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Local 24 Hour Newschannel
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
Dunno about the other channels, but CLTV is owned by Tribune, which co-owns the Los Angeles Times and KTLA. Having noted that, and considering all the national and local newscasts distributed between KCBS, KNBC, KTLA, KABC, KCAL, KTTV and KCOP -- and the BBC, Al-Jazeera and "Democracy Now!" national and international programs between KCET and KLCS -- there's not an hour during which you cannot find a newscast on Los Angeles broadcast TV. Thus, a local cable news channel at this date would be overkill. Might have worked in the early '90s, but that horse left the barn long ago...
Los Angeles has over 100 different cities in the coverage area. What happens in Riverside has no meaning to San Fernando.
recto101 said:
Not to mention the fact that local TV stations in big markets are duopolies now, and time-shift local news to their affiliated stations. In the Bay Area, there are two duopolies: CBS 5 with CW 44, and Cox owned Fox 2 with independent KICU 36. Though ABC 7 (KGO-TV) is not part of a duopoly, they provide news programming to independent KOFY 20.
Between these duopolies, and the 3 hour long morning news blocks, local news is available on TV a high percentage of the time. In the Bay Area, there are now 6 local news shows on air at 6:00 PM, including Spanish language channels. LA probably has more.
NY1 has a long history, but I think it would be hard for a cable newcomer to compete these days.
Ultimajock said:
You're precisely right...if you add in the 7pm hour on NBC California Nonstop, there's a newscast virtually every hour weekdays between 4am to midnight, twenty hours a day. Similar to what CBS currently did in New York City, there's also plans to launch a news service on KCBS' second subchannel sometime this year, utilizing the resources of its radio and TV stations in the area.
Those who can remember, there was the Orange County Newschannel during the 1990s, which was owned by Freedom Communications (owners of the Orange County Register) and Century Communications (which later became absorbed by Adelphia Communications). They often shared news content with KTLA (an OCN reporter would appear each morning on the KTLA Morning News), and then later with KCBS. I believe it was ten years ago this year when the channel shut down.
As recently as a few years ago, there was an low-power over-the-air channel in the Inland Empire (Channel 27; I forget the calls) that did an all-news format, which now last-checked is now all-Spanish station.
If CBS LA+ can get off the ground, it'll be the first true all-news TV service in the area that would cover the entire market.
S
searadiofreak
Guest
Not sure of the specifics, and the fact that many L.A. stations offer news during non-traditional news times, so I guess it is not surprising there is no 24-hour local cable news. Keep in mind, that most of these cable news channels are connected to one or more existing news operations. And most re-run much of their programming, short of big breaking news. NWCN in Washington and Oregon depend on their affiliates for much material, and generally repeat their newscasts through most dayparts. In Southern California, due to the amount of live, local coverage, a local cable news outlet would probably be less important.
S
searadiofreak
Guest
I'm convinced a cable news channel in L.A. wouldn't work. Exactly for the reasons outlined in many of the above posts. L.A. stations love local news, and they provide it almost every hour of the day, with repeats overnight. There may be a few hours during the broadcast day that don't provide a local newscast, but they are few and far between. This is why I have always believed L.A. IS the local news capital of America.
Nothing has really changed. When I was 12 years old vacationing with family in Palm Springs in 1971, I was absolutely amazed at how many local newscasts were on between 5 and 7 pm. Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. Just, wow!
Nothing has really changed. When I was 12 years old vacationing with family in Palm Springs in 1971, I was absolutely amazed at how many local newscasts were on between 5 and 7 pm. Channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13. Just, wow!
searadiofreak said:
A 24 Hour News Channel was tried in the SF Bay Area in the 90s. "Bay TV" was run by KRON, then an NBC affiliate. They ran live news at odd hours (9:00 PM, etc). Within a year or so, they put in a lot of feature and interview shows to fill time and save money. And this was well before the duopolies existed, that now time-shift news between stations at almost all hours of the day and night.
When KRON was sold to Young Broadcasting (2002, IIRC), the first thing Young did was shut down Bay TV.
If memory serves me correct, I believe the BayTV concept was terminated prior to Young Broadcasting's acquisition of KRON4. I seem to recall that it was a 50/50 partnership between the local cable tv provider and KRON TV. The incumbent cable provider became acquired by AT&T and perhaps that may have been the trigger that dissolved the channel. I believe AT&T did not wish to "waste" a perfectly usable channel on their newly acquired system that they could utilize for other greater revenue producing content. Or I may be totally mistaken... Anyone out there know for sure?
Wolf
Wolf
wolfdreamer said:
You could be right, Wolfdreamer - perhaps I'm wrong. I wasn't a big Bay TV viewer, and I just remember it missing around the time KRON was sold to Young. I can't recall if AT&T still owned our cable at the time or not. After decades of Viacom, SF's cable system was sold to TCI for awhile, then acquired by AT&T for an even shorter period before Comcast finally took over.
recto101 said:
That's what it became, yes. Pete Wilson (not the ex-Governor) was tireless, and churned out many interview shows for Bay TV in addition to his anchoring duties at KRON. Bay TV would also time shift other KRON programs, like Bay Area Backroads.
To get back to he topic, though - I never got the impression that Bay TV ever did well. Perhaps it's not analagous to LA, but 24 hour non-stop news would be even more expensive if you cut all the talk and features, and would have tough competition from those 4 hour long morning news blocks on the regular broadcast channels, not to mention news throughout the day on the broadcast stations and their duopoly affiliates. It might be a go-to destination for news-junkies up at 3:00 AM, but that's got to be a relatively small audience.
searadiofreak said:
On that subject - last time I checked, the highest rated local news in the Bay Area at 6:00 PM is Spanish language news on KDTV-14, our Univision affiliate. The obvious reason is that they are the only Spanish news broadcast, while the English language audience at that hour is divided between 2 (Fox), KRON/4 (ind), 5 (CBS), 7 (ABC), and 11 (NBC).
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