Daily Nightly

I hate to say something good about a competitor, but I enjoy reading The Daily Nightly, NBC News’ blog which serves to promote NBC Nightly News (and is seen on a competing channel).

I especially enjoy reading Brian Williams entries. They are written in a very conversational tone. You can hear Williams’ voice as you read.

It is interesting to watch the direction of TV news and the Internet. We have a large Internet presence at my station and I think it serves us well. I’m sure what we’re doing now isn’t what we’ll doing a year from now.

I don’t think anyone knows where this is leading, but there’s no doubt the Internet can earn money for content providers. TV station or broadcast networks can provide lots of content. And, altruism aside, that’s why business is done – to make a profit.

Right now the people leading the way are classicly trained in the art of television. That seems to be a good jumping off point. I suspect this medium will become even more powerful, and a preferred choice, as soon as we learn to harness random access and customization.

I have some ideas of my own, but I’m not sure how to implement them or whether they can be implemented at all. I do know a TV station can not discern who is watching and from where. An Internet broadcaster can!&#185 That is the key.

Broadband speed is available in enough places that we’ve reached a sweet spot for video. What you can see on the Internet looks pretty good (Will I eat those words in 5 years? Probably.) But, by and large, we are feeding it as a serial medium. A follows B follows C… and everyone gets the same content in the same order. Or, individual elements can be requested, but only one at a time and with all the choice at the user’s end and not built into the serving software.

We really need to transition into individual channels presenting customized feeds. The more we know about you and where you live, the more customized and germane we can make the content.

Even when all this technology comes on line, good writing, like Brian Williams’, will still have an important place.

&#185 – Here’s a sample of how Internet hits can be physically located. This is based on my IP address and was produced just by reaching a specific website.

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