Northwest News New Cable Channel Wants To Become A Regional Cnn
All-news cable is hot - even in local markets.
More than a million cable TV viewers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho will have an additional source for local news when Northwest Cable News launches its regional channel on Monday. Cox Cable in Spokane will start carrying the network between Christmas and New Year’s as part of its standard cable package.
The new channel comes at a time of increased interest in national 24-hour cable news channels by some to the biggest names in television and information technology.
NBC and Microsoft announced plans Thursday to start a news channel. ABC plans to begin one in early 1997. And just last month, media magnate Rupert Murdoch said he would create an all-news channel to compete with CNN.
NWCN hopes to become the CNN of the Northwest - all news, 24 hours a day, with emphasis on the region. About $5 million has been invested to start the service.
The channel joins a growing list of regional cable news networks that include ChicagoLand Television News, New England Cable News, New York 1 News, and News Channel 8 in the Washington, D.C. area.
The question is whether viewers in the Northwest want more local news.
“Somebody must see money there because every market seems to be getting one,” said Alan Breznick, senior editor of Cable World magazine.
But there are doubters, such as Stuart Kaplan, associate professor of communications at Lewis and Clark College in Portland.
“I think an all-news cable channel is going to have a tough time because the local broadcast stations are very competitive and I think they do a good job with local news,” Kaplan said. “I’m not sure what this cable channel has to offer.”
NWCN is part of KING Broadcasting and draws on the news produced by its four stations in the Northwest: KING-TV in Seattle, KGW-TV in Portland, KREM in Spokane and KTVB in Boise.
The cable channel also is covering some stories with its own staff and using national and international video.
NWCN is starting on a large scale compared to other cable channels, although it’s still small compared to the 65 million homes reached by Ted Turner’s Cable News Network.
NWCN expects to have about 1.1 million homes at startup and plans to increase that to 1.8 million in a year, said Craig Marrs, president and general manager.
The idea picked up steam after the Providence Journal Co. of Rhode Island bought KING Broadcasting in 1991. Plans for Northwest Cable News were announced in 1993 and Marrs took over the project in 1994.
The cable operation starts with about 100 employees, including eight field reporters - one-person crews who carry their own cameras and produce their own stories.