The Madison, Wisc., based owner and operator of broadcast media properties that snapped up Saga Communications’ lone TV operations in May 2019 has opted to move six of its television station websites to a platform managed by TownNews.
With the deal, Morgan Murphy Media will put TownNews in control of the websites associated with WISC-3 in Madison, Wisc. (Channel3000); WKBT-8 in La Crosse, Wisc. (News8000); KXLY-4 in Spokane; KAPP-TV & KVEW-TV in Yakima/Tri-Cities, Wash. (YakTriNews); and the stations purchased from Saga two years ago: CBS affiliate KOAM-TV in the Joplin market, which includes city of license Pittsburg, Kan.; and ABC KAVU-25, NBC KMOL-17, CBS KXTS-41, FOX KVCT-19, Univision KUNU-21, and Telemundo KVTX-45 in Victoria, Tex. (CrossRoadsToday).
Specifically, the stations’ websites will shift to TownNews’ Rayos Platform, a WordPress-based content management system.
“Using the Rayos Platform allows a broadcast group the size of Morgan Murphy Media to take advantage of the revenue, audience, and engagement services that TownNews provides, while at the same time giving us the flexibility and ease-of-use that WordPress is known for,” said Neal Oberg (pictured), Morgan Murphy’s VP of Digital Media.
The TownNews partnership is designed to enable Morgan Murphy Media to leverage growth opportunities on over-the-top (OTT) platforms, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV.
“OTT continues to be a huge opportunity for local broadcasters and we feel that the past experience TownNews has had with local media in building niche audience, subscription, and new business models—through data layering and proven technology—positions Morgan Murphy Media perfectly to apply these same strategies and technologies to the local OTT space,” Oberg said. “Moreover, we are excited to work with a company that has the experience, technology, and people to win in the local OTT space.”
In addition to the Rayos Platform, Morgan Murphy will also make use of TownNews’ Field59 video management system, and its programmatic advertising and behavioral audience engagement programs.
“TownNews gives forward-thinking broadcasters like Morgan Murphy Media an unprecedented array of services to increase their revenue, efficiency, and audience engagement,” said Derek Gebler, vice president of broadcast and video at TownNews. “We’re thrilled that they’ve chosen to join our family, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship.”
