“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” moves to WXIA from WGCL, “Dr. Oz” joining WXIA

DeGeneres, who debuted in 2003, has steadily increased her audience over the years nationally.

"The trendlines for her have been nothing but positive," said Bill Carroll, vice president for programming for Katz Media Group, a consulting firm to TV stations. "She's now everybody's favorite girlfriend." Demographically, she also does well in the coveted 18 to 49 year old age range.

What do you think of "Ellen" moving from 5 p.m. on WGCL to 4 p.m. on WXIA?

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But locally, while on WGCL at 5 p.m., DeGeneres pulled in relatively modest ratings, usually lagging behind the news programs on WAGA-TV and WSB-TV and "Dr. Phil" on WXIA. "We've never been happy with the ratings performance of that show," said WGCL general manager Andy Alford.

Nationally, her show averages about 3 million viewers a day, compared to 4.5 million for Dr. Phil and 6.6 million for Oprah. Among talk shows, she’s ranked No. 4 behind Oprah, Dr. Phil and “Regis & Kelly.”

WXIA-TV will air her at 4 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. so she will now be competing against Oprah. The network is bumping "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Deal or No Deal." Neither did particularly well at the 4 p.m. time on WXIA-TV. (General Manager Bob Walker, who is on vacation this week, sent a note through his secretary that WXIA hasn't finalized where those game shows are going to go yet.)

Carroll acknowledges that she has tough competition in Atlanta against “Oprah,” but DeGeneres does more weeks of original programming per year (34) than Oprah (28).

And speaking of "Oprah," Dr. Oz is yet another spinoff from Oprah's show, just like "Dr. Phil." It will debut Sept. 14 at 3 p.m. on WXIA-TV and repeat at 6 p.m. on sister station WATL-TV. WXIA will move Rachael Ray back to 2 p.m. The current 2 p.m. denizen Martha Stewart is the odd person out. WXIA is not yet sure where it's going to put her, according to Tim Hagar, WXIA's head of sales.

In April, WGCL moved “Ellen” to 10 a.m. against “The Today Show,” “Povich,” judges shows on WAGA and “Doctors” on WSB-TV. She was replaced at 5 p.m. with “People’s Court.” Alford said “People’s Court” will remain at 5 p.m. this fall.

Other changes for WGCL this fall:

— “The Insider,” which had been on at WXIA-TV at 7:30 p.m. replaces “Extra” at 7 p.m.

— A mixed local/syndicated show called "Better Atlanta" will debut at 10 a.m. It will intersperse national syndicated stories with features done by local staff. The local host will be Corinne Allen (left), who is currently seen on "Better Mornings" from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.. Alford said it will be approximately 70% national, 30% local.

During the mornings and afternoons, WSB-TV’s programming tends to beat all other networks except for a brief spell in the mid-afternoon. That’s when “The Young & the Restless” on WGCL-TV and the judge shows on WAGA-TV often do better than “One Life to Live” and “General Hospital” on WSB-TV.