The Texas city of San Angelo bills itself as “the place to come for good times.”

Forbes ranked it seventh in its 2012 “Best Cities for Jobs” rankings.

And CNN called it one of the best places to launch a business.

Unless, of course, that business is a local TV newscast. In that case, broadcasters have pushed out competition in a bottom-line attempt to maximize profits.

According to a New York Times story, the CBS and NBC stations in San Angelo share “office space, news video and even the scripts written for their nightly news anchors.” Meanwhile, the Fox station in town doesn’t even cover local happenings, instead rebroadcasting the news from San Antonio — which is four hours away.

“It is very difficult, if not impossible, to generate enough revenue to justify the expense for a locally produced newscast,” DuJuan McCoy, the owner of the Fox station, told the New York Times.

What’s happening in San Angelo — and in at least 83 of the nation’s 210 television markets, according to a University of Delaware study — is covert consolidation. Broadcasters exploit loopholes in the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership rules and enter into shared services agreements that lead to the same newscast airing on multiple stations. As a result, viewers get a decidedly restricted take on what’s happening in their communities. (Check out the interactive Free Press map to see the impact of covert consolidation nationwide.)

“The same cookie-cutter content above a different graphic doesn’t cut it,” Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron told the Times. “Worst of all, maybe, is that we’ll never know what’s missing — what dirt isn’t being dug up, what questions aren’t asked, what stories are going uncovered.”

The FCC is currently reviewing its ownership rules. Tell the agency to put a stop to covert consolidation. It’s time to change the channels.

If you care about fighting media consolidation, please consider a donation to the Free Press Action Fund.