Fox Television and NBC Local Media have signed a deal to pool their local news resources. The money-saving move will see the two firms set up joint video newsgathering services, starting in Philadelphia in January and rolling out to other major US cities throughout 2009.
Through the deal, the two networks will share staff resources and equipment, including a news helicopter. Each day, the joint service will decide which stories to cover and then deliver raw video to each network. The footage will then be edited and broadcast separately in each channel's in-house style.
Each of the networks' stations will continue to operate independently of each other in all other ways and staff working for the joint venture will remain employees of either Fox or NBC.
"By allowing us to save on duplicate expenditures we can be even more competitive with NBC and other stations through signature pieces and investigative reporting," says Fox Television stations' CEO Jack Abernethy.
John Wallace, the president of NBC Local Media, claims that pooling resources for "general market events" will free up stations at each network to focus on specialised news reports.
The move follows a successful trial between local Philadelphia news stations WCAU-NBC 10 and WTXF-FOX 29. Joint services will roll out to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Dallas and Washington DC, where NBC and Fox each own and operate TV stations.
StrategyEye's related companies: Fox Television Studios, Fox Entertainment Group, NBC Universal
