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CBS Launching 24hr News Channel "CBSN"


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Pretty surprising news, especially with a launch date of Nov. 4 so close!

 

 

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/10/8555077/cbs-news-readies-24-hour-cbsn-digital-netwo

 

 

The channel, which will stream live to TV sets, P.C.s and mobile devices, mimics the look of cable news channels, but in a less formal newsroom setting. CBS News correspondents Jeff Glor and Elaine Quijano are among the anchors for the service, which will also feature original reporting from all of CBS’ reporters. CBS has been hiring production staff for the service over the last few months.

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Looks like CBS, a network long known for being "behind the times", is really trying to get ahead of the curve with their digital services for all of the cord cutters. They're the last network that I thought would do something like this, but kudos to them.

 

As for the broadcasts themselves, are they actually going to be live 24/7, or will this be something akin to the pre-2004 Headline News format where they are live during major dayparts, but the rest of the day and weekends consist of largely pre-recorded content with periodic updates throughout the day?

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This channel will be produced using Sony ELC automation, so that will give them both cost savings and flexibility to be live without waiting for crews.

You would think so until you actually see it in operation first hand. ELC is what KRIV uses. It's... Very... Buggy, I guess is the right word. Fickle would be another good word.

 

Our directors complain about it all the time, v especially during our automated shows.

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  • 2 weeks later...
A beautiful marriage of CBS' Up to the Minute & late 90's Headline News. Wish this would've been piped into O&O subchannels instead of the lackluster "CBS (city) +" concept

I believe only the top 10 markets launched CBS +.

 

I was watching a segment on it from CBS This Morning and it appears they are filming it in the CBS This Morning newsroom. They showed an outside shot where you could see that the news desk was about 10 feet (or less) from window and the robotic cameras were literally right up against the glass and the lower half of the windows were covered in translucent materials. Then they panned around the newsroom and I noticed there were a few flat panel boxes right next to the news desk looking like they haven't finished building the set.

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I believe only the top 10 markets launched CBS +.

 

Not even. I know it's not in Chicago, for sure, but I also don't recall there being a major roll-out of these stations outside NYC and maybe a few other locales.

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Not even. I know it's not in Chicago, for sure, but I also don't recall there being a major roll-out of these stations outside NYC and maybe a few other locales.

After a quick search on RabbitEars.info it appears they only launched it in NY, LAand Philadelphia.

 

Edit After I posted this I wondered why NY & LA needed a news wheel channel when they both have a duopoly station that are news heavy independents. It turns out LA's digital channel was an SD widescreen version of their HD feed.

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Yeah, visually it's a mess. It's one thing if they're bland, but these are way too primitive. And, for goodness sake, could they at least pick a font and run with it?

 

And the newsroom set. Yikes.

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Watched a bit of it tonight. I know it's early but it seems very, VERY boring. Just a way to air lots of packaged content.

 

When they go to break, they often show a shot of a city. I guess it's supposed to be a live shot but when I see daytime Philly when it's looking midnight outside, it ruins any illusion of it being current. Then they play the same, very boring, very repetitive theme.

 

Jeff Glor is going with the informal look as the top buttons of his shirt are unbuttoned.

 

Packages seem to be mostly feature stories, not actual news. And even though it's on tape, I just caught a technical error where they tried to show some football headlines but instead we saw Glor adjusting his shirt. They couldn't fix this for tape?

 

I had low expectations and I am unimpressed.

 

Maybe it'll improve.

 

And I'm not excited about the name CBSN.

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Watched a bit of it tonight. I know it's early but it seems very, VERY boring. Just a way to air lots of packaged content.

 

When they go to break, they often show a shot of a city. I guess it's supposed to be a live shot but when I see daytime Philly when it's looking midnight outside, it ruins any illusion of it being current. Then they play the same, very boring, very repetitive theme.

 

Jeff Glor is going with the informal look as the top buttons of his shirt are unbuttoned.

 

Packages seem to be mostly feature stories, not actual news. And even though it's on tape, I just caught a technical error where they tried to show some football headlines but instead we saw Glor adjusting his shirt. They couldn't fix this for tape?

 

I had low expectations and I am unimpressed.

 

Maybe it'll improve.

 

And I'm not excited about the name CBSN.

I still think that for lots of it they record it in one 15 minute block, much like a DJ may do during a radio show to make it look live.

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Whoa, cool! Overnight hours they actually show a live feed of the top-of-the-hour CBS Radio News bulletin!

 

For an early, bare-bones operation, I actually think this is pretty good. Certainly a better product than the shit that's shown on the cable news/talk channels these days. Not BBC or CNNi level, of course. But if they work out the kinks this has some potential. I actually think CBSN should be on the subchannels - put Decades over on the junior duopoly stations.

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I...actually think this is really exciting.

 

It's a work in progress, and judging by the soft rollout, I think even CBS knows that, but I think it's far more promising than what anybody else has done with the news channels online concept.

