The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Broadcast TV Is In Trouble & Seeking Help

**Posted by RadioActive** April 8, 2025 7:13 am

This story is from the U.S., but there are lessons for Canada in it.

TV stations across the border are becoming increasingly worried about their futures, with streaming taking a bite out of viewership, the increasing cost of local news, networks putting some of their best programming on the streaming services they own, bypassing their signals, being restricted to owning just a few stations per market, and big moneymaker the NFL making noises about going to digital services in the future.

All of it adds up to increasing losses and they're appealing to the FCC for help before its too late.

I, for one, would really miss so-called "free TV" and would hate to see it disappear entirely. But it's on the brink of extinction if things continue the way they are. And that would be a terrible shame.

Broadcast television is in trouble. Stations are asking Washington for help

**Posted by Shorty Wave** April 8, 2025 7:36 am

Not only does streaming cut into traditional TV’s business, but the cable providers are feeling the pinch as well since streaming leads to cable cutting. The only live television I watch is usually news or sports, like many I imagine. Sadly TV as we know it is changing.

**Posted by mace** April 8, 2025 8:36 am

So, consolidation is the answer to all of broadcast television's woes. Didn't they try that with radio several decades ago? That strategy was tremendously successful, wasn't it? Oh well. When OTA broadcasting finally does go dark, the very impressive KTLA transmission tower could become a Southern California tourist attraction reminding visitors how they received their television signals in the "olden days"

**Posted by RadioActive** April 8, 2025 8:47 am

I get why they're worried but allowing them to own more stations in a market is not the solution. Of course that's what they want. Imagine if Rogers or Bell owned everything. (Oh, right, they already do.)

How'd it work out with radio in the U.S., where Audacy and Cumulus own multiple stations in a market?

The radio is cookie-cutter, bland and done on the cheap. He can be a tad eccentric at times, but give me a Buddy Shula any day. (He owns WECK in Buffalo, a fiercely independent local outlet.) He has one station, maybe an interest in a second, but at least his programming offers a unique choice. Unlike the syndicated offerings you'll find much of the day on WBEN and WGR, both Audacy stations and both as predictable as yesterday's weather.

Less ownership is better than more for the audience. But of course, that won't be what happens.

**Posted by paterson1** April 8, 2025 9:21 am

With so many channels and other ways to be entertained there are too many choices and not enough people to watch. You can only view one program at a time and other than live sports and local news OTA doesn't really stand a chance. I wonder if people are actually watching less TV overall in it's various forms. Sure we are on phones or computers and this counts as screentime. But that doesn't mean we are really watching much television programming.

Seems like all that happens is that the audience for a show is now split between OTA or watching a show later or streaming. The audiences for hit shows are smaller, and that smaller audience is being split up into three or four categories.

**Posted by mace** April 8, 2025 10:46 am

I PVR everything except news and sports. Why? 1. To avoid simsub. 2. I can rarely stay awake after 10pm. I have seen "Law" but never "Order".

**Posted by ED1** April 8, 2025 11:07 am

It seems the US is seeing what Canadian TV has already went through. They’re going to see a lot more Scrippscasts (similar to what CityNews and Global are doing), hubbed and remotely presented newscasts, or even reductions in hours of news programming or even the closure of whole newsrooms.

**Posted by RadioAaron** April 8, 2025 11:20 am

ED1 wrote:
It seems the US is seeing what Canadian TV has already went through. They’re going to see a lot more Scrippscasts (similar to what CityNews and Global are doing), hubbed and remotely presented newscasts, or even reductions in hours of news programming or even the closure of whole newsrooms.

Yeah, the US regulatory system bought them a little extra time, but in the end there's no escaping the ad-pocalypse