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Tag: Raycom Media

  • Five US broadcasters form news streaming venture NewsON

    Five US broadcasters form news streaming venture NewsON

    MUMBAI: Five major broadcast television stations namely The ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Media General and Raycom Media have formed a new venture called NewsON.

     

    NewsON (www.NewsON.us) will provide live and same-day local TV newscasts on demand from leading stations around the country to consumers’ mobile and selected connected TV devices.

     

    The free, advertising-supported NewsON service, which is expected to launch to the public in the fall of this year, will be delivered through apps available for download from 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.

     

    Multiple stations will be available through NewsON in 21 markets, giving viewers the opportunity to “change channels” as they wish. The number of participating TV stations is expected to grow in the months ahead as additional broadcast TV station groups activate their streams into NewsON.

     

    Leading this new venture is Louis Gump, who has signed on as NewsON’s chief executive officer. Gump presided earlier in his career over benchmark-setting mobile businesses for The Weather Company and CNN, before becoming CEO of mobile media and advertising company LSN Mobile. Gump has also served in various capacities within industry organizations including the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Online Publishers Association (OPA), and he served for more than a decade on the board of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). He will be based in Atlanta where NewsON will scale up its organization.

     

    “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. 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,” Gump said.

     

    “And this is just the start,” Gump noted. “We’ll welcome the participation of other TV station owners, as this service only gets better with each additional station.”

     

    A recent study underscores local TV’s leading role as a news source. According to the March 2015 report “Local News in a Digital Age” by the Pew Research Center, local TV stations remain the dominant source of news for Americans in markets both big and small. The appetite for local and neighborhood news, the staple of TV station newscast coverage, is up to twice the appetite for national and international news, the study found. 

  • Support our efforts to compete, or get out of the way: NAB to FCC

    Support our efforts to compete, or get out of the way: NAB to FCC

    NEW DELHI: National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) president and CEO Gordon Smith has expressed bewilderment at the manner in which the United States Federation Communications Commission (FCC) chooses to interfere with broadcasters, including its recent ruling that cracks down on joint sales agreements, while giving preference to cable and wireless.

     

    Addressing the opening session of NAB Show in Las Vegas, Smith said no other medium, including broadband, better serves the public in time of crisis, than broadcast.

     

    “We are here to be the public’s eyes and ears, to lead them out of darkness during times of crisis, to share profound moments, and to connect to our family, friends and neighbours. We are here to be the voices against oppression and we are here to be megaphones for freedom and democracy,” Smith said.

     

    Local broadcast, he continued, contributes nearly $1.3 trillion to the gross domestic product.

     

    Smith proposed a “National Broadcast Plan” — a response to the government’s National Broadband Plan — that would include, among other things, a review of regulations that he said hold back innovation and competition.

     

    “Why is there no focus to foster innovation and investment in broadcasting to ensure our business continues to be a world leader alongside our broadband industries?” he asked.

     

    Smith also remarked about the broadband players that are clamouring for swathes of the broadcast spectrum. “The wireless industry covets our spectrum, because they chew through their massive allocation of spectrum, attempting to deliver the video we deliver far more efficiently,” said Smith. “And they continue to milk, bilk and bill by the bit.”

     

    Smith, a former US Senator, quoted a Wall Street Journal article that said broadcasting kept more than eight million people safe during Hurricane Sandy. “Broadband cannot do that,” he said.

     

    Smith’s oratory struck a chord with veteran broadcasters assembled at the LVH. “It was a great rallying cry for the television industry,” said Raycom Media president and CEO Paul McTear, “It was good to see him challenge the FCC to allow broadcasters the right to compete in the future, in light of recent rulings that were more exclusionary. I thought he did a good job.”

     

    Citadel Communications CEO and a former NAB joint board chairman Phil Lombardo said, “He showed that he knows our business and knows our business intimately.”

     

    Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was presented with the Distinguished Service award by the NAB.

     

    He challenged reporters to “speak truth to power” at all costs, especially on issues vital to Univision viewers such as immigration. He toasted the enormous growth of the Hispanic population in the United States. “It’s a great time to be a Latino journalist,” he said. “We have found our voice — in English and in Spanish.”

