When TV anchors commit a crime…

The thing about working in local TV news is when an anchor (or reporter) commits a crime, it becomes big news. At this writing, 328 stories in Google News on that KYW anchor who’s accused of slugging a cop. Not because they’re celebrities, really, but because the newspapers love to give local TV types a taste of their own medicine. (And it happened in NYC.)

6 comments December 18th, 2007

KHCW offers live traffic camera video service

This is pretty cool if it works as advertised. The CW station in Houston just launched a new service that lets your mobile device access the live video from traffic cameras along your daily commute. It’s called (get ready for a mouthful of branding) “The CW39 Traffic Jam Cell Cams.” Over 500 cameras around Houston are available from the application you will need to install on your device. The Houston transit department is involved in the program as well. A company called 3rd Dimension developed the technology. I love the disclaimer on the site: “DO NOT USE WHILE DRIVING.” Good advice.

5 comments December 18th, 2007

There’s an ad on my YouTube

Lower-third snipe style ads are now appearing on some YouTube clips.

I clicked on a CBS-uploaded clip of a Frosty the Snowman promo, and immediately saw a little yellow tick mark on the timeline:

When the clip reached that point, an animated ad appeared on the clip:

After about 15 seconds, the ad folded down to this:

The new ad structure is appearing sporadically for me - mostly on channels provided by content partners.

7 comments December 18th, 2007

FCC votes to loosen ownership rules

In a vote that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said may help to “forestall erosion of local news coverage,” the FCC commission approved a rule change that loosens its newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule. For the first time in 32 years, broadcasters in the top 20 markets could also own a newspaper, assuming a variety of conditions. The vote was along party lines. Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps said the FCC was “just inking up a rubber stamp for another round of consolidation.”

5 comments December 18th, 2007