Channel 20's news team was never very real. A large portion of their broadcasts were produced in another city entirely and had a small amount of original local content added in.

WXYZ can now spread the cost of doing news to another hour of the day, and promote the heck out of Channel 7 on Channel 20. Long term, it will be interesting to see what WXYZ does with the station. Scripps already produces a lot of programming for syndication and cable, and now they have a natural outlet for those shows in Detroit. WXYZ and Scripps are strong enough to make it an "indie" station if they wanted to do so, and get rid of the "MyNetwork" syndication arrangement. I don't see major sports returning there, though. Cable subscription fees mean there will always be- going forward- more money for sports on cable than on broadcast TV. I miss the days of UltraMan and Johnny Socko and the Giant Robot on in the afternoons. And all the old sitcom reruns. Green Acres was the place to be.