Broadcast TV’s year in review — and suggestions for 2026

As 2025 draws to a close, local broadcast television finds itself standing at the edge of both opportunity and uncertainty. The industry has spent the past decade adapting reactively to cord-cutting, streaming, shifting measurement and to a generation of viewers who may never watch linear television in the ways their parents did. But this year felt different. In 2025, broadcasters confronted not just incremental challenges, but foundational ones.

Looking back at my TVNewsCheck column, I saw a common theme: Local broadcasters are in the midst of a structural transformation. Some of that change is uncomfortable. Some of it is overdue. But it all points toward a future that rewards reinvention, not defense of the past. What follows is a recap of the themes I explored this year, and a forward-looking view of where the industry should go in 2026.

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