Small Market TV

[butlerguy03]

What is the smallest market TV that would be profitable?

I live between Muncie and Anderson, Indiana. We obviously have the major networks in the area and are included in the Indianapolis Metro. However, these town don't get much coverage and the counties combine for nearly 250k population and include several universities, loyal high school athletic programs and plenty of news (with two semi-major daily newspapers). Radio is still somewhat local.

Is this a market possibility or do you think it would just sink?

 

[KeithE4]

What is the smallest market TV that would be profitable?

I live between Muncie and Anderson, Indiana. We obviously have the major networks in the area and are included in the Indianapolis Metro. However, these town don't get much coverage and the counties combine for nearly 250k population and include several universities, loyal high school athletic programs and plenty of news (with two semi-major daily newspapers). Radio is still somewhat local.

Is this a market possibility or do you think it would just sink?

It sank in 1971, when WLBC-TV/49 was sold to Ball State University and became WIPB. WLBC carried NBC primary with ABC and CBS (until the early '60s) secondary. They were on the air from 1953 to late 1971. No need for network affiliates in Muncie.

 

[Prais]

Also, NOT good news for wlfi.

The economy in that location (once strong) is now, quite questionable.

 

[justpassingthough]

I guess if you give every metro area/exurb with 250k people a network affiliated TV station, then locally we should expect stations that cover Temecula/Murrieta/SW Riverside County; Palmdale/Lancaster/Antelope Valley; Ventura County; etc.

While there certainly may be newsworthy information from your area, it is not enough to justify a devoted TV station. Newspapers and the internet are much more effective at reaching audiences of this size. Radio and television are called broadcasting for a reason, and I'm guessing if the Indianapolis stations could make more money by focusing news on your area, they would have already tried it.

 

[KeithE4]

Also, NOT good news for wlfi.

The economy in that location (once strong) is now, quite questionable.

It was absolutely necessary for WLFI-TV to be a CBS affiliate years ago, when WISH-TV had it tower on the SE side of Indianapolis, about 75 miles from Lafayette. But now that WISH is on the NW side with the other Indy stations (except WTTV), there probably isn't a need for a network affiliate in Lafayette anymore.

 

[butlerguy03]

I guess I am a believer in local news...if I live in Kokomo, Indiana, why do I care about the weather conditions in Columbus, Indiana? Yet, we consider these the same market. Yes, they are entertained by the same programming, but there is a reason there isn't one newspaper for both of these towns.

Point taken, advertising world and tv world would never accept such a plan. I guess the internet will eventually pass up TV too.

 

[KeithE4]

I guess if you give every metro area/exurb with 250k people a network affiliated TV station, then locally we should expect stations that cover Temecula/Murrieta/SW Riverside County; Palmdale/Lancaster/Antelope Valley; Ventura County; etc.

There's only a handful of small-city network affiliates within range of big-city stations left (Network and nearby large city with the same network in parentheses): Lafayette IN (CBS-Indy), Zanesville OH (NBC-Columbus), Atlantic City NJ (NBC-Philly), Sarasota FL (ABC-Tampa), Battle Creek MI (ABC-Grand Rapids & Lansing), Manchester NH (ABC-Boston), Hagerstown MD (NBC-Washington). There are probably a few others but that's all I can think of right now.

 

[fybush]

You could add KEYC in Mankato, Minnesota (CBS, with the rest of the networks coming in on cable from the Twin Cities) and WHIZ in Zanesville, OH (NBC against Columbus) to the list. KQTV in St. Joseph MO (ABC; Kansas City) probably fits the list too. KNAZ in Flagstaff, Arizona would once have fit the bill, but it's now a full satellite of KPNX in Phoenix. WNEG-TV in Toccoa, GA would have fit, too, doing CBS against Atlanta and Spartanburg (and spending some of that time as a partial satellite of WSPA-TV in S'burg), but it's now an indie. And WLIO in Lima, OH was once an NBC affiliate with the rest of the market watching Toledo, Columbus, Dayton or Fort Wayne...but WLIO-DT and sister station WOHL-CD now supply all four networks to Lima locally.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

The smallest market in the country is Glendive, Montana, a two county DMA with just 3940 viewers (as ranked by Nielsen). It is serviced by KXGN-5-CBS...how the station manages to stay afloat, I can only guess.

Back in the "good old days" some of the local cable companies - or at least local concerns - would use one of the required community set-aside channels to broadcast news specific to those communities (that were rarely picked up by the network affiliates) but it seems a lot of those efforts have died out.

 

[MarcB]

Springfield, Mass used to have just 4 stations - 22 WWLP/NBC, 40 WGGB/ABC, 51 WDMR-LP/Telemundo (satelite of WRDM-LP Hartford) and 57 WGBY/PBS. Now it has 7 stations.

The other 3 are:

67 WSHM-LP/CBS (It's owned by Merideth and used to be a TBN affiliate) It gets cable coverage on Channel 3 (CBS 3 is their branding) from piggy backing on WFSB Channel 3.2 out of Hartford. WSHM has a local 6PM Newscast and 11PM Newscast.

43 WHTX-LP/Univision (It's a satellite of WUVN/18 Hartford. Their license was deleted, but I have sources who tell me they're still on). They're on cable thanks to piggy backing on WUVN Channel 18.2 from Hartford.

40.2 WGGB-DT2/FOX

 

[ding12]

What is the smallest market TV that would be profitable?

