HD News boom in...Reno?

[caliwxdude 254]

So I stumbled upon the website for NBC affiliate KRNV in Reno, Nevada (DMA #110), and I noticed the little "HD" in their logo. Dumbfounded to find a high definition newscast in a small market like Reno, I did some digging around Google and came across this Broadcasting & Cable article from last December: http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401667.html.

 

What's really odd is KRNV beat its Las Vegas sister station, KVBC, to the HD punch. You'd think Sunbelt would spend the money in a market that already has a competing station in HD, but I digress.

 

Reno doesn't have just one HD newscast, it has three! The new CW upstart, KREN, is owned by Pappas Telecasting, which isn't really known for shelling out a whole lot of money to its stations (which confuses me as to why they'd even shell out the money to start a newscast, much less a newscast in high definition). And the low-power Azteca America local HD newscast? I almost don't want to believe it, but I guess I have to since it's B&C, which is generally pretty reputable.

 

Next question: why waste all this high-definiton news on Reno, of all places?! (If any of you have seen "Reno 911" on Comedy Central, it's actually a fairly accurate depiction of "The Biggest Little City in the World...") Please, discuss the madness...

[Freelancer 0]

The Azteca and the CW are run out of the same facility, both owned by Pappas. They spent lot's of money in this upgrade and are using it as a template for the build out for their other facilities. They are banking on Azteca winning the market share among Spanish viewers. People in Reno spend money of HD televisions too, now that those T.V.'s are on sale at Wal-Mart, more and more lower and middle income people are joining the revolution.

[artie fufkin 0]

There's actually four HD news stations if you count the simulcast of KTVU on KRXI.