Back in February, Allbritton announced a restructuring and downsizing of TBD.com from an around-the-clock news site to a more entertainment-focused site. At the same time, WJLA-TV News Director Bill Lord announced that WJLA.com, which was redirected to TBD.com, would return as a news site. Two local sites, two complementary strategies.
Today, the new TBD.com and WJLA.com went live. As promised, the new TBD emphasizes entertainment, arts and events, but a welcome message on the site says the mission of TBD remains unchanged. “We’ll still provide up-to-the-minute news affecting the Washington region,” it reads, adding that TBD will continue providing original reporting focused on “arts & entertainment, crime, transportation, the politics of sex and gender, food, and local media.” The site still features links to its community blog network. And the new TBD.com also includes ArtBook, “a link-heavy guide to the region’s best events.”
“We here at TBD.com concede that we’ve thrown a lot of changes at our readers in our short history. We’ll try to go a few months without any major announcements,” the welcome message reads. “Our No. 1 goal, though, hasn’t changed — to bring you breaking news as it happens, to serve as your guide to the region’s arts and entertainment scene, and to produce deeply reported stories that explain the news in ways you can’t get from any other local source.”
Meanwhile over on WJLA.com, the site features a similar design but a strong focus on hard news and weather — the staples of TV news. “We’re delighted to have you back,” the welcome message explains. “In case you missed the headlines, WJLA.com was lying low for nine months or so. In August of last year, this site became a subsection of local news portal TBD.com. As time went on, though, we determined that ABC7′s TV audience and newshounds across the Washington region needed a discrete, free-standing WJLA.com. So here we are.”
Despite the fact there’s the standard “Mount Rushmore” of anchors on the masthead — 7 in all — the site says “this WJLA.com is not your grandfather’s WJLA.com.” One of the interesting additions is a section called “Stories in Progress” that will provide updates on “various stories that ABC7′s reporters are working on at any given moment as they prepare for the newscasts.”
While the differentiation is likely not immediately clear for confused DC users, an “alt weekly” approach on TBD can complement WJLA’s coverage quite nicely. The challenge, however, is the alt weekly/city guide space is a crowded one. Both sites cross-promote each other, which will help, but WJLA-TV will need to carve out on-air promotion, contests, events and differentiated sales packages to drive TBD forward.
