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Tegna Inc. today announced that its stations will be “significantly expanding” their local news programming by launching live and on-demand, local newscasts from 7 to 9 a.m. daily in 50-plus markets through streaming, connected TV apps and station websites.
Tegna said: “This unprecedented expansion of local news programming is designed to meet audiences’ growing demand for coverage of their communities wherever they want to watch and will deliver over 100 hours of daily breaking news, weather, and traffic to over 100 million viewers.”
“Local news drives daily decisions,” said Adrienne Roark, Tegna chief content officer. “With the debut of our new programming, our audiences will now have the option to watch live news produced by their trusted stations during a time of day when local coverage has been largely unavailable. In addition to serving our viewers, it will also create new opportunities for our advertisers to reach audiences regardless of where they are and how they consume our content.”
Roark continued: “This content expansion reinforces our companywide commitment to local news and we’re confident that it will further strengthen our newsrooms, enhance the viewer experience, support our communities and deliver value to all stakeholders.”
Tegna stations across the country, including KGW Portland, Ore.; WCNC Charlotte, N.C.; and WKYC Cleveland, began testing the live digital news stream in the 7 a.m. time slot earlier this year. In some markets, viewership increased by nearly 50% month-over-month, spiking even higher during severe weather or times of breaking news, the company said.
Stations in 35