Weeks after naming veteran TV executive Kate O’Brian head of news for its national networks business, Scripps announced today that one of its streaming news properties, Newsy, will expand to linear and go over-the-air later this year.
With this move, which goes into effect on October 1, Newsy becomes the only American TV news network with ubiquitous OTT and over-the-air (OTA) distribution.
“Amid an increasingly polarized and divided national climate, Newsy will seize upon this opportunity to serve more Americans seeking quality objective journalism,” Scripps Networks president Lisa Knutson said Wednesday in a statement. “As TV viewers ‘self-bundle’ by combining free television with subscription video-on-demand services, Newsy will build on its successes in OTT by joining the other Scripps Networks in the over-the-air marketplace to bring these viewers high-quality, free news programming.”
Adweek TV reporter Mollie Cahillane reports that Newsy will be broadcast on ION Media stations owned by Scripps, as well as some Scripps-owned local stations, and it will be available for free to anyone with an antenna. Newsy will immediately be available in 80% of U.S. TV homes come October.
Newsy is based in Atlanta and with this expansion will boast nearly a dozen bureaus across the country, including in Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.