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Saturday, July 24, 2004

Mouse Features New 24 Hour News Net (Extended Coverage... i.e. a long entry)

The Associated Press, via Yahoo, reports: ABC to Offer 24-Hour News Until Election.

It sounds like it is about time the Mouse House got their own endless news format. Of course, where it will actually go or make a splash for anybody besides a select few (cheaper than focus groups perhaps?) is still up in the air.

Digital cable, digital TV owners, and broadband users are the biggest groups of this select few.

What will the channel show? Naturally, to begin with some of ABC Network's news programming will be repurposed. Instead of seeing "World News Tonight" at 6:30 or your typical affiliate's time period, how about 9 PM? "Nightline" will also be replayed. MSNBC was experimenting with replaying "Today" in afternoons for a while, so ABC News Now (probably to be acronymed ANN vs WNN, World News Now) could easily feature "Good Morning America"... in the afternoon. ANN could steal re-runs of "The View" away from whatever women's network was showing it at like 7pm, what was it, Lifetime? I don't think it was Oxygen. Or "The View" could go on at 11pm.

Talk of featuring local programming on the national network is featured in Bauder's article. "ABC's affiliates are being encouraged to place some of their local news, weather and sports on the service," reports Bauder. I wouldn't be surprised if ANN had problems getting affiliates to cough up much that was that original. The "cheapest" (in time, work AND money) way to get stuff out of the affiliates is just steal or repurpose something that they're doing already; string together packages fed to ABC's affiliate feed service, in a sort of "Evening Magazine" show, or simply grab entire newscasts. They could replay WABC's 6pm newscast at 7:00 or 8:00, and KABC's 6pm newscast a half hour later. Or, if program planners are COMPLETELY bored, put ABC O&O newscasts on in the overnight hours when all they can compete with (ABC-wise) is World News Now.

The thing that surprises the hell out of me is that ABC is not going to sell any advertising for this network. Sure, that'll save money by not paying for sales people, but are they nuts? Granted, some people will actually be paying for this temporary 24-hour ANN that will be discontinued (presumably) after Election 2004, but beyond that the entire operation will be giving away the content for free without revenue coming in. I understand ABC has upped its 24 hour staffing, but .... this decision still just doesn't make sense to me. Furthermore, it means any commercial breaks (because come ON people, commercial television people MUST take breathers to regroup every few minutes) will consist of either promos for every network under the Disney sun (ABC, ABC Family, Disney, Toon Disney, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNNews, ESPNPlus, etc. etc. etc.) or PSAs.... yecch.

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ABC is already supplying one segment of 24-hour limited updated news, unless what I'm about to tell you has been discontinued. The next time you go to Wal-Mart (which is rare for me because I am a Target boi) watch the TVs playing incessant Wal-Mart commercials and specials closely. Every so often the Wal-Mart Network features news updates done by some poor sap of an anchor at ABC. Presumably the Wal-Mart Network has the option to take ABC network's breaking news programming. They'd be stupid not to. If, say, I am at home watching coverage, I can go to Wal-Mart without losing much of the coverage, for example (listening to it on the radio while I drive there).

On the other hand since this video service inside Wal-Mart is obviously a vehicle for advertising, and it is unlikely Wal-Mart is going to buy into the "living room" ideology much and make this video service actually interesting to sit down and watch, it is possible that any huge breaking news could be simply added as a footnote in the news updates.

...Now that's an interesting idea. Would, say, Borders or Circuit City get people in the doors if they simply started featuring free movies in a cordoned-off section? I'm sure some stores like Circuit City or Best Buy have featured rooms showing off all their most high-end equipment in a home-theatre style use. But have they made it available on a greater scale? Maybe put in four or five couches, Scotchguard them, put some of them on risers so people can see, open up a tiny food-and-drinks bar, and charge folks $1 a head for a movie (whether first-run or new release DVD) in luxury? But would anybody bite? Would it be a significant competition with video stores, theatres, movie studios, etc.? Another option for programming -- true appointment television for the un-cabled. Don't want to spend the money for HBO every month? Come watch the Sopranos or Arli$$ on our big screen for $1 and you'll save on your next purchase at Circuit City.

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 7/24/2004 12:22:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
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