Whatever Happened to Local TV?

[PTBoardOp94]

The originating station could charge more for commercial spots, given that the show is seen in several nearby markets, and that should cover the costs of producing the show.

That assumes the advertiser wants his commercial to be seen in other markets.

Exactly. If you look at local TV advertisers, they tend to fall into three categories:
1) companies that have one location (auto dealers, furniture, attorneys, jewelers)
2) companies that have several locations in a limited geographic area (auto repair, gas stations, groceries)
3) national chains

Companies that fall under (1) have no reason at all to advertise outside their home city. No one is going to drive from Hagerstown, MD to Richmond, VA to buy an engagement ring or a Volkswagen.

Companies that fall under (2) have often optimized themselves to the borders of DMAs because that allows them the best return on their marketing dollar in the present system. The number of regional companies that do business in both Hagerstown and Richmond is probably fairly small.

Companies that fall under (3) will probably pass on buying a regional program completely because it is cheaper for them to buy time on cable or national broadcast -- the same way that you almost never see Home Depot ads in local broadcast.

 

[Morgan Wick]

The originating station could charge more for commercial spots, given that the show is seen in several nearby markets, and that should cover the costs of producing the show.

That assumes the advertiser wants his commercial to be seen in other markets.

Exactly. If you look at local TV advertisers, they tend to fall into three categories:
1) companies that have one location (auto dealers, furniture, attorneys, jewelers)
2) companies that have several locations in a limited geographic area (auto repair, gas stations, groceries)
3) national chains

Companies that fall under (1) have no reason at all to advertise outside their home city. No one is going to drive from Hagerstown, MD to Richmond, VA to buy an engagement ring or a Volkswagen.

Companies that fall under (2) have often optimized themselves to the borders of DMAs because that allows them the best return on their marketing dollar in the present system. The number of regional companies that do business in both Hagerstown and Richmond is probably fairly small.

Companies that fall under (3) will probably pass on buying a regional program completely because it is cheaper for them to buy time on cable or national broadcast -- the same way that you almost never see Home Depot ads in local broadcast.

I've noticed that a lot of the ads during Mariners games on Root Sports tend to advertise businesses in the Seattle area, not so much in the rest of the Mariners' expansive coverage area. On the flip side, ads on CSN Northwest (surprisingly low-budget operation for Comcast, by the way) tend to be catered to the Portland area, no matter what they're showing. I think I've even seen Portland-area ads in Emerald Downs coverage.

How about a system where each station sells its own ads, and the originating station gets a piece of all of them, and that helps to pay for the show? Or a MyNet-like distribution of ad inventory?

 

[TheBigA]

How about a system where each station sells its own ads, and the originating station gets a piece of all of them, and that helps to pay for the show? Or a MyNet-like distribution of ad inventory?

I think it really distracts the station from the business of operating as a local station. They're expending a lot of time and capital interacting with these various non-owned stations. That's better handled by an outside company, not the station itself.

 

[Morgan Wick]

Maybe this regional-syndication idea works best with a number of contiguous stations owned by the same company...

 

[TheBigA]

Maybe this regional-syndication idea works best with a number of contiguous stations owned by the same company...

FCC ownership laws don't permit continuous stations owned by the same company.

 

[Morgan Wick]

Maybe this regional-syndication idea works best with a number of contiguous stations owned by the same company...

FCC ownership laws don't permit continuous stations owned by the same company.

Don't both Fisher and Belo (soon to be Sinclair and Gannett) own stations in both Seattle and Portland? Aren't those contiguous markets?

 

[bpatrick]

Gannett is already in contiguous markets: WXIA Atlanta and WMAZ Macon, GA;
Belo is in contiguous Austin (KVUE) and San Antonio (KENS). Gannett will no
doubt add two more contiguous markets: Greensboro (WFMY) and Charlotte
(WCNC), and Charlotte and Columbia, SC (WLTX).

Also, all of the Big Four have o&os in contiguous markets (New York and Philadelphia),
NBC has o&os in two contiguous markets (Los Angeles and San Diego) and three others
(Hartford, New York, and Philadelphia), and CBS is in three (New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore), plus San Francisco and Sacramento.

Media General and Raycom are all over the place with contiguous markets; for instance,
Media General is in Raleigh/Durham (WNCN) and Greenville/New Bern/Washington, NC (WNCT);
Raycom is in Charlotte (WBTV), Columbia, SC (WIS), Wilmington, NC (WECT), Myrtle Beach
(WMBF), Charleston, SC (WCSC), and Savannah (WTOC). And that's only a partial list.

So that sort of puts the kibosh on any FCC prohibitions against contiguous-market ownership.

