ABC to expand digital news network

"ABC News Now" is available on the Net and wireless devices. Eventually, users may be able to see its reports in any order they like.

Reuters

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May 5, 2005 9:00 a.m. PT

2 min read

ABC News on Monday said it would launch an expanded suite of video news products that will be available on the Internet, wireless devices, and someday, maybe even on cable television.

Now, all the network has to do is find someone actually willing to put it on television.

ABC's ambitious plan takes the unusual approach of making its programming available to new media outlets even before it completes a plan to get it on TV. ABC is a unit of the Walt Disney.



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"We're starting with a clean slate," Sean Bratches, president of Disney and ESPN's affiliate sales and marketing, told reporters gathered at an annual cable industry show in San Francisco.

"We can't sit here and look at the market as we did 10 years ago," Bratches added.

The product is known as ABC News Now and will be offered in both a traditional "linear" format, like the regular TV news, and in some cases as an on-demand platform where users can see the reports they want in any order.

ABC News Now's initial trial started last July and ended in January. That was shortly before the Federal Communications Commission decided to eliminate cable operators' obligations to carry new digital channels created by traditional broadcasters, who already have cable carriage.

Older rules forced cable companies to carry new digital channels created by broadcasters, whose shift to digital technology let operators cram six channels in the space previously occupied by just one.

The offering was born out of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings' project to cover the political conventions last year. ABC executives said the strategy was driven by the changing habits of news consumers, as fewer viewers stick around for the evening newscast.

"News needs to be in the hands of the people, wherever they are, whenever they want it," said Anne Sweeney, president of Disney-ABC Television Group.

ABC News Now is already available to about 30 million homes through the Internet on America Online, Comcast, Yahoo and SBC.

It is also already available on wireless devices through deals with MobiTV, GoTV and SmartVideo.

Disney executives said they plan to seek distributors at the annual convention sponsored by the National Cable Television Association this week.

In addition to ABC News' trove of nationally broadcasted shows, it will also offer local news from 10 ABC News affiliates by July, executives said.