An FTVLive reader passed along his vision of what he believes is in store for the future of local TV news.

He makes some good points and it is surely something all of you should think about going forward.

He writes:

It is amazing to me how many people in the TV news biz don't see the handwriting on the wall. It is not just the bean counters and corporate pocket-liners that are the catalyst to all the cheapening of salaries and the downsizing.

Someone needs to explain to all these journalists that there is a secular change in this industry.

By 2022 over half the broadcast consolidators' income will come from a mix of retransmission fees and revenue derived from their datastream (signal using ATSC 3). Not programming (news).

With less than half the stations' revenue dependent on product-ratings-revenue there will be even less incentive to compete. (i.e. invest in people and process.)

In markets below #100 I'll bet there will be only 1 full or 2 full service news operations. Only in the top 25 will there remain 3 or more independent newsrooms.

Sad, especially since many these communities are news deserts with the implosion of the newspaper industry.