Keeping Local TV Stations Viable

[SOURCE: Marketwatch.com, AUTHOR: David B. Wilkerson]
After decades in which local stations were not only the prime sources of local news and sports in their markets, but syndicated reruns and classic films, as well, their role has largely diminished with the proliferation of cable outlets, the Internet and other home entertainment options. Now, with this week's video-on-demand announcements and others that will surely follow, it is worth wondering whether local TV stations will be marginalized even further. What figures to bother some station groups, Cheen said, is that while the networks are reducing the compensation they've traditionally paid to local stations to distribute their programming - they are still using those stations as the "main promotional vehicle" for their shows, making them popular enough to be considered for other platforms like VOD. Broadcast network audiences are still huge relative to other forms of entertainment each night of the week. However, the networks know that many of those viewers are people whose habits were formed before basic cable had even emerged as a force, let alone digital cable, satellite or the Web. They must find a way to reach younger audiences - people who, for all anyone knows, may end up doing most of their viewing on portable devices. And thus there is the sense that broadcasters are racing against a clock, with no firm idea of what the deadline is, or even precisely how to run the race. And local stations are trying to find their way out of the confusion. They will probably compete with local content including news and live events like sports. Local stations are also determined to find a way to monetize the digital spectrum they will receive when they give up their analog spectrum to the federal government in 2009. Various joint ventures have been formed, often to explore wireless applications, as well as digital multicasting, which involves squeezing as many as six channels onto one frequency.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BA26C2EDB%2D8650%2D4835%2D8637%2D45FDD4484758%7D&siteid=mktw
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