Around 80 news anchors, reporters, editors, producers and other broadcast staff are out of work after Michigan-based news broadcaster NewsNet ceased operations over the weekend.
The decision to pull the plug on NewsNet came after owner Manoj Bhargava felt the channel had not drawn enough of an audience to continue operating efficiently, with Bhargava saying NewsNet had been losing cash every month since it launched two years ago. A companion channel called Sports News Highlights has also stopped broadcasting.
NewsNet and Sports News Highlights were distributed across the country on mostly low-power broadcast TV stations. The channels were also available on free streaming platforms like Xumo Play and The Roku Channel.
The intent behind NewsNet was to offer an unbiased source of facts-first news reports, with the tagline “News the way it used to be” anchoring its coverage. Sports News Highlights offered clips of major and niche athletic competitions, without the typical analysis available on sports-inclusive TV networks like ESPN and Fox Sports.
“We believed people would want to watch a clean, non-bias news network, but we were wrong,” Bhargava told Crain’s Detroit. “Without a large audience, we just couldn’t continue to lose money. We hired the best people and talent, and we appreciate their hard work and effort. But we just couldn’t continue.”
It isn’t clear what will happen to the channel spots occupied by NewsNet and Sports News Highlights on broadcast TV. As of Monday, free streaming versions of both channels were still active, but only showed a black screen.
