The following is a memorandum from the business manager of a television station.“Over the past year, our late-night news program has devoted increased time to national news and less time to weather and local news. During this time period, most of the comp

The scenario presents a late-night news station that has increased its national news segment at the expense of its weather and local news segments. This has lead to viewer complaints and a loss in local advertising revenue. In order to substantiate the decision to restore the weather and local news segments to their formal levels, a more comprehensive viewer study must be conducted to see if a true majority of viewers prefer the old programming structure. Additionally, a full economic breakdown of advertising revenue should be assessed since only local advertising seems to be impacted by the shift from the information provided.

To justify shifting back into the original news structure, a comprehensive study on the complete viewer base must be conducted to indicate whether most viewers prefer the original news structure over the emphasis on national news. So far, only concerns from viewers has served as an indication of viewer preference. This is in no way indicative of the viewing majority. Although viewers who take the time and effort to file a complaint may likely be regular viewers, they may not constitute the viewing majority. A more comprehensive survey that assess the viewing audience demographics, news structure preferences, and time spent watching the station would more accurately depict the overall audience's concerns regarding the news programs shift to national news. This may be a case where a minority of viewers complains about the news structure change while a majority actually is satisfied with the shift and thus does not feel obligated to send in feedback to the station. This would then strengthen the argument that the television stations new emphasis on national news is actually preferred by the vieweing public. On the other hand, if the current viewer feedback is determined to actually represent the viewing majority, then the argument for the stations new programming is no longer justified.

The television station's shift from local to national news has caused a loss of local advertising revenue. However, no indication is made as to whether or not the station's change has increased advertising revenue from larger corporations or from national businesses. A full market assessment on advertising company demographics, advertising revenue, and even contract lengths would present a more accurate economic picture of the impact of the station's changes. One particular scenario may be that local businesses constitute a majority of the advertising revenue, and thus losing their contracts without national corporations taking their place could prove detrimental to the station, economically speaking. This would justify the station to shift back towards its original programming structrue to cater to the local businesses and hopefully restore any lost contracts. An alternate scenario may be that the stations programming changes have lost local businesses contracts but dramatically increased the number of contracts from larger, national companies. This may actually increase the revenue of the station since larger corporations are more likely to spend more money on advertising to the station's viewing public. All in all, a complete market analysis would more accurately depict whether or not the stations shift in programming structure has led to economic turmoil or economic opportunity.

To conclude, a more comprehensive survey of the viewing public and an in-depth analysis of the economic state of the television station will better justify whether or not the station should keep the new national news progrmming structure. An analysis of the audience demographics, viewing behavior, and overall preference on networking structure would indicate whether or not more viewers prefer the national news or the weather and local news emphasized program. Additionally, an economic analysis broadening from just local businesses advertising revenue to complete advertising revenue may indicate whether the programming shift is economically hurting or benefiting the television station..