In a test run of sorts, Wilmington, N.C. will be the first market to transition to all-digital TV at noon, Monday, September 8. Well, kinda. The PBS station and a low-power station will remain the only analog sticks in town. To confuse matters, some national ads running in the market reference the rest of the nation’s February transition date, according to a quote in USA Today.
Do you think the broadcast stations will ask the PBS station for 24×7 promos, describing what the heck is going on? Or, they could always go at it Anchorman rumble style!
Cincinnati.Com’s CincyNavigator launched last September - and is already increasing engagement for the site. Forbes.com notes that the data/map mashup site (along the lines of EveryBlock, etc.) spawned 570,000 pageviews in its first six months, and increased the average user session from three minutes to five minutes. It took nearly a year to put the site together - but it was well worth the work, with a simple interface and great data navigation.
The Associated Press hit the street with its latest venture: AP Mobile News Network. The site - easily accessible from a smartphone at APNews.com - features a slick iPhone interface with news, sports, entertainment, photos and even video.
But remember when the AP rolled out “The Wire” - the national news site that’s largely been eliminated now? You got a cool map of the country, and every market you clicked on gave you a newspaper choice. Ditto this product. When I customized several cities - all I could find were newspaper content providers. E&P reports that 100 news orginizations are on board - but Forbes says “100 papers” are part of the service - leading me to believe no TV or radio outlets are in the mix. Beyond the provider list is something even more basic: The default thumbnail for a story with no photo… is the image of a newspaper.
The Associated Press is trying to get itself a prized piece of square-ish real estate on the home screen of the Apple iPhone, Forbes reports. The news collective notes that the phone has buttons for weather, stocks and maps - but not news. It says the AP Mobile News Network is a prime candidate to be that news button. But why APMNN instead of Google News, et al?
[T]he business model behind the effort is very different from those of online news aggregators, too. Instead of page views, participants will get half the revenues for any ads they sell, and half the revenues generated by any content they contribute.
A rant about the APMNN in a moment — but it’s interesting that the collective is working on a new model that would pool monetary gain for the journalistic resources contributed.
And the business model behind the effort is very different from those of online news aggregators, too. Instead of page views, participants will get half the revenues for any ads they sell, and half the revenues generated by any content they contribute.
Some enterprising YouTuber/Digger was looking at the video of the WNYW/Fox 5 intro, when he noticed something. Of course, now some people on YouTube and Digg assume it’s a conspiracy…
Adds TeeVee in comments: “So they accidentally keyed the open over the wrong source. I really don’t watch Fox or lean that way, but this looks like a mistake.”
The massive combo of the Wall Street Journal, WWOR, WNYW, New York Post and Newsday won’t come to pass. News Corp. was bidding in the $580 million range - but the New York Times reports that it backed off, and a $650 million bid from Cablevision was likely to take the prize.
That’s right, I did it. I’ve broken in for the first time since leaving LR to offer my congratulations to Cory on his new job. It’s Cory’s fault - he left my password in tact, so let this be a warning to all you sysadmins out there to keep your password lists up to date!
Cory’s work at KING is nationally recognized for its excellence. He is, unquestionably, a leading mind in what we used to call “convergence” and what we now have no idea what the hell it’s called. Probably something digital. He has consistently been accurate in predicting where the media is going. Cory doesn’t let the naysayers bother him. Unlike me, for example. He just plugs along with what he knows is right.
Only Cory would continue an enterprise like LR this long, through job changes, blogger changes, life changes and now a major career step. He has got to be the only guy I know who, in a job negotiation, would insist “as long as I keep my labor intensive, non-money making, often thankless side project” as a deal breaker.
Thanks to the LR jobs section, there are many people in the industry who owe their careers to Cory. I certainly do. Now he’s made a big career step of his own. I congratulate him and Kate on this wonderful opportunity. As a self-proclaimed “expert,” I support this move. Also, Cory will be pleased to note, I even included artwork in an entry.
Interactive revenue for Tribune was flat from the first quarter of this year compared to last year, which “fits with a number of other publishers that have seen their interactive growth drop precipitously,” reports PaidContent.
- Three top online execs ousted from SignonSanDiego.com
- Analyst predicts upfront sales will drop somewhere between 2-14%
- Going to Olympics? Watch the hand, foot and mouth virus
- Beet.TV taps into TurnHere’s national videographer network
- First NBC, now ABC teams with J-schools for multimedia
- High-quality (but not quite HD) YouTube clips coming to your TV
- Online video economics nearly as good as TV, says Move Networks
- Is your site down for everyone or just you? Sweet.
