Different agendas are at work here. Some cable news channels, such as Time Warner's New York 1, go after local newspaper and TV ad dollars. Others, like A.H. Belo's Seattle-based NorthWest Cable News Channel, supplement and promote the company's newspapers and TV stations, generating additional revenues and burnishing the companies' images as specialists in community news. The old-line news outlets can no longer blithely assume they'll be the first to report what's happening in their hometowns. Viewership runs highest on weekdays before 9 a.m., in prime time, and on weekends before noon.
Ratings predictably rise dramatically when there's eventful local news.
Florida residents tuned in to Time Warner's channels when massive brush fires spread through parts of the state in July. Big-city TV stations often reach hundreds of towns, and lack the time, resources, and inclination to cover any one of them in depth. As a result, many newscasts are heavy on crime, a subject that's relatively easy to report, and that grabs viewers who live far from the scene.