Local TV Could Go the Way of Newspapers 180
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by
Soulskill
from the not-as-good-for-wrapping-paper-though dept.
from the not-as-good-for-wrapping-paper-though dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "Alan D. Mutter writes on his 'Reflections of a Newsosaur' blog that the economics of local broadcasting may begin to unravel as dramatically in the next five years as they did for newspapers in the last five years, due to the unparalleled consumer choice made possible by a growing mass of (mostly free) content on the Internet. 'Once it becomes as easy and satisfying to view a YouTube video on your 50-inch television as it is to watch "Two and a Half Men," audiences will fragment to the point that local broadcasters will not be able to attract large quantities of viewers for a particular program,' writes Mutter. The economics of cable TV programming already are geared to serving small but targeted niches, but as audiences shatter, those options won't be available to local broadcasters, who will be deprived of the vast reach that enabled the high ad rates and enviable profits long associated with their businesses. Although barely 8% of US households had access to IPTV in 2009, this technology is likely to be available to some 20% of the more than 100 million homes subscribing to pay-television services in 2014, according to senior analyst Lee Ratliff of iSuppli, a private market research company. 'We already have gotten a hint of what the future could hold. Acting to trim spending during the recession, many local stations cut back their news staffs, resulting in a decline in the caliber and depth of their coverage,' writes Mutter."
Bullllshit. (Score:3, Interesting)
now internet gives them the possibility to broadcast to ENTIRE world. no limitations.
unless telcos kill network neutrality, and bring an environment in which local broadcasters would be forced to make syndication deals with isps, this will be the big break of local televisions.
imagine. one video goes viral and you are on top of the world in just a few hours. keep quality content up, and youll get subscribers in no time.
Re:Local sports on TV will not die and WGN is good (Score:3, Interesting)
While I certainly watch sports on local TV I don't really watch any kind of sports reporting or weather reporting or traffic reporting on TV. The internet provides all off that in a much more efficient package. I can go check the local weather right now without having to wait for the news to come on and get around to the weather report.
Right now I am more likely to get news, weather and traffic information from AM radio than I am from local TV stations.
Still, there will have to be some kind of local reporting somewhere, even if its not in the form we have been used to.
The future of local weather coverage (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been thinking about this for some time, since I am about to drop cable and Tivo and go to strictly an internet connection.
It especially came to light this last week when a number of severe storms went through the area. At present the local TV stations offer fantastic coverage of severe weather events, giving the viewer pin-point information on where tornadoes are and where they are headed. People can get prepared more quickly and only need to head for shelter when a storm is imminent. However, if local TV loses its revenue source, how can it financially support such excellent coverage?
Of course the National Weather Service and the county government have a warning system, but the NWS issues a tornado warning for an entire county. This means that the neighborhood sirens go off even though a storm might be 30 miles away -- an unnecessary inconvenience.
I'm also wondering how cable TV will fare. I don't really have a need for it anymore, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. After local TV disappears, cable is next.
Re:The future of local weather coverage (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This will be good news for the Los Angeles mark (Score:3, Interesting)
The local stations here do, and not just celebrities (except impeached governor Blago) and murders, either. There's politics, road closings, city council meetings, etc. Your local stations may not be like that, but the local (Springfield, Decatur, and Champaign) stations are. All three stations cover stuff from the whole central Illinois area, and are worthwile.
Since you live in LA, I can see why they're so celebrity-obscessed, but LA isn't anything at all like anywhere else in the country. Your visiting here would be only slightly less alien than visiting Peru.
Personally, I think the article is full of it. Most folks (not we nerds, but normal people) don't bother with anything more than plopping down on the couch, turning on the TV, and channel surfing. The internet isn't going to change that.
Re:Local sports on TV will not die and WGN is good (Score:5, Interesting)
Local TV may be free over the Air, but it really works best in cities and suburbs. Regardless, many people get the local channels through cable anyway.
What I see happening generally with TV, is a move towards everything streaming over the internet.
The idea beingyou pay for a service, and it gives you access to on-demand streaming of the entire back-catalog of most prime time TV shows, and other programs that largely follow the same format. Most regular TV shows would be watched in this fashion. On the air date they just appear in the list of streamable programming.
Other programs would support live streams. For example most news programs would have live streams, as would the Weather Channel, sporting events, etc. Those that make sense to also have available on-demand, would be available that way after the live stream is concluded.
Under such a system there would be no such thing as local programming. All sporting events would be national, (although pro sports may insist on black-out regions), and even local news programs would be available nationally, since it would actually be simpler to allow that, and really not add any cost.
Now I recognize that this if it ever happens will take a while. It requires substantial Internet infrastructure upgrades, requires near universal broadband, and it would be opposed by local stations (who would do little besides create the local news broadcasts), the networks (the service would largely replace the networks), producers (thing will change the way funding works, and would definitely really hurt the sales of box sets).
Never the less, we are already gradually heading in this direction, so it is still possible, especially if the networks chose to co-operate, perhaps creating this service as a joint venture among the Big Three and the Little One.
Besides it is really the only chance the Television industry has, since there are already numerous unauthorized TV show streaming sites popping up, and they are far more convenient than tuning in at broadcast time, or even setting up a DVR to tape the shows. All those sites are missing is set-top box support.
Re:User-base (Score:2, Interesting)