I’m not looking forward to local TV’s demise either. It’s already happening! Blame whatever and whoever you want for it. What’s clear is fewer people are watching local TV news because they no longer see it as relevant. Especially younger viewers who get their news from their smartphones and see no reason to watch TV news.

For all of the hand wringing I hear on here about the FCC, I don’t hear anyone point out that billion-dollar broadcasting corporations are just as much, if not more, to blame for the industry’s state of affairs. These corporations bought up local TV stations in a frenzy and ran the stations with an emphasis on revenue and profit, NOT public service. Now that the advertising revenue is starting to dry up, these corporations are feasting on retransmission fees charged to cable and satellite companies that are likewise losing subscribers and are likewise hesitating to pay. It’s a risky business model!

And what happens then when that tornado hits a community? People go to their TV and realize their cable company doesn’t carry that important local channel anymore. Why? Because [FILL IN THE BLANK BROADCASTER] wanted even more money from [FILL IN THE BLANK CABLE/SATELLITE COMPANY]? Goodness, you mean to tell me a broadcast company that made billions in revenue put business ahead of a public service?

As for being “prematurely retired?” Well, that’s you making assumptions. I chose to leave the business. I work fewer hours and earn a much-better salary as a result. Thanks for asking!

The days of local broadcasting, with the emphasis on local, are done! Most of the TV stations in the United States are owned or controlled by Nexstar, Sinclair, and Gray. Each company is homogenizing local news to various levels, and in some cases, are eliminating local news altogether because it is no longer profitable. What do you think will happen in those news markets when a disaster hits and in the days and weeks afterward? Don’t forget that private equity companies like Apollo Global Management slid into the local news business because profit must be made!

Do you honestly think these companies are truly interested in the public interest? I say no! They’ll pay lip service to the idea but pay more attention to bringing in the profits for shareholders. But when those dang ol’ FCC regulations get in the way of those unmitigated efforts to bring in money? Oh boy, that’s when these companies howl and scream about how unfair it is to play by the rules of the very game they chose to play.

Never mind the fact that broadcasters are required, by federal law, to operate in the public interest.

Never mind the fact that large broadcasters gobbled up stations, not to serve the public interest, but to have more leverage in renegotiating retransmission fees.

Never mind the fact that large broadcasters already have and currently use loopholes that allow them to control more TV stations through what are effectively shell companies (Nexstar and Mission, Sinclair and Deerfield and Cunningham, etc.).

In case I haven’t made it clear, I don’t sympathize with the broadcast industry here. Broadcasters ignored the possibilities of digital and streaming news as far back as the 1990s. Broadcasters effectively ignored their duty to operate in the public interest in favor of operating in the shareholders’ interest. Yet, they signed up to play this game when they sought and received FCC licenses to broadcast on the public airwaves. How surprising that they must play by the rules of the very game they signed up to play.

Or, to quote a line from the 1980 comedy classic Airplane…

“They bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let ‘em crash!”