Come New Year’s Day the newscasts on Raycom’s WFLX (Fox) West Palm Beach, FL will be coming from what’s currently the rival newsroom at Scripps’ WPTV (NBC). Terms haven’t been disclosed, but the companies say the new arrangement will be a multi-year deal.
Of course, that means the members of the current Fox 29 News Team will be looking for work. One place to look is WPTV, which says it will hire more than a dozen news professionals to generate the WFLX-branded newscasts, which will be produced on a separate set at WPTV’s studios. WPTV will produce newscasts for WFLX airing 10-11 pm seven nights a week and 7-9 am airing Monday through Friday.
Scripps says this is the first time one of its TV stations has entered into an agreement to produce newscasts for another station. WPTV is a news powerhouse in the market and dates back to 1954. WFLX launched as an independent in 1982 and has been a Fox affiliate since the network launched in 1996.
“We’re energized by the prospects of extending our reach into this market’s homes by up to three additional hours each day,” said WPTV VP/GM Steve Wasserman. “As the most-trusted television news brand in the region, we’re eager to work with a great partner like WFLX to enhance our news team’s engagement with this community.”
“This is a partnership that will be great for both organizations and our viewers,” said WFLX VP/GM John Spinola. “Our reputation for delivering the finest in entertainment and sports programming will definitely be enhanced by this relationship with the leading news organization in Florida.”
