News Series 2000

News Series 2000 is an updated and expanded version of the original ABC owned-and-operated stations' "Eyewitness News" theme, an edited version of the "Tar Sequence" cue from the soundtrack to the 1967 film "Cool Hand Luke" by Lalo Schifrin.

The package made its debut in 1983, when Frank Gari was commissioned by Chicago's WLS-TV to create a news music package based on the Schifrin theme. WABC in New York picked up the package a year later, and it quickly spread to ABC's other owned-and-operated stations. In 1990, KABC in Los Angeles became the last ABC-owned station to pick up News Series 2000.

Despite its association with ABC O&Os, the package has also been used on affiliates of other networks (e.g. WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida). It has also been used overseas, with Hong Kong Cable News using it from 1993 until 2002 (portions of it is still used for traffic condition reports).

Australia's National Nine News has used the theme in various forms since 1986. Currently it uses and in house adaptation.

In 1993, Schifrin raised his royalties for using "Cool Hand Luke" and its variations to a level that effectively priced the theme out of the local news market. Gari was then commissioned by WABC to compose a new music package called "." This new package, based slightly on "Cool Hand Luke", has been updated several times. On the other hand Gari also composed a new theme based on an alternate signature of "News Series 2000" called News Series 2000 Plus. This package was also commissioned by WLS-TV one year earlier.

External links

* [http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/search.php?search=3,1,61 SouthernMedia's NMSA] - listing of American stations that have used News Series 2000