BOCA RATON, FLA. — Its roots are in newspapers, and its former dailies include the Naples Daily News and the Treasure Coast Newspapers that are now part of Gannett.
Now, The E.W. Scripps Co. is ready to bring local news to Floridians across some of the state’s biggest markets once again. Only, there’s no print involved. This time, it involves a screen, TV cameras, and internet connectivity.
Introducing Florida 24 Network, an over-the-top (OTT) offering that will serve as an online aggregation point for stories produced by Scripps’ WFTX “FOX4” in Fort Myers-Naples, WFTS-28 in Tampa-St. Petersburg, WPTV-5 in West Palm Beach and WTXL-27 in Tallahassee.
It will also include reports produced for Scripps’ WSFL-39 in Miami-Fort Lauderdale by Berkshire Hathaway-controlled WPLG-10 in Miami.
“Scripps is committed to serving both long-time Florida residents and newcomers with the authentic and hyperlocal journalism we know is essential to people’s lives,” said Scripps Local Media President Brian Lawlor. “The launch of the Florida 24 Network is the evolution of our long-time commitment to our Florida audiences and advertisers. We know our local business partners are eager to reach TV consumers via OTT.”
The Florida 24 Network will be staffed by a dedicated team of journalists and producers, each tapped from Scripps stations across the country and led by News Director Nicole Wolfe, based at WSFL, and Senior Director of Digital Matt Borek, based at WFTS.
The network will feature regular updates from Katie LaGrone, Scripps’ statewide investigative reporter, and Forrest Saunders, Florida State Capitol reporter in Tallahassee.
“The pandemic has taught us a lot about the ways in which our newsrooms are able to collaborate to produce high-quality news and information in a remote environment,” Lawlor said. “The Florida 24 Network captures those learnings with the same commitment to essential journalism for which Florida residents have known Scripps for many years.”
