Archive for January 13th, 2008
Broadcasting and Cable’s Mike Malone wrote a solid cover story on how local TV is working to improve its online competitiveness, including examples from KTVZ, WMTV, WTTG, WJAR, KPIX, WMUR, WKRN, WNYW and KTBS. “TV has been its own worst enemy,” says Steve Safran, SVP at AR&D, about the industry’s tentative steps toward the web. “If it can change and play by web rules, there’s multiples more money to be made.” While most of the online moves are welcome, but still conservative by my book, NBC11.com has an interesting venture called NBC11Hometown.com. It’s a hyperlocal effort that allows users to post news in their neighborhood — dozens of them across the Bay Area — as well as restaurant and business reviews. While the platform is in place, my early assessment is NBC11.com is facing the same challenge as many hyperlocal sites across the country: getting a critical mass of submissions in each neighborhood to provide a compelling content experience. But, it’s still early, so stay tuned…
January 13th, 2008
Former Dateline NBCer John Hockenberry published a long essay in Technology Review late last month, and it doesn’t exactly portray NBC in the most positive light, to say the least. It has since drawn considerable interest from lots of blogger types and the media (um, Fox News.) But what I’d like to focus on here is Hockenberry’s portrayal of technology in journalism as something much greater than simple gadgetry. (Which, by the way, is how most people in TV news think of technology. We’re all a bunch of geeks repurposing the stuff that really matters: TV news.) These days Hockenberry is working at MIT’s Media Lab, and he’s drinking the web Koolade. He describes technology as “part of the growing media insurgency that is redefining news, journalism, and civic life.” Sounds “really up Lost Remote’s alley,” tips LR reader “R.” Sure enough, and Hockenberry isn’t done yet. “Among the greatest frustrations of working in TV news over the past decade was to see that while advertisers and entertainment producers were permitted to do wildly risky things in pursuit of audiences, news producers rarely ventured out of a safety zone of crime, celebrity, and character-driven tragedy yarns.” Mostly true. I’ve always wondered, why is TV news one of the most change-resistant industries on the planet? Hockenberry sums things up with, “Technology, as it has done through the ages, is freeing communication, and this is good news for the news.” Absolutely. But it’s a shame that many TV journalists just think of it as a mere extension of… TV.
January 13th, 2008
On 60 Minutes? Wow, did Zuckerberg look nervous. Or something. Anyway, he was asked if Facebook was going public, and he said it’s “highly unlikely” for 2008. Also, an analyst said he “failed as a leader” with the whole Beacon thing and may not be a good CEO. Aside from some smaller decisions here and there, he’s seems to be doing pretty well with the important decisions so far, if you ask me (the idea, the simplicity, the news feed, the open platform). Well, except for the interview. Your thoughts…?
January 13th, 2008
Just one day before Apple is expected to announce online movie rentals through iTunes, Netflix will announce that it is lifting caps for online viewing of movies. The AP says virtually all Netflix subscribers will be able to stream as many movies and TV shows as they want from a library containing more than 6,000 titles. With more than 90,000 titles available in its DVD library, delivering movies through the mail is expected to remain Netflix’s primary moneymaker for years to come. Has anyone tried their “Watch Instantly” service before? Thoughts?
January 13th, 2008
