KJZZ Scraps Newscasts

Salt Lake City station replaces primetime news, produced by Four Points Media's KUTV, with doube-run of Scrubs.

Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/1/2010 4:14:16 PM

Independent KJZZ Salt Lake City aired its 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. newscasts for the last time May 31. Its news was produced by KUTV, which is owned by Four Points Media and managed by Nexstar. The news partnership lasted close to five years.

KJZZ and KUTV did not return calls at presstime. A KJZZ receptionist confirmed that the two newscasts were eliminated. The station website says Better Utah now airs at 9 a.m. and Scrubs has a double run at 9 p.m.

KJZZ is owned by Larry H. Miller Communications. It was a MyNetworkTV affiliate until almost two years ago, when the affiliation went to KCSG.

It's extremely rare for a station to get rid of its slate of newscasts. WYOU Scranton-Wilkes Barre did so in 2009; that station is owned by Mission Broadcasting and managed by Nexstar.