Allen Media stations dumping local weather segments

[SEWIGuy]

The Allen layoffs also include some local journalists at their TV stations. Gray TV recently did something similar in its small markets.

The local station I watch for local news in the morning is a Gray station. My favorite bits are when they go to their "Washington reporter" who probably spends two hours every morning answering the same scripted questions with the same scripted answers from anchors from accross the country.

And the random story from another Gray market in a completely different state that I guess the local producer found interesting.

For some of their markets, they may be given questions to ask to set up the reporter's recorded answer.  The largest markets may have it more personalized.

While I doubt the Quad Cities is one of their larger markets, they do banter back and forth with names beforehand so perhaps its more the latter than the former? I will pay closer attention next time.

[Scott5114]

The Allen layoffs also include some local journalists at their TV stations. Gray TV recently did something similar in its small markets.

The local station I watch for local news in the morning is a Gray station. My favorite bits are when they go to their "Washington reporter" who probably spends two hours every morning answering the same scripted questions with the same scripted answers from anchors from accross the country.

And the random story from another Gray market in a completely different state that I guess the local producer found interesting.

Assuming they don't have the Washington reporter record the answers once and then just splice that with the scripted local anchor questions, the way they used to do with local DJs "interviewing" musicians.

[ilpt4u]

The Allen layoffs also include some local journalists at their TV stations. Gray TV recently did something similar in its small markets.

The local station I watch for local news in the morning is a Gray station. My favorite bits are when they go to their "Washington reporter" who probably spends two hours every morning answering the same scripted questions with the same scripted answers from anchors from accross the country.

And the random story from another Gray market in a completely different state that I guess the local producer found interesting.

I'll probably switch to our market's Gray Television station, KFVS Cape Girardeau, once WSIL Carterville/Harrisburg gets rid of local weather for The Weather Channel crap.

Either that or WPSD Paducah, owned by Paxton media/owner of Paducah newspaper Paducah Sun Democrat

[WillWeaverRVA]

Allen Media has reversed the decision after overwhelming backlash.

https://www.wtva.com/news/local/wtva-parent-company-reverses-decision-severe-weather-authority-to-remain/article_62b9d4da-d9b4-11ef-9386-a7fc886aea62.html

[thenetwork]

Allen Media has reversed the decision after overwhelming backlash.

https://www.wtva.com/news/local/wtva-parent-company-reverses-decision-severe-weather-authority-to-remain/article_62b9d4da-d9b4-11ef-9386-a7fc886aea62.html

But will the other meteorologists that were already let go from Allen Media stations even dare go back to their old jobs???

[ilpt4u]

Allen Media has reversed the decision after overwhelming backlash.

https://www.wtva.com/news/local/wtva-parent-company-reverses-decision-severe-weather-authority-to-remain/article_62b9d4da-d9b4-11ef-9386-a7fc886aea62.html

Southern Illinois's Daily Egyptian newspaper is reporting WSIL's Weather Team is staying on at the station as well: https://dailyegyptian.com/120152/news/wsil-ownership-reverses-decision-to-axe-weather-department/

[Life in Paradise]

I'm guessing enough station managers as well as the local station advertisers made a fuss.  And if there is one group corporate will listen to, it is their good paying advertisers.  On the other hand, it will be interesting to see whether or not Allen Media does this on a case by case basis over the next few years.  That way there won't be as much publicity on the decision.

[dvferyance]

I am glad they did the right thing and revered their decision. But I can't beleive they would even consider doing something like this.

[ilpt4u]

2 out of 3 of WSIL's meteorologists quit anyway. Monday morning news today has a Weather Channel guy from Atlanta doing the weather. I bet this is how it is going forward.

WSIL's morning news is now the morning news girl reading intros for ABC-recorded national news segments and Weather Channel-produced weather segments. Hardly qualifies as local news at this point

[thenetwork]

2 out of 3 of WSIL's meteorologists quit anyway. Monday morning news today has a Weather Channel guy from Atlanta doing the weather. I bet this is how it is going forward.

WSIL's morning news is now the morning news girl reading intros for ABC-recorded national news segments and Weather Channel-produced weather segments. Hardly qualifies as local news at this point

A lot of the small market stations do that nowadays. 

[Bobby5280]

These local TV station ownership groups really need to double-check the "cost-saving" idea of outsourcing their local weather departments to The Weather Channel. That's in light of the federal government firing hundreds of people at the NOAA and National Weather Service right before the Spring storm season. They even laid off people at the Norman, OK office, which is one of the most important in the country.

[Road Hog]

The small market TV stations to the north of me mainly just rehash the 10 o'clock local news stories for their morning shows and occasionally will sprinkle in some prerecorded lifestylish interviews as well. To their credit, they do have an AM weather person who's up to date.

[SectorZ]

I wonder how many years of cord-cutting has caused this. We know how every single OTA station has gotten tons of extra money off retrans fees and now that money is drying up.

