KUTV, a CBS affiliate owned and operated by parent company Viacom, is working with KJZZ Channel 14, owned by auto dealer Larry Miller, to provide nightly news coverage and a sports show on the weekends.
"We feel it's going to strengthen both entities," said Randy Rigby, general manager of KJZZ, the home station for the Utah Jazz. "We've always wanted to have a news product and strengthen our local connection in this market."
Beginning Aug. 1, KUTV will produce an additional 2News newscast at 9 p.m. for KJZZ, anchored by Shauna Lake on weeknights and Mike Headrick on weekends.
KUTV also will produce two half-hour "Talkin' Sports" segments for KJZZ on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 p.m. The sports show, hosted by David James, airs on KUTV at 10:35 p.m. on weekends.
In the deal, which does not have a time limit, both stations will sell advertising time and share in the ad revenue.
Ultimately, a new studio set will be built in the Delta Center, home of the Jazz, from which newscasts and sports shows can be aired. KUTV will hire additional staff to produce the KJZZ newscast.
"It's going to be a lot more work for us," KUTV general manager David Phillips said. The new newscast "will have its own executive producer and own show producers. It will have its own reporters, editing and photography staff, and we'll tie in the same assignment desk, management team and anchors."
Additionally, KJZZ will air a rerun of the highly rated talk show "Dr. Phil" at 8 p.m., which also airs at 3 p.m. on KUTV.
That means for the first time in recent history, KSTU Channel 13, the Fox affiliate, will have competition for its 9 p.m. newscast anchored by Bob Evans and Hope Woodside. But KSTU general manager Tim Ermish thinks that's "a good thing."
"That keeps everybody on their toes," he said. "Having another newscast directly against us will just ramp us up even more."
The KJZZ-KUTV partnership is not the first of its kind in the Salt Lake City television market, the 36th largest in the country.
KSL Channel 5 had a similar relationship with then KVIX Channel 14 in the mid-1990s when KSL provided a 9 p.m. newscast for the independent station. It lasted less than a year.
"In the end, both parties felt it was not mutually satisfactory, and the audience was just not watching," KSL Television President Bruce Christensen said. "It will be interesting to see how this works for Channel 2."
Ermish also noted similar ventures in Detroit and Boston failed.
Christensen said it's a strain to produce back-to-back newscasts. "But I'll add that KUTV is a strong station with a lot of resources."
In the last May sweeps period, KUTV was second in the Monday through Friday 10 p.m. news ratings behind KSL, which has held the No. 1 spot since the 1970s.
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The Salt Lake Tribune and KUTV Channel 2 are in a news-sharing partnership.