 

[bpatrick]

WFAA Dallas/Ft. Worth used to be a hotbed of local programming; when I
lived there in the late '70s, besides "Peppermint Place," it had "Inside Television"
with Belo president Mike Shapiro answering viewers' questions; "Que Pasa?" for
the Hispanic audience; the local franchises for "PM Magazine" and "Bowling
For Dollars"; and "People" with Michael Brown (husband of novelist Sandra Brown,
who also worked at Channel 8 at the time). I'm sure I'm leaving something out,
but I don't see the likes of any of this on Channel 8 anymore.

The recent news of Gannett buying out the TV (or non-newspaper) company/assets of Belo (the split off A.H. Belo still runs/owns the Dallas Morning News and other local papers) started a mini-nostalgia floodgate of old pix in the Dallas paper this week, including a much younger Mike Shapiro (whom I have met once after he retired) and Mr. Peppermint (done by the late Jerry Haynes). Let Me Speak to the Manager (which was later Inside Television) was, to me, a really relevant and ground-breaking show. None of the other stations were interested in devoting a half-hour a week to throwing open the door to an "office" and letting management take comments and questions from their viewers about operations/programming/why-did-you/why-don't-you/etc. Shapiro's show (which used a co-host whose name I can't recall right now) came off professional without going stodgy, stiff, and upper-management (and certainly not the perky/PYT mood that most entertainment-style shows are in these days).

As for the others, KDFW/4 had (I don't know if it's still on or not) a longtime local public-affairs show called Insights about issues and notables in the local African-American community. 4 Country Reporter (which would move to WFAA/8 later as 8 Country Reporter followed by syndication to other local stations as Texas Country Reporter) was a half-hour weekly show about folks locally and around the state in feature/local-character style that might get a blip or brief mention on a local newscast otherwise. When the show was on KDFW/4, it had a simpler style, while in it's latter years on WFAA/8's schedule and as a syndie, it got a little too slick and even tried in recent years to jump sharks by doing features in other states outside Texas. This took away from it's local relevance IMO and original spirit of the show. KXAS/5 has done a local public-affairs show called 5 Talk Street for many years; I haven't watched it in a while so I don't know what it's status is nor what tone the show takes if it is still on. They did have a weekend children's show called The Children's Hour that IIRR was a memory by the late 1980s; it was a combo-meal of puppets, Davey and Goliath shorts, and other kid-oriented features. KTVT/11 had the longtime morning show Slam Bang Theater (which in it's last years was a repository for Three Stooges shorts IIRR) as well as weekend shows later on that had country music acts (one of which was taped or live (can't remember which) with bands on stage at Fort Worth's Panther Hall, another show they did on weekends was Cowboy Weaver). A WCCW wrestling match show was huge for them especially in the 1980s. One thing that set KTVT/11 apart in the 1980s and early 1990s was that it was made available as a satellite "superstation" so more potential viewers got to see what the station was airing at the time. Most local shows that KTVT/11 had done before the mid-1990s were gone by the time the station flipped to CBS in 1995.

Most local content done now in DFW is really features within newscasts. In recent years WFAA/8 has done a public-affairs show called Metro relevant to the African-American community; you really have to hunt around the schedule to find it (if it's still on). KERA/13 does a monthly interview show called CEO which highlights a different local company executive (the DFW area has many locally-based companies for the show to choose from) each episode. Also Good Morning Texas is a morning staple on WFAA/8 after GMA but much of it's programming now is infomercial-ish (cooks from self-promoting local restaurants, locally-made or -sold products, etc.). The only other localized stuff is 30-minute car dealer infomercials and local church services/preachers.

I met Mike Shapiro and the late Dave Lane, g.m. at Channel 8 in the late '70s; both were friendly and professional, and willing to answer my questions about the business. I never got to meet news director Marty Haag but I know he was also a top-notch pro. One time the Columbia Journalism Review named WFAA and WCCO as the two best local-news operations in the country (had to throw that in).

That country-music show on KTVT was divided into two parts; Cowboy Weaver had one, while Jim "Shootin'" Newton had the other. Also, KTVT used to devote its entire Saturday-morning lineup to public-affairs programs.

Nowadays, there seems to be a run on infomercials disguised as talk shows; take a look at "Colorado & Company" and "Atlanta & Company." Except for the revenue generated by the people who come on the show, I don't know why WXIA keeps "Atlanta & Company," as it gets less than a 1 rating at 11 AM. (But I never understood why they gave up the long-running "Noonday" either.)

And does anyone from the Bay Area remember a program on KRON called "TGI4"? I think it aired at 4 PM, just before the local news.

 

[TheBigA]

Don't both Fisher and Belo (soon to be Sinclair and Gannett) own stations in both Seattle and Portland? Aren't those contiguous markets?

They're 175 miles, 3 hours apart. The examples in this thread are a lot closer, like DC and Baltimore, or Boston and Providence.

