Kids, Thugs, Dogs, Cats Drafted Into TV Battle

KIDS, THUGS, DOGS, CATS DRAFTED INTO TV BATTLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey dionne.searcey@wsj.com]
In the fight between phone and cable companies for TV subscribers, things are getting a bit more personal. There's an important shift in strategy by major telecommunications companies, who have fought for years over everything from price to high-definition-channel offerings to picture quality. Verizon, which is planning to spend roughly $18 billion to roll out its fiber-optic network to deliver TV and fast Internet service to customers, is betting that its strategy of developing its own original, hyper-local, human-interest TV programming will help set it apart. The company, which offers FiOS TV in 13 states, started a 24-hour TV channel in the Washington, D.C., area called FiOS1 about a year ago. The idea is to feature "super-local" stories on people who probably wouldn't be seen on more-typical shows. After all, local content has long been used by cable companies to defend their turf from satellite-TV operators, whose ability to offer local programming is limited by their national reach and capacity on their satellites. For years, Cablevision Systems Corp. and the other big cable companies have operated channels that serve up local news, weather, sports and traffic reports. Cablevision's internal surveys show that many customers cite the company's News 12 channels on Long Island, N.Y., where Verizon is aggressively marketing its FiOS TV service, as the reason they refuse to switch to FiOS. Cablevision touts it in TV ads with the tagline, "News 12 traffic and weather, not on phone company TV." Now, cable operators are also beefing up their focus on hyper-local features. This past spring Cablevision began airing the features as part of its "Local on Demand," which offers an array of community parades, street fairs and high-school sports. One show, "Meet the Leaders," features 30-minute interviews with local elected officials. "Neighborhood Journal" is similar to Verizon's Push-Pause, with slice-of-life community features.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120598375751051107.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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