NBC O&Os on in the country’s two largest markets — New York and Los Angeles — are both getting new helicopters this year, Broadcasting & Cable reports.
KNBC in Los Angeles, which has been sharing aerial coverage with Fox O&O KTTV for the past two years, has already received a new helicopter. WNBC in New York will get its helicopter later this year.
B&C has details on the purchases fitting in to a larger strategy at the NBC O&Os:
Addressing the crowd at NATPE Jan. 23, Ted Harbert, chairman of NBC Broadcasting, spoke about his desire to turn the owned stations around by investing big in news coverage. “We took $20 million, hired 130 people, bought helicopters in New York and Los Angeles, and put a lot of trucks on the ground,” he said. “It’s about how much news is on the air, what’s in the newscast, what enterprise journalism is going on, what you are out there covering.”