KNBC Los Angeles has its own helicopter in the air, a testament to Comcast's commitment to improving the station business it took over after merging with NBCUniversal.
KNBC had been involved in a helicopter share with Fox's owned stations in DMA No. 2 for the past two years, in an effort to keep the major costs associated with leasing aircraft down to earth.
"Now we have our own in the air," says Steve Carlston, president and GM of KNBC. "And we are committed full time to our own."
KNBC and its Fox counterpart, KTTV, will continue to share content on the ground per their Local News Service arrangement.
KNBC's helicopter is a Eurocopter A-Star.
Sibling WNBC New York will get its helicopter later this year.
Addressing the crowd at NATPE Jan. 23, Ted Harbert, chairman of NBC Broadcasting, spoke about his desire to turn the owned stations around by investing big in news coverage. "We took $20 million, hired 130 people, bought helicopters in New York and Los Angeles, and put a lot of trucks on the ground," he said. "It's about how much news is on the air, what's in the newscast, what enterprise journalism is going on, what you are out there covering."
