WTSP Opts Out of Tampa News Share

By Michael Malone
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

WTSP Tampa will go its own way in terms of gathering local content, bowing out of a Local News Share with WFTS and WTVT, says FLNewsCenter.com. Elliott Wiser took over as GM at WTSP, which is owned by Gannett, in June.

The Gannett, Fox and Scripps station had been in a content share since 2009, says FLNewsCenter, which Wiser said “had expired back in 2012.” The three had continued to share until recently.

Content shares were all the rage in 2009, stations banding together to share footage of non-enterprise daybook events.

Wiser said WTSP, a CBS affiliate, will continue to take part in a share of the WFTS operated helicopter.

Wiser had been VP of local programming at Bright House Networks, with oversight of its cable news nets in Tampa and Orlando. He took over WTSP when Ken Tonning retired.

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.