Tulsa's KTUL Channel 8 moving news production to Oklahoma City

[TU 1978]

More evidence that Sinclair Broadcasting is flushing itself down the toilet.

Tulsa's KTUL, Channel 8, moving news production to Oklahoma City

The ABC affiliate announced that all news the station airs will soon be produced out of Oklahoma City, although local content from Tulsa-based reporters will still be featured.

tulsaworld.com

 

[Gmoney4WW]

More evidence that Sinclair Broadcasting is flushing itself down the toilet.

Tulsa's KTUL, Channel 8, moving news production to Oklahoma City

The ABC affiliate announced that all news the station airs will soon be produced out of Oklahoma City, although local content from Tulsa-based reporters will still be featured.

tulsaworld.com

Most news stations don't even use a cameraman anymore. It's completely automated from a Pc. That's half of what they are talking about when they say 'produced'. Pretty soon they'll automate the news personalities. Robot Dave and Jill St Mitsubishi 532 will be doing the interviews.

 

[lawpoke87]

Probably a smart move from an economic and business model standpoint not to mention a look into the future of news stations. Sad for those Tulsa based employees who lost their jobs. Curious to see what the OKC produced product will look like.

 

[TU 1978]

It will be a goldmine for KOTV. Jim Leake must be spinning in his grave now.

What Sinclair and others such as iHurtRadio seem to have forgotten is the basis for their broadcast licenses.

In exchange for obtaining a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” Generally, this means it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license.

The Public and Broadcasting

The Public and Broadcasting TABLE OF CONTENTS IntroductionThe FCC And Its Regulatory Authority The Communications Act How the FCC Adopts Rules The FCC and the Media Bureau FCC Regulation of Broadcast Radio and TelevisionThe Licensing of TV and Radio Stations Commercial and...

www.fcc.gov

 

[drboobay]

Probably a smart move from an economic and business model standpoint not to mention a look into the future of news stations. Sad for those Tulsa based employees who lost their jobs. Curious to see what the OKC produced product will look like.

I disagree strongly.

Anchors that don't even live in the community won't be able to connect with viewers in the market. Surely their rating will degrade.

 

[lawpoke87]

I disagree strongly.

Anchors that don't even live in the community won't be able to connect with viewers in the market. Surely their rating will degrade.

I assume the ratings will fall and in turn the station will suffer a decrease in ad revenue. I also assume Sinclair has ran the numbers and believe the decrease in production costs will more than offset the ratings decline.

Look…I hate to see them move production out of Tulsa. It’s not a positive for the city or the local news scene imo. My hope is they keep local reporters and continue to cover local news. I care far more about this than I do who is reading the teleprompter leading into the stories. Thankfully we have other options should they not fulfill their obligations to cover local events.

 

[drboobay]

I assume the ratings will fall and in turn the station will suffer a decrease in ad revenue. I also assume Sinclair has ran the numbers and believe the decrease in production costs will more than offset the ratings decline.

Look…I hate to see them move production out of Tulsa. It’s not a positive for the city or the local news scene imo. My hope is they keep local reporters and continue to cover local news. I care far more about this than I do who is reading the teleprompter leading into the stories. Thankfully we have other options should they not fulfill their obligations to cover local events.

I don't watch them anyway.

I am equally concerned about how this affects editorial decisions. If you do not understand the community you don't know what to cover.

But as you say there are other choices. I suspect they will eventually regret the decision.

 

[TulsaRulzOSUdrools]

Change the channel.

 

[drboobay]

Change the channel.

Brilliant!

 

[mcane]

Certainly less coverage of TU sports of which there is already not much

 

[Tulsafanzz]

This can only lead to a deterioration in the quality of local TV news for Tulsa. I would hope Tulsa city leaders & the Chamber of Commerce would contact ABC & the FCC to push for a reversal of this asinine decision by Sinclair.

I would hope a local boycott of KTUL would start immediately.

 

[drboobay]

Sinclair Shutters Five News Markets: “We Just Turned Off The Lights For Many”

Sinclair stations in Ohio, Oregon, Nebraska, Florida and Iowa were given notice last week that their news operations will be shutting down imminently. “Information is power, and we just turned the lights off for many,” said one fired employee.

tvnewscheck.com

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Sinclair Shutters Five News Markets: “We Just Turned Off The Lights For Many”

Sinclair stations in Ohio, Oregon, Nebraska, Florida and Iowa were given notice last week that their news operations will be shutting down imminently. “Information is power, and we just turned the lights off for many,” said one fired employee.

tvnewscheck.com

Sounds like local tv news might be in the beginning death throws that print media has suffered. That's not good. That affects local government, with that many forms of news becoming centralized away from individual markets.

 

[TU 1978]

Sinclair Shutters Five News Markets: “We Just Turned Off The Lights For Many”

Sinclair stations in Ohio, Oregon, Nebraska, Florida and Iowa were given notice last week that their news operations will be shutting down imminently. “Information is power, and we just turned the lights off for many,” said one fired employee.

tvnewscheck.com

This article is accurate. KFDM, the local Sinclair affiliate in Beaumont has similar issues. They just lost their studio and offices due to reconstruction of the interstate and had to move to a temporary location until their new building is complete. I’ve driven by the new building under construction and it is much smaller than the former one. I think the Sinclair strategy will be brought here soon and we will have little or no local news from their station. They’ve already ruined their ratings by their ineptitude in running what had been a Belo Broadcasting station. At one time they were the go to station for weather coverage, particularly during hurricane season - today not so much. Their chief meteorologist has been there 40 years and will soon retire. Their competitor in town, a TEGNA station, has been #1 in news ever since Sinclair arrived in town.

I suspect KOTV will benefit greatly from Sinclair’s failure to serve KTUL’s community of license. Perhaps the FCC will start revoking the broadcast licenses from them as a result. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.

 

[TU 1978]

Some final comments about the gutting of KTUL -

Sounding Off on Sinclair — FTVLive

Lots of emails came in with people reacting to what Sinclair did to a once great TV station…

www.ftvlive.com

 

[Gold*]

My wife worked there until a few years ago. It was a great company with a fascinating history. Sinclair bought them and trashed the place. A lot of the smart business people left over three years ago and some before that. They hired an out of town GM and she was let go earlier this year.

They still have some good journalists, like Burt Mummolo, but their overall product is terrible. I can tell you from first hand experience some of the news content now is really questionable, to the point you wonder what sort of half assed conspiracy is going on. But I digress.

Sinclair mistreats employees. They work super hard for fewer and fewer rewards.

The other part of this is there is declining viewership. I don’t know anyone who watches the local news ever outside of severe weather. It was great in the 1980’s when you legitimately didn’t know the TU score. Now if you want to know the news, you probably already have it. There’s a lot to be said for the quality of media diets and what has replaced these institutions. It’s mostly not good.

In the 17 or so years my wife worked there, the rates for the 10 pm news went down. You can’t make money in that environment, much less with a publicly traded ownership group with highly dysfunctional people calling the shots.

The OKC news will do even worse. Good.