March Madness. Smart approach to Local News.

Lets take a cue from March Madness. Last week CBS streamed all it's NCAA games on iphones all over the world. Marketers see it as a slam-dunk for CBS TV and advertisers.  'The innovative Iphone application is giving an additional way to connect advertisers like Coke with NCAA fans following games on iphone." Now we're talking. New streams of advertising, means other sources of revenue, which keeps companies afloat, and puts people to work.  But wait, these iphone applications have more functions, and I like the possiblilites.  "One cool thing is you can pull up stats on games and players. The information shows up as a transparent overlay while the game is on".  says Jeff Sellinger , General Manager for CBS Mobile.

We could do the same with local news. Why have just one layer of content? Why can't we pull up stats on a story we're watching. You know those details that are left out of the story due to time limits in a newscast.  Why can't we design a newscast that viewers can control.  Give people a list of stories on the news, and have the viewer choose a story, and watch it live. This is sort of like "On Demand News" but with an interactive flavor. The possibilities are endless for this product alone, there are other applications to consider. I feel we are still taking baby steps to the future of News on demand, or at least web-tv. I am working on an interactive news format, one that would engage the viewer, and give citizens the kind of news they want. More on that on future blogs. For now, I am inspired by Sport programming. It is once again leading the way. If you remember some 30 years ago, the late Roone Arledge came to ABC News from the sports division. He restructured a stodgy, and tired news format, and created World News Tonight. Suddenly we had access to stories around the globe, and a fresh look simular to it's sports conterpart. That format went though a series of changes from a 3 anchor set-up to a solo anchor with Peter Jennings. In the next few years local news will evolve at a pace not seen in 30 years. for more on CBS ipnone applicatons go to CBS/Iphone link