Owner DeFontes Group Ltd. Last air date August 31, 2014 | First air date June 1991 Former affiliations NBC (1991-2014) | |
Branding VSB TV-11 (general)
VSB TV 11 News (newscasts) Channels Analog: 11 (VHF), Cable 4 | ||
VSB-TV was an NBC television affiliate serving Hamilton and the British territory of Bermuda. The station broadcast on channel 11. In addition to carrying the full NBC network East Coast feed, VSB locally produced a half-hour nightly newscast at 7 p.m., preceding the NBC Nightly News (which aired at 7:30 p.m. Atlantic Time in Bermuda). The station was owned by DeFontes Group, a Bermuda-based company which also owned and operated radio stations in the island nation. As of August 31, 2014, VSB-TV ceased broadcasting over-the-air on Channel 11 due to financial difficulties but still provides daily news via their online website.
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Programming and Newscasts
VSB's schedule ran an hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone without any delays, which meant primetime began at 9:00 p.m. AT and Today began live at 8:00 a.m. AT, with the late local news carried at midnight AT. The station also ran Access Hollywood Live and Ellen.
Other station newscasts were carried at 7:00 p.m. AT and 8:30 p.m. AT, with the NBC Nightly News airing live at 7:30 p.m. AT.
Discontinuation of operations
On August 29, 2014, the ownership of VSB announced that over-the-air broadcasting would be suspended indefinitely due to financial losses, effective August 31, 2014, whilst expressing the hope that the station might reorganize and return to the air in the future. Declining advertising revenues resulting in continual deficits were cited by DeFontes Group. A daily 20-min. video streaming of VSB News Online continued for another year, produced by VSB staff.
On September 1, 2015, it was announced that Defontes Group would cease all remaining operations and lay off all 19 of its staff. The station's news director said, "declining advertising revenues concurrent with the explosion of electronic media had been our death knell”, when DeFontes Broadcasting ceased operations completely on September 30, 2015, including its radio stations and online streaming.