 

[TheBigA]

Also, all of the Big Four have o&os in contiguous markets (New York and Philadelphia),

IIRC they needed waivers to do that.

So that sort of puts the kibosh on any FCC prohibitions against contiguous-market ownership.

It depends. The ownership rules leave it up to the FCC to review each situation individually.

One thing they'd look at is how those stations operate. Do they use their proximity to limit competition? The FCC might interpret the creation of a regional network as acting like a monopoly. That has come up in Hartford a few times already.

 

[w9wi]

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2009-title47-vol4-sec73-3555.xml

The current rule is that multiple TV ownership is permitted if either:

1. The stations are in different markets, or:
2. Their "Grade B" signal contours don't overlap, or:
3. At least one of the stations with overlapping Grade B contours in the same market is not one of the 4 top-rated stations in the market, and at least eight independently-owned & operated full-power stations will remain after the merger.

I'm not sure how they handle that second definition now that we've gone digital and "Grade B" no longer exists. (I suspect they use the "noise-limited" contour) In the analog era, the Grade B contour of a maximum-power low-band VHF station was 128km, about 80 miles. Somewhat less (closer to 65 miles) in the Northeast where antenna heights were more strictly limited. The noise-limited contour of a maximum-power UHF DTV station is about 121km so I suppose that's indeed a comparable measure.

My memory is pretty iffy on this but I seem to recall #1 is a recent point, that it used to be impermissible to own multiple stations with overlapping Grade B contours even if they were in different markets. #3 is definitely recent.

 

[TheBigA]

You're right that there are technical standards for multiple station ownership. But there are also operational standards. They want to maintain the diversity of voices in an area, and they don't want to create media concentration. Operating a regional network among co-owned stations, unless for charitable purposes, could be a problem.

 

[crainbebo]

Speaking of an earlier post...

For YEARS now, Dave Smith Motors (in IDAHO?!?) has been sponsoring on Seattle TV. They are about 50mi E of Coeur D'Alene, ID and NO one from this area is going to go all the way to almost MONTANA, 350 miles away, to get a new car. So why waste money?

-crainbebo

 

[Ultimajock]

Re: A Possible Solution (Was: Re: Whatever Happened to Local TV?)

Or KABC-7 Los Angeles could produce a show that could be distributed regionally to San Diego, Palm Springs, and Santa Barbara.

...KABC-TV/7 is indeed doing exactly that with On The Red Carpet, which is locally produced and also seen on the main schedules of Scripps' KGTV/10 San Diego and KNXV/15 Phoenix, and Journal's KGUN/9 Tucson, in addition to a batch of ABC O&Os in other markets and LWN...

 

[nathannah]

Speaking of an earlier post...

For YEARS now, Dave Smith Motors (in IDAHO?!?) has been sponsoring on Seattle TV. They are about 50mi E of Coeur D'Alene, ID and NO one from this area is going to go all the way to almost MONTANA, 350 miles away, to get a new car. So why waste money?

-crainbebo

Actually it seems like a pretty smart idea because rural dealers always are more willing to negotiate or have lower prices to drive in out-of-staters than an urban dealership that might have six other competing dealers with them in a small radius, so they advertise in Seattle and throughout Washington. It looks like they also make it a tourist attraction and provide a lot of services to get people in. Also, I'm sure that in a non-urban area of a mostly mountainous state, that region doesn't have the state taxing and emissions testing regulations you'd have to go through to buy a car in the Seattle area, or any area in California. Trust me, when it comes to saving a buck, people will do anything, including going to northern Idaho to get every bit of bang for their buck and not have to go through other yearly hassles if they buy local.

 

[w9wi]

You're right that there are technical standards for multiple station ownership. But there are also operational standards. They want to maintain the diversity of voices in an area, and they don't want to create media concentration. Operating a regional network among co-owned stations, unless for charitable purposes, could be a problem.

I'm having trouble locating regulations establishing such a requirement where the only cross-ownership going on is multiple TV stations.

However, if you continue reading 73.3555 you do run into situations where there's co-ownership of a daily newspaper and a broadcast station. It's not generally permitted but there are LOTS of grounds for waiving that restriction --

...(i) Whether the combined entity will significantly increase the amount of local news in the market;
(ii) Whether the newspaper and the broadcast outlets each will continue to employ its own staff and each will exercise its own independent news judgment;
(iii) The level of concentration in the Nielsen Designated Market Area (DMA); and

(iv) The financial condition of the newspaper or broadcast station, and if the newspaper or broadcast station is in financial distress, the proposed owner's commitment to invest significantly in newsroom operations.
...

 

[Biffstunt]

WPXT in Portland, Maine (www.ourmaine.com) has a good amount of local programming, including a live music series, a kids gameshow, and some travel shows. They even produced an animated Christmas special a couple of years ago.

