BROKAW SAYS CBS TURMOIL MIGHT BENEFIT NBC NEWS

Anchorman Tom Brokaw, bringing his “NBC Nightly News” to the state capital as part of a Pacific Coast tour, said this week that the turmoil at competitor CBS is providing a “distraction” that could benefit his own network.

“It’s a hotly competitive business right now, obviously. I have friends who are winners and losers,” Brokaw said of the high-level power struggle at CBS.

In an interview with NBC’s Sacramento affiliate, KCRA, Brokaw said that he does not believe the turmoil is “good for the industry,” but added there might be some residual benefit to NBC. Brokaw’s program is narrowly behind “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather” in the current ratings but edged Rather for the first time earlier this summer.

“It is an opportunity for NBC to take advantage of the distraction now that is occurring in CBS because we have a pretty good idea of who we are right now and where we’re going,” he said.

Brokaw’s swing this week takes him through Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles for nightly broadcasts that include features on regional issues. In Sacramento, a temporary station was set up in law offices near the Capitol.

“We think it’s important to get out of the ivory tower. There’s so much going on in regions of the country that we need to tell all the people in the country about it,” he said.

He added that he didn’t know whether the latest foray outside New York City would trigger a climb in ratings. “We just don’t know what the payoff is going to be,” he said.

(Rather and the “CBS Evening News” have been originating from Los Angeles all week to signal the program’s new 6:30 p.m. time-slot on Channel 2, directly opposite Brokaw on Channel 4. Brokaw and his news team will wind up their West Coast swing today in Los Angeles.)