Peoria Pundit

Enjoy WEEK, WHOI and WMBD while you can. The Wall Street Journal is predicting the end of local stations that affiliate with national networks:

Local television stations like Ms. Howfield’s dominated the TV business for more than half a century. They inspired the term “network”: a web of Channel 7s and 11s that delivered shows from ABC, CBS, NBC — and later, Fox — plus local news, syndicated reruns and talk shows. Because the stations owned the licenses to the airwaves that broadcast TV signals, big networks couldn’t distribute content without them. In turn, local stations became the vehicles for the greatest mass-market advertising blitz in history.

Now, with their viewership in decline and ad revenue on a downward spiral, many local TV stations face the prospect of being cut out of the picture. Executives at some major networks are beginning to talk about an option that once would have been unthinkable: eventually taking shows straight to cable, where networks can take in a steady stream of subscriber fees even in an advertising slump.

In December, CBS Corp.’s chief executive, Leslie Moonves, told an investor conference that moving the CBS network to cable would be “a very interesting proposition.” Two days earlier, Jeff Zucker, chief executive of General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, warned more broadly that the entire broadcast-TV model must change. “Otherwise it will be like the newspaper business or the car business,” he told investors.

My two cents: Of what use to the viewers are Peoria’s three television station if they do in fact loose their network programming? Seriously, what original content do they provide? Local news? They are cutting staff. Other original programming? There’s not much, except for Bradley games, telethons and MAYBE some a special or two.

OH! I know! All DVT switchover, all the time!

Local stations have no one to blame but themselves for their growing irrelevency. At one time, stations filled their airwaves with local programming. Once the networks pull the plug, there’s little left to do but show the news, and they have increasingly little use for that.

This entry was posted on February 10, 2009 at 5:17 pm and is filed under On the Media with tags networks, television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Both comments and pings are currently closed.