Anti-Google ad running in Times Square

What do you do when you disagree with the privacy policies of one of the largest companies in the world? In the case of Consumer Watchdog, a non-partisan public interest group that runs the website “Inside Google,” you purchase advertising space on a 540-square-foot digital billboard in Times Square.

Consumer Watchdog describes its “Do Not Track Me” Times Square campaign as a battle cry to protect our personal privacy from online companies:

Right now, running twice an hour in Times Square, there’s a 540 sq. ft. animation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt giving little kids free ice cream and secretly gathering their personal information.

We put up the ad to make the public aware of how out of touch Schmidt and Google are when it comes to our privacy rights.

Schmidt is out of control. When questioned about privacy, he has said, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” Recently, he suggested children could change their names when they got older if they wanted to escape what was embarrassing and public in their online lives.

Do you agree with the consumer interest group’s decision to run the unconventional ad? Or do you think it’s in bad taste? (I recommend watching the full-length cartoon before making your final decision)

Props to TBD for Discovery Channel hostage coverage

Of all the sites I looked at, the nascent TBD.com did the best job of covering the Discovery Channel hostage situation on Wednesday. It was all over the story. But more than that, it put its information into a river of news. That meant constant updates – even a sentence or two – as the afternoon went on:

Same goes with @tbd on Twitter — a great combination of new information, retweets, hashtags and requests for information from others:

By later in the day, as more information came in, reporters wrote longer pieces. As of today, the site is still posting regular, continuous news updates. We believe this is the way news should be covered online – moment by moment and fact by fact.

Advertisers pulling out of Times following paywall implementation

There is mounting evidence that putting up a paywall is bad for business. That’s not much of a surprise to most people, but London’s The Times is – for now – sticking with its paywall. The paper implemented the paywall in early July, and traffic has plummeted to 10% of what it was. Unsurprisingly, advertisers are simply abandoning the site. Rob Lynam, the head of a British media buying agency, tells The Independent “We are just not advertising on it. If there’s no traffic on there, there’s no point in advertising on there.” In fact, the article is rich with quotes from people in the ad buying industry. Most telling is this:

(Lynam) warns that newspaper organizations have less muscle in internet advertising campaigns than they do in print. “Online, we have far more options than just newspaper websites – it’s not a huge loss to anyone really. If we are considering using some newspaper websites, The Times is just not in consideration.”

Rupert Murdoch owns The Times, and is standing fast on his demand to keep up the paywall. But, as anyone can see, it’s bad for business. People aren’t buying enough online subscriptions to sustain a business and the media buyers are simply taking their business elsewhere. (It should be noted that The Independent is a competitor to The Times.)

Disappointed by new Apple TV?

I sure am. I woke up yesterday morning excited about the potential announcement of a next generation Apple TV device.  Following Apple’s launch event, I was psyched about the addition of front and rear-facing cameras to the iPod Touch, but I was less than thrilled about Apple’s vision for the future of television.

As far as I’m concerned, the new Apple TV is a minor addition to the company’s family of products. Internet-connected television will not be driven by a limited use rental model. Why would I pay $0.99 for a single TV episode that disappears once the rental period is over? The future of Internet-connected television is likely to be a freemium model, with subscription services taking much of the revenue Apple hopes to garner from its rental-based system.

Early reports point to Apple looking to integrate an all-you-can-eat subscritption service into its new Apple TV offering, but ABC and Fox supposedly balked on that idea. Even though a $0.99 per show  rental plan could prove less costly for infrequent TV watchers, it’s easy to see how quickly costs could escalate for avid couch potatoes.

To make matters worse, yesterday Amazon unveiled a $0.99 per episode purchase plan for ABC and Fox shows through its video-on-demand service. Users are actually buying the videos instead of just renting them. Amazon’s video-on-demand service is available on a range of devices, including dozens of HDTVs from Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic,  and set top boxes like TiVo. Even though I’m not a fan of the unit-based model, it clearly trumps Apple’s offering.

New Apple TV features TV show rentals

As expected, Steve Jobs took the wraps off the new $99 Apple TV today as his “one more thing.” Admitting that it’s “never been a huge hit,” Jobs announced that the new unit features TV show rentals from Fox and ABC for 99 cents each — a new development that local TV affiliates are watching carefully. Jobs said he hopes other networks will join, soon.

The rentals are good for 30 days, until you press play — then you have 48 hours to view. They’re commercial free and in HD.

