Fisher Consulting On 'Daily Buzz'

Broadcast group's input will expand ACME morning show's footprint on air and online

By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/21/2010 5:34:27 PM

Fisher Communications has entered a licensing and consulting agreement with ACME Television for ACME's syndicated The Daily Buzz morning program. Fisher will provide consulting services and will "license certain assets of the program in order to produce unique content to be distributed on both traditional broadcast and newly created digital platforms," Fisher said in a statement.

Fisher VP of Digital Content Troy McGuire will oversee operations of the show. He was executive producer on Daily Buzz from 2004 to 2007.

Fisher is rolling out a series of hyper-local websites, powered by DataSphere, within its TV markets. That strategy ties into Fisher's plans for Daily Buzz.

"As we expand our broadcast-to-broadband initiative, we are looking to create compelling digital content that will be localized by market and distributed across multiple platforms, including The Daily Buzz and the Internet," said Fisher Senior VP of Business Development Randa Minkarah. "Similar to our hyperlocal initiative, this latest effort provides TV stations with another means to compete for a larger base of advertisers, by offering stations' advertisers a cross-platform solution at attractive price points."

ACME President/COO Doug Gealy said the agreement will expand the show's footprint and capitalize on Fisher's Internet expertise. "We plan to offer new digital revenue opportunities to existing and new affiliates of The Daily Buzz and to ACME's six television stations," he added.

Five of the six ACME stations, including WBXX Knoxville, are CW affiliates. All five air The Daily Buzz, which ACME describes as a "live weekday news and lifestyle program."