCBS had talked up the primetime channel change for about a week. “We did a ton of promos,” says Peter Dunn, president of the CBS owned stations and of WCBS.

Dunn says WLNY, which CBS agreed to buy late last year for $55 million, runs on channel 755 for Time Warner Cable subscribers, which is much of Manhattan,  and 710 for Cablevision households.

Before it had a second station, WCBS would air its primetime network lineup in the overnight when it was committed to pre-season football.

“It’s extremely gratifying to be able to shift CBS primetime over to WLNY for one night and not skip a beat,” said Dunn.