Archive for April 25th, 2008
Lots of folks in the business are talking about this story in the Wall Street Journal today (sub. req.), “Political season can’t save local TV sales,” which details declining revenue at local TV stations. “Nonpolitical advertising at local stations is down in the mid-to-high single digits, by some estimates,” writes Sam Schechner in the Journal. Total ad revenue, according to TVB, is on pace for a 3-5 percent decline in the second quarter. “We don’t think local markets will be able to support four or five local broadcast-TV stations, and we think some of the weaker ones may fail” in a few years, says researcher Gordon Borrell, who says the downturn could accelerate station’s efforts to find new online revenue streams.
I’m afraid the reports of layoffs will only accelerate in the months to come…
April 25th, 2008
The annual EPpy Award finalists for local TV/cable sites are MyFoxChicago.com, KING5.com (woo hoo!), wibw.com and WRAL.com. Finalists for the best news site (over 1 million uniques) are BBC News, CBCNews.ca, msnbc.com, NYTimes.com and Slate Magazine. And for network TV/cable sites: CBSNews.com, CNN.com, Discovery.com and ESPN.com. Good luck, everyone!
Steve adds in comments: “We (I am at Fox Chicago) are nominated as ‘Fox News Chicago’ rather than myFoxChicago.com. Our entry consisted of several URLs representing projects we have going here, including myFoxChicago, a local weather site, ObamaTracker, LiveNewsCameras, and our HS sports site.”
April 25th, 2008
The Toledo station, owned by Barrington Broadcasting, has laid off an undisclosed number of newsroom staff. “We’re facing a brave new world here, and models we’ve used for 40 or 50 years are no longer applicable,” said VP/GM Jon Skorburg.
April 25th, 2008
