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NBCU plans to launch a 24-hour cable news channel in New York in November, covering the New York region, including New Jersey and Connecticut.
The plans call for de-emphasizing the identity of NBC’s flagship station, WNBC (channel 4), turning it into a “content center” and making it a part of a larger media presence, The New York Times writes. Channel 4’s newsroom will be rebuilt, and its content will be blended with the new channel, as well as with content from its locally oriented website and video displays in gas stations and taxis. WNBC will still broadcast local cable news, but the structure will be organized around the content, not the show.
The new cable channel will be available to digital cable subscribers in the New York area, including via Time Warner, Cablevision and Comcast.
If the move is a success, NBCU plans to take the same steps in other markets, including LA, Chicago and Philly.
Local stations have seen a sharp decline in profitability - so much so that there are questions about whether it is a sustainable business long-term. The reshaping of WNBC, making it part of a broader media plan, may help make it more viable, top brass believe.
As local station business growth has slowed in recent years - in part because late local news, its top-grossing programming, is losing relevance due to the web - NBCU has tried to boost its station businesses into a local media hub by creating what it calls NBC Everywhere, which offers opportunities for advertisers in places that include commuter trains, taxis, stadiums, health clubs and grocery stores.
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