Former local news powerhouse WTVJ is now trudging along near the bottom of the ratings, but that's not stopping them from expanding their news coverage to a 24/7 sub-channel. Broadcasting & Cable reports that the NBC-owned-and-operated station will debut sometime shortly after the new year.
The channel follows in the footsteps of New York City's WNBC's sub-channel New York Nonstop, and soon all NBC O&O stations will have 24/7 news compliments. We imagine it will probably be called something like Miami Nonstop.
The channel will feature 8 hours of local content a day, the rest will come from "franchise programs such as Talk Stoop and lifestyle shows such as First Look and Open House from NBC's LX production wing." Though, they plan to grow the amount of local content over time. For an idea of what kind of fine programming you can expect, check out New York Nonstop's wiki page.
WTVJ currently airs a digital sub-channel called "NBC Plus" which is basically a weather feed. That currently airs on Comcast channel 216, but seems like it will be replaced by the new news channel.
NBC Universal has previously tried to unload low-rated WTVJ on the Washington Post Company (which also owns ABC affiliate WPLG), but that sale was halted in December 2008. We can't say that the sale of WTVJ is still on the plate, but since then NBC has moved forward with including the channel in its new "local media" initiates which also included the launch of NBCMiami.com.
[B&C: Exclusive: NBC Local Media Sets 'Nonstop' Launch Dates via SFLTV]
