United States Television Viewership Source Percentages

[Specialist]

Cable = 67%
Satellite = 20%
Over-The-Air = 13%

Link to new BroadcastEngineering.Com article: http://tinyurl.com/2497l5

And from the same article, this quote:

While the rate of loss has diminished in recent years, local TV viewership is still declining.

Glad I got out of that business when I did.



Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Specialist]

And here's the local TV news graph:

http://tinyurl.com/25alhp

If local tv news viewership drops more, they'll have to dig a hole in the ground to graph it.



Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[JohnnyMalaria]

Interesting.

My source of TV news (most watched first):

The Daily Show
BBC World News
My local news stations

Never:
CNN

Anyway, my main reason for posting:

I watch my local news stations via satellite, since the aerial broadcast is too weak. Does this count as a loss for the local station and a gain for satellite?

(It irks me that I have to pay extra to get the local channels. I can get the main networks from LA and NY for free, but not my local ones. )

[jagabo]

You know broadcast TV is in a sad state when the most accurate source of news is on Comedy Central.

[Specialist]

Ha!

Good one.

I was a TV news anchor/reporter in the 80s and the 90s.

I remember a fellow anchor in my newsroom decided to see just how easy it would be to phone-in a phony news story to the station across town.

He phoned them.

They took down the information he provided as he claimed to be a legitimate news source.

Believe it or not, they ran the story.

I'm not kidding.

They ran a news "story" that was fabricated 100%.

The colleagues in my newsroom howled with laughter.

But I found the prank to be somewhat unsettling.

I think that's when I realized the business had deteriorated to the point where it was time to get out.

Locally, my old station still seems to be struggling when it comes to the concept of avoiding conflict of interest (or the appearance thereof):

Link to Boise newspaper story: http://tinyurl.com/28mefj

Channel 7 anchor also works for sheriff's office

By Heath Druzin - Idaho Statesman
Edition Date: 01/20/07

The recently hired spokeswoman for the Ada County Sheriff's Office is simultaneously working weekends as a Channel 7 news anchor, raising ethical questions about her dual role.

Andrea Dearden has worked as the community information specialist for the sheriff's office since Dec. 11 and is still a part-time anchor at KTVB News.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net