Local television stations are facing rocky fiscal road

The Wall Street Journal today uses a Las Vegas dateline and Jim Rogers’ KVBC-TV, Channel 3, to illustrate what it calls the fuzzy future of local television stations.

The story quotes Lisa Howfield, general manager of KVBC, saying she has recently laid off 15 employees.

“Her station's full-day viewership is down 7.7% this TV season from the same period last year, according to Nielsen Co., and Ms. Howfield expects her ad revenue in 2009 will be down 30% from 2008,” the Journal reports. It also notes that when John Fredericks left as weatherman another anchor took on both jobs.

The story goes on to suggest that the major networks might soon abandon their local affiliates entirely and go directly to cable.

The report also ends with the local station manager:

“In Las Vegas, Ms. Howfield is optimistic her station will survive. She says KVBC is looking for ways to develop new categories of advertisers and to survive on less: ‘We better operate like there's no tomorrow.’”

I wonder if this might distract Rogers from his jihad for higher taxes for everybody … nah. He’s already made his.