I'd be curious to see the financials involved.

[NWI_Irish96]

If you aren't going to have live, locally based weather reports on your news, and other stations in your area do, you might as well stop having newscasts. People aren't going to watch yours.

[ZLoth]

https://cordcuttersnews.com/local-abc-cbs-fox-nbc-stations-are-canceling-local-weather-meteorologists-as-tegna-cuts-costs-on-local-news/

[Life in Paradise]

https://cordcuttersnews.com/local-abc-cbs-fox-nbc-stations-are-canceling-local-weather-meteorologists-as-tegna-cuts-costs-on-local-news/

It's a big step to go from utilizing a larger market or national service to fill in during vacations to save money to fully going to that option.  The owners have to really remember that one of the reasons for people to put eyes on their station is not for a top syndicated show or "mega-hit" network show (which these days is just a meager sliver of what viewership would have been just a decade or two ago), but local news and weather.  Sports is still a draw for live action, but even that on news shows has pulled back.  When there is severe weather or a local breaking story, people want to know what's going on with someone that really knows their area.  Most radio stations have dropped a lot of their local news staff and reporters, so TV may be one of the last options unless someone popularizes and perhaps monetizes an internet channel for an area.

[Road Hog]

https://cordcuttersnews.com/local-abc-cbs-fox-nbc-stations-are-canceling-local-weather-meteorologists-as-tegna-cuts-costs-on-local-news/

When there is severe weather or a local breaking story, people want to know what's going on with someone that really knows their area.  Most radio stations have dropped a lot of their local news staff and reporters, so TV may be one of the last options unless someone popularizes and perhaps monetizes an internet channel for an area.

That is happening to an extent, with a few local weather watchers and chasers starting channels. But the DFW stations are still all-in on storm coverage and to my knowledge, still treat it as a profit leader.

[ZLoth]

But the DFW stations are still all-in on storm coverage and to my knowledge, still treat it as a profit leader.

In terms of current television market size...

• New York City
• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• Dallas-Fort Worth (Swapped positions with Philadelphia)
• Philadelphia

Having said that, a locally-based meteorologist would know some of the quirks of the local weather as well as some of the colloquial names for areas.

[Scott5114]

Yeah, in the Plains it really makes no sense to dump local meteorologists. I'm not sure if they've done this in Dallas, but in Oklahoma City, the big three stations have all invested in Doppler radar installations with better resolution than KTLX (the local NWS Doppler). One station even bragged about having two Dopplers so their scans would update twice as frequently.

[Road Hog]

Dallas has definitely not done so — yet. Pete Delkus at Tegna-owned Channel 8 is the most popular meteorologist on DFW TV and Delkus has a couple of capable assistants. Tegna will not dare move to can Delkus before he retires or moves on voluntarily. TV weather guys are personalities first and meteorologists second.

[Bobby5280]

I think it's possible over the air local TV stations could see some growth in viewership over the years ahead.

The platform under much greater threat is cable/satellite TV. As more people continue to cut the cord they'll use OTA broadcast TV channels as an option to streaming services. Most traditional cable TV channels have little value to them anymore. Most of it is reality TV bullshit, with the same episodes aired over and over again. Only around half a dozen or so cable networks produce decent original content (AMC, FX, Comedy Central, TNT). The cable news channels are past their peak. Most of their viewers range from middle aged to elderly. Most younger adults don't watch cable news; they're more likely to watch YouTube podcasts, short clips on TikTok, etc. This is one reason why Netflix wants spin off CNN with its proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.

We're probably not far off from seeing a wave of cable networks end operations. MTV is just the beginning. I think it's also only a matter of time before Dish and DirecTV stop sending "birds" into orbit and try to survive as streaming-only services. Their subscriber numbers are continuing to drop. That leaves a smaller pool of customers to spread out their operating costs. The remaining customers will endure only so many more price hikes. As these changes continue to develop it may put local TV stations in a better position.

[thenetwork]

I think it's possible over the air local TV stations could see some growth in viewership over the years ahead.

The platform under much greater threat is cable/satellite TV. As more people continue to cut the cord they'll use OTA broadcast TV channels as an option to streaming services. Most traditional cable TV channels have little value to them anymore. Most of it is reality TV bullshit, with the same episodes aired over and over again. Only around half a dozen or so cable networks produce decent original content (AMC, FX, Comedy Central, TNT). The cable news channels are past their peak. Most of their viewers range from middle aged to elderly. Most younger adults don't watch cable news; they're more likely to watch YouTube podcasts, short clips on TikTok, etc. This is one reason why Netflix wants spin off CNN with its proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.

We're probably not far off from seeing a wave of cable networks end operations. MTV is just the beginning. I think it's also only a matter of time before Dish and DirecTV stop sending "birds" into orbit and try to survive as streaming-only services. Their subscriber numbers are continuing to drop. That leaves a smaller pool of customers to spread out their operating costs. The remaining customers will endure only so many more price hikes. As these changes continue to develop it may put local TV stations in a better position.

