The latest victim of the economic downturn: the sports department at San Diego’s XETV.
XETV, the San Diego CW affiliate, became “the first local TV station to completely eliminate its sports department” on Monday after firing “[s]ports director C.S. Keys, reporter and weekend anchor Andrea Nakano and producer Mike Lamar.”
XETV vice president and general manager Richard Doutre Jones says that firing the sports department “became an increasingly difficult decision I had to make.” Jones argues that “people depend on [XETV] for weather and news; I don’t think sports is what they think of,” and notes the “proliferation of people getting their sports from the Internet and ESPN.”
Despite the elimination of the sports department, XETV will continue to cover notable sports stories using general news reporters.