The new Apple TV also features Netflix built right in — the “best implementation” of Netflix on TV, Jobs said. Plus, you can stream video from your Apple devices directly to your TV, from your iPad to your iPhone. But the announcement did not include apps for the Apple TV, as some had anticipated.

A groundbreaking device? Not really, but for $99 and seamless integration with all your Apple devices, not a bad addition to your living room. And for local stations, one more fragment in the fragmenting world of television.

Hyperlocal network Neighbortree raises $120,000

Just one month into the hyperlocal biz, and startup Neighbortree has $120,000 in angel money. The company hopes to build out a network of hyperlocal sites. I should say “hyper-hyperlocal sites,” since the company’s goal is to have sites as micro as neighborhoods and apartment buildings. The company offers its services for free to anyone who wants to start such a site. Writes TechCrunch:

“Evidently, the company aims to generate the bulk of its revenues from local businesses advertising on neighborhood websites, which can be equipped by locals with news updates, photos, a local events calendar, discussion boards and more.”

Neighbortree’s website explains a little more about its business model:

“…not only do we share a percentage of our ad revenues with our participating communities, we provide extra incentives when neighborhoods help us recruit advertisement and sponsorship partnerships.”

It’s going to be a tough sell, for sure. (“Would you like to buy an ad for our condo site?”) And depending on people in the neighborhood to post continuously is risky. At the risk of writing a cliche close, we’ll have to see how things go.

UPDATE: A post from “Neighbortree” (we have no reason to believe otherwise) further explains its business model:

“Thanks Steve! We actually sell adverting in groups of neighborhoods, by zip code(s) or by metro, by state etc. Selling advertising neighborhood by neighborhood would be hard, selling an ad to a local coffee shop or realtor for 10-20 neighborhoods in their radius, well that has been a little easier to sell. Plus we share ad revenues with then neighborhoods and raise additional sponsorship funds for our communities (for block parties, improvements, mini-scholarships, etc).”

We appreciate the clarification.

Skip-ipedia, pt. 2

As a follow-up to our Monday post on the limits of Wikipedia, please consider the following. This list is compiled by an historian in my area:

Below is a list of  about 50 articles that have been cataloged as having been deleted without cause from Wikipedia. It also includes some articles that still remain but have been significantly stripped of information.

Pelham/ Pelham Manor:
* The Pelham Country Club
* Bolton Priory (NRHP landmark)
* Edgewood House (NRHP landmark)
* The Pelham Islands
Bronxville:
* Lawrence Park (NRHP landmark)
* BRONXVILLE WOMENS CLUB (NRHP LANDMARK)
* Masterton Dusenbury House (NRHP landmark)
* Bronxville Post Office (NRHP landmark)
* Bronx River Reservation (NRHP landmark)
Eastchester:
* marble schoolhouse (NRHP landmark)
Harrison:
* Harrison Post Office (NRHP landmark)
* stony hill cemetery (NRHP landmark)
Mount Vernon:
* Mount Vernon Post Office (NRHP landmark)
* Mount Vernon Episcopal (NRHP landmark)
* John Stevens House (NRHP landmark)
* First United Methodist Church (NRHP landmark)
* Trinity Episcopal Church Complex (NRHP landmark)
* Mount vernon high school
Scarsdale:
* Wayside Cottage (NRHP landmark)
* Scarsdale Train Station (NRHP landmark)
Mamaroneck:
* Mamaroneck Methodist Church (NRHP landmark)
Larchmont:
* The Larchmont Yacht Club
* Larchmont (main article)
Port Chester:
* Port chester Post Office (NRHP landmark)
Rye:
* African cemetery
New Rochelle:
* Beechmont
* Residence Park
* Bayberry
* Bonnie Crest
* Premium Point, New Rochelle
* Davenport Neck
* Hudson park
* Ward Acres
* Five Islands Park
* Sheldrake lake
* Dickermans pond
* Glen Island Park
* Goose island
* Pine island
* Huckleberry Island
* Travers Island
* Pea Island
* Neptune island
* Echo Bay
* Echo Island
* Isaac e young middle school
* New Rochelle public library
* New Rochelle humane society
* Huguenot yacht club
* New Rochelle tennis club
* New Rochelle rowing club
* New Rochelle blackberry (Lawton blackberry)
* Thomas Paine cottage
* Wildcliff
* Nathan Barrett (architect)

Chicago web writers become first to unionize

Broadcasting & Cable reports that the Writers Guild of America East has signed its first Web-only writers and producers. Four webbies from Chicago’s CBS affiliate, WBBM-TV, joined the union. B&C notes that the WGAE will likely have to organize Web writers shop by shop. From the WGAE release:

 “This victory for web writers demonstrates that even in the digital age writers want the strength union representation provides. The news industry is shifting to digital platforms and their decision to join us helps ensure that writing and producing news continues to be a good job into the 21st Century,” said WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson.

