Marvell Scott is now known as the former weekend sportscaster on Channel 7.  He is actually a sports medicine physician who has been trying to balance both TV and medicine for the past 13 years.

“I came to the realization that medicine had to be my major pursuit in the short term,”  he told the Daily News.  “I’m as excited and passionate about being a reporter and sportscaster as I have ever been,” he said. “Sometimes you have to make a decision.”

This comes after much speculation after Marvell’s extended vacation through sweeps.  His bio and picture have been removed from WABC’s web site.

PIX reporter Kathy Hobbs is moving from the news team on June 30th.  She will be hosting the weekly real estate and design series ”Metro Residential.”  Kathy is not only the host, but also the owner and executive producer.  The show will debut on July 12th at 9 a.m.

Kathy went to FIT while working at Channel 11.  She told the Daily News, “”I’ve been doing this for 19-1/2 years,” Hobbs said of the news beat. “It’s kind of nice to face a new challenge.

“Hobbs said she wasn’t making the move because of changes in the TV market, where jobs are evaporating, but rather as part of her long-term plan. “I always planned for plan B,” she said. “

20 off-camera news people got bad news from their employers WNYW and WWOR.  They were laid off and it was blamed on the recession. 

The stations’ spokeswoman said, “”This is a tough decision to make, and a sign of the economic times.”   The layoffs came in news production, sales, facilities, finance and public affairs.

15 people were let go from Ch. 5 and 5 were from Ch. 9.

Channel 4 will launch a new show called “LX New York” on September 14th at 5 p.m.  This will replace the newscast.  Vickie Burns, VP of content and audience development at NBC Local Media New York, told the Daily News, “Five o’clock has been the struggling time period for years, that is no secret.”

The  show will be  geared toward women in the 25-54 age group.  It will be an entertainment show about cooking, lifestyle, fashion, entertainment and life in the city and burbs.

Giving up their seats at the anchor desk are Sue Simmons and David Ushery.  Sue will continue to anchor the 6 and 11p.m. newscasts and David will continue to anchor and report as well.

Coming from a station that hasn’t been scaling back as much as neighboring stations, My9 has announced the departure of reporters Jennifer Jordan and Megan Vega.

“I was told I was a victim of timing, according to management,” she told the Daily News

The cuts come from parent company, News Corp, as they prepare for the next fiscal year. Both reporters will remain at the station for the remainder of the month.

The countdown on our sidebar ended and the day has finally arrived after being pushed forward once. Stations begin broadcasting fully in digital signals today. Here’s the line-up of the times when stations will be making the switch:

WCBS-TV: 2 P.M.
WNBC: 12 P.M.
WNYW: 12:30 P.M.
WABC-TV: 12:30 P.M.
WWOR: 12:30 P.M.
WPIX-TV: Assumed 12 P.M.

At least we’re done with those annoying DTV commercials.