It's all about inventory... As we've talked about, local news builds a station's community identity and it gives the station 100% of the available commercial inventory for sale to advertisers. Here's an article from Bloomberg.com with confirmation and further explanation.

Of course, in a media saturated world, how many newscasts can a market support? Especially as we see viewers/consumers access news online and through mobile devices. There's added pressure for stations to build their websites. If they don't do this, someone else will.

Click the link for the full read.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aPY4sRZ7ygCQ&refer=home#


U.S. TV Stations Attract More Viewers With News Than ‘Seinfeld’

By Andy Fixmer

April 16 (Bloomberg) -- Instead of paying for reruns of “Seinfeld” at 11 p.m. and “Access Hollywood” at 4:30 a.m., News Corp.’s WJBK-TV in Detroit decided to air more local news.

Since making the changes last year, the Fox station’s late- night news is attracting 65 percent more viewers ages 18 to 49, those most sought by marketers, according to Nielsen Co. data. The morning newscast is up 33 percent.