In a last-ditch effort to save its 33-year-old local business newscast, Harriscope of Los Angeles is launching its “Business News 22” onto the Internet. The Encino-based program will be renamed Biznews1.com and broadcast simultaneously to an Internet and television audience, a move the company hopes will boost viewership and generate enough revenues to keep the struggling program afloat. “Business news on television, whether it be CNBC or local shows, has a shrinking audience, no doubt about it,” said Buzz Harris, president of Harriscope, which owns “Business News 22.” “We noticed that people were going to the Internet for business news. Without (the Internet option), we would have probably sold ‘Business News 22.'” “Business News 22” had been broadcasting on KWHY-TV Channel 22 since 1967, but last October the show was bumped when KWHY, which is owned by Harriscope, switched to an all-Spanish format in a bid to boost the station’s revenues. “Business News 22” moved to KJLA-TV Channel 44 in the San Fernando Valley and various other stations around Los Angeles, but its viewership plummeted. KWHY can be accessed by 3.3 million households in the L.A. TV market, whereas KJLA is in just 1.7 million cable homes. A new model Around that time, production company executive Wayne Lepoff began talks with Harris about launching the show on the Net to target business people during market hours (6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in L.A.) when most people are at work. “Business News 22” had been broadcasting on television during those hours with a focus on L.A. companies. Lepoff said the idea for the Web site was to catch business people at work, when they are most eager for business news, and expand to a national audience in an inexpensive way. “The financial markets are open during the business day and most people at work don’t have a TV, but they all have computers,” Lepoff said. “I think people have a tendency to want to be spoon-fed information rather than read it on a Web site.” Biznews1.com was formed to launch the show on the Web as a division of Harriscope, with Lepoff serving as chief executive of the operation. On May 21, Biznews1.com officially launched amid a sea of competition. A host of sites already offer market updates and business news online, some originated by broadcast heavyweights like CNBC. But Lepoff believes the streaming video on his site will push people to seek out Biznews1. “Here’s the ability to get a capsulated report at any moment,” he said. “It’s unique in the fact that you can get the video and sit and watch.” Rather than focus on Los Angeles companies and regional business news, the station changed its focus to a broader, nationally oriented business format. The Internet site is advertiser-supported through banner ads and commercials broadcast in streaming video between news segments. The company is also in talks with local news stations across the country to license its video for business news segments for their Web sites. The site plans to offer expanded financial information and possibly a monthly pay service for more in-depth financial analysis and research, Lepoff said. The site has also added a chat portion where viewers can talk with each other about the latest financial news. So far, the site gets about 1.8 million hits a month, Lepoff said. Later this fall he will unveil a nationwide ad campaign to drum up more business. Uncertain environment Biznews1 faces substantial obstacles. The advertiser-supported business model has yet to prove itself on the Internet, and the show’s TV operation is losing money meaning it needs revenues from the Internet side to support the broadcast side. For most TV organizations with Web sites, the television business supports the Internet operation. “Our goal is, if we continue to build the Internet product, we can continue to be on broadcast and the Internet,” Lepoff said. “Business News 22” pays a fee for its airtime on KJLA, keeping the revenue it takes in for advertising sales during the show. Daniel Crowe, KJLA’s vice president of programming and sales, said he’s uncertain how long the program will be able to remain on the air. “We’d like to have them, the program has merit and value,” Crowe said. “But they have to buy time from us and they couldn’t afford Channel 22, which they owned, and they had to move. Buying time is a tough way to go at any station in L.A.” “Business News 22” didn’t turn a profit on television until the 1980s, when Harriscope bought KWHY nearly 20 years after the news show launched. Harris said the company is financially committed to Biznews1.com and doesn’t plan to look outside for venture funding or accrue large debt. For now, the company doesn’t have high financial expectations. “We know this is a gamble,” Harris said. “For 30 years, we’ve produced pretty inexpensive content. We’re being very cautious. We’ll see, though. If business doesn’t support it, then we too will disappear.”
