It’s being heralded as a move “significantly expanding” the company’s “already substantial local news programming.” But, you’ll need an internet connection to watch this content.
Introducing new live and on-demand local newscasts across more than 50 markets in which TEGNA owns stations, airing between 7am-9am daily and, in most cases, competing directly against network breakfast-time programming such as TODAY, CBS Mornings and Good Morning America.
The new online-only offerings are part of an “unprecedented” local news growth initiative at the publicly traded company under the leadership of CEO Mike Steib and Chief Content Officer Adrienne Roark, who is overseeing the launch of the digitally exclusive newscasts.
“Local news drives daily decisions,” Roark said. “With the debut of our new programming, our audiences will now have the option to watch live news produced by their trusted stations during a time of day when local coverage has been largely unavailable. In addition to serving our viewers, it will also create new opportunities for our advertisers to reach audiences regardless of where they are and how they consume our content.”
TEGNA-owned NBC affiliates KGW-8 in Portland, Ore.; WCNC-36 in Charlotte; and WKYC-3 in Cleveland began testing a live digital news stream in the 7am time slot earlier this year. In some markets, “viewership increased by nearly 50% month-over-month, spiking even higher during severe weather or times of breaking news.”
Roark commented, “This content expansion reinforces our company-wide commitment to local news and we’re confident that it will further strengthen our newsrooms, enhance the viewer experience, support our communities and deliver value to all stakeholders.”
With network affiliation agreements more fragile than ever in an era when Paramount+ and Peacock can offer CBS and NBC network programming, respectively, and WPLG-10 in Miami and WANF-46 in Atlanta are poised to lose their ABC and CBS network affiliations, respectively, later this summer, TEGNA’s launch of local news during the 7am-9am window could lead some market observers to suggest the company is preparing for a potential withering of network affiliation arrangements.
For TEGNA, stations in 35 markets “will be actively delivering live, local programming from 7 to 9 a.m. this summer,” with nearly 20 other markets gaining the digital newscasts by autumn.
Whether they’ll replace network morning shows in the coming years is a growing possibility that many could actively be talking about.