I live between Muncie and Anderson, Indiana. We obviously have the major networks in the area and are included in the Indianapolis Metro. However, these town don't get much coverage and the counties combine for nearly 250k population and include several universities, loyal high school athletic programs and plenty of news (with two semi-major daily newspapers). Radio is still somewhat local.

Is this a market possibility or do you think it would just sink?

I think its hard to say now, given that most markets and cable lineups are solidified.

But what has helped existing stations are:

Difference in MSAs. Allentown for example has WFMZ. It being in a different MSA than Philadelphia helps WFMZ. It helps if its significant in size. Allentown is right under Dayton in terms of MSA size.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

Otherwise, state difference can help, because the smaller station in the other state can focus on its state news, and the viewers may want those news stories getting priority coverage, without having to filter out of state news coverage.

And there are laws for must-carry carriage of network affiliates in other states.
I know that helped WMGM and WHAG get on DirecTV and Dish, but not WWSB; although DirecTV much later added WWSB likely to round out the lineup - because the station had enough viewers.

 

[ding12]

What is the smallest market TV that would be profitable?

I think Akron had a network affiliate of its own (ABC WAKR), but the affiliation ended, with the area just part of Cleveland DMA or "Greater Cleveland".

The counties representing Akron/Canton area is large enough that Cleveland minus [Akron/Canton] would leave Cleveland to be equal to a DMA size of Pittsburgh, a significant drop. Since there is a sizeable population just around Akron/Canton, AirTran also chose to offer service in CAK airport instead of CLE airport, though I'm sure they try to lure in Cleveland residents to fly from CAK.

 

[Markxxx]

It also hurts to be overshadowed by a huge city like LA, NYC or Chicago.

Back when TV first started every congressman wanted his district to have at least one TV station. Since it appeared there'd only be two, maybe three viable networks, it wasn't a huge deal.

In the beginning of TV NBC and CBS were eager to affiliate stations just to keep anyone else from affiliating with them. So this lead to many more markets out east than there needed to be.

TV stations weren't planned for optimization, as I said, a lot of it was politcal

Now with digital TV stations, you can have one or two stations (with standard def) and get all the networks. This makes places like Lima, OH and Bowling Green KY, through use of subchannels and low powers all accounted for in terms of networks.

 

[KeithE4]

It also hurts to be overshadowed by a huge city like LA, NYC or Chicago.

Back when TV first started every congressman wanted his district to have at least one TV station. Since it appeared there'd only be two, maybe three viable networks, it wasn't a huge deal.

In the beginning of TV NBC and CBS were eager to affiliate stations just to keep anyone else from affiliating with them. So this lead to many more markets out east than there needed to be.

TV stations weren't planned for optimization, as I said, a lot of it was politcal

Now with digital TV stations, you can have one or two stations (with standard def) and get all the networks. This makes places like Lima, OH and Bowling Green KY, through use of subchannels and low powers all accounted for in terms of networks.

It also had a lot to do with the primitive VHF/UHF technology of the '50s - lower-powered transmitters, especially on UHF where most stations in that era would be considered LPTVs today, clunky, insensitive tuners (again, especially on UHF), and shorter towers.

 

[nathannah]

Also, NOT good news for wlfi.

The economy in that location (once strong) is now, quite questionable.

It was absolutely necessary for WLFI-TV to be a CBS affiliate years ago, when WISH-TV had it tower on the SE side of Indianapolis, about 75 miles from Lafayette. But now that WISH is on the NW side with the other Indy stations (except WTTV), there probably isn't a need for a network affiliate in Lafayette anymore.

LIN owns both WISH and WLFI so it's unlikely they would give over Lafayette anytime soon, especially since they own CBS affiliates in every Indiana-state market besides Evansville (not counting Chicago and Louisville).

 

[fybush]

LIN owns both WISH and WLFI so it's unlikely they would give over Lafayette anytime soon, especially since they own CBS affiliates in every Indiana-state market besides Evansville (not counting Chicago and Louisville).

I think Schurz is going to be surprised to hear that they don't own WSBT anymore...and after spending all that money on that nice new building, too!

 

[RyanHoward]

LIN owns both WISH and WLFI so it's unlikely they would give over Lafayette anytime soon, especially since they own CBS affiliates in every Indiana-state market besides Evansville (not counting Chicago and Louisville).

I think Schurz is going to be surprised to hear that they don't own WSBT anymore...and after spending all that money on that nice new building, too!

According to Wikipedia, WSBT is still owned by Schurz.

 

[nathannah]

LIN owns both WISH and WLFI so it's unlikely they would give over Lafayette anytime soon, especially since they own CBS affiliates in every Indiana-state market besides Evansville (not counting Chicago and Louisville).

I think Schurz is going to be surprised to hear that they don't own WSBT anymore...and after spending all that money on that nice new building, too!

You'd think as someone who gets giddy when I get the South Bends here in Sheboygan on the antenna I'd remember that. My mistake and apologies about letting that one get by. But yup, you get into the central part of the state and it's all LIN to get CBS.

 

[fybush]

No question about it - LIN has built a nice cluster there, and a very cost-effective one to run, since WANE, WLFI and WTHI are all run out of the hubbed master control at WISH/WNDY. If WLBC-TV hadn't thrown in the towel back in the seventies, it could probably make a go of it as a WLFI-style satellite of WISH these days, serving Muncie/Marion/Anderson. Too late for that now, though.