At the end of a record-setting year of news consumption, Amazon Fire TV said TV stations in 12 U.S. cities will be added to Amazon’s news app, with another 90 on deck for 2021. The initial dozen stations are in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Tampa, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle.
With newspapers bleeding jobs, TV stations in many markets now have more journalists on staff, combined, than the major daily newspaper. And as the world of network and syndicated programming becomes more clouded, local TV stations will ramp up production of new local programming — across multiple platforms — to fill the gaps.
Outfoxed, The FCC Changes Its Own Rules
After Bob McAllan found a loophole in the FCC’s rules and sought to move two stations from the Rocky Mountain area to the New York and Philadelphia markets, the commission turned him down and put two new channels up for auction there. He’s asking for a review so he can take the matter to court, but the FCC remains silent, scheduling the auction for February. He deserves his day in court.
