New Publisher Named As Courant And TV Merge Operations In Hartford

[HartfordTycoon]

This is a promising development for Hartford as it assures that we will have two television stations based in the city for the long term. It also means that Asylum Hill will be getting some major new tenants that could significantly raise the profile of the neighborhood. I hope they are planning some renovations for the building that will make it more inviting and cutting edge as a TV studio.

Hartford Courant

Courant.com

New Publisher Named As Courant And TV Merge Operations In Hartford

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

The Hartford Courant

12:13 PM EDT, March 30, 2009

The Hartford Courant, WTIC-TV and WTXX-TV will combine their operations in The Courant's building on Broad Street in Hartford later this year and will be led by Richard Graziano, general manager of the two stations.

Graziano has been named publisher of The Courant, effective immediately, replacing Stephen D. Carver, who joined The Courant in 2006. Graziano is also a senior vice president of Tribune Broadcasting, overseeing stations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

WTIC-TV, Channel 61, will expand its news programming, adding half-hour broadcasts at noon and a 6 p.m., boosting the competitive stakes with the three other network-affiliated stations in Connecticut.

The news shows will be broadcast from a high-definition studio located in The Courant's newsroom.

The TV stations and The Courant -- which owns the Advocate chain of newsweeklies and ValuMail, a direct mail business -- are all owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., which operates 23 TV stations, the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other East Coast newspapers.

In several markets, including Hartford, Tribune has for years attempted, with mixed success, to leverage ownership of TV stations and newspapers to gain advertising, viewership and circulation advantages.

Combining the newspaper and broadcast businesses, and the news-gathering efforts, Tribune takes a newer approach.

"This is the future of media," said Randy Michaels, the Tribune chief operating officer. "Whether in print, over the air, or online -- the delivery mechanism isn't as important as the unique, rich nature of the content provided."

[Theophrastus Bombastus]

What about the Stilts building???

This is a promising development for Hartford as it assures that we will have two television stations based in the city for the long term. It also means that Asylum Hill will be getting some major new tenants that could significantly raise the profile of the neighborhood. I hope they are planning some renovations for the building that will make it more inviting and cutting edge as a TV studio.

Hartford Courant

Courant.com

New Publisher Named As Courant And TV Merge Operations In Hartford

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

The Hartford Courant

12:13 PM EDT, March 30, 2009

The Hartford Courant, WTIC-TV and WTXX-TV will combine their operations in The Courant's building on Broad Street in Hartford later this year and will be led by Richard Graziano, general manager of the two stations.

Graziano has been named publisher of The Courant, effective immediately, replacing Stephen D. Carver, who joined The Courant in 2006. Graziano is also a senior vice president of Tribune Broadcasting, overseeing stations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

WTIC-TV, Channel 61, will expand its news programming, adding half-hour broadcasts at noon and a 6 p.m., boosting the competitive stakes with the three other network-affiliated stations in Connecticut.

The news shows will be broadcast from a high-definition studio located in The Courant's newsroom.

The TV stations and The Courant -- which owns the Advocate chain of newsweeklies and ValuMail, a direct mail business -- are all owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., which operates 23 TV stations, the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other East Coast newspapers.

In several markets, including Hartford, Tribune has for years attempted, with mixed success, to leverage ownership of TV stations and newspapers to gain advertising, viewership and circulation advantages.

Combining the newspaper and broadcast businesses, and the news-gathering efforts, Tribune takes a newer approach.

"This is the future of media," said Randy Michaels, the Tribune chief operating officer. "Whether in print, over the air, or online -- the delivery mechanism isn't as important as the unique, rich nature of the content provided."

[HartfordTycoon]

What about the Stilts building???

[The Voice of Reason]

I am all for this move.

Mind you I own a rental house a close walk from the Broad street building.

The Broad Street building also has a very good sized ammount of land and plenty of parking. I would love to see this developed some day, since the corner of Capitol and Broad is very visable, very high traffic, and has a suprisingly large residential office and government population very close by.

Its good to have the two stations commiting to downtown as well. it would have been great if we could have kept chanel 3 too, but this is good news.