KXLY, the ABC affiliate in Spokane, Wash., will soon be offering news to mobile phone subscribers, thanks to a just-signed deal with U-Turn Media Group.
KXLY is part of the Morgan Murphy Broadcasting Group, which also owns WISC Madison, Wis., which signed on with U-Turn last September.
KXLY plans to offer services similar to those of its sister station, including daily news, weather, sports and feature—all edited for the mobile platform.
WISC was among the first stations to offer mobile phone video. To promote its 24/7 nature, WISC has broken news on it on a couple of occasions, according to Tom Bier, WISC station manager.
Plans are now underway to create unique-for-mobile content on a regular basis, Bier said. Right now, the service is not a moneymaker, he added. “We are investing time and hope and saying, ‘Let’s just get into this space and see what it’s about.'”
Prague-based U-Turn’s proprietary VIZGO application allows broadcasters to offer a branded mobile service that can distributed by multiple mobile carriers.
Before U-Turn, video content could be delivered only to cell phones by dealing directly with individual carriers, says U-Turn North America President Izzy Abbass.
“Local stations don’t want a solution for one carrier, they want to reach multiple carriers for maximum reach. And they want to be able to control the experience and update the content as often as possible,” Abbass said.
U-Turn also announced an agreement with McGraw-Hill’s KGTV San Diego last week at NATPE. KGTV plans to launch a news service later this quarter.
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