Fox-owned stations launch “Battleground”

Plans to make digital initiative a daily TV show by August

In an unusual way of launching a TV show, Fox Television Stations announced Tuesday it is launching Battleground, a new series tracking the 2024 Presidential Election, which is expected to be the most contested in history. 

The show will focus on seven battleground “swing” states, hence the name: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Those are places where current President Joe Biden won over previous President Donald Trump in 2020 as the two are tangling again in 2024 and like four years ago, the polls are very close. 

But the way the program is launching is new. Starting today, Battleground will launch as a weekly newsletter and as a weekly linear TV program on June 10 (that’s every Monday) before going daily from August 12 until the first week of November, when the elections are held. 

“In what is shaping up to be a record political advertising year in local media, this initiative positions us to reap the benefits of exuberant spending on all sides,” Stephen Brown, executive vice president of programming and development for Fox Television Stations and Fox First Run, said in a statement. “Our offering is unique in that local media – the newspapers, television, and radio stations – are ingrained in these communities and thus can provide a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how voters will decide this election in each of those states.”

Battleground will air on Fox-owned stations in eighteen markets and WCCB Charlotte, who was a Fox affiliate until 2013 when the network bought cross-town rivals WJZY and WYMT from Capitol Broadcasting (Fox has since swapped the duopoly to Nexstar for Seattle’s KCPQ/KJZO.) In Chicago, Battleground will likely air on Fox 32 (WFLD) as sister station My 50 (WPWR) airs no news programming. 

Fox stands to benefit given Battleground is airing in markets where Fox owns stations – so contributors from those stations include Jeff Cole and Shiba Russell from WTXF Philadelphia; Russ Spencer from WAGA Atlanta; John Hook, Ellen McNamara, and Steve Nielsen from KSAZ Phoenix and Jason Calvi from WITI Milwaukee (Fox also owns WJBK Detroit.)

Battleground’s anchor is S.E. Cupp, a CNN political commentator whose nationally syndicated column appears in the Chicago Sun-Times. 

While the suggestion is Battleground would be right-leaning given Fox runs a conservative news network, Fox Television Stations’ newscasts are actually middle of the road and non-partisan, exhibited by FAST news channel Live Now From Fox, which the station group runs – not Fox News. 

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