Mobil TV, U-Reporters, and the Great Reset.

The NAB, National Association of Broadcasters convention is taking place this week in Las Vegas. It's an opportunity for industry people from TV, Radio, Production, and the Internet to come together. The meeting draws about 100,000 attendees, and is one of the largest annual events for Las Vegas.

Here's what's happening at the conference. Fox News said it would reach into MySpace for Citizen Journalists. Reports from the public would be featured on its broadcasts, like Fox News Channel, and perhaps local affiliates in a couple of hundred cities across america. We have our own KSBW Fox-5 in San Diego. Basically Fox would allow what they call U-reporters from MySpace the opportunity to upload reports for the broadcast world to see.

Broadcasters in the Washington D.C. area will soon debut Free Mobil Digital TV. This would be a service utilizing a broadcaster's multiple digital signals over the air. The service will target viewers who want to get their programing over portable mobile devices. The only problem is those devices aren't available yet, but companies like Dell are working on providing them by September of this year. This is a service that would compete with online sites like hulu.com, and others to provide shows like Oprah and The Simpsons. Broadcasters want to utilize their digital signals to generate money in what's been a dismal advertising market.

Another session dealt with the marriage of TV, and the web. TV stations are exploring ways of utilizing the station's web news site to serve the public, and make money. Some experts say they haven't found a sure shot way of making much money so far. Most people expect to receive content for free, and some intenet sites carry very little original news content. Most of it is aired first over the air then repeated on the web. Several Broadcasters are re-thinking that model. Stations are branding themselves as "content providers." Many are debuting stories first on the web, and not waiting for audiences to make an appointment of tuning into a 5pm newscast. Apparently old media has been playing catch-up for years. Their main competitors are web-based news content sites.  Check this one out, now anyone can report from anywhere.

Perhaps one of the bright points in the conference was a talk from the author of "The Rise o the Creative Class." Richard Florida urged broadcasters at the NAB to view the upheaval in the economy as an opportunity. Florida referred to the current recession as, "the greates reset," which he said capatures the mood of the times. It was pointed out that "We are living through the greatest economic transformation in human history," Richard Florida called for broadcasters to think of ways to modernize their businesses.

All of this points to a transformation. We're right in the cusp of that transformation right now. This is the mission of New Media Rights. We are not only providing examples of innovations in the industry, but exploring ways to invent futture business models for media, and content providers. All of this is meant to serve the San Diego market, and beyond. I just received an email of yet another sight dedicated to the same thing.  The Knight foundation is exploring ways to refine ideas that will contibute to a better future for media. The best ideas come from you, I'd like to hear from you. Where do you think we should be headed, how can the media best respond to your needs?