It had been feared that the WKYC/3-produced "Akron/Canton News" could end its run on Time Warner Cable channel 23 at the end of this month...but there's apparently been enough response to give it at least another month of life.
The Akron Beacon Journal's R.D. Heldenfels reports on Ohio.com this afternoon that Time Warner will continue airing the newscast "at least" through the end of May, which gives TWC and WKYC more time to evaluate the future of the newscast anchored by WKYC's Eric Mansfield.
TWC spokesman Bill Jasso tells Heldenfels that the move to save the newscast is "headed in the right direction", and puts odds at its continuation through the end of 2006 to be "better than 50-50".
The cable company took over the role of airing the newscast produced from the WKYC Akron/Canton Bureau at Main and Market last summer, when the agreement between WKYC and WVPX/23 ended in uncertainty about that over-air station's future.
The problem is simple - "Akron/Canton News" is a costly venture, and wasn't pulling in the kind of advertising revenue that could support it. At least part of that would likely be due to the much lower profile on a local access cable channel.
But the newscast, if it survives through the summer, will pick up more eyeballs on the fringes of the Akron/Canton area...with the eventual absorption of the local Adelphia systems by Time Warner. Adelphia officials are targetting July 31st as the "essential" date for that merger to be completed...
Thursday, April 27, 2006
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4 comments:
On a seperate issue, I've heard rumors and tremblings that Raycom is exploring the idea of selling off some more of their stations. Could WOIO and/or WUAB be a part of that? Anyone know if they are up for sale, officially?
Would that be more than the stations they had to sell off to Barrington in the Liberty deal?
Haven't heard anything about that on this end. It'd be interesting if they sold off Cleveland, because it's by far their largest market...
-OMW
Yes, I heard it was additional to what was already sold in the Liberty deal. The losing of what Raycom thought would be a CW affiliation for WUAB may be playing a big part according to what I'm hearing among some ad agencies outside Ohio (just rumors at this point). We'll have to wait and see what comes of this. Interesting...
They say "Akron/Canton News" has a low profile because it only appears on a local cable access channel? You know what I would like to see? I would like to see WKYC put "Akron/Canton News" on its digital subchannel, pre-empting Weather Plus a couple of times a day for a half-hour. I know - this would not raise the profile very much - but it would be extra exposure and it seems like it would be very technically feasible, since WKYC already produces the newscast. It should not affect the main HD broadcast any more than Weather Plus. I miss seeing an Akron/Canton-centric newscast on TV - the stuff on the Cleveland stations is mostly junk and mostly ignores this area.
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