 

Does anyone remember the CNN Pipeline / CNN.com Live newscasts? That's probably the closest thing in concept to CBSN, and while I know that CNN.com Live signed off five years ago last month, CBSN feels light years ahead of what CNN tried. Pipeline consisted of a few C-rate anchors single-anchoring newscasts full of C-rate reject content from elsewhere in the CNN networks in front of a green key set and were mostly on the air only during business hours. Commercials were three minutes of stock updates and library music. It was not at all engaging for the web, and there's a reason why it's not around anymore. HuffPost Live also hasn't gained much traction, seemingly because it's just too informal and exactly the kind of low budget production that you would expect from a web operation. Why watch a few people fumble through talking about a HuffPost article when you can read it for yourself directly below the video? Al Jazeera has also promised to start a web channel with AJ+, and despite the big splash it has been making over it for the last few months, AJ+ still doesn't even have a website.

 

I think the fact that CBS of all networks is trying new things on the web, particularly with the DVR ability to jump back to previous segments in the newscast, is really unique and hopefully a sign of what the future of news channels on the web will be.

 

The content reminds me a little bit of an Americanized France 24 — an anchor (or anchors) in a simple newsroom set with 10-15 minutes of national and international headlines at the start of every half hour. It's also a lot like France 24 in that they seem to forego taped packages and instead rely a lot on anchors doing long voiceovers on a top story followed by an occasionally lengthy live discussion with a correspondent or analyst. The back end part of the half hours are a little weak with the Americana-esque stuff that CBS This Morning might air in their 8am hour or stuff recycled from other places (including ET). I think I'd rather see more packages from the network run much in the same way Up to the Minute is filled with content from the Evening News, or perhaps even some packages of potential national interest from Newspath affiliates. The graphics and set are simple and nothing too stylish, though I think we're all used to expecting a lot worse from the CBS News art department. I do give them points for the proper use of Didot in the logo, however.

 

It's not perfect, but I think there's a lot of potential here. CNN has been in the 24-hour news channel business for over 30 years and still hasn't come up with a good way to livestream their content. CBS has been running it for a day and has already come up with an online product that's already more engaging and interactive than what CNN does online. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they will do with it.

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I also think that one of the reasons this could work is that CBS got sponsors for this. BBC World News just started running ads on the US service a few months ago, and they're the kind of direct 1-800-THINGIE ads. CBSN has Microsoft and Amazon running ads on it.

 

This is a passion project for CBS, I think. CBS News' bench is surprisingly deep, and CBS Interactive is damn good at what they do. Les Moonves really runs a tight ship at that company, and the soft launch shows that they're gonna give it time to find its own feet.

 

Also, I think they can hit with the millenial target audience. Maybe not Jeff Glor with his shirt open, but they do have CNet, Gamespot, and all those digital properties in addition to ET and its ilk. They know what they're doing.

 

Now if they can finally fix the god damn local websites...

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Well, it's pretty obvious that a lot of things are pre-taped when they cut from the male anchor sitting in the newsroom with a bunch of empty monitors behind him, to a woman anchor sitting in the same exact spot with every monitor behind her showing a CBS logo.

 

Or... a bright and sunny San Francisco at 4AM EST.

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Also, I think they can hit with the millenial target audience. Maybe not Jeff Glor with his shirt open [...]

 

I betcha a dollar they're trying to mimic (not directly rip off) the David Muir image.

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I haven't gotten to watch any of it yet (crappy wi-fi where I'm staying, maybe I can come up with enough $$ for my own hotspot).

 

I wonder if any of the CBS affils are actually considering putting CBSN on a subchannel (beyond those listed on RabbitEars).

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I haven't gotten to watch any of it yet (crappy wi-fi where I'm staying, maybe I can come up with enough $$ for my own hotspot).

 

I wonder if any of the CBS affils are actually considering putting CBSN on a subchannel (beyond those listed on RabbitEars).

What stations are launching CBSN? The only change I've seen is the CBS O&O launching Decades.

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From what I've seen of CBSN so far, I'd say it's a great concept, and in terms of content, it's pretty good. I wish there were a couple more presentation elements (like a ticker or flipper or something,) the L3s should be cleaned up a bit, and there should be a few more live segments, but aside from those nitpicks, CBSN is great:

 

- There's little to no BS interviews or "panel discussions"; reminds me of Al Jazeera America (somewhat),

- The remix of the classic CBS News theme is fantastic,

- In terms of presenters, it seems like CBSN has gone all out on this...well, aside from all the pre-recorded segments,

- And best of all, IT'S FREE TO VIEW on multiple devices, no subscription required. No retrans agreements, no cable disputes, no georestrictions, none of that!

 

If they play their cards right, CBS News may have a success on their hands. They deserve it.

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What stations are launching CBSN? The only change I've seen is the CBS O&O launching Decades.

 

Sorry, guess I wasn't very clear in my post. Just meant if any CBS stations were interested enough in the new service to actually air it on one of their subchannels or would CBSN largely remain a digital/online-mostly service. Would be interesting to see how much the affils embrace this, if at all.

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