WCNC just used Twitter to cover the North Carolina primary. “It was incredibly successful,” says WCNC’s Kayla Castille, who said reporters and anchors “really got into it.” Of course, Twitter has been gaining popularity in media circles, from the New York Times to CNN to the Seattle PI. But there’s a difference between using Twitter as another distribution path for news updates and actually leveraging it as a distributed coverage tool. WCNC created different Twitter accounts for the station’s reporters and anchors covering the story, then it aggregated all their Twitter messages on a single page on WCNC.com. The end result was real-time, unmoderated updates delivered from multiple mobile devices covering the same story. Plus, it doesn’t force you to sign up to Twitter to follow the coverage. Pretty smart. (Full disclosure: just like my employer KING, WCNC is a Belo station.)
Update: IndyStar.com is doing something similar right now covering the Indy 500. “We’re using Twitter to deliver quick notes about top speeds, crashes and schedule information,” writes Adam Yates in comments below.
On Twisney.com, people walking around Disney World upload short messages and photos from their cell phones of their experiences, which are mashed on an interactive map. “If you want to understand how citizen journalists armed with cellphones are going to change the world–and create challenges and opportunities for businesses–spend a few minutes at Twisney.com,” writes WSJ.com’s Tom Weber.
After seven terrific years at KING-TV and KING5.com in Seattle, I’m excited to announce I’ve accepted a job as director of business development at MSNBC.com. I’ve always admired the innovation mindset at MSNBC.com, and the opportunity was simply too good to pass up.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at KING. I’ve told my family and friends over the years that it’s the best TV station in America, on TV and the web. I can’t thank everyone enough.
In recent months, I’ve come to believe that the media industry needs business innovation as much or more than it needs content innovation. As a geek journalist with an MBA, that’s why I’ve decided to make the shift to the business side of the online media world.
Yes, Lost Remote will continue. What, you think I can kick this blogging habit after 9 years?
Grand Theft Auto IV sold 3.6 million copies on the first day, and earned $500 million in the first week. To give you some context, the largest opening weekend for a movie worldwide was Spider-Man 3 at $381.6 million. I’ll post this so Cory doesn’t have to say, I told you so, “As I’ve written off and on over the years, video games are becoming interactive movies, and they’ll ultimately replace most of the traditional Hollywood movie industry.” Grand Theft Auto appears to be the first to realize that possibility.
With Microsoft out of the hunt for the Yahoo! prize — will Facebook be its consolation prize? The Wall Street Journal reports today that Microsoft put out feelers to the hot social networking site to see if acquisition talks made sense. Neither MSFT or FB officials are talking. The software giant already has a $240 million take in Facebook - which tags the overall value at about $15 billion. (Here’s a Reuters write-up of the WSJ piece.)
If you’re still calling the Internet business “new media” — stop. The “new” new media is placed-based — gas stations, malls, stores - etc. The local Albertsons now has “CheckOutTV,” the mall has a big TV ad kiosk - and even many gas stations are now using services like PumpTopTV. There’s big opportunity for advertisers here, because you can provide your existing (or repackaged) content - and perhaps even sell the surrounding ads. Part of the WNBC restructuring (below) is an increased focus on placed-based TV.
NBC Local Media is starting a 24-hour local news channel in New York, and rebranding WNBC as a “content center,” according to the NY Times.
NBC’s plan calls for rebuilding Channel 4’s newsroom and melding its content closely with the coming news channel, the existing local Web site, and out-of-home video displayed in locations like gas pumps and back seats of taxicabs. NBC will even take WNBC’s name off its local news Web site, simply calling it NBC New York.
The report says John Wallace, president of local media, says there will be no layoffs because of the new strategy, but that’s doesn’t mean there won’t be major changes for employees:
Among other things, Mr. Wallace planned to tell the employees that the moves NBC was initiating would not entail layoffs but would mean many producers and other staff members would have to undergo extensive retraining, and would likely be working different shifts.
“We look at our content and we believe it’s relevant content,” Mr. Wallace told the Times. “It’s just not convenient because of the way people’s lives have changed with technology.”
Wallace told TVWeek ‘that In order to remain successful, local stations must put the appropriate weight on the additional platforms beyond their core television station. Consumers are demanding relevant content, round-the-clock, on the platform of their choice.’
That’s right, I did it. I’ve broken in for the first time since leaving LR to offer my congratulations to Cory on his new job. It’s Cory’s fault - he left my password in tact, so let this be a warning to all you sysadmins out there to keep your password lists up to date! 
WCNC just 
