Why is local TV station shilling for chain pizza?

I try to keep tabs on local news stories that involve pizza. So I checked out a new "story" on 10nbc.com about a national pizzeria chain "giving away free food." Turns out it's just an ordinary promotion, buy a sub and get a free drink, or something along those lines. Whatever. Yippee.
(I don't want to add a link to the "story" and give the chain any more of a boost - not that I have that many readers, but it's a matter of principle. If you want to find it I'm sure you can.)
The only thing truly free that I see in all this is the free advertising that Channel 10 is giving to this chain. I'm sure that some local independent pizzerias would like some of that, but I guess they don't carry the clout that a national chain does.
I have to say, of all the local TV stations, when it comes to news, I have the least respect, by far, for Channel 10. I don't want to launch into a huge diatribe here, but a lot of their "stories," including some of their "investigative journalism," just seem to me to show a real lack of journalistic integrity. So it doesn't surprise me to see this, but it still annoys me.