NewsNet is an Americannews-orientedfree-to-airtelevision network that is owned by NewsNet LLC, a division of Freelancer Television Broadcasting, Inc. The network is structured to broadcast a tightly-formatted 30-minute newswheel 24 hours a day, incorporating freshly-updated information that covers various areas of interest. Breaking news stories are updated constantly as they develop and new information becomes available. In addition to being carried on digital subchannels of affiliated television stations, NewsNet also distributes its programming through a livestream that is available on its website, as well as mobile apps in areas where it does not have a terrestrial TV affiliate. NewsNet's operations are based out of the studios of the network's owned-and-operated station WMNN-LD on West 13th Street and 3rd Avenue in Cadillac, Michigan.
Background and history
On September 28, 2017, Eric Wotila – who founded low-powered all-news station WMNN-LD in Cadillac, Michigan, and oversaw the studio design and construction for News Channel Nebraska, a Norfolk, Nebraska-based quasi-state network of five low-powered stations that also maintained an all-news programming format – started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund the launch of a 24-hour national news channel – under the working title, the Local News Network – intended for broadcast, online and mobile distribution. Citing favorable opinions from viewers about the "straight-to-the-facts, no-nonsense and commentary-free" coverage provided by WMNN-LD, the Local News Network proposed to offer a news wheel format that would eschew the often-politically focused panel discussion programs that have populated the afternoon, nighttime and weekend schedules of cable news channels since the early 2000s. The project called for LNN to be based out of WMNN's Cadillac studio facility, with the hope of eventually opening bureaus elsewhere around the United States. The project failed to reach its funding goal of $100,000 needed to develop LNN – which would have been used to pay for equipment and staffing necessary to handle the national broadcasts – by the closure of the 50-day campaign on November 17, 2017, raising only $8,012 from 78 public backers. Wotila subsequently sought to obtain backing from investors to fund the venture. On March 15, 2018, Wotila and other partners involved in the Local News Network project announced the launch of NewsNet, which would maintain the concept originally developed prior to the commencement of the Kickstarter campaign. NewsNet was officially launched on January 1, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with the Evening Edition serving as the network's inaugural program. On May 8, 2019, ground was broken on new studios. The facility will consist of 3 studios, each with their own control rooms and a new, state-of-the-art master control room overseeing the operations of NewsNet, WMNN-LD and WXII-LP, the new studio went into effect at 4 a.m. on December 9.
Programming
The channel's programming is structured around a rolling news wheel format, providing up-to-date information on the top national and international stories in just 30 minutes. Each half-hour of the wheel format begins with a two-minute-long look at the leading headlines of the moment, followed by an eight-minute selection of additional headlines at 02 and 32 minutes past the hour. The remainder of the block features a national weather forecast summary, sports scores and headlines, and "Health News", a segment focusing on the latest health headlines or "Living Well". To comply with programming guidelines imposed by the Children's Television Act, NewsNet also carries a 90-minute block of educational children's programming on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Current programs
;Rolling news blocks
NewsNet Continuing Coverage
NewsNet Evening Edition
NewsNet Midday Edition
NewsNet Mornings
NewsNet Nightside Edition
;E/I programming
America's Heartland
Animal Rescue
Biz Kid$
Dog Tales
Missing
Think Big
Former programs
NewsNet Morning Edition
On-air staff
News anchors
Benjamin Arie – also Health News and Living Well segment reporter
Remington Hernandez – also producer, Health News and Living Well segment reporter
Vic McCarty – also executive producer, Health News and Living Well segment reporter
Sierra Searcy – also Health News and Living Well segment reporter
Samana Sheikh – also Health News and Living Well segment reporter
On January 2, 2019, one day after the station launched, TV news industry blog published a photo of NewsNet primary anchor Remington Hernandez wearing a Make America Great Again hat that Hernandez had published to his public Facebook profile, casting doubt on the station's claim of being politically unbiased. In October 2019, a user of the TV News industry forum posted a photo taken off of Hernandez's public Instagram page that featured a smiling Hernandez next to conservative political commentatorMilo Yiannopoulos.
Affiliates
, NewsNet has current and pending affiliation agreements with 50 television stations in 46 television markets encompassing 24 states, covering 20.43% of the United States. The majority of NewsNet affiliates are low power stations that are within the geographic boundaries of a particular TV market, but do not cover the entirety of the market. For example, as of March 2020, NewsNet's website lists San Francisco as a city with an affiliate, despite the affiliate station KAAP-LD being a low-power digital station licensed to Santa Cruz who's coverage barely reaches the city ofSan Jose and San Mateo County. In addition to allowing affiliates to sell local advertising, NewsNet provides the option for its broadcast affiliates to pre-empt the "Health News" and "Living Well" segments at the end of each half-hour to allow to carry a five-minute-long local headline "capsule", providing news and weather information focusing on the local viewing area. NewsNet also provides an optional turnkey local news production service for stations that do not maintain their own local news departments to produce local news capsule segments or full-length newscasts.
