The Local News Service I wrote about weeks ago is now in full swing, with three of the Tampa Bay area's top four broadcast TV stations teaming up to share the cost of gathering video footage from routine news events and -- in two cases -- splitting a helicopter.

WTSP-Ch. 10 (CBS), WFTS-Ch. 28 (ABC) and WTVT-Ch. 13 (Fox) officially announced today the start of their LNS collective, in which three or so employees from each station work in a separate area, going to news events selected by the service's administrators.

WFTS and WTVT are also sharing the cost of running the ABC station's helicopter; WTSP officials say they will move slower on that possibility.

The idea is to cut down on instances where every station sends a separate camera to press conferences and public events where they all get the same footage.

Instead, a single camera can go and obtain footage shared with all stations. Locally, the initiative started with a partnership between WFTS owner Scripps Co. and WTVT owner Fox announced for several markets.

Station officials say this will allow them to free up reporters and photographers to cover other events. But some skeptics worry the system will allow stations to cut personnel more deeply while covering the same array of public events.

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Click below to read the press release:

NEW YORK – WTVT-TV, WFTS-TV and WTSP-TV announced that the stations have created a local news service that will share video newsgathering resources at general market news events.

Effective June 2, 2009, the service will help the stations reduce costs through a pooling of video newsgathering resources and will allow each to strengthen their focus on specialized enterprise reporting.  The stations will continue to operate independently in all other aspects of their businesses, including newsgathering operations.

An independent managing editor will determine the stories to be covered each day by the news service and arrange the collection and delivery of the video footage for each of the participating stations. This includes public events with widespread accessibility, such as press conferences, as well as local stories that are typically covered by multiple cameras and crews.  Each station’s unique editing and reporting style will determine how they utilize the video provided by the service.

Designed for use on multiple platforms, the material produced by the news service will be used for over-the-air broadcasts, as well as online and mobile reporting.  All employees involved in the shared operation will remain employees of their respective news organizations.