Bruce MacDonald

Good, thorough story on the winding down of the broadcast news money machine.

"The major networks are offering fewer hours to their affiliates in daytime. Syndicated shows are going away as they can no longer attract large enough audiences to support them. Talk shows starring Kelly Clarkson, Sherri Shepherd and Steve Wilko are ending after this season, leaving hours of time for stations to fill in September.

"Local TV newscasts are also vital to station ad sales departments because the programs are the first stop for political campaign commercials. Although TV news viewers are older and less desirable to consumer advertisers, they are more likely to be voters who are engaged in current affairs."
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2026-03-23/inside-local-tv-news-layoffs-consolidation-shrinking-ratings

#broadcast #news #money

TV news in crisis: Layoffs, consolidation and shrinking ratings

Longtime journalists may become collateral damage as TV stations deal with controlling costs and the loss of viewers to streaming.

Los Angeles Times
Mar 23 at 2:06pmWeb
Show threadBruce MacDonald6d ago

"Broadcast TV stations have long had the highest profit margins in the media business. But the financial model that sustained that growth has steadily eroded in recent years. Streaming — which now accounts for more than 40% of all viewing — has pulled consumers away from traditional TV, putting pressure on outlets to control costs so they can remain financially viable. …

“It used to be that people would grow into the news habits of their parents, and now they’re not,” said Andrew Heyward, a former president of CBS News who now advises local TV stations. “The next generation of consumers are never going to run home to watch the newscast at 5, 6, 10 or 11.”
—from the article

Show threadImogen6d ago

@rationaldoge

Interesting. The idea of network driven programming seems to be ending.

I remember when KMSP television channel 9 was independent. Great programming.

https://youtu.be/36AKjZeIWDQ?si=tfFl-1SGISID4D4w

KMSP Channel 9: Blank Movie Marquee (1980s)

from sometime during the mid 1980s.

YouTube