FOX Television Stations and NBC Local Media in January will formally roll out a local news service in Philadelphia that pools editorial and technology resources to cover general news stories and avoid redundancy while freeing other editorial resources for enterprise coverage of the market by each broadcaster, the pair said Thursday
A trial of the news service began this summer at WCAU, NBC 10, and WTXF, FOX 29, in Philadelphia and was deemed a success. Both FOX Television Stations and NBC Local Media plan to extend the concept to other markets where they both own and operate TV stations, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Washington, D.C.
The news service will gather and distribute general market video coverage to participating stations, allowing them to use resources efficiently to focus their other editorial resources on reporting to differentiate themselves in the market. The stations will continue to operate independently in all other respects regarding their individual newsgathering operations.
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 TV stations, print publications, radio stations and digital media.
NBC Local Media and the FOX Television Stations in Philadelphia will provide newsgathering and transmission resources to the local news service, including a helicopter, personnel and equipment. The stations also will maintain 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 will 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.