Does anyone know why FOX was the only "media" outlet with a chopper...

[ColbertWatcher]

...following the cops who beat those guys in Philly?

Out here in L.A. there is at least 2 or 3 stations up in the air circling the scene like vultures.

How did FOX get this exclusive?

[KharmaTrain]

1. More Budget Cuts...

Most the major TV outlets have or had copters...but operating them have become very expensive. Most only use them now for doing traffic and little else or if there's some catacysmic fire. I wouldn't be surprised if many have gone back to renting copters from independents.

My bets are the other Philly stations are cutting budgets and corners and even if they have a copter, they're not using them like they used to...besides the gas, sending up a crew is expensive as well. In LA you have a large metro...the TV stations there have to cover from the IE to Santa Monica to Santa Barbara down to North County...a lot more territory than most other major metros and with millions of cars in the way. Unlike a Chicago or Philly, LA isn't as centralized, thus using ground units and dispatching them around the city is also a big problem, thus the copters are more valuable.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Thank you. n/t

[Breeze54]

3. Faux Suxs is the only one with a copter in MA too

WBZTV (CBS) after 40 years of traffic reporting from a helicopter, tossed it to an Insurance
company but now there are traffic camera's everywhere on the highways and in the city of
Boston and other large cities, so I guess that's a lot cheaper than running a helicopter.