If that was the case, they’d be doing it with all stations. Unfortunately it does not appear to be the case going by the last twenty years, at least in this country.
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Not all markets have the ad revenue to support local news.
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I would suggest the vast majority don’t. But different kinds of local news need different amounts of cash. The centralised version we have with most markets here makes it more viable, although still loss-making with most operations.
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We still have limits on ownership/control within a market
Do we know that local news is loss making? Is someone from Prime7, WIN. SCA etc on record as stating that?
I’m not convinced. If you look at ratings 7 Tasmania, NBN, 7 QLD, GWN7, Prime7 etc - you’ll see the number one most Watched show night after night is their local news. That’s bringing in more revenue than any other show.
Granted, with local news there are the production and associated costs that Don’t come with carrying network programming. But local news rates higher than most network shows, more ratings = more revenue
And that’s before the “halo effect” is factored in - lifting the whole channels performance. Ratings and revenue.
This is possibly the closest you’ll get:
Mr Gordon’s company has repeatedly warned federal MPs over the past 12 months that the 3000 hours of local content WIN produces each year is “not a profitable exercise” and increasingly at risk without reform of Australia’s media ownership laws
(Gordon goes on to say that local news is an “obligation”)
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I don’t feel Bruce is transparent with his precious WIN
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WIN News is an awful product and rates accordingly. When you dish up a sub standard news product the ability for it to recoup the production costs through ratings & revenue is greatly limited
Isn’t the campaign called “Save Our Voices”, not “Save Your Voices”?
… well yes and no … in regional SA one entity owns/controls all the TV stations in each market …
Does revenue earned by local news slots still contribute to the amount to be paid to the metro network for affiliation access? If so, as much as 50% of that revenue is instantly carved off. Must be very hard for any local news to make a profit when so much of its ad revenue is taken away for other programming
I doubt you’ll get any disagreement here
Yes, but thats because that market has a particular class of TV licence - remember the controls apply across multiple media
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Yes, 30-50% of ALL revenue is passed onto the parent network.
But it’s always the local news that rates the highest and boosts the whole prime time.
7 QLD dominates 6pm and all night thanks to local news. Possiblly a very good investment when you look at the shares 7 QLD gets compared to 9 QLD
I really think WIN is still not thinking outside the square or thinking modern. There’s no dispute that revenue is down across free-to-air TV in both regional and metro. But when has WIN thought:
*Who’s actually watching at 6pm? Why not re-broadcast the news at 10.30pm too? Or even do a highlighted state edition at 4.30pm? 6pm is a tough slot, especially when your lead in is an already weak Ten News. WIN under the Nine days used to re-air their bulletins late at night.
*Why isn’t the actual news bulletins on social media too? Prime7 at least puts their bulletins on Youtube. A WIN News app? Guess what Bruce? You get to keep 100% of the revenue too.
*Every WIN News bulletin seems stale. At least Prime7 News and Nine News Regional seems fresh occasionally (ie- “we join our reporter at the scene” - when has WIN even done this?) rather than the same old boring intro and boring package.
*WIN News is broadcasting on the “Under 50’s Network” but the News is aimed at 70+. There’s a whole audience out there that isn’t being catered for in Local News. Why not? “See more of this story on Facebook” or “We spoke to the Mayor on more detail on Instagram” or “This is what’s Trending in Canberra on Twitter”. Again, 100% of the revenue if you embed ads into it.
*Why keep the traditional way bulletins are produced? Why keep packages to 1:10 or 1:20? You could zip a lot of information into :45 or :60. It feels like you’re getting more news in your bulletin.
WIN really are part of the issue if they’re not willing to accept this is the 21st Century and the needs and requirements of viewers are different than 1988.
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… yep, they largely don’t watch FTA any more …
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Partly it’s because the likes of WIN haven’t done literally anything to try to get them to watch the local news or engage with them.
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or they try and cover up non-local stories and try and make them local
Ahh yes, the art of “generic regional issues” stories.
No doubt the other regional bulletins also do them, but it’s particularly annoying to see such pieces during Prime7 Local News when they’ve got a 6.30pm “National” bulletin (pretty much a condensed and Prime7-ised version of Seven News Sydney) you’d think they’d be better used for.
For the “Under 50’s Network” since when has WIN built a News product or any programming (produced by WIN or aired exclusively on WIN) aimed at the Under 50’s audience?
The News product has some very youthful presenters like Lincoln Humphries and Melissa Russell, but the product skews very old. You have to wonder if they’d just love to break the mould and do news or programming aimed at their own ages.
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… nope … mainly it’s because people largely don’t watch FTA any more anywhere in the world where there is Netflix, et al …