Local news

I read an article several days ago that mentioned that Fox had launched a new streaming service for local news. The app is Fox Local, and is rolling out nationwide.

"Nationwide" doesn't mean everywhere, at least not just yet:

At launch, only Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Milwaukee, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington DC are live on the service, but more locals will reportedly be added soon.

"FOX Local is the crucial next step in our overall streaming strategy, which is focused on providing viewers the easiest and fastest ways to watch their most trusted local news and programming," said Jeff Zellmer, Senior Vice President of Digital Operations for Fox Television Stations.

While this sounds like a good idea, it doesn't help a lot of people. You see, there are a lot of people outside of those listed cities. I'm in southeast Georgia, and a local Atlanta station does nothing for me. It might as well be in another state. In fact, news out of Jacksonville, Florida would be more local than Atlanta.

It's not available for Roku, which is a huge hole in its footprint as well. I get the Fox Local app via one of the other platforms. I've only used it on Google TV, and there are only three cities available there: Atlanta, Detroit, and Washington, DC. The others listed in the article are all marked "Coming Soon."

I get local news via an antenna. It gets me the stations from Savannah, my actual local TV news. Maybe one day, the Fox Local app will expand to Savannah, but I'm not holding my breath. My Streaming Life would be improved with Fox Local carrying my local stations, but my trusty antenna gets me by for now.