Television Stations Are Urged to Break a Few Rules

TELEVISION STATIONS ARE URGED TO BREAK A FEW RULES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Stuart Elliott]
At the annual marketing conference sponsored by the Television Bureau of Advertising, Beth Comstock, president for digital media and market development at NBC Universal, urged local television stations to diversify beyond their boxes, i.e., TV sets, to remain relevant -- and profitable -- in the new digital age. The conference was devoted to a single topic: the importance of the "multiplatform" -- that is, offering content and advertising not only on local broadcast stations but also online, on cellphones and other wireless devices, through video on demand and on video iPods. The sole topic was intended to underscore that "advertisers and their agencies are increasingly asking for -- make that demanding -- a multiplatform strategy from all their media partners," said Christopher Rohrs, president of the bureau. There are two principal reasons that TV stations are seeking to broaden their horizons. One is "consumers will increasingly choose what they want to see, when they want to see it, on whatever device they want to see it," said Alan Frank, president and chief executive at the Post-Newsweek Stations division of the Washington Post Company. The other reason was offered by David Rehr, president and chief executive at the National Association of Broadcasters: "Every new stream of programming is potentially a new source of revenue. Most distribution channels will create more value for our content."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/business/media/21adco.html
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See also --
* Digital Age About Community, Says NBCU's Comstock in TVB Keynote Speech
[SOURCE: TVWeek, AUTHOR: Jay Sherman]
As new technology makes it easier for consumers to form communities around specific areas of interests, local television stations are well positioned to take advantage of the trend, given their ties to the communities they serve and their ability to reach audiences, Beth Comstock, president of digital media and market development at NBC Universal, said Thursday. "In the digital age, community is all about gathering people with shared interests and giving them a platform to interact with each other, to engage in relevant content and to create something new," said Ms. Comstock, whose comments were part of her keynote address at the Television Bureau of Advertising marketing conference in New York. "Only time will tell, but I know that local stations are perfectly positioned to move into the digital world and bring their community with them."
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9808
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