What do you think? Will we see more web writers and producers join unions?

Conflict of interest: paper tells Craigslist to stop adult ads

The Boston Globe is running an editorial today asking Craigslist to stop running its “adult services” ads. This strikes me as a terrible conflict of interest and a bad decision by a paper whose business model is being decimated by Craigslist. Say what you want about the ads, but for a paper to write this kind of editorial smacks of vengence. The Globe isn’t asking any of the many sites that have similar ads to stop their practice. Writes blogger Dave Copeland:

“I’m never comfortable when an organization that depends on the First Amendment’s rights of free speech challenges, attacks, or even questions the free speech rights of another.”

And Adam Gaffin of the excellent local website UniversalHub adds in the comments:

“Why just Craiglist? Shouldn’t the Globe be wagging its nanny finger at the (local alt-weekly) Phoenix, as well?”

We don’t support prostitution. But Craigslist is behaving legally. Whether it should or shouldn’t have these ads is besides the point. A paper has no business telling others how to exercise their First Amendment rights.

AJR writes about ‘The Hazards of Hyperlocal’

I’m not sure I agree with the headline (or some of the assertions therein) but I recommend reading AJR’s essay on “The Hazards of Hyperlocal.” Barb Palser, the director of digital media for McGraw-Hill Broadcasting Co., wrote it. Her main point is that it’s hard to make money off a hyperlocal site. I agree it’s hard but it’s not impossible. She also asserts there may not be enough interest in community news to sustain the sites:

“…for people who are accustomed to centering their social interactions and news consumption on their personal interests, the write-ups of town council meetings, local theater events and public works projects typically found on a hyperlocal site might not seem any more relevant than the offerings of a traditional news site. “

And here’s where I disagree. As a suburban town resident, I care a lot about such events. Local politics is especially important. If my neighborhood is rezoned or redistricted, that’s important (even breaking) news to me. I care about police incidents in my town. I care if a section of road is going to be blocked. We’ve had a number of hot button issues in my town in the past couple of years, and those aren’t covered terribly well by traditional news sites. Still, Palser cites a Pew Research study which asserts the size of the potential audience:

“Assuming Pew’s findings are reasonably accurate, the potential audience seeking neighborhood news in a given community would be roughly 20 percent of the population–including both frequent and infrequent users. Now consider the competition of multiple hyperlocal sites and bloggers, established community newspapers, and aggregators such as Topix.com and Outside.in. Not to mention other sources of local information such as online directories, event calendars and government sites. The math suggests a very stiff challenge.”

Aggregators are great, but if there’s no source of information about my neighborhood then how will the aggregators ever find them? Online directories, event calendars and government sites can provide varying degrees of information. (My town’s site stinks.) But where’s the news?

Hyperlocal news can only be sustained by local advertising. And on this notion, Palser makes an excellent point. She writes that services like Foursquare may have the edge in getting local ad bucks.

“Founder Dennis Crowley expects Foursquare’s main revenue stream to come from offering local businesses the ability to send special offers to consumers at exactly the right moment. It’s hard to get more relevant than that.”

A possibility. It would require a lot of feet on the street to sell Foursquare store-by-store, however. The successful hyperlocals have proven to be good at this tactic. Palser’s piece contains some good caveats, mind you. Hyperlocal is hard. But it’s also sustainable, given a passionate enough owner.

(Note to AJR: I recommend adding a comments section to your site. You would have heard from some interesting local site owners.)

Partnering for Better Journalism

This week’s episode of PBS’s “Frontline” was striking for two reasons. First, because of the outstanding reporting that went into its heartbreaking story of police behavior during and after Hurricane Katrina. But second, because Frontline didn’t go it alone. The episode, “Law & Disorder,” was a partnership of Frontline, ProPublica and The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. It’s not that Frontline couldn’t have done this story on its own. Its producers clearly decided that the partnerships would help make for better journalism. The partners worked together for more than a year to produce this compelling work of journalism.

