There has been some good sourced reporting about changes coming at Tegna, owners of KING in Seattle, KGW in Portland, KREM in Spokane and KTVB in Boise. Station marketing departments (as reported here) are being sent to centralized hubbing (KING in the PNW) and the CEO has announced to GMs that streaming is the future, not linear newscasts. More automation will come sooner than later, meaning news producers will be the switcher, not directors; so jobs are on the line. In addition, KING could easily hub weather for the other three stations going forward. That is not a new idea. Regional GMs are likely, too, with the marketing move a harbinger.
The latest memo from the new Tegna boss (which can be found at ftvlive.com if you do some scrolling), should be a "First Alert" warning that everything is on the table. Even the Kraken games, which moved from Root Sports to KING and KONG and Amazon, will probably end up only streaming after this transition era.
I watched 10 years ago as Tegna homogenized (hubbed) graphics, later killed NWCN and bought out KINGs top people. It was a bad company then, and worse now. The turnover at KING has been huge, and the reporting is below average. KIRO, as I have written, is the #1 Incredible Shrinking Station. KOMO will never rise above the evil Sinclair empire and Fox 13 has 2 weather people anchoring news. In fact, KOMO will get a new News Director in 2025, and that means he or she will be carrying Sinclair's water even more. KOMO could also hub for KATU in Portland and KIMA in Yakima for sure.
More shrinkage ahead. Stay tuned. I will try to keep up here.
"streaming is in the future" Lucy, you have some 'splainin' to do. Elaborate please.
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