KTVU Channel 2 announced today that starting in January it will launch a Saturday and Sunday 7-9 a.m. newscast and will begin its weekday morning news 30 minutes earlier at 4:30.

Anchors for the new weekend newscasts haven’t been announced.

The additional 4:30-5 weekday newscast will be anchored by Pam Cook along with meteorologist Steve Paulson and traffic reporter Sal Castaneda.

The 5-9 a.m. weekday time slot will continue to be held down by Tori Campbell and Dave Clark.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, local stations were adding weekend morning newscasts, one of the few dayparts without local news. But a lot of those programs were canceled when ad revenues collapsed in 2008.

“At a time when television stations across the country have been cutting back on their news, KTVU is excited and proud to be dedicating more airtime to local news,” said KTVU Vice President and General Manager Tim McVay.

“Lifestyles change and Bay Area viewers are getting up earlier to start their day. We want to make sure that KTVU is there for them with local news, weather and traffic,” said KTVU News Director Ed Chapuis.

The expansion will provide Bay Area television viewers with over 47 hours each week of live newscasts from KTVU Channel 2 News.

“These newscasts will have all the resources necessary for KTVU to cover the major Bay Area news stories of the day,” said McVay. “We are committed to producing high energy, high impact newscasts on weekends and in early morning. This is a great way to serve our viewers.”