Will Local TV News Be The Next To Have Its Reckoning Day?
from the news-at-eleven dept
The change in the newspaper business is undeniable, with many newspapers' fortunes looking bleaker and bleaker as they continue to misunderstand, underestimate and ignore the internet. But with a downturn in ad spending hitting TV stations hard, will local TV news be the next to go through industry-wide upheaval. While newspapers have struggled, TV news has puttered along, but the cost pressures of the current market could change that as stations pursue resource-sharing agreements or other measures to cut their newsgathering costs. The fundamental question, as PaidContent asks, is is there too much local TV news? And as they conclude, it's hard not to answer no. With three or four (or more) affiliates in many markets -- and even smaller markets getting their own 24-hour stations -- there's a lot of airtime to fill, and a lot of overlap with other news sources, many of which do a better job of reporting or delivering news to readers. The basic thought seems to be that more local TV news is better, particularly as stations have added more and more slots to fill (such as the 5 o'clock and 4 o'clock broadcasts that have been added over the years). But with the slowdown in ad spending and the rise of parts of the population completely unfamiliar with the idea of local TV news, just like they're largely unfamiliar with getting news from newspapers, the future looks bleak. Will TV stations manage to negotiate the shift to the internet any better than most newspapers have done? That too, seems doubtful.
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Perhaps its just the area I live in...
Each station out here has been hard pressing on the internet since as long as I can remember. Perhaps its different elsewhere.
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Re: Perhaps its just the area I live in...
the market may shake out a little, but those that survive are already on their way to being really web savvy.
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Ad spending is killing the news, not making it better.
For local television stations running 24 hours, it seems they have no problem filling slots with paid advertisement shows in 1/2 or even 1 hour blocks.
Our local affiliate ABC runs these damn things during the weekend slots because they assume everyone's watching football on Fox or CBS. The NBC station generally airs sports shows.
The bottom line here is local TV is dying, not necessarily the news segments. As more people tune into the internet rather than their local station, it's not hard to see just where this is leading.
But you can thank the entertainment industry for this as they continue to find more ways to charge content providers who are then forced to run additional ads to pay for the increases.
The next phase to hit the market is having local stations charge cable broadcasters fees to carry their signal, which is exactly what happened between LIN-TV and Brighthouse cable.
Luckily, an agreement was finally made, but Brighthouse customers didn't have CBS for over 2 weeks.
Between Mike's "ads are content" message and stories like this, it's no wonder "piracy" is a consumer's first choice.
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in the future, we are each a local station
The news should come from the people that you meet when you're walking down the street. We have the hardware. Where's the website that parses it all?
-publius
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Re: in the future, we are each a local station
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Sometimes I smell things
On a lighter note; old woman Vag smells like old socks and pickle juice.
Berrring pop boof ming dong frappy ping zippy!!
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Not so in Scranton
With those regulations being relaxed, the CBS and NBC stations in the Scranton market were able to operate as a duopoly: two stations, one owner. So the same reporting (or an edited version of it) would show on both newscasts. They have even merged both stations websites into one.
The ABC station entered into a shared services agreement with the Fox station. The ABC station produces the Fox newscast at 10:00, which is cheaper than the Fox station hiring its own personnel and equipping a news operation. This arrangement helps the Fox station meet its FCC requirement for contributing back to the community it serves.
The CW station won't enter into local news either, because it is in a duopoly with the Fox station.
This leads to two news sources on five channels, and, as one who was in the industry at one time, the salaries are suppressed because of the lack of competition. In fact, the owner of the CBS-NBC duopoly launched an astroturfing website (complete with a contact form that would send an e-mail of support to your local congressman, the FCC, the president, vice president--and for some reason--the first lady) to convince people that the dual ownership was *creating* jobs. I personally know several people who were let go after the stations merged.
I'm not a big fan of the FCC telling the industry what to do, but in this case, their deregulation has led to less competition, not more.
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Re: Not so in Scranton
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From my point of view I'd prefer to see network news disappear since its a inefficient way to get news and adds no value compared to my alternatives.
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The Real News
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Re: The Real News
It lacks pragmatic thought.
It lacks a cohesive argument.
It lacks intelligence.
I am embarrassed FOR the poster.
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