Networks Keep on Truckin'

CNN, Fox bring their show to the road

By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/3/2007

Sidebars:
Campaign Promise for Stations: Advertising Windfall in '08

The networks have taken their Election 2008 shows on the road. For Election '08, CNN unveiled its Election Express, a news studio on wheels that will serve as an HD newsroom and set throughout the election season. It gets 6-8 miles per gallon, and can use biodiesel where available. The Election Express is the obsession of David Bohrman, vice president of news and production and the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for CNN, who helped design the bus.

Just this weekend, Fox News deployed its ElectionLink mobile news trucks—two tricked-out Ford Expeditions shrink-wrapped with the channel's You Decide 2008 slogan—one to New Hampshire and one to Iowa. The ElectionLink trucks are standard-definition and tapeless, with live IP streaming and a backup system that can transmit through cellular air-cards. The trucks have three cameras: one on the roof; a dashboard-mounted anchor camera aimed at the passenger seat; and a handheld.

B&C's P.J. Bednarski toured the CNN bus in New York recently with Bohrman. And B&C's Marisa Guthrie spoke with Fox News Washington bureau chief Brian Wilson about Fox's newest mobile unit.

Bednarski: Show me around the Election Express. The front here looks like a couple of soft black couches and chairs, like a nice tour bus.

Bohrman: The front half of the bus has two distinct uses. Primarily, it's going to become a newsroom for about 20 people to work. The whole side of the bus has power strips and computer connectors. The walls here fold up and underneath are these benches [that flip up]. So, within a few minutes we can turn this into a fully functioning newsroom with power, computer connectivity.

The same thing happens on the other side. Tables like this emerge from under the couch. It makes a great workspace. You can get a lot of people in here, especially when it's 15 below and you're in Iowa. The same area, if we take this down, this is a studio, and it's set for one-on-one candidate interviews.

What kind of HD cameras are on board?

The bus travels with four relatively light HD cameras. Right now these are Canons, but we're going to switch to Sonys near the end of the year because they're a little more compact. And they're going to be used by our producers and out in the field.

There's a satellite dish on the roof, and it supports four simultaneous hi-def feeds up into space. All four cameras come back live to Atlanta or Washington or New York, where a control room takes them in and makes it a program. We have a full final-cut edit room, probably the best final-cut edit room at all of CNN in here right now.

Now in the back of the bus, what's all this?

We've got built-in things like makeup mirrors. There's a bathroom with a shower, which in the event of a serious news emergency–if we get ourselves into a Hurricane Katrina or [some other] terrible [storm]–for a few weeks, we can keep a little clean. Here's the most important thing–the coffee machine.

Guthrie: How will ElectionLink enhance Fox News' coverage?

Wilson: For example, we're chasing the [John] McCain bus across, let's say, Iowa, you've got the anchor talking to the [dash-mounted] camera, “We're chasing the McCain bus out of Dubuque as it heads to Des Moines…” And you see pictures of this actually happening as you roll down the highway. And let's say the bus pulls over on the side of the road and the candidate gets out and shakes hands. In real time, we can pull over to the side of the road with him, the reporter gets out, and the cameraman gets out and walks right into the crowd live. No cables, no wires, nothing.

The whole idea is that this versatile vehicle allows us to do anything on the fly, and people at home will actually see it but in real time.

What's the quality of the picture?

The technology is Streambox technology. It's not what you'd call true broadcast quality at this point, but it's very good. You'd have no problems in a breaking news situation putting this on air.

This election is about to kick into breakneck pace. How important is it to have something like this now?

What it really means is that our reporters don't have to be tied to a satellite truck all day. When there's news, they can be out in it. We're going to be out gathering the news, and the viewer is going to be along for the ride as it happens. I think it's amazingly exciting technology.

And an SUV can go faster than a bus.

It's lean and it's mean and it's very versatile. Our competitor's bus is an interesting piece of technology, but it can only be in one place at one time. We're going to be in two places, and people are going to see things as they are actually happening.

We can go anywhere. Anywhere that an SUV can go, we can go. And it's four-wheel drive so we can off-road when we want to.

Campaign Promise for Stations: Advertising Windfall in '08

A highly contested 2008 presidential primary season guarantees three things: dueling pundits, countless speeches and very happy television station operators.

The election cycle is vital for broadcasters who count on its complementary advertising revenue windfall. In 2008, operators such as Hearst-Argyle Television, Belo Corp. and Gannett are banking on a perfect storm for political advertising thanks to the large field of presidential hopefuls, hot federal and local races and an increase in issue advertising.

Spending for political television advertising on the broadcasting level is expected to reach as high as $2.6 billion in 2008 compared to $1.7 billion during the 2004 presidential cycle, according to research firm TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).

CMAG anticipates that spending from the presidential race alone will hit $775 million in 2008. Spending on state and local races is expected to hit $650 million, U.S. House races $440 million, and Senate contests as much as $370 million.

Issue advertising should also figure big, in the range of $330 million to $400 million. In November, the Federal Election Committee loosened its electioneering communications policy to allow corporate and union-funded advertising to mention candidates by name, on ads airing 30 days before a primary and 60 days before an election, provided the advertising is associated with a ballot issue. However, it is unlikely to impact the January primaries, as the rules do not go into effect until 30 days after they are published in the Federal Register.

According to estimates by Bear Stearns, some of the biggest beneficiaries of a heated election season would include CBS Corp. (projected to take in $165 million), Hearst-Argyle Television with $101 million and Gannett with $97 million. The companies Bear expects will see the biggest jump in political revenue include Gray Television with a 41.8% increase, and Belo Corp. with a 21.3% bump.

The effects are already being felt. Tight races in both parties and early primaries are making a busy fourth quarter, particularly in key battleground states like Iowa and New Hampshire. Says Hearst-Argyle vice president of sales Kathleen Keefe, “People are spending earlier than they used to.”

Not surprisingly, candidates are also taking a multi-platform approach to spending, though Web spending is focused more on fundraising and organizing, while TV ad dollars are used for messaging. Evan Tracey, COO of CMAG, says political spending on Internet ads could be as much as $20 million to $30 million in this election cycle.

The dollars will start to flow earlier, but broadcasters still expect the spending spike to hit later in the year. In the 2006 election season, political spending on a monthly basis between January and August was between 1% and 6% of the yearly total, according to a Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) analysis of CMAG data. Spending in September, October and November accounted for 68% of the total.—Jonathan Hemingway