Partnerships aren’t unheard of at the local level, but they are rare. And partnering is something we really need to revisit these days, given the number of resources that are available to help tell a story. Look at the number of local blogs in your community, especially those hyperlocals that are dedicated to neighborhood coverage. The blogs have journalists working a daily beat – so why not bring them in to the process?

Empowering citizens to help tell a big story sends an important message to the community as well: We incorporated your voice into this. Imagine trying to do a large investigative piece these days. Few stations have the resources to pull it off. Yet partnering with a local paper and a few local websites would exponentially increase your ability. Something you have to keep in mind with partners, however, is that they need to stay true to their mission. So you can’t ask a blogger to work on a project with you and then only let them post what you approve. Everyone keeps their own editorial control. Hopefully, there is good discussion before anyone publishes. But this is not about getting free help — this is about establishing true partnerships. This is also not about hitting one master deadline.

ProPublica wrote several stories about the allegations of police misconduct well before Frontline aired. This did not negate one bit the power that the television program had. Get past the “nobody gets to say anything until we air the finished product” mentality.

In building partnerships, you will be able to stretch your reporting capabilities and build stronger ties to more community voices. At a time when our staffs are shrinking, partnerships may be more important than ever.

(This piece originally appeared on the RTDNA website.)

Skip-ipedia

Arguably the most profound result of the growth of the internet, and by extension, that of on-line journalism, is our ability to immediately connect to any “whats” or “whos” that we seek.  And more and more often, the availability all of this information comes courtesy of collaborations, such as Crowdsourcing.

Jeff Howe apparently coined that term in Wired in 2006, writing that the access to technology now means  “the gap between professionals and amateurs has been diminished.”

How do I know this? I read it on Wikipedia.

Wikkipedia is now the 7th ranked website in the world, that one-stop source for term papers everywhere, the bastion of on-line collaboration.

Except when certain facts are left out.                                        

My small-time, local, perhaps pathetic story has me wondering where else in our universe 0f information other more important holes exist.

As owner of a hyperlocal that’s big on local news, two years ago I  checked Wikipedia to see if we were listed on the Wiki page of one of the towns that we serve here in New York. I found a list of external links to all of of the legacy media sites. So being the Promotion Director, as well as the Editrix, Publisher and cleaning staff on theLoop, I registered and added a link to the site.

The next day it was gone.

I tried again. Thinking I may have done something wrong, I logged in with a different email  and posted it again. This continued for several days. The link would be there and then it would be gone.  I asked my friend JM to help. He had no luck either. So I did what any self-respecting reporter would do when faced with insurmountable odds. I wrote a little story: Larcenist Lifts Loop from Larchmont Wiki.

Soon, I was blacklisted:

Over the next few weeks, I tried to figure it all out: who has the power to blacklist someone, and on what grounds?

In Loop Larcenist Still at Large, I write about learning the identities of a couple of these Wiki editors (one, on my own, another in the comments to my story.)  And when I contacted one “Enric,”  who demanded to know why my publication deserved mention in Wikiland, he suggested,  not edited for spelling, syntax or lack of reason, “… one advice, contract a profesional (sic) graphical designer (not a web designer) and tell him to design you a more serious corporate image.”

So I was serving a sentence for bad design ? Does this look so bad to you?

As it turned out, my attempts to re-post the link under different email addresses did not help, either.

I  continued  as far up the miasma of bureaucracy at Wikipedia as I could in an attempt to glean some more understanding of this (democratic, collaborative)  process…even to beg forgiveness…but after a flurry of emails back and forth, the Wikkans seemed to dig their heels in further, and I decided that I had more important things to do.

A year passed.  One day, a reader wrote in saying that Wikipedia had begun censoring almost any stories or links about Westchester County, NY (almost one million people.)

I published another piece, writing,  “Just for fun, I just added theLoop back into the Larchmont, NY page where local news publications are listed, and within seconds, it was whisked away by someone whose IP address indicates he is in the Netherlands:

IP: 80.57.57.134 [Ripe.Net] – [DNS] – [Tracert]
Domain: g57134.upc-g.chello.nl [Whois]
Country: NL – Netherlands

Fourteen comments from readers confirmed similar problems, including one who listed 50 local place names he said had been purged.

Whatever.

A few weeks ago, I told the whole, sordid, two-year saga to my webmaster, Jenn, who went exploring up the Wikipedia food chain. “These people are HARDCORE!,” she wrote.

She was finally able to engage someone behind the curtain to ask if we could possibly be white listed (and go on to live a useful and productive life.)

