Since New Year’s Day the newscasts on Raycom’s WFLX-TV (Fox) West Palm Beach have been produced by Scripps’ WPTV-TV (NBC). Now the relationship is being expanded to have Scripps provide other services to the station.
Under the terms of the new agreement, Raycom has contracted with Scripps to provide services involving technical, promotional and online operations and certain local programming for WFLX under Raycom’s direction as licensee. Raycom noted that it will continue to program the station and conduct all advertising sales.
To accommodate the new arrangement, WPTV will invest in additional equipment and facility improvements, and hire additional employees, which may include current WFLX employees. Starting around June 1st, the business offices of WFLX will lease space within WPTV’s facilities, in space that will be separate from the rest of WPTV’s operation.
“This is a mutually beneficial arrangement because the enhanced relationship allows WFLX to operate more efficiently while giving WPTV the opportunity to generate more revenue from its staff and infrastructure,” said Brian Lawlor, Sr. Vice President of Television for Scripps. “We’re excited to work with Raycom in a way that makes both stations stronger and preserves the options enjoyed by the market’s viewers and advertisers.”
“This agreement will help us to maintain WFLX’s long-standing commitment to West Palm Beach. By sharing back-office and other expenses with WPTV, we will be able to use our resources to increase the diversity of our news and local programming and continue to serve West Palm with the high-quality local and national programming that our community deserves,” said Raycom CEO Paul McTear.