One thing can see happening is that for all of these big companies that are buying up TV stations (Nexstar, Gray, Cox, Sinclair...), I can see them relying less on the Big 4 networks for their national news, sports and daytime/nightime programming offerings.

Instead I can see Nexstar, etc...  creating their own "networks" for local programming.  They will create their own national news programs, they will air the same syndicated programs at the same times  on all of their owned networks.

This eliminates the need to pay to be affiliated with the Big 4 networks where the transmission fees keep rising and the costs are fowrarded to cable and satellite customers.

It sounds a bit confusing,  but since the networks pretty much offer their programming over subscription streaming channels already (via Disney, Hulu, Peacock), these companies that own the over-the-air channels can start to counter-program what the networks offer and keep all the sales and profits to themselves and ditch the network affiliations altogether.

[vdeane]

One thing can see happening is that for all of these big companies that are buying up TV stations (Nexstar, Gray, Cox, Sinclair...), I can see them relying less on the Big 4 networks for their national news, sports and daytime/nightime programming offerings.

Instead I can see Nexstar, etc...  creating their own "networks" for local programming.  They will create their own national news programs, they will air the same syndicated programs at the same times  on all of their owned networks.

This eliminates the need to pay to be affiliated with the Big 4 networks where the transmission fees keep rising and the costs are fowrarded to cable and satellite customers.

It sounds a bit confusing,  but since the networks pretty much offer their programming over subscription streaming channels already (via Disney, Hulu, Peacock), these companies that own the over-the-air channels can start to counter-program what the networks offer and keep all the sales and profits to themselves and ditch the network affiliations altogether.

They're already going that way.  Both Nexstar and especially Sinclair are prone to putting national stories in their "local" news broadcasts and have "must run" programs that they want the local stations to air.  Nexstar also created the NewsNation cable network using segments that their local stations produce.  My local Nextar station, WTEN, recently preempted the local and national news for a NewsNation special on Qatar for some reason.  And when all the stuff with Kimmel was happening, they replaced him with an extra half an hour of local news.  They also recently preempted Shifting Gears with a local holiday shopping infomercial they produced.

[Bobby5280]

Local TV stations are still going to need the big national broadcast networks for quite a bit of their content. I mean, what the hell else are they going to play? Infomercials around the clock?

Prime time shows are a staple. So is college and big league sports. Both local and national news programs are still important. The only area that really seems to be suffering is late night programming. Younger generations aren't into it as much. The middle aged and older folks are often going to bed too early. Too many people in either camp are watching late night opening monologues the next day on YouTube (if they watch the stuff at all).

Companies like Sinclair can play games with local news programming to push their own packaged items onto viewers and cut down on actual local news content. But they'll do so at considerable risk. Local news coverage still matters quite a lot. It's not just the weather report either. If they want to push a greater amount of their own edited national stories onto viewers and less local coverage they'll give viewers every reason to just spend time watching Netflix, YouTube, etc.

Some local newspapers have been led to ruin by big ownership groups who cut down on local staff and filled the decreasing page count with national wire service stories. Who needs to read about any of that shit a day or two after it happened? I'm cautiously optimistic our local newspaper in Lawton might start to get back on a positive track after a local group bought the paper from its bigger national owner.

[Life in Paradise]

Local TV stations are still going to need the big national broadcast networks for quite a bit of their content. I mean, what the hell else are they going to play? Infomercials around the clock?

Prime time shows are a staple. So is college and big league sports. Both local and national news programs are still important. The only area that really seems to be suffering is late night programming. Younger generations aren't into it as much. The middle aged and older folks are often going to bed too early. Too many people in either camp are watching late night opening monologues the next day on YouTube (if they watch the stuff at all).

Companies like Sinclair can play games with local news programming to push their own packaged items onto viewers and cut down on actual local news content. But they'll do so at considerable risk. Local news coverage still matters quite a lot. It's not just the weather report either. If they want to push a greater amount of their own edited national stories onto viewers and less local coverage they'll give viewers every reason to just spend time watching Netflix, YouTube, etc.

Some local newspapers have been led to ruin by big ownership groups who cut down on local staff and filled the decreasing page count with national wire service stories. Who needs to read about any of that shit a day or two after it happened? I'm cautiously optimistic our local newspaper in Lawton might start to get back on a positive track after a local group bought the paper from its bigger national owner.

Sinclair got in quite a pickle when they overpaid for the Fox Sports Regional Networks.  You now know them as Fan Duel Sports.  I would guess that there might be a situation where they could repurpose their rights towards their local stations and make money by selling ads there and then make it available to those outside the area on an app, but I'm not sure that would be within their contract rights, nor that still might not bring in enough money.  I do see there being a ying/yang with streaming rights, and wanting to make it sports and other specialty broadcasts available on free TV with advertisers, since those items actually draw significant viewers to free TV.