“A white listing to a specific link might be considered if it came from an established editor, but we generally don’t remove entries from the blacklist at the request of someone affiliated with the site or a single purpose account,” he wrote her.

Anyone know an “established editor”? I have to go–I have the sudden urge to read some Kafka. Maybe I’ll just look it up on Wikipedia.

A look at Miami Herald’s hyperlocal approach

The Miami Herald is one of the five newspapers part of J-Lab’s Networked Journalism Project, and compared to the other papers, the Herald is taking a different approach to community coverage with West Kendall Today. The site is hosted on MiamiHerald.com as part of its community news network, and it’s authored by Ana Acle-Menendez, who once worked for the Herald in the same community. She was approached by the newspaper with the idea, reports Mark Briggs in Poynter.org.

Acle-Menendez says she enjoys not having to worry about technology or advertising, and she shares content with the paper. The downside? “All the community channels on The Miami Herald’s website look the same, except for the colors at the top and the logos,” she tells Poynter. “I can’t design it differently or add a bell/whistle that the others won’t have.” The Poynter story doesn’t get into the numbers — Acle-Menendez owns the site, but the financial arrangement is unclear.

There are many shades of collaboration between entrepreneurial journalists and local media, all struggling to find that balance. But the balance isn’t the same for everyone. Some journalists want more control, others want less. And at the same time, there’s that nasty word “scale,” which is beginning to matter more as deep-pocket competitors like AOL’s Patch and Yahoo move into the same space.

Trying to distinguish hyperlocal from local

I sent a snarky tweet earlier this week about my frustration with the increasing trend of journalists labeling everything local with the term “hyperlocal.” Hyperlocal is certainly more hip than “local” these days and perhaps more “bankable” as well, so that explains a lot of it. But what’s the real difference between the two?

Instead of trying to define geography — is a site that covers a city of 50,000 hyperlocal? — perhaps its best to characterize what hyperlocal sites do. Sarah Hartley takes a crack at it on her blog with 10 characteristics including author participation, community participation, independence, medium agnostic, passion and (my favorite) lack of money. (So does that disqualify Patch as hyperlocal?)

“Can these things be considered hyperlocal in nature, even if that’s not true of their scale or scope?” Hartley asks. I think she’s right, although I would tend to focus more on the “hyperlocalness” of the content and community, and less on the type of enterprise.

How would you characterize hyperlocal vs. local?

Yahoo preparing local content efforts

Update: Yahoo is looking to hire local editors in San Jose, Chicago and Dallas — in addition to San Francisco and New York, reports PaidContent.

Even MORE competition in local news? It looks like it. Fresh off its acquisition of Associated Content, Yahoo is reaching out to find “writers living in or near the San Francisco area to write compelling, local content,” reports Alan Mutter of Newsosaur. In email to Associated Content’s registered users, Yahoo is looking for writers to cover “highlights of your favorite neighborhood destinations to metro-wide, first-person reporting assignments covering the stories and topics not typically found in mainstream news media,” Mutter reports.

How Yahoo plans to integrate this local content is unclear. Yahoo has sales partnerships with over 800 newspapers and a few TV stations as part of its Newspaper Consortium, which is a unique dynamic to contend with as it expands it own local content efforts.

And San Francisco is especially competitive for local news, with all the traditional players as well as lots of great neighborhood blogs, a new cluster of Patch sites, and the new nonprofit Bay Citizen. And there’s that YouTube experiment with KGO. But it’s hard to dismiss Yahoo’s distribution power out of the gate. Stay tuned…

(Full disclosure: I work for msnbc.com, which is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC)

Reach Media Group goes Out-of-Home with Cardinal Health and Everwell

Reach Media Group continues to position itself as one of the top companies in the digital out-of-home media sector. In addition to expanding its DOOH footprint via strategic acquisitions, the Kleiner Perkins backed startup is forging lucrative advertising partnerships with network operators in key vertical markets. The company just cemented two national advertising sales relationships with major networks in the healthcare sector.

RMG  secured an exclusive advertising sales agreement with Cardinal Health. RMG will assume the national advertising sales responsibilities for Cardinal’s Pharmacy Health Network. Partnering with one of the leading distributors in the pharmaceutical sector will strengthen RMG’s connections with major CPG and healthcare brands.

 The Phamacy Health Network is still in its early growth phase. The network counts over 650 locations currently and is set to expand rapidly over the next few years. Cardinal Health is providing capital support to the digital signage network.  The in-store media initiative is, therefore, of significant importance to the company’s senior management. RMG is poised to be working with such a strong and committed partner.

