Fired NBC exec hired at Fox

As Variety reports, the network has changed, but the title’s the same. Kevin Reilly has been hired to oversee programming at Fox.

1 comment July 9th, 2007

Fallout over WKRN, NashvilleisTalking

Yesterday we linked an article about WKRN’s uncertain digital strategy now that most of the station’s key executives have left. We’ve discovered a barrage of new reaction that includes former GM Mike Sechrist, NashvilleIsTalking’s former blogger Brittney Gilbert, architect Terry Heaton and some of the Nashville blogosphere. NashvilleisTalking itself does a great job summarizing it all, but pay special note to Heaton’s (or someone calling himself Heaton) frustrated comment on a Nashville blog. “Like everybody in corporate America, it’s all about the quarterly report to shareholders. Nobody invests in the future anymore,” he writes. “I don’t advise WKRN anymore, but if I have a voice that people in Nashville wish to hear, then hear this. NiT is there for the taking as a community venture. Take it and run with it.” In the meantime, new WKRN GM Gwen Kinsey hints at changes to come with NiT. “Like any innovation, change presents an opportunity to assess and evaluate,” she writes. “We are close to finalizing a working solution that will take NIT to a next step.” Some believe this may be downplaying NiT.

I find all of this very fascinating. As many of you know, I recently launched CitizenRain.com over at KING 5 — a Seattle version of NashvilleisTalking, but we took it a step further and split the blog aggregator into categories. The initial response and traffic have been strong, and I don’t really understand all the fuss over in Nashville. Engaging and empowering the original citizen journalists — local bloggers — is a natural progression for a local news and information company. If you ask me, the biggest question mark I have about WKRN’s online strategy is its practice of pushing video over text to the point it makes it difficult to browse WKRN.com for the news — just a little too ahead of its time.

8 comments July 9th, 2007

Silly live shot turns into web phenom

It’s one of those things that was sorta funny on the air but hilarious on the web, especially when you play it over and over again. KGW’s Nancy Francis was doing a live interview with a ten-year-old boy at a festival in Portland, and here’s what happened…
Then it hit YouTube. And other viral video sites. It aired on Jimmy Kimmel live. Mashups appeared. And then someone started selling “I Like Turtles” merchandise. KGW just did a follow up piece (video) with the kid who said he was nervous and just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Classic. (Thanks, Adam! Full disclosure: Belo owns KGW.com and KING5.com — my employer).

6 comments July 9th, 2007

Nielsen revises web rankings

As reported back in April, Nielsen-Netratings is switching to total time spent as the primary metric for ranking websites. The official announcement is expected today. Nielsen made the move based upon the impact of Ajax and video on web metrics — a frequent topic here on Lost Remote.

Add comment July 9th, 2007

ESPN shut out of All-Star game

Yesterday, TBS aired an official “selection show” that revealed the lineups for the All-Star game. A few minutes after the announcement was aired, ESPN SportsCenter aired the same lineups — after all, the AP had published them. But NOOOOOO, that’s against the rules of the embargo. ESPN was supposed to wait until the show was over — and the show was delayed an hour. Regardless of the delay, the MLB ripped into ESPN and banned the network from the All-Star game. (Thanks, Allen!)

I can see how the leagues can dictate rights to the games themselves, but dictate reporting about the games? Didn’t the MLB and NFL want their leagues to become cultural phenomenons? And as such, doesn’t reporting about them become public information? News? But the leagues wield press access, which it can use to enforce embargoes and enhance positive reporting. Sure, it’s legal to report it, but we’re going to ban you from this and that. We’re going to cut you off.

Well, one of these days, maybe the media will cut them off.

17 comments July 9th, 2007