Arsenio Hall returning to late night TV

Tribune will be the lead group providing a late night home for once and future host Arsenio Hall. CBS Television Distribution is behind the production aimed at a Fall 2013 debut.

With Trib as an anchor group, the show is guaranteed to have a strong large market presence. Combining Tribune assets with other stations from the CBS Television Group and Local TV LLC, the show already has a home waiting in all of the top 10 DMAs and in 17 of the top 20.

In all, it already has 52% of total US TV households in the bag.

John Nogawski, President of CTD, stated, “We’re excited to welcome Arsenio back to the family and partnering on his new, late-night syndicated talk show. Arsenio had a substantial following with his previous late-night show, and that same 18-34 audience is now right in the middle of the late-night core audience of 35-54. Years ago, he transcended time periods and attracted a cross-over audience while bringing a fresh perspective to late night. That same need in the market exists today as when we originally launched. We are looking forward to the same success with Arsenio’s seasoned expertise and appeal in this genre.”

RBR-TVBR observation: David, what do you think? Only in America would a major media company provide competition for one of its marquee stars – David Letterman had best gets his executive producers to ink a contract to make sure that the next saxophone gig booked by Bill Clinton is on HIS show, not Arsenio’s.