About Free News Consulting

Free News Consulting is an online resource designed to help TV news professionals and management increase local news ratings. Competition for ratings has escalated. Station efforts are now buffeted by the economy, cost pressures, a skeptical and fickle audience, and an ever increasing supply of news alternatives on the internet.

Consider Free News Consulting a tool to meet these challenges. Among the many ideas, you’ll discover:

• Effective and creative solutions for marketing news
• Ideas that make news topics more relevant to viewers
• Techniques that create more dynamic reporter packages
• How the internet has redefined your audience and their attitudes toward your station
• Innovative ways to showcase sports and weather

Check out the Insight and Ideas pages. The Insight page presents “big picture” observations regarding the state of local television news. The thoughts go beyond simple critique and/or lofty prose. They offer advice and guidance for executing real change.

The Ideas page offers thoughts that challenge the conventional wisdom and approach regarding news. They are designed to be thought provoking and to foster discussion. You’ll see merit in some; others will spur you to evaluate your current situation. Either way, you win.

About Terry Segal

Terry Segal is a successful news and media executive with senior management experience at both the local TV station level and at national cable networks. These responsibilities have given him a well rounded and expansive understanding of what interests and motivates viewers. He has used this expertise to grow ratings in both local news and entertainment programming.

His background includes stints at the industry’s leading news research and consulting firms as well as Turner Broadcasting. Mr. Segal also spearheaded the overall news and programming strategy at GOCOM Television, which grew from three to sixteen stations during his tenure.

As Executive Vice President at GOCOM Television, Mr. Segal served as the chief architect of the company’s overall news and audience development. Ratings grew from 37 to 200 percent across the group. Nearly every station experienced its highest news ratings in history, even dethroning long time market leaders in key dayparts and demographics.

He not only oversaw the ratings growth of existing newscasts but also expanded GOCOM’s news footprint through the introduction of additional newscasts. KSPR in Springfield, Missouri was honored as the Best Newscast by the Missouri Broadcasters Association during Mr. Segal’s tenure.

Mr. Segal served as President & General Manager of TBS Supersation for four years. TBS ranked as the highest rated basic cable network during his tenure. He helped engineer the first shared licensing deal for sitcoms between a cable network (TBS) and local television stations in syndication history.

He also served as Senior Vice President & General Manager of Turner Network Television (TNT). He was an integral part of the management team that fashioned one of the most successful network launches in basic cable history. Mr. Segal oversaw the research and programming efforts that resulted in TNT outperforming prelaunch ratings estimates by 50 percent.

Mr. Segal’s local news expertise was honed at two of country’s leading media research and consulting firms. Mr. Segal held positions in both the research and consulting divisions at Frank N. Magid Associates. He also served as Vice President of Audience Research & Development, where he spearheaded numerous research projects for clients nationwide.

Free News Consulting – Why?

That’s the first question people ask. Why Free News Consulting? It’s a fair question and one that is simple to answer:

Why not?

Why not provide insight and ideas to help local news professionals better their product and individual skills?

Why not create a resource that’s easily accessible to all those interested in local news?

Why not foster a dialogue that will challenge how things are done and inject new perspectives into the discussion?

Why not harness the power of the internet to make an industry and its constituents better informed and connected?

Why not inspire people to greater heights?

That’s why.