KTXL Sacramento Expands Its Local News

Nexstar’s recently acquired Fox affiliate KTXL Sacramento, Calif. (DMA 20) will debut the hour-long weeknight newscast Fox40 News at 7 PM on Dec. 4.

The broadcast “will be the only local newscast at that hour serving the California communities of Sacramento, Modesto and Stockton,” according to the station.

The new broadcast will expand KTXL’s total hours of weekday local news to nine and a half per day.

“Nexstar’s television stations are committed to serving their local communities with informative, engaging, and exclusive local content,” said Tim Busch, president of Nexstar Broadcasting.  “We’re extremely proud to be offering more local news programming Monday through Friday than any other stand-alone TV station in the Sacramento television market.

“Sacramento, Modesto and Stockton are critically important markets in the state of California and expanding local news programming and deepening the station’s connection to the area’s viewers and advertisers is core to the mission of both Nexstar Broadcasting and KTXL-TV.

“This exclusive newscast gives the KTXL-TV broadcast and digital teams an opportunity to provide more stories and broader coverage of the local issues, concerns and political coverage that matter most to the viewers of the greater Sacramento area.”

The 7 p.m. news will be anchored by KTXL’s main anchor team of Eric Harryman and Nikki Laurenzo, with Chief Meteorologist Kristina Werner and Jim Crandell reporting on sports. This team currently anchors KTXL’s newscasts at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.

The new broadcast will feature segments such as “Your Story,” reported by Harryman, who focuses on telling the stories of extraordinary people who have “turned the tables on fate and created success in unlikely places.”

Laurenzo will take an in-depth look at political issues of importance to the area’s local communities in “The Ticket,” and the newscast will offer more live interviews with local decision-makers and community leaders from around the region.

“As the only local news from 7 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, KTXL-TV will serve the thousands of viewers who commute every day from Sacramento, Modesto, and Stockton to work in California’s Bay Area, at a time that fits their busy, demanding lifestyles,” said Leigh White, KTXK VP-GM. “This broadcast will also give us a unique platform from which KTXL-TV’s advertising and marketing partners can reach a new and unserved local audience.”