Opportunity for internet television news station & NewsLanc’s response

All the radio and television stations in that market are rejoicing, at the fact that their competition is kneecapping themselves.

In the 1950s, newspapers got 25% of their revenue from circulation, and the cost of a subscription covered the actual paper, ink, and distribution costs. These days, newspapers get less than 10% of their revenue from circulation, and it doesn’t even cover the cost of getting a newspaper to the subscriber.  They’re paying the subscriber to read the paper.

But that’s all right. Radio and television stations deliver the news to their audience at the station’s expense – and increasingly, local broadcasters are finding that news is the key to high ratings and profitability.

If I were WGAL’s owners, I’d be hoping and praying that Steinman decides to charge for access to LancasterOnline.com, and fearful that Steinman would draw on the expertise of their Delmarva broadcasting unit to turn LancasterOnline.com into an online television station.

Some news, such as obits, doesn’t work well in a broadcast format, at least at present. WGAL can’t afford to use hours of broadcast time to broadcast 50 or 100 complete obituaries every day. Other news, such as local athletic events, works well as a broadcast event, but WGAL can’t handle 20 simultaneous football games. A website, on the other hand, could stream live coverage of every high school football, basketball and baseball game in Lancaster County – and there’d be no shortage of companies interested in reaching such an audience.

Steinman – or Newslanc! – could hire away one of WGAL’s well-known and trusted anchors. Janelle Stelson is the obvious choice, but it’d be pricey to get in a bidding war for her. Anne Shannon, though, is a local girl, having come from CV, and she’s increasingly professional in her delivery. Release a half-hour package of local news at 5 PM, updated at 7PM, 9 PM, and 11 PM, using Shannon as a newsreader, and let users can start watching at the time that’s convenient for them. Hire some lesser stars, and release more updates every 2 hours around the clock. I doubt there’d be much difference between the 2 AM and 4 AM news, except for the weather. You might even want to update the shows hourly, with only the weather changing most hours.

The thing is, you market your news as the “Lancaster” internet television news station, as opposed to Lancaster, York, Harrisburg, Lebanon. There are more people commuting towards Philadelphia suburbs than towards Harrisburg. And the fact that you can start watching at 9:14 PM, instead of having to wait until 10 or 11 PM (or waiting for an 11 PM broadcast that’s been delayed to 11:47 because of a ball game) better suits many people’s lifestyles.

Because the Steinmans have that wonderful LNP sales staff to sell advertising, and the LNP to promote the internet station, and the Delmarva people to provide broadcasting expertise, they have a leg up on someone like NewsLanc – but if they don’t do it, that leaves the field open to anyone who wants to. No hassles getting a license from the FCC. No need to build an expensive tower and staff it with broadcast engineers around the clock. Just set yourself up a small studio in a warehouse somewhere, and get yourself a team of news gatherers and producers, armed with increasingly inexpensive video cameras.  You could even become competitive with a local internet news station for less money than it would cost to buy and operate one of the minor radio stations in the area that hasn’t made a nickel in the last twenty years.

But this is a limited time opportunity. Once someone gets established, it’ll be as hard to displace them as it has been to start up a new newspaper to compete with an existing daily.

NewsLanc’s response:

Although NewsLanc.com is basically an altruistic and totally donor subsidized venture reacting to the consolidation of influence and power which has resulted in poor leadership and, at times, exploitation of the public, we had pondered whether it should either seek to become a money-making venture or transform into a public foundation.

The foundation proved impractical due to a requirement for a diversity of  funding sources that would be unlikely.

The money making model conceptualized both separate and combined service to Harrisburg, York, Reading as well as Lancaster. Not only would this greatly expand viewership, but it also would attract national advertisers because we would be delivering a market not covered by the daily print media and only partially serviced by radio and television.

At such time as someone two generations younger turns up with the brains and the fire in the stomach to seek such a goal and younger investors are attracted to such a venture, NewsLanc will entertain market expansion and major transformation. Until then, we are honored to serve the 5,000 to 7,000 Lancastrians who read our articles and exchange thoughts each week,  and to continue to promote transparency, competence and fair dealings within our governments, public foundations, and businesses.