The E.W. Scripps Company and Raycom Media have entered into a shared services agreement involving WPTV, the Scripps-owned NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach, FL, and WFLX, the market's Raycom-owned Fox affiliate.
Under the terms of the agreement, Raycom has contracted with Scripps to provide services involving technical, promotional and online operations, and certain local programming for WFLX under Raycom's direction as licensee. Raycom will continue to program the station and conduct all advertising sales.
To accommodate this arrangement, WPTV will invest in additional equipment and facility improvements and hire additional employees, which may include current WFLX employees.
The shared-service agreement is an expansion of a relationship between the two stations that began on Jan. 1, when WPTV started producing 17 hours of WFLX-branded newscasts each week for Raycom. The agreement is an operational arrangement that entails no change in ownership of either station.
Starting around June 1, the business offices of WFLX will lease space within WPTV's facilities that will be separate from the rest of WPTV's operation.
