Slashdot Mirror


'NBC Nightly News' to Be Shown on Internet

Feltope writes "NBC News said Monday that it would begin making its "NBC Nightly News" broadcast available for free on the Internet starting next week. Past broadcasts will also be archived at the http://www.nightlynews.msnbc.com/ Web site, the network said. It's not necessarily news on demand, though. The newscast, aired at 6:30 p.m. on many NBC stations on the East Coast, won't be available on the Web until after 10 p.m. ET. 'Many of our viewers tell me they often miss the broadcast because they're not at home or tending to their busy lives and families," anchor Brian Williams said. "This new service reflects the fact that the pace of our lives has changed.' "

26 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. TV: Nice Knowing you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful


    Guess the addiction to the TV is slowly being replaced by addiction to the internet?

  2. People still watch news... on television?!? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why watch a whole news show when you can simply fire up the 'ol internets and check CNN?

    1. Re:People still watch news... on television?!? by Ironsides · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Because CNN doesn't really give local news?

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    2. Re:People still watch news... on television?!? by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

      NBC Nightly News is local? Wow. I must have missed something when I stopped watching a couple of years ago.

  3. Little too late folks! by garcia · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "This is the next logical step for 'Nightly' and NBC News," said Capus. "As the leader on the broadcast side, and with our partnership in the leading online news and information site, MSNBC.com, it couldn't be a better fit. We know that just as fast as technology is changing, people's lives are changing too, and they expect our newscasts to keep up with those changes. With this announcement we are doing just that."

    It was the next logical step four years ago. It should have been done two years before that. We're supposed to just nod our heads and say, "oh, right, technology has finally caught up!" Blah. ASF movies were floating around in the 200MB range (2+ hours) on IRC in the late 1990s. Why couldn't news broadcasts be put out (~45 mins) in the same format for less than 100MB?

    I don't care at all personally as I like to get my news in a readable format from multiple sources on multiple continents but I just don't see why it couldn't have been done 2 to 5 years ago.

    Little too late IMHO.

  4. Not available until after 10p? by GungaDan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why the delay? Broadcast it, encode it, and make it available. I should be able to see the 6p broadcast news online at 7p. If I wanted to wait until 10p, I'd watch the 10p broadcast news...

    --
    Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
    1. Re:Not available until after 10p? by ChazeFroy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They are probably waiting until it airs on TV on the west coast before putting it online.

    2. Re:Not available until after 10p? by _LORAX_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It will be availibe immedatly after it airs in PST... 10pm EST 7pm PST. They could not put it up earlier or they would screw all of their western affiliates.

  5. Saves time too! by KE1LR · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you strip out the commercials you can watch it in under 20 minutes too.

    1. Re:Saves time too! by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you also strip out the BS, you can watch it in 5.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  6. Re:So? by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hardly anybody is watching it for free over their air or cable TV. Why should this get anyone else to watch it? Their ratings keep sliding into a black hole for good reasons...

    Good reasons eh? And what's better? 24 hour non-stop politicized news coverage? The polarized blogsphere?

    Network news is dying a slow death for a number of reasons that may or may not be correctable -- but I don't see any reason to root for it's demise. You can't seriously tell me that we are better off for having CNN/Fox News/et. all. I'm starting to agree with Jon Stewart where those guys are concerned.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  7. Younger, Smarter... Fairer! Balanced! Not! by QuaintRealist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "get a much younger anchor"

    You know, the sad truth is that you are exactly right. Fox news has gone that route, and a significant portion of the email they receive on the "Fox and Friends" morning show has to do with whether or not the young anchorwoman is wearing a skirt. Now half of the anchors on CNN Headline news look like teenagers.

    Aargh.

    All I want is content, and I know there are still places to find it, but sometimes I feel that soon all we'll be able to get from the $media is Ken and Barbie spoon-feeding us pablum.

