Vegas Station Doubles Down on Local

By Michael Malone
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

KSNV Las Vegas, and its sister Intermountain West Communications Companstations, are dropping Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy in September and slotting a 7 p.m. news, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Looking toward 2014, the stations are splitting with Dr. Phil to make way for a 3 p.m. news.

“I’m going to focus on news because that’s my only future,” said Jim Rogers, owner of NBC affiliates in Las Vegas, Reno and Elko. “I can’t program entertainment and compete against 200 cable channels.”

Notes the reporter:

If abandoned entirely by its network, KSNV-TV, Channel 3 would simply expand its locally produced programming, Rogers said. 

KSNV is an NBC affiliate that has lost revenue share in DMA No. 40 in recent years, according to BIA-Kelsey.

The sister stations are in Reno and Elko, Nevada.

Michael Malone
Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.