The extreme possibility of doing away with sports desks at local television stations made me think of a case study...one only needs to look at ABC-45 (WXLV) and the cost-cutting that resulted in the closure of its news division not once, but twice. (see this neat Wikipedia entry for a short history lesson).Sinclair Broadcast Group's commitment to ABC-45's news division was paltry and at best, pathetic. And it was their non-commitment that led to the news division's demise. More local media choices, not less, is always good for the consumer.
E.C. :)
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I was at WXLV for the ABC News deal and it was a fiasco from the start. The owners (not Sinclair) were unable of the money the ABC Network had available to help stations start up news. As a result, we tried our best to pull it off the best we could with as little money as possible.
It was an uphill battle to say the least. We could have done the news NUDE and most folks were have never seen us. People's viewing habits are nearly impossible to break.
When I was at Channel 20, we discussed doing news because it would have been a public service. And the owner Pappas was that kind of guy - doing what was right. Unfortunately he chose some mentally challenged folks to help run the company into bankruptcy and news never happened.
WFMY and WXII are both owned by strong news-oriented groups. WGHP has a strong news operation. We'll never have 6 stations doing news like Charlotte and I doubt we will ever see a 4th broadcast news again. NEWS14 shut the door on the possibility of any broadcaster trying a "fifth" news in this market.
You might see a Channel 2 or 12 news on 16 or 20 at 10 PM in the future.
So it was the local power-that-be at ABC-45, not Sinclair? Interesting...
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