    --
    Using plain ol' text since 1968
  8. Re:Lame Attempt by CrayzyJ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    WTF are you talking about? "old-fashoined" news? News is news. News is what is important going on in YOUR world. Period.

    I hate it when they work in who is sleeping with whom in Hollywood. That is not news. the latest movie review is not news.

    --
    Holy s-, it's Jesus!
  9. Here is the [big] question by bogaboga · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Will the broadcast be viewable in Linux by default? Or will one have to tweak their distros in order to see the content. I guess the more accurate question would be..."Will Open Standards be employed in this effort?"

    Before I leave, I should mention that I have my doubts as to whether browser applications like Firefox and Konqueror will work out of the box.

    After all, even for Google, which is seen to support open standards and Linux, had to be asked to provide support to Firefox and Konqueror when it came to Google Maps. For companies like Yahoo, their Launchcast service is not available for folks using Linux and Firefox or Konqueror. This is after more than 5 years of [Launchcast's availability. These are sad times indeed. I hope I am wrong.

  10. Good News by Rinnt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While I realize I am in the minority here, this is nice to hear for those of us without televisions at home. Watching the news is one thing I miss, even if I may disagree w/some of the politics... Sure, I can always read the news on the web, but the radio/TV form of media does let accomplish more at once (since you aren't chained to a desk).

    1. Re:Good News by eln · · Score: 2, Insightful

      but the radio/TV form of media does let accomplish more at once (since you aren't chained to a desk).

      Maybe, but most people aren't sitting there doing their taxes while they watch the news. Most people are sitting there in their underwear eating Cheetos while watching the news.

      That aside, television news encourages sound-bite levels of detail, especially if you're multitasking while you watch it. The result is that the viewer is more likely to be susceptible to simple propaganda messages, and far less likely to get enough news that they can actually form an informed opinion about it.

      The Internet at least has the potential of offering more in-depth news coverage. While it's true the major news outlets have chosen not to use it in this way, the potential is there, and being used by sites that aren't related to the major network and cable news networks.

      Simply using the Internet as a conduit for the same content that's already on TV offers convenience, but that's about it, and you can get the same thing with a DVR. It's possible the end result will be a decrease in the quality of news found on the Internet sites that decide to do this.

    2. Re:Good News by Rinnt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Being chained to a desk isn't nessacary anymore. laptop, wireless connection and your golden.

      Perhaps I should have elaborated on "being chained to a desk". I was trying to point out that certain types of multitasking are more feasible with TV as a medium. Things like cooking, cleaning, etc - pretty much anything that doesn't tie your hands up w/a keyboard and mouse can be done with the news on. News with video doesn't even require you constantly look at it...

  11. Re:So? by tehwebguy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    you are correct, sir. every time i somehow watch part of a news program i feel like killing myself. the only times i ever DO see it, are: 1) when i'm back home and my 'rents put it on, or 2) when there is something crazy going on (i.e. katrina) the reasons are simple. why would anyone want to watch idiots talk for a few seconds about things they have no knowledge about (except what's on their cue card) when they can read what specialists all over the internet have to say? news on tv makes money by scaring the "oprah crowd" -- that's what i call people who do or don't watch oprah, but seem to fall into that completely-sucked-into-their-tv group of people that plagues the states. news on the internet makes money by making real content available to the smaller audiences that care about it. don't get me wrong, there is loads of crap news online, but i can check /. or digg to get tech news here and i know i'm going to get tech news. i don't want some botox-laden cokehead speaking in perfect florida diction (even rolling her R's for the occasional spanish phrase) about ipods and using the wrong terminology.

    --
    -- lol pwned
  12. Re:Lame Attempt by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    statistics also show that a vast majority of 50+ people actually know what the heck is going on in the world.

    I'd venture the percentage of 20somethings that do would pale in comparison...(I'm 35 in case it's relevant).

    As another poster pointed out...it's the channels that have 'dumbed down' their broadcasts that irk me more than the 'age' or 'appearance' of the presenter. Do we need Rather, or some other elder statesmen fighting hurricane force winds? nope, but they do tend to lend some insight a teeniebopping20yrold just can't do.


