Tegna said its stations will be launching new upgraded streaming apps that deliver local new and other programming to viewers.
The first two stations to come online are WXIA-TV, Atlanta, and WTHR-TV, Indianapolis, this week. The rest will start up during the second quarter, according to the broadcaster, which is in the process of being acquired by Standard General.
The apps will initially be available on Roku and Fire TV. They are expected to launch on more digital platforms later this year.
The new apps replace simpler ones Tegna stations rolled out last year. Those apps let users stream replays of local newscasts and some on-demand content. They are generating more than 300,000 monthly active users.
“We didn’t put a lot of emphasis on them last year, but they really took off organically, which is a testament to just how quickly streaming is growing right now,” Adam Ostrow, chief digital officer at Tegna told Broadcasting+Cable. ”Looking at those numbers we decided to invest in building a much more robust product.”
Users of the apps will find a local 24 hour stream of local news, newscast replays, extended live coverage of news events, weather and investigations.
“News has been ephemeral as a product. This allows us to surface the more evergreen work, the longer-form work our stations do,” Ostrow said. “This also gets us out of the paradigm of 30 -minute shows."
In addition to news, programming available on the new Watch apps includes sports reports including shows produced by Tegna’s Locked On Podcast Network, a weekly show from Verify, Tegna’s unit aimed at stopping the spread of misinformation, and Daily Blast Live, Tegna’s interactive show, hosted by Sam Schacher, Jeff Schroeder, Al Jackson, Erica Cobb, Tory Shulman, Lindsey Granger and Stefanie Jones.
Some of that programming had been appearing on YouTube and will continue to appear there.
Each station’s app will carry programming from that market. To get news from another market, users will have to download the app from the station in that market.
Premion, Tegna’s OTT advertising platform, is selling the ad app inventory. ■
