TV consultants tell stations that live shots are very important to get ratings.

Back years ago, if a station was going live, as a viewer you perked up to see what the story was?

But now, stations go live, just to go live and they get lazier and lazier doing so.

This screenshot below is from a live shot by WCNC in Charlotte, who could not even be bothered enough to leave the station’s parking lot to go live.

The satellite dishes in the background are a dead giveaway, but you just know that somewhere a TV news consultant just got his wings.