Three TV stations in Tampa announced effective today they will be sharing video resources. Fox’s WTVT-13, Scripps’ WFTS-28 (ABC) and Gannett’s WTSP-10 (CBS) have chipped in to create a local news service that will share video crews at news events.
Los Angeles will soon follow suit, with KTTV-11 (Fox), KNBC-4 and KTLA-5 (Tribune’s CW) doing a similar arrangement.
According to TVNewsday, the stations argue that by creating the shared service, the stations will reduce costs and will be able to “strengthen their focus on specialized enterprise reporting.”
An independent managing editor will decide which stories will be covered on a daily basis, will send out the crews and arrange delivery of the footage, to be used on multiple platforms (broadcast, online and mobile).
Just last month, four Chicago stations announced they would be sharing news crews. The ABC station opted out of the arrangement. Looks like they’re keeping the same philosophy in L.A., the nation’s number 2 DMA.