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Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media Form Local News Service

Posted on: Thursday, 13 November 2008, 12:00 CST

The Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media will form a local news service in Philadelphia, with plans to roll out the service in other markets where both companies own and operate local television stations. The announcement was made today by Jack Abernethy, Chief Executive Officer, Fox Television Stations Inc., and John Wallace, President, NBC Local Media.

The service will gather and distribute general market video coverage to the participating stations, allowing them to efficiently use resources to focus on more specialized franchise reporting. The stations will continue to operate independently in all other respects regarding their individual newsgathering operations.

Abernethy stated, "We are pleased to be partnering with NBC in this innovative arrangement. By allowing us to save on duplicate expenditures we can be even more competitive with NBC and other stations through signature pieces and investigative reporting."

Managed by the Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media group, the news service's footage will be available to interested local media outlets in each market, including television stations, print publications, radio stations and digital media.

Added Wallace, "By pooling resources to provide video coverage of general market events, we can ensure our stations are covering the news of the day, and at the same time, focus our efforts on the type of specialized reporting that defines our brands and differentiates our stations within their communities."

NBC Local Media and the Fox Television Stations will provide newsgathering and transmission resources to the local news service: including a helicopter, personnel and equipment, while also maintaining their own separate capabilities. The news service management will independently identify the stories to be covered each day and make arrangements to gather and transmit the video back to each of the stations. The stations will each decide how the material is to be used in their own newscasts, using their own writing and editorial voice. All employees involved in the local news service will remain part of their respective companies.

The new business will launch in Philadelphia in January 2009, formalizing a successful trial that WCAU-NBC 10 and WTXF-FOX 29 have been conducting within their news organizations since the summer. The parties intend to roll out the local news service in other markets at a later date. Both companies own and operate television stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Washington, D.C.

About Fox Television Stations:

Fox Television Stations is one of the nation's largest owned-and-operated network broadcast groups, comprising 27 stations in 18 markets and covering nearly 37.34% of U.S. television homes. This includes six duopolies in the top 10 markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C. and Houston; as well as duopolies in Minneapolis, Phoenix and Orlando.

About NBC Local Media:

NBC Local Media is comprised of ten NBC owned-and-operated television stations reaching 27% of US TV households; the NBC Everywhere operation focusing on the growing Out of Home digital market; LX.TV, a content production company that produces lifestyle and cultural programming; and Skycastle Entertainment, an award-winning entertainment marketing and promotion company. Together, the NBC Local Media properties distribute NBC Universal content and produce local content for broadcast television, broadband networks, digital channels and numerous media outlets outside of the home. NBC Local Media is a division of NBC Universal.

Source: Business Wire

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