They also run a late night talk show based in Bangor, Maine (originating at WABI) which is pretty well done (www.theniteshowmaine.com). This show in particular really takes me back to what local TV "should" be about.

There are ways to do good local TV, but it takes a little bit of creativity, and a station that won't put everything into a mold of what works in bigger cities.

-BS

 

[LKellerIII]

Speaking of an earlier post...

For YEARS now, Dave Smith Motors (in IDAHO?!?) has been sponsoring on Seattle TV. They are about 50mi E of Coeur D'Alene, ID and NO one from this area is going to go all the way to almost MONTANA, 350 miles away, to get a new car. So why waste money?

-crainbebo

Actually it seems like a pretty smart idea because rural dealers always are more willing to negotiate or have lower prices to drive in out-of-staters than an urban dealership that might have six other competing dealers with them in a small radius, so they advertise in Seattle and throughout Washington. It looks like they also make it a tourist attraction and provide a lot of services to get people in. Also, I'm sure that in a non-urban area of a mostly mountainous state, that region doesn't have the state taxing and emissions testing regulations you'd have to go through to buy a car in the Seattle area, or any area in California. Trust me, when it comes to saving a buck, people will do anything, including going to northern Idaho to get every bit of bang for their buck and not have to go through other yearly hassles if they buy local.

In my experience, that's a fallacy pushed by car dealers who advertise. For example, "Come to low overhead (fill in town here), where you always save money."

During a short (and unpleasant) time in my life in the early 90s, I was a car salesman. I learned that pretty much any dealer - urban or rural - is willing to sell a few cars virtually at their cost if the conditions are right - especially if you live locally, and have some sign you will be a loyal customer and come back to use their service department - where they REALLY make a lot of money. There's no immediate or near-term gain in selling a car at cost to somebody who lives hundreds of miles away - they may come back to buy their next car, but that might not be for 5 or 10 years.

And believe me, car dealers more than make up for those cars sold at cost, by screwing suckers who come in willing to get their pockets picked. Though I'll concede that might be different now in the internet age, in which anybody can comparision shop.

 

[crainbebo]

WPXT in Portland, Maine (www.ourmaine.com) has a good amount of local programming, including a live music series, a kids gameshow, and some travel shows. They even produced an animated Christmas special a couple of years ago.

They also run a late night talk show based in Bangor, Maine (originating at WABI) which is pretty well done (www.theniteshowmaine.com). This show in particular really takes me back to what local TV "should" be about.

There are ways to do good local TV, but it takes a little bit of creativity, and a station that won't put everything into a mold of what works in bigger cities.

-BS

A kids program produced locally and aired locally? Kudos to WPXT!! Darn rare to see that anymore!

-crainbebo

 

[crainbebo]

Speaking of an earlier post...

For YEARS now, Dave Smith Motors (in IDAHO?!?) has been sponsoring on Seattle TV. They are about 50mi E of Coeur D'Alene, ID and NO one from this area is going to go all the way to almost MONTANA, 350 miles away, to get a new car. So why waste money?

-crainbebo

Actually it seems like a pretty smart idea because rural dealers always are more willing to negotiate or have lower prices to drive in out-of-staters than an urban dealership that might have six other competing dealers with them in a small radius, so they advertise in Seattle and throughout Washington. It looks like they also make it a tourist attraction and provide a lot of services to get people in. Also, I'm sure that in a non-urban area of a mostly mountainous state, that region doesn't have the state taxing and emissions testing regulations you'd have to go through to buy a car in the Seattle area, or any area in California. Trust me, when it comes to saving a buck, people will do anything, including going to northern Idaho to get every bit of bang for their buck and not have to go through other yearly hassles if they buy local.

In my experience, that's a fallacy pushed by car dealers who advertise. For example, "Come to low overhead (fill in town here), where you always save money."

During a short (and unpleasant) time in my life in the early 90s, I was a car salesman. I learned that pretty much any dealer - urban or rural - is willing to sell a few cars virtually at their cost if the conditions are right - especially if you live locally, and have some sign you will be a loyal customer and come back to use their service department - where they REALLY make a lot of money. There's no immediate or near-term gain in selling a car at cost to somebody who lives hundreds of miles away - they may come back to buy their next car, but that might not be for 5 or 10 years.

And believe me, car dealers more than make up for those cars sold at cost, by screwing suckers who come in willing to get their pockets picked. Though I'll concede that might be different now in the internet age, in which anybody can comparision shop.

Dave Smith Motors in Idaho is like telling residents of Los Angeles to drive to "low overhead Salt Lake City" or "low overhead Tucson" to get a car. It doesn't make sense. There's literally a HUNDRED + car dealers in Los Angeles anyways...

-crainbebo