We have all seen this one coming. And we salute it. Four of Chicago’s TV stations are going to pool coverage of “non-exclusive” events.  WMAQ (NBC), WFLD (Fox), WBBM (CBS) and WGN are going to work together.

As Chicago Tribune media columnist Phil Rosenthal writes: “It’s going to be less crowded at some Chicago-area news conferences.”

The four outlets are establishing an independent news service to do the coverage. Rosenthal explains:

Tony Capriolo, a WMAQ sports producer, has been selected as managing editor of the service, which will be based at WBBM’s headquarters across from Daley Plaza but separate from Channel 2’s news operation. Each participating outlet will provide two news crews and an assignment editor, and they remain on their station’s payroll. Capriolo is an employee of the service, paid for by participating stations

What’s interesting to me is how much of a change this represents in editorial thinking. Yes, we’ve pooled cameras for court coverage in the past, but that was out of logistical necessity. Now it’s a financial need, and suddenly nobody in editorial has a big problem with it. The stations will still edit the feeds as they see fit.

I always figured some local entrepreneur would simply start a local news service and sell the video to the stations. (As some overnight stringers do now.) It’s good to see city outlets banding together to make more efficient use of their resources. This is by no means the only way to reinvent local news. But it’s planting the seed of the idea that we can’t do business the old way and cling to old ideals.

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