“Partnering with a category leader like Cardinal Health and its Pharmacy Health Network enables RMG to deliver the active viewers advertisers are seeking. We continue to believe in the pharmacy environment and this important new relationship with Cardinal Health allows RMG to deliver that same quality advertising impression on a much larger scale,” said Garry McGuire, CEO of RMG. (more…)

Borrell predicts strong local advertising growth

Borrell Associates has published its online advertising forecast for 2011, and as you might expect, it predicts continued strong growth in local. “The fastest-growing segments of online advertising are the local sector, anything targeted, and everything involving social media,” Borrell explains, pinning the local growth at 18 percent next year, to $16.1 billion.

“The big driver will be targeted display (such as banner ads) advertising, which we expect to grow almost 60% in 2011, reaching $10.9 billion for national and local combined. While national advertisers will increase their use of targeted display by nearly 50%, local advertisers will outperform even that. Use of targeted display by advertisers local to the markets where their ads run will more than double, reaching more than $2.3 billion next year.”

Other areas of growth are video (+60%), mobile, online couponing (+14%) and proximity advertising (+11%). It looks like the battle for local ad dollars is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Will local TV adopt animated news?

You know that media company in Taiwan that produces the animated versions of current news? The one that made the version of the Tiger/Ellin fight and Steven Slater’s slide ride off that Jet Blue plane? It turns out it’s backed by a billionaire, has 200 employees and can turn around a clip in just 2-3 hours.

Next Media is the company that makes the reenactments, and it is getting more than four million views a day on its online channel in Hong Kong. TIME reports that stations in Hong Kong and Taiwan are incorporating the animations into their newscasts.

So will this phenomenon hit U.S. TV? I can imagine it starting with tabloid TV, but can’t rule out some station using a variation of animated news. After all, we use some animations already (think of an animation showing a plane going down a runway, taking off and crashing). This is another step entirely. While it’s clear the stuff is animated, will that be enough to keep news from crossing the line into fiction? Judging from the popularity, it’s clear the audience likes this stuff. But is it local news-worthy?

Next Media’s animation of its version of Steven Slater’s slide into fame.

PaperG signs more local media partners

The local self-serve platform PaperG, which features a virtual bulletin board ad unit called “Flyerboard,” has signed on a bunch more local media partners: Los Angeles Times, MediaNews Group, Lee Enterprises, and the Sun Times Media Group. That puts PaperG on over 100 sites and a rather steep growth curve. Reports TechCrunch:

“The Houston Chronicle, which debuted their Flyerboard widget last year, reported $100,000 in new sales in their first month of using the product. As more partners come on board (and at a 20-30% share rate) that translates into strong revenues for PaperG. According to the startup’s CEO, Victor Wong, annual revenues are in the millions and revenues have been growing 70% quarter to quarter over the past year.”

TechCrunch also reports PaperG is talking to Patch about a possible deal.

Apple’s upcoming iTV and local television

Under the headline, “Why the Apple iTV will change everything,” Digg’s Kevin Rose posted a glowing forecast of the next-generation Apple TV device, which is due out as early as next month. Rose said it will likely have an app store that’s similar to the iPhone/iPad, which means you could punch up your ABC app on your TV and watch “Lost” in 720p. Same goes for local TV stations that offer their own video apps.

Rose also writes that the iPad will turn into “one big badass remote control” that lets you control the iTV and extend the viewing experience, like watching other camera angles.

“This will eventually destroy the television side of the cable and satellite industry, as your only requirement to access these on-demand stations will be an internet connection,” writes Rose. “Say goodbye to your monthly cable bill.”

Rose might be a bit ahead of himself, as network content providers aren’t going to kick cable to the curb anytime soon. Or the affiliates. And set-top boxes, as standalone devices, take a very long time to reach market penetration (TiVo, anyone?) But it’s Apple, and if it does gain some traction, it will certainly throw a wrinkle into the matrix.

Local broadcasters, for example, may feel more compelled to produce web-original video — something that never really took off because the consumption never paid for the costs to create it. But distribute that same clip on the web, iPhone app, iPad app and iTV app, all in a consistent sponsored experience, and that may — may — be enough to jump-start new digital programming efforts in local TV.

Your thoughts on iTV in local markets?

Update: Bloomberg reports Apple will offer 99 cent rentals of TV shows, which is a unique approach to avoid direct cable conflict.