For decades, local TV stations were cash cows for the companies that owned them. Even though one or two stations with the most popular anchors often came to dominate each market, everybody made money. Local TV was that surefire a business - even for last-place and poorly managed stations. But not today. More and more, the dominant story line for local TV news is one filled with talk of cutbacks, layoffs, lowered expectations and an urgent need to find new ways of doing business and winning viewers. One reality involves the downturn in the general economy, with companies across the board looking to cut costs. The stations have been particularly hard hit as struggling car manufacturers and dealers have curtailed their advertising spending. But there are also "media-specific forces" driving the layoffs, said Douglas Gomery, media economist at the University of Maryland. "With a fragmenting of the audience and new strategies to reach customers in new online media, local TV is no longer as automatic a buy." http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-te.to.localtv03apr03,0,374...
