XETV Scraps Sports

Grupo Televisa’s XETV San Diego has eliminated its sports department, reports the San Diego Tribune.

Sports director C.S. Keys, reporter and weekend anchor Andrea Nakano and producer Mike Lamar were fired yesterday afternoon by Richard Doutre Jones, the CW affiliate’s vice president and general manager.

“This had nothing do with the people in the sports department; it had everything to do with return on investment,” Jones said. “I think people depend on us for weather and news; I don’t think sports is what they think of.”

Doutre Jones said the station’s anchors would cover a major sports story.

XETV lost its Fox affiliation over the summer and switched to a CW affiliate. Doutre Jones was stung by the move at the time, writing “Unfortunately, in these troubled times, it seems as though there is no honor or loyalty anymore,” on the XETV Website.

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.