Posted by chicagomedia.org on May 04, 2009 at 13:45:46:
WMAQ-TV, WFLD-TV, WBBM-TV and WGN-TV to share raw news video
Four Chicago television stations are expected later today to announce they soon will be sharing newsgathering resources at general news events, sources said.
The local news service -- modeled after an independently-run video-sharing cooperative launched last year in Philadelphia by the Fox-owned station and NBC-owned station there -- will service not only Chicago's NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5 and Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32, but also CBS-owned WBBM-Ch. 2 and WGN-Ch. 9, which is owned by Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.
Stations could be sharing raw video through the arrangement by the end of the month.
WFLD and WMAQ will continue to share use of a helicopter for aerial coverage, a practice that began at the start of this year.
There was no immediate comment from the Chicago stations said to be participating in the venture.
The pooling of raw news video by at least some Chicago TV stations has been expected since November. That's when NBC Local Media and Fox Television Stations announced they would use their independently-run Philadelphia video-sharing operation they had established as a template for similar joint operations in markets where both groups own and operate TV stations.
NBC and Fox said at that time the service�s content also would be available to other interested local media outlets, including other TV and radio stations, print publications and digital media.
"We very definitely want to do this in Chicago, and we think it would be a real good opportunity, not just for our two stations but for the other ones in the market," Jack Abernethy, chief executive of News Corp.'s Fox owned-and-operated group, said at the time.
Rather than send independent crews to shoot the same news conferences, sports events and other non-exclusive news, the local news service will dispatch a single crew to provide pooled raw video. What each competing outlet's reporters, editors and producers do with the raw video is up to individual rival operations.
"Times are changing," NBC Local Media President John Wallace said in November. "Jack and I started having these conversations a year ago, before the economy was as grim as it is today, but we both recognized there were smarter ways to using our news dollars to grow our news product."
(Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)