Months after Gray Television, the owner of KSFY, finalized the purchase of KDLT, the two Sioux Falls television stations are combining news and broadcast operations.

If you listen to Gray, they say that the merging of the two operation is “great news” but in reality it is all about cutting cost.

Gray, which first owned KSFY, closed on its purchase of KDLT in September after the FCC issued its first-ever waiver allowing one top-four station to fully purchase another.

It may also be the last waiver for a while, since an appeals court decision ordered the FCC to revert to its previous ownership rules.

Gray TV’s promise of additional newscasts on KSFY and KDLT was part of the FCC’s reasoning for approving the merger.

But in merging the two stations it is likely that jobs will be lost.

Gray is adding more newscast, but it will all be produced out of the same news department.

This is the problem with consolidation of two stations into one. People lose their jobs and news editorial loses a voice and becomes one.

The on-air changes happen Jan. 13.

H/T Northpine.com