E.W. Scripps Co. is betting that people want to see more actual news, instead of the opinion and talking about the news that dominates on the cable news channels — CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC — and is expanding its news service that aims to give them that. Called Newsy, it’s now primarily viewed online or via streaming, but it’s expanding programming to 17 hours a day, aiming to eventually be 24 hours a day and will for the first time be available as a free, over-the-air TV service. Newsy’s motto is, “Be informed, not influenced” and Kate O’Brian, head of the Scripps Networks’ news group, said, “It’s a little bit of going back to the future, what television news used to be.” Newsy, which began in 2008 as a syndicated news service in Missouri and was bought by Scripps in 2014, will operate 14 news bureaus across the country.
(AP)