• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, April 10, 2002

According to Daniel P. O'Brien, senior analyst at Forrester, "Local TV stations are losing news-audience share, ad revenues, and exclusive network content. And, to make things worse, new FCC ownership regulations will prompt a frenzy of mergers, swaps, and acquisitions over the next three years."

Local television audiences are turning to cable, Web, and print options for daily news. A new report from Forrester Research suggests that broadcasters can reconnect with local news audiences by collaborating with newspapers to cross-promote their headlines, share content liberally, and strive for all-day relevance. By drawing upon print coverage, stations can add depth to their news coverage and boost their credibility.

And, with cable operators now able to buy broadcasters, the report says that local stations should trade their brand and on-air talent for all-day presence on new local cable channels. Additionally, cable's emerging video on-demand technology can deliver newscasts at any time throughout the day.

It goes on to say that local stations should plan for all-digital, all-inclusive newsrooms, which will automatically format local print and wire-services content for Web sites, radio, PDAs, news kiosks, and set-top boxes to provide new marketing opportunities for local advertisers.

You can find out more here.