    --
    People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
  13. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Pretty much, since that leaves about 300,000,000 not watching any of them.

  14. Free? by AviLazar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If it has advertising on it then it is not free, it is just the tv stations finally airing a broadcast in a different format.

    I wish they did this with every tv show. They could even charge their advertisers more money for ads. Instead of saying "Hey we think the people who watch Smallville will like commercials about Axe Deoderant, we can make a potential viewer register, ask him what kind of advertising he would like and then direct advertise for him. Pay up more money"...this I wouldn't mind so then I could get commercials I want (like I really want to see tampon commercials).

    I wish they would make it more direct, i mean four hours is a lot. I could understand half hour, at most.

    --

    I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
  15. Re:Lame Attempt by DetrimentalFiend · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's the only news show I watch. But the reason is simple: the other news shows are physically painful to watch. Personally, the way I feel about the current political and news environment is just about dead on with Jon Stewart, and I think the same is for many 'young people' like me. But let's get something else straight, the Daily Show is not around for news; delivering news is more of a by-product.

  16. Re:Younger, Smarter... Fairer! Balanced! Not! by hackstraw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All I want is content...

    Unfortunately, I know of no news program on television that really displays such a thing. Sure, there may be some real news here or there, but overall, content is not the important thing here. I personally consider loading CNN's webpage as amusement. I look at it just to know what other people see and think is "news". The current big headline is about a flu pandemic. Ohhhh, scary. If yesterday wasn't halloween, a headline like this might be more effective.

    Regarding the age of the anchor people, that is a tough one. Younger people do not consider the words of older people as really authoritative. This is a trend that has been going on for about 30 years plus or minus. My guess is that technology (gadgets) has everything to do with it.

    Why should a younger person trust another when they can't even record a program on their VCR?

    Thats an older example, but still relevant. I heard of a study from 12+ years ago, that said that the lower your education the more likely you are to be able to program your VCR. The highschool dropout was the most likely, and the PhD was the least likely.

    Back to news. I believe that there is a difference between news and events. Events are simply things that happen, like me typing this on a keyboard. News is current information about events that is relevant to someone. By having that new information, someone can think about and/or do something different vs not having that information.

    At least where I live, the local news almost always has the "random death and crime" segment. Where they go locally and across the nation and world talking about how somebody might have killed somebody, robbed them, died in a car pileup, or something similar.

    Those my friends are purely events, not news. There is nothing anybody can do with that information. Especially when one considers that crime is at an all time low at this time in the US. In the grand picture, those events are even less significant than they could have been, but its still a favorite segment of the televised news.

    I'm not sure how to end this rant, so I'll keep rambling. I also read during the 2004 election, that the people that were most informed about the election were people that got their news from places like the "Daily Show". Its a comedy/parody of news with a very sarcastic slant, but if people are getting more relevant news from a source that is not even news when compared to the real news -- to me that says volumes.

  17. Re:Younger, Smarter... Fairer! Balanced! Not! by Politburo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Younger people do not consider the words of older people as really authoritative. This is a trend that has been going on for about 30 years plus or minus.

    Yes it's called the "You got us into this fucking mess, why should I listen to you?" theory.

  18. TV news have something internet news doesn't? by sycomonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe this is a bad example, but I gauge my understanding of current events, in one way, by my ability to get Daily Show jokes. I skim Google News at least a few times a day, clicking through to any stories of interest or import, and am an avid reader of The Economist. I also have been known to read CNN news on my cell phone. Am I missing something from not watching traditional TV news?

    --
    --The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. --Tycho Brahe (Penny Arcade)
  19. Perfect use for bittorrent by nakedbonzai · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Stage 1) Release nightly news with non instrusive opaque advertisements
    Stage 2) Use Bittorrent to distribute content
    Stage 3) Profit!!

    This way they can sell ads, and be flexible for all of us people with odd schedules.