History Main / SelfPromotionDisguisedAsNews

** Creator/TheABC did this promoting their documentary ''The Howard Years'' during the 7 o'clock news.

* The Murdoch papers in the UK, especially the ''Sun'', are known for running news stories that can be summed up as "This is what you're missing if you don't watch Creator/{{Sky}}" (The ''Times'' tends to be subtler about it.) ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' has a regular column recording these under the title "I Sky". During the period when Richard Desmond owned Creator/ChannelFive, the ''Star'' and ''Express'' would do the same thing.

* "The new season of ''Tropey the Wonder Dog'' is [[ChannelHop premiering on the new channel we're launching tonight]]!"

* "The season premiere of ''Tropey the Wonder Dog'' is airing on the new channel we're launching tonight!"

* Averted by the E.W. Scripps Company-owned ABC station KGTV in San Diego after it was acquired by them, which has to disclaim in health-related reports on its newscasts that it is [[NamesTheSame not affiliated with the local Scripps Health system]]. The system was named for and formed through the philanthropic efforts of Ellen Browning Scripps, the sister of the media company's namesake.

** In a variant of this, in the days before other football scores were reported continuously in the crawl during live games, networks showing a Sunday afternoon football game would tease the viewers to tune in at halftime to see the scores and highlights of other games. After the obligatory commercial break, the halftime show would begin by giving the score and highlights--of the game the viewers had just been watching.

** Ditto for ''Good Morning America'' on ABC, which has shilled countless productions from Disney (ABC's parent company) and its other subsidiaries. Perhaps most notable of these is the ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' sing-along in the wake of that film's massive SleeperHit popularity in early 2014.

** One good example has come out of this; in the wake of the success of ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'', some Fox affiliates have done their own, localized versions of the concept during newscasts, where lower-profile criminals not of national interest get highlighted to either turn themselves in, or encourage members of the public call in tips to catch them. One such version, KCPQ's ''Washington's Most Wanted'', still airs to this day as a standalone program, even with the cancellation of the original series.

* The Murdoch papers in the UK, epecially the ''Sun'', are known for running news stories that can be summed up as "This is what you're missing if you don't watch Creator/{{Sky}}" (The ''Times'' tends to be subtler about it.) ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' has a regular column recording these under the title "I Sky". During the period when Richard Desmond owned Creator/ChannelFive, the ''Star'' and ''Express'' would do the same thing.
** This was already been parodied as far back as 1991, when one of the between-story squibs in ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' was a ''Sun'' article on "20 Things You Never Knew About Paranorms", and no. 19 was that there was a documentary about them on Sky One that night.

* During the buildup to the premieres of ''Series/TheTonightShow'' with ''Creator/ConanOBrien'' and ''The JayLeno Show'' the two hosts toured every NBC affiliate from Aberdeen to Yakima so NBC could kiss up to every local anchor they could find and promote the shows in interviews that made ByronAllen look like Edward R. Murrow. If they couldn't get the host to the site...they flew the anchors to an O&O station so they could still do the kiss-up interview.

** In a September 2011 episode of ''Series/MediaWatch'', host Jonathan Holmes [[DeadpanSnarker satirised and mocked this trope]] ''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny to hell and back]]'' when discussing how an ABC radio channel had devolved into doing it.

** TheABC did this promoting their documentary ''The Howard Years'' during the 7 o'clock news.

** If ''Series/AmericanIdol'' has a contestant from the vicinity of the local FOX affiliate, the FOX affiliate ''will'' cover it in detail. For that matter, there are some local FOX affiliates that will air a fluff piece about ''Idol'' each week that it is on, regardless of whether or not there are any contestants from the vicinity.
** One good example has come out of this; even after ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'' moved off Fox in 2011 and Lifetime ended it in 2013, many Fox stations continue to feature a public service segment in their newscasts called '(Our Region)'s Most Wanted', where lower-profile criminals not of national interest get highlighted by local stations to either turn themselves in or members of the public call in tips to catch them.

** CTV's entertainment show ''[=eTalk=]'' did a special episode devoted to the Toronto premiere of the StageAdaptation of Meat Loaf's ''Music/BatOutOfHell''. What it failed to mention was that Bell Media has a stake in the production.

** CTV's entertainment show ''[=eTalk=]'' did a special episode devoted to the Toronto premiere of the SoundToStageAdaptation of Meat Loaf's ''Music/BatOutOfHell''. What it failed to mention was that Bell Media has a stake in the production.

* A variation comes from a Creator/{{CTV}} affiliate (owned by Bell Canada, who also owns TV service providers and a cellphone provider among other things), which aired a "Consumer Alert" story that was essentially a ProductPromotionParade for The Source, an electronics store chain (and originally the Canadian franchises of [=RadioShack=]) also owned by Bell.

* The Murdoch papers in the UK, epecially the ''Sun'', are known for running news stories that can be summed up as "This is what you're missing if you don't watch [[Creator/SkyOne Sky]]" (The ''Times'' tends to be subtler about it.) ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' has a regular column recording these under the title "I Sky". During the period when Richard Desmond owned Creator/ChannelFive, the ''Star'' and ''Express'' would do the same thing.