TV stations may consider farming out sportscasts

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: TV stations may consider farming out sportscasts : WMAQ-Ch. 5 and WFLD-Ch. 32 have an opening for their Local News Service : Phil Rosenthal | Tribune Media : March 20, 2009 : The games are the same, as are the scores. Highlights and interview sound bites vary only slightly. What differentiates the sportscast on one local newscast from another -- occasionally memorable enterprise features and reporting notwithstanding -- is mostly the writing, the reading and the rapport of those who bring it to us. : So what would happen if one station's news operation farmed out its sports segment? What if a deal was struck with, say, Comcast SportsNet to produce and deliver that part of the newscast? : If such an arrangement could get past the unions, would that be an effective way to reduce costs? Or would the loss of identity, control and other potential pitfalls make it a mistake, no matter how shrewd it might initially seem? : It's not as though a Chicago station is poised to make that move yet. But at least one media outfit's brainstorming sessions have yielded such a scenario. And no one in this or any other market -- in broadcast or print -- can afford to shrug it off. : Revenue declines, splintering audiences and the need to reduce costs and staffing in the least damaging way have even still-profitable media operations weighing what to do after all the corners have been cut. : Partnerships, content-sharing, outsourcing -- everything's on the table. : Even though no formal announcement has been made of an imminent launch, an opening for a managing editor has been posted for the Local News Service, or LNS. That's the video service NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5 and Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 have talked about in recent months. : The service, modeled on a pilot program involving the two companies' stations in Philadelphia, would pool resources to share non-proprietary raw video of events such as fires and news conferences that participants could edit and use as they see fit. : Use of LNS video for generic, mundane stuff should enable stations to deploy its other crews to work on the kind of unique stories that might distinguish one station from another. : But another theory holds that it also would allow for staff cuts. : LNS would exist behind the scenes and, ideally, go unnoticed. But at some point, these budget-driven efficiencies will be easy to spot. : The question these days is how much the audience will care when they begin to see the score. But this is not a game.

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