'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.' "

Comments

Lame Attempt

[EraserMouseMan]

This must be their lame attempt to encourage a younger audience to watch the evening news. Statistics show that the vast majority of people who watch the evening news are in their 50s or older.

They should change the format and get a much younger anchor if they really want to attract a different demographic. Old-fashioned news doesn't become new just because you can watch it on Internet.

Great.....but

[Celt]

Not exactly cutting edge,
in Ireland have been streaming and archiving their news broadcasts and political programs for years now, surely shouldn't the US be ahead of countries like Ireland? ;)

The quality of RTE's streams are not great but their watchable.

Great News

[Gherikill]

I have often wished that more companies would do this, it would be more entertaining to watch the news on my PSP during my commute than to read papers. What format are they offering? How big are the files?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Internet

[squiggleslash]

1. Contracts. Remember, ABC buys content from KangaMoo Corp to get its episodes of "Australians Behaving Carefully". KangaRoo is a distributor for a variety of production companies such as BruceTV and SheilaVision. SheilaVision produces Australians Behaving Carefully, using a theme tune originally created by Rolf Harris, licensed to them by Harris's publisher Canya, Giswot, & Isyit. SheilaVision employs various people, including the show's presenter. Meanwhile, when ABC gets its hands on it, it has the show shown via a network of affiliates. For example. WASP in Philadelphia shows this. WASP has exclusive rights to any show ABC licenses throughout its coverage area.

Now, of these groups, which has the right to put it on the web? SheilaVision? KangaMoo would say not, after all, KangaRoo gave it the production money in exchange for exclusive distribution rights throughout the United States. Well, what about Rolf Harris? Maybe not. KangaRoo? ABC will be furious, here they are trying to serve the show to an entire country they were supposed to handle exclusively and KangaRoo's now competing with them. ABC? KangaRoo would be pissed at it, as would WASP. How dare ABC allow people in WASP's coverage area to receive an ABC show without receiving it via WASP!

In practice, all these groups have contracts with each other, and, at the very least, there's going to be some renegotiating in various locations before a show can be put on the web. Even if SheilaVision reads the fine print on the contract and finds it can distribute the show without permission, KangaRoo, ABC, and various other companies will have no further dealing with them.

I'd like to apologize to all the Australians reading the above who are going "Strewth! What the fuck was that?" as they read it. The problem is that "Australians Behaving Carefully" was the first thing that came to mind when I tried to come up with a backronym for ABC. I have no idea why I even tried to do that, and it's probably undermined the point I was trying to make.

2. Bandwidth. Yeah, BitTorrent "solves" that, but it doesn't really, because you proposed location specific ads. You'd probably have to build a media player to get this working that can use shared bandwidth BT style, you couldn't use off-the-shelf technologies.

All Aboard the Band Wagon!

[catdevnull]

Just an observation--maybe I'm being master of the obvious here...

I remember back in the 1970s when there were just 3-5 channels that we could get on TV. We were pretty much stuck with whatever came in best with our copper hangers and aluminum foil. NBC, CBS, and ABC all vied for the coveted ratings and they each had captive audiences that had to watch their advertising to see what happened next on their favorite show or movie of the week.

That was the OLD way. Today, we have a consumer base that is wanting to use pick and choose their programming a la carte. Not only that, but we want it more and more through our computers. Some are willing to pay for it instead of dealing with advertising.

We're going through a major shift in media and ABC, CBS, NBC, et. al. are starting to feel it as much as NYTimes and the other on-line newspapers. I really don't think they know exactly what to do so they just repackage instead of re-inventing the way they program and deal with revenue.

The aging advertising revenue model has been completely circumvented by the advent of TiVO and downloadable content. Advertisers pay big bucks for the exposure but now they don't feel they should pay as much if the consumers skip through the commercials or block them altogether.

So now we have an internet version of the same broadcast as NBC jumps on the bandwagon. The thing is, it's just re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The big broadcasters and newspapers are going to have to rethink the way they do business or they're going to have to learn to endure a shrinking marketshare.

AP and Reuters news blurbs read by an overpaid talking head is very 20th century. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.