I migrated from Western Europe. The main difference I see is that there is no breaks to show TV-ads in the middle of the news. Traditionally the news is from 8pm to 8.40pm, uninterrupted, followed by 5 to 10 minutes dedicated to the weather, and then a 90 to 120min movie with one break in the middle.

Nowadays, there are more options: some news program air earlier (7pm for example), some are shorter (20minutes), etc. But the key is that there is no ads either in the middle or around the program. From my point of view, this is the difference that is driving this race to the sensational.