CBS Makes Streaming News Available to Affiliates

Brian Steinberg

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Any news junkie in need of a live-Information fix can toggle on to any number of streaming news outlets. Now, TV stations affiliated with CBS can do the same.

CBS News told affiliates in a memo Tuesday that it would allow them to use live coverage from its CBSN streaming-video hub to keep news events on the air even when the network’s traditional reports had come to an end.

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On Tuesday, for example, CBS News provided continuous live coverage of the impeachment hearings from CBSN to news affiliates for linear broadcasts, as well as in its own digital outlets. It marks one of the first times the streaming outlet was made available for linear broadcast. –while simultaneously streaming on CBSN.

”We will make CBSN breaking news coverage available to you so you won’t have to go elsewhere to stay competitive,” said Tim Gaughan, vice president of news services at CBS News.

CBS left Tuesday’s coverage of the impeachment inquiry earlier than rivals, prompting speculation the network ceded its obligation to cover events of national import while its viewership was not as robust as its rivals. Making CBSN available to stations lets the broadcast outlet fulfill some of its duties while chasing other audiences in certain parts of the country.

The CBS News maneuver is the latest step in a growing scrum to deliver news, information and images once earmarked for morning or evening news programs to a populace that increasingly wants to consume video at times of its own choosing.

CBS was first to launch a streaming-video outlet, and since debuting CBSN in 2014, has unveiled local versions of the service for its owned-and-operated stations. NBC News earlier this year expanded its nascent streaming outlet and ABC News has also operated one for some time.

There’s only one caveat: The stations can’t use the CBSN coverage to pre-empt the network’s primetime schedule – where the network notches its biggest audiences and ad revenue.

 

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