Newkirk, on the job six years, doesn't plan to change anything she's put in place. She also knows who quickly the mighty can fall. Long left, Mitchell died and, before long, KATV was on top. The KTHV advance might bring more of a reaction, though 7 isn't admitting it. If you go out and put on a good product, you have a chance of winning viewers.
Packaging is important, however.
KTHV tends to convey a newsier feel with its machine-gun delivery of multiple news headlines at the top of its show. Steel has indicated in one interview he might step up the news push. In some ways, no one has cause to celebrate. Rating numbers show that people don't watch the 10 p.m. news in the numbers of the early 1990s - cable TV and other entertainment have taken away viewers.