CBS expanding ‘Mornings’ franchise to another hour — with a catch

“CBS Mornings” is expanding. 

The third-ranked morning show is adding a third hour that will air on handful of properties owned by CBS News and Stations, including KCBS in Los Angeles, WBBM in Chicago, KPIX in San Fransisco, WWJ in Detroit and WFOR in Miami.

The will be known as “CBS Mornings Plus.”

It will also stream nationwide on CBS News 24/7.

Tony Dokoupil and Adriana Diaz will co-anchor the show, which is slated to launch Sept. 30, 2024, and air from 9 to 10 a.m. Eastern (though it notably won’t be seen in New York City, its broadcast home).

CBS News and Stations has used the “plus” branding previously for two of its independent stations, WPKD in Pittsburgh, and WPYX in San Fransisco, which received the names under a groupwide rebranding effort about a year ago in the fall of 2023.

The show’s name, however, is being spelled out as “Plus,” according to promotional art released by the network. It appears the show will also use a similar look as “Mornings” and other CBS graphics.

In Los Angeles, the broadcast will boot “Let’s Make a Deal” from its timeslot, while WBBM, KPIX, WWJ, WFOR will drop their 9 a.m. newscasts in favor of the show.

Advertisement

It’s not immediately clear where “Let’s Make a Deal” will move on KCBS, though it does air an hour of repackaged “Judge Judy” episodes in the afternoon that could be dropped.

It’s also not clear if the 9 a.m. newscasts will be replaced by more local news at a different time.

CBS’s move to finally expand its morning news follows NBC’s mega-morning show “Today,” which covers four hours, albeit under various names, from 7 to 11 a.m. eastern. 

ABC expanded its “Good Morning America” franchise with “GMA Day” in 2018, though it was quickly renamed “Strahan & Sarah” in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic put the show, which used a studio audience, on hold and ABC opted to fill the hour with “Pandemic: What You Need to Know.” 

The show is now known as “GMA3: What You Need to Know.” The show essentially replaced “The Chew.”

One challenge with expanding national newscasts, however, is that it forces affiliates to give up time that they can fill with local programming and, typically, keep more of the ad revenue.

That’s likely why CBS is trying out “CBS Mornings Plus” on its owned stations, where it has more direct control over the schedule.

If the network sees success with “Mornings Plus,” it might be able to convince more affiliates to carry it, though it’s not clear if that’s being considered. The show could likely still operate under the model it’s using now, filling time on both the CBS News 24/7 streamer and its owned stations that reach a good portion of the country.