Posted: Wed., May 7, 2008, 11:01am PT

WNBC overhauls facility

Network to create 24-hour local-news channel

Declining local-news ratings have spurred WNBC-TV New York to overhaul its facility at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Plaza HQ and create a 24-hour local-news channel.

WNBC is calling the refurbished operation a content center, which will produce local news not only for the TV channel's newscasts and the 24-hour digital channel but for WNBC.com and for out-of-home platforms including gas pumps and taxicabs. WNBC's goal is to get the 24-hour channel on digital cable in the New York area by the end of the fourth quarter.

Spearheading the transformation is John Wallace, recently promoted to president of the local-media division of NBC Universal, who said he wants WNBC to "become the leading multiplatform content provider for the New York market."

"Consumers are demanding relevant content, round the clock, on the platform of their choice," Wallace said.

The big-picture plan is for the New York operation to serve as a model for similar changes at the seven other NBC-owned TV stations, including KNBC Los Angeles and WMAQ Chicago. Like WNBC, each of these outlets would add a 24-hour local-news channel to fill the digital slots that will open up for TV stations throughout the country in the next year. The KNBC remodeling is already under way.


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