News Sharing: One For All, All For One?

Local TV coverage of President Obama's commencement address at Arizona State University a week ago may have seemed fairly typical to Phoenix viewers.

But it wasn't.

Much of the coverage was jointly produced by three stations. Only sharp-eyed viewers flipping channels would have noticed.

Fox-owned KSAZ, Scripps' KNXV (ABC) and Meredith's KPHO (CBS) relied on their recently formed newsgathering partnership to supply footage of the president's arrival and his motorcade through the city.

The pooling arrangement allowed each of the stations to assign freed-up crews to stories that might distinguish them from the others.

KPHO reporters and photographers, for instance, fanned out to get more personal stories. They talked to graduates and their parents. They also talked to people who were inconvenienced by the motorcade.

"It allowed us to give more dimension to a story like this than we typically would," says Ed Munson, KPHO's vice president and general manager.

The Phoenix stations' sharing setup is not unique.

With newsroom budgets under pressure like never before, TV stations in a growing number of markets are suppressing their competitive instincts and forming news co-ops to capture and share video of public meetings, press conferences and other routine events. Some are also sharing costly news helicopters for the first time.

In some ways, TV stations have been sharing video for years. They routinely share video and entire stories with stations in other markets through network-run news exchanges and through CNN Newsource.

They cooperate with cross-town rivals on an ad hoc basis, particularly during emergencies. And they must also often set up pools for trials and other events where access to cameras is limited.

But never before have stations opted to work together with their rivals in such a regular and formal fashion.

The sharing movement began last November when the Fox and NBC station groups announced that they would be establishing news sharing partnerships in all the markets where they compete, starting in Philadelphia in January. They had been experimenting with the concept in Philadelphia since last summer.

Following through on their promise, Fox and NBC have launched what they are calling the Local News Service in Chicago and Dallas earlier this month and they are working toward introducing it in their remaining three common markets -- New York, Los Angeles and Washington -- by the end of the year.

"We're able to cover more community-oriented stories because we are no longer restrained by the resources we have," says Sharri Berg, senior vice president of news operations for the Fox group. "Now, because they've contributed crews to the LNS they can cover the daybook items, the breaking news and a lot more community events and other stories that used to go by the wayside."

Fox and NBC have been teaching others how to share.

In Dallas, they drew Tribune's KDAF into their co-op, and in Chicago, they lined up Tribune's WGN as well as CBS-owned WBBM.

What's more, Fox, the real driver behind the sharing movement, has been spreading the gospel and setting up sharing arrangements in markets where it owns a station, but NBC doesn't.

Fox was behind the three-station co-op in Phoenix that came in handy when the president came to town last week.

Other Fox-centric sharing arrangements:

• In Detroit, Fox's WJBK and Scripps' WXYZ (ABC) starting last month.
• In Austin, Fox's KTBC, LIN's KXAN (NBC), Belo's KVUE (ABC) and Four Points Media Group's KEYE (CBS) starting in February.
• In Atlanta, Fox's WAGA, Gannett's WXIA (NBC) and Meredith's WGCL (CBS) starting last Monday. (A Fox spokesperson says that arrangement is still in a trial phase.)
• In Tampa, Fox's WTVT, Gannett's WTSP (CBS) and Scripps' WFTS (ABC) starting later this month.
• In Boston, Fox's WFXT and CBS-owned WBZ starting June 1.

The Fox way of thinking has proved infectious. Stations in markets without Fox O&Os are also setting up sharing arrangements.

In Columbus, Ohio, Media General's WCMH (NBC) has been involved in a sharing partnership for the past two months with Sinclair's duopoly, WSYX (ABC) and WTTE (Fox).

In Cleveland, Raycom's WOIO (CBS) and the Gannett NBC affiliate, WKYC started a video pool arrangement four months ago.

In Phoenix, Gannett's KPNX (NBC), Meredith's KPHO and Belo's KTVK (Ind.) have decided to share a helicopter. (The deal is separate from the video sharing arrangement involving Scripps' KNXV, Meredith's KPHO and Fox's KSAZ.)

In San Antonio, Texas, Belo's KENS (CBS), Post-Newsweek's KSAT (ABC) and Sinclair's KABB (Fox) starting swapping material a few weeks ago.

And in Albany, N.Y., Hubbard's WNYT (NBC) is exploring the possibility of sharing sports footage with Freedom's WRGB (CBS).

The nature and size of the sharing arrangements vary.

"It's not one size fits all," says Fox's Berg. "Everyone has different needs and requirements."

The Fox-driven LNS arrangements are more structured than the others. They have their own dedicated photographers and editors, even though they remain paid employees of their home stations.