Today's Headlines

• CNN’s Technology Helping Election '08 Coverage
  David Borhman, CNN senior vice president and Washington, D.C., bureau chief, thinks CNN’s primary-election coverage has been greatly aided by new tech equipment, including a piece of equipment he first saw at a convention for private investigators.
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• 3-D Imagery Takes Off in Traffic
  Stations in Palm Beach and Hartford, Conn. are using a kind of 3-D map to show viewers traffic jams, aided by the use of Global Position Satellite (GPS) equipment placed on commercial vehicles. It could be a hot item at the NAB Convention. more » » » 

• WLWT-TV Web Site Draws a Crowd
  Though its newscast is not the top rated on in Cincinnati, WLWT’s Web site by far is the most popular local TV Web site in the city, in no small part because it makes a special effort not to make the site just a small version of the newscast. more » » » 

Briefing Room

• Scripps Giving Away Time to Presidential Candidates
  As part of its “Democracy 2008” initiative, the nine E.W. Scripps broadcast stations will make free primetime space available for the eventual 2008 presidential candidates. more » » » 
• Copps Pushes for Investigation of WHNT-TV Outage During 60 Minutes
  FCC commissioner Michael Copps formally asked FCC chairman Kevin Martin to investigate a "technical difficulty" at WHNT-TV Huntsville, Ala., that prevented some Alabama viewers from seeing a Feb. 24 60 Minutes story about an alleged campaign by Karl Rove, former aide to President George W. Bush, against Don Siegelman, former Democrat governor of Alabama, who was eventually jailed for corruption. more » » » 
• Study Says Local TV Most People’s Main Source for News
  Local TV is the most effective video-advertising platform, Hearst-Argyle Television reported, as well as the biggest audience draw for news and information. more » » » 
• TVB: Broadcast-TV Revenue Down in Q4, Full-Year 2007
  Broadcast-TV revenue was down 4.4% in 2007 and 5.6% in the fourth quarter vs. comparable periods in 2006. That's according to the Television Bureau of Advertising, which cited TNS Media Intelligence/CMR data. Local broadcast TV was down a whopping 17.2% for the quarter. more » » » 
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting Faces Budget Cuts
  The Bush administration proposed cutting the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's appropriation in half in 2009 and by even more after that. more » » » 
• KVBC Las Vegas Is First U.S. Customer for Thomson Infinity Camera
  Thomson Grass Valley snagged the first domestic customer for its long-awaited Infinity tapeless camcorder, announcing a deal with KVBC Las Vegas. more » » » 
• Meredith Likes Panasonic’s P2 HD
  Meredith Broadcasting Group is buying P2 HD solid-state camcorders from Panasonic to outfit its 13 stations for HD news production. more » » » 
• DTV Players Preview Digital Future at Best Buy Event
  A Best Buy store in northwest Washington, D.C., set the stage Thursday for the kickoff of the digital-TV converter-box-coupon program in an event that looked for all the world like the Yalta conference. more » » » 
• KPIX San Francisco Debuts HD News
  KPIX San Francisco became the latest station to introduce HD local-news programming to viewers