Competing TV stations to start sharing footage

In a move that's being compared to the wire services newspapers have used for decades, two local broadcast stations in Philadelphia are rolling out a plan to share news footage, according to The New York Times.
The stations, owned by NBC and Fox, created an independent group last summer to gather news footage and provide it to both stations, saving each a significant amount of money.

The plan is for the service to begin operations in Philadelphia by January and then to expand it to other cities where both companies have stations, like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Washington.
Mr. Abernethy said the idea has already attracted interest from competing stations. “We expect to have a template that we could roll out nationally,” Mr. Abernethy said. “Take what we learn in Philadelphia and begin a business around the country.”

While each station using the service would save a lot of money, they would not be able to gather extra footage or interviews, but would instead be forced to use whatever the independent crews send them.
With the current economic crisis hitting local TV stations, too, that may be a limitation they're willing to live with.

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