Not too long ago, most people's local and statewide media choices were largely limited to three TV stations, a newspaper or two and a slew of radio stations offering a variety of programming.

Recent developments in South Dakota illustrate the transitions happening in how people stay informed.

'There was a time when it took 20 years to happen what’s happened in the past couple of weeks in South Dakota,' said Dave Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota News-Media Association. “The news ecosystem in South Dakota, as it is everywhere, is at an inflection point.”

South Dakota Public Broadcasting last week announced that it will reduce its staff by 25% in response to a $2.2 million annual cut in federal funding.

The radio program 'In the Moment' and TV program 'South Dakota Focus' were eliminated, and output of 'Dakota Life' on TV and educational resources will be reduced.

SDPB said it will prioritize news of open government and access to the Legislature. And it will continue its coverage of high school athletic championships and fine arts events.

“This is the hardest decision we've ever had to make,” said Julie Overgaard, SDPB executive director.

As the SDPB changes unfolded, four newspapers that were abruptly shuttered weeks earlier found new life.

Champion Media, a family-owned community newspaper company based in North Carolina, said it was acquiring and restarting The Brookings Register, Huron Plainsman, Redfield Press and Moody County Enterprise at Flandreau.

The challenges of delivering a printed product have increased significantly recently because the U.S. Postal Service now processes much of South Dakota's mail out of state.

Some newspaper subscribers wait a week or more for editions printed only a few miles away, Bordewyk said.

'So it’s making that ad worthless and causing advertisers to pull away,' he said, adding that skyrocketing costs also weigh on bottom lines.

In commercial TV, Nexstar Media Group Inc., which owns KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, said it plans to acquire Tegna Inc. to form a new company that would serve 80% of U.S. households, if approved.

Besides the CBS affiliate that serves the entire state, KELO operates keloland.com, South Dakota's top news website. Nexstar also provides local news from KCAU-TV, the ABC station in Sioux City, Iowa.

Nexstar said the merger would help ensure local news and programming from trusted, local sources and a diversity of local voice and opinion.

KELO also has started streaming more programming on its website, a smartphone app and services like Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.

South Dakota's other major local TV news provider, Gray Media, broadcasts on KSFY- TV(ABC),KDLT-TV(NBC)andKTTW-TV (FOX) in Sioux Falls under Dakota News Now, on KOTA-TV (ABC) and KEVN-TV (FOX) in Rapid City as KOTA Territory News and on KTIV-TV (NBC) in Sioux City.

Chris Gross, KOTA Territory general manager, said his stations are adding to their streaming efforts to include more detailed coverage of news stories and severe weather.

'We can be live on there more in depth without breaking into over-the-air programming,' he said.

KNBN-TV, the NBC affiliate in Rapid City, was bought last year by North Dakota-based Forum Communications Co., which previously purchased two Sioux Falls stations.

Forum also operates the Mitchell Republic newspaper and a printing plant in Sioux Falls as well as Sioux Falls Live, an online news and sports site.

Forum's latest acquisition was Metro-Sports TV, which it has rebranded Midwest Sports+ to provide shows and live-streamed play-by-play of high school and college games, including University of Sioux Falls football and basketball.

Some sports from KNBN and Sioux Falls station KSFL will feed into Midwest Sports+, said Mary Jo Hotzler, Forum's chief content officer.

'It's all very interconnected with what we're doing,” she said.

Another company innovating how it delivers content is The HomeSlice Media Group.

It runs six Black Hills radio stations and the state’s largest podcast network and launched The Rapid City Post, a digital newspaper with more than 16,000 email subscribers that will soon have a print edition, said Brad “Murdoc” Jurgensen, chief revenue officer and executive producer.

Carson Walker worked in radio, television, newspapers and at The Associated Press and now is CEO of South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization that produced this story. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they're published. Contact him at carson.walker@sdnewswatch.org.