NewsOn is a brand new venture that will take the local news programming of five major broadcast television groups and make it available to consumers via their mobile devices and connected television sets.
Between them, the groups will reach two thirds of all US TV households.
In on the venture are The ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Media General and Raycom Media.
The partners stated, “The free, advertising-supported NewsON service will be delivered through apps available for download from leading mobile and connected TV app stores. NewsON will enable users to watch live and on-demand newscasts from their local markets or from any of the 112 participating news stations, in 84 viewing markets across the country, whose owners have already contracted to deliver their news streams through NewsON. These include stations in eight of the Top 10 U.S. TV markets and 17 of the top 25.”
In 21 of the markets, overlap between the participants will provide consumers with more than one source for local content.
Louis Gump, who has handled mobile for The Weather Channel and CNN, will serve as CEO.
“The sheer amount of live news coverage – from TV stations around the country – that has been assembled for delivery through NewsON’s apps is unprecedented,” Gump said. “Americans place a great deal of trust in their local news teams, who are typically the first informers from the local scene of the biggest news developments around the country. NewsON will bring instant access to live local news to a generation of viewers accustomed to using mobile and connected TV platforms to stay informed. And this is just the start. We’ll welcome the participation of other TV station owners, as this service only gets better with each additional station.”
RBR+TVBR observation: We love it!
The prognosticators keep talking about how much advertising cash is shifting to digital. But they don’t say anything about who will be raking it in.
The smart move for broadcasters is to continue to benefit from their still-powerful broadcast assets while at the same time building strong and effective digital assets that will rake in cash on that end.
Well done, ABC, Cox, Hearst, Media General and Raycom!
