Going Off-Air with Local TV News

The latest RTNDA/Hofstra TV & Radio Newsroom study looked at the growing tendency for local TV newsrooms to look for other ways to distribute (and profit from) their content.  More than three-quarters of stations reported providing content from their newsroom to one or more other media (beyond their station’s newscasts or websites).

  The study found that, over all, there was no significant change in the proportion of newsrooms distributing content externally.  There were some small changes in the mix of channels/distribution preferences.

  Looking forward, more than 80% of local TV newsrooms were now (or would soon) embrace the 3-Screen strategy of providing content on air, online, and to mobile.  This was higher than the number of stations reporting that they were broadcasting their local news in high definition (60%)

	All TV	Big 4 Affiliates	Other Commercial
Another Local TV Station	23.6%	24.7%	5.6%
TV in another market	12.7%	12.5%	22.2%
Cable TV Channel	8.6%	9.1%	0
Local Radio	43.3%	44.3%	27.8%
Website (not their own)	10.2%	10.5%	5.6%
Mobile devices	41.1%	43.2%	27.3%
Other	8.9%	9.1%	11.1%

Interestingly, stations in the Top 50 markets were slightly less likely to seek additional distribution channels for their news than were outlets in smaller markets. 

The study also looked at newsrooms’ cooperative/collaborative ventures.  One recent trend is for some newsrooms to also produce the local news programs for another station in the market.  A different type of arrangement is to collaborate with other local media in news gathering and coverage.  The study found a small decline in the number of such agreements – 21.2% had agreements with another local TV station; 25.2% had arrangements with local newspapers; 23.8% were with local radio stations; and 4.6% had arrangements with other local news outlets.  Almost half (47.5%) had no collaborative or cooperative agreements with other local media outlets.

  Some of the agreements called for sharing pool video (33.6%) or use of a helicopter (15.1%) – but most were for sharing information (81.6%). Another 14.5% reported sharing other things, such as video, vosots, packages, live shots, and web content.  In these economic times, it was not surprising that almost half of Top 25 market stations had arrangements for sharing helicopters.

The report found that almost half of stations were using their newsroom content on their stations extra digital channels.  TV newsrooms in 5.1% of stations were also programming and producing for all-news digital channels; 19.9% for weather channels (a decline from last year); and 26.3% provided content for digital channels affiliated with a network, or providing a mix of content.

Source  - RTNDA/Hofstra 2012 TV & Radio Newsroom Staffing and Profitability Study, Part III - TV News Business Isn't Limited to Just TV Anymore