     

    Univision chairman and Saban Capital Group CEO Haim Saban spoke of his days in a Beatles cover band “I was a really lousy player so they kicked me out and made me the manager”, his success in turning “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” into a smash, and the unique relationship between Univision and its viewers. “Univision really is the home away from home for our community,” said Saban.

     

    He also criticised the FCC when he said the letters FCC stand for “Friendly Cable Commission.”

     

    He stressed the importance of a new transmission standard to help broadcasting thrive on all platforms. Saban’s mandate to the technology people working on the initiative: “Make it freakin’ happen.” 

     

  • Dish Network and Raycom Media resolve retransmission dispute

    Dish Network and Raycom Media resolve retransmission dispute

    MUMBAI: The companies say that Raycom stations will be back on Dish Network “overnight,” and didn’t provide any details about the agreement.

    The broadcaster owns or controls 53 stations in 36 markets including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, and MyNetworkTV affiliates in cities including Cleveland, Toledo, Honolulu, Tucson, Baton Rouge, West Palm Beach, Louisville, and Memphis.

    The stations went dark on Dish on 1 August when the previous carriage contract expired. Dish accounts for about 15 per cent of Raycom’s viewers, according to data from SNL Kagan.

  • Natpe focuses on online presence of TV stations

    Natpe focuses on online presence of TV stations

    MUMBAI: At a time when television revenue in the US is either flat or down, a panel discussion a few days ago at the television trade event Natpe proved that TV station Web sites can make money online.

    The session, produced and moderated by WorldNow CEO Gary Gannaway, was called Who Wants to Be an Online Millionaire?. It featured convergence advertising models from three television executives whose web sites have raked in $1 million or more in annual revenue.

    Panellists included Christine DiStadio of The New York Times Broadcast Media Group, Paul King of Raycom Media, and Bob Singer of KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon.

    Gannaway says, “The main message of this session is that online revenue is real and that it can work for advertisers. Our panellists illustrated this through recent advertising and sponsorship campaigns for such desired categories as auto, real estate, health and home improvement.”

    DiStadio cited the example of WREG-TV in Memphis, which saw its national TV revenue drop from $10 million in 2000 to $8 million today. While the station’s web revenue was zero in 2000, convergence revenue has taken the station revenue to more than $1 million today.

    She says, “There is a real market emerging under our feet right now. Use the power of the product you know best — broadcast television, your core business — to drive top line revenue through new business development with emerging media. It’s the only way we are going to grow. The strongest weapon — TV — in your toolbox is the bridge to your future.”

    She described the vital importance of incorporating video, multi-screen presence, and consumer engagement into a station’s online strategy. “Broadband video is changing the way people discover and interact. According to a survey by comScore, the average consumer watches about 100 minutes of video on the web every month.

    “Freshness and speed will trump high production values. Web video is different.” Paul King, who oversees 40 station
    websites for Raycom Media, described the secret ingredients that helped generate $1.25 million in online revenue in 2006 — 9.6 per cent of the total ad sales for the station for WIS-TV in Columbia, South Carolina. Those ingredients include such daypart strategies as surround sessions and video streaming.

    “Local TV broadcasters should now be selling dayparts in a new way: through online advertising. Those prime demos that advertisers want are all reachable during the day — they’re just accessing the stations through their computers at work, rather than through their televisions at home.”

    Meanwhile, Singer discussed the revenue growth enjoyed in a short amount of time by Koin-TV, which is virtually brand-new to the online game. In one year, Koin expects to reach its goal of more than $1 million in online revenue — proving that it does not take years to develop a successful Internet strategy and monetise locally if you put the right resources behind your advertising sales team.

    “I’m just an average general manager in an average TV market. I figured I could accept our fate based on our somewhat average ratings position in the marketplace or I could look for creative new ways to boost our revenue. I’m glad I decided to do the latter.”

    All three panellists addressed the issue of internal versus external online resources: Should stations try to control the
    development of their Web sites by utilising internal staff resources or hiring new staff for the job — or should they rely on the expertise of an outside company that specialises in the online arena?

    King says, “I’ve done it both ways. And I’m here to tell you that the internal staff needs to stay focussed on the core business, which is still broadcast television of course. Find a seasoned partner with strong technology and proven ad-sales experience to handle this burgeoning business for you.”