True Crime News, a new daily syndicated crime show from Warner Bros. Television Group, will premiere nationally this September on select Fox-owned television stations, Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group; David Decker, president of content sales, Warner Bros. Discovery; and Frank Cicha, executive VP of programming for Fox Television Stations, said Monday in a joint statement.
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True Crime News will be produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Telepictures. The show will deliver 52 weeks of original programming. The series will offer breaking crime news, ripped-from-the-headlines cases and updates on stories pulled from WBD’s vault of crime footage.
True Crime News will be hosted by veteran journalist Ana Garcia, who hosts True Crime Daily: The Podcast, produced by Telepictures. Garcia also contributes to ABC’s news magazine 20/20.
“Audiences continue to be fascinated by true crime stories, mysteries, and investigations, and the talented team at Telepictures has developed a distinctive series that is sure to captivate,” Dungey said. “We’re thrilled to have Emmy winner and expert crime reporter Ana Garcia as host, and we can’t wait for viewers to see True Crime News this fall.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Warner Bros.’ renewal of daytime talker The Jennifer Hudson Show for a third season. The Fox-owned stations also serve as the launch group for that show.
“This project works on two fronts. First, it speaks to our audience, and secondly, it creatively delivers a first-run program despite syndication’s harsh economic realities,” Cicha said.
True Crime News sets out to advance cases, with a true-crime tip line and call to action in every episode. It also will work closely with local newsrooms to integrate local crime cases and allow local newsrooms to roll in a crime story in their market.
Warner Bros. and Telepictures produced a very similar program, Crime Watch Daily, which aired from September 2015 through June 2018, when it was replaced by a less-expensive but similar format, Investigation Discovery’s True Crime Files. That show did not last long in station lineups, however. Crime Watch Daily continued on in the form of True Crime Daily: The Podcast and the “True Crime Daily” website.
The news comes on the heels of another syndication announcement Monday morning that the CBS-owned television stations have picked up syndicated game show The Flip Side, hosted by Jaleel White, to premiere this fall. Meanwhile, Debmar-Mercury has pulled its proposed talk show starring Ken Jeong from the market in light of Fox’s renewal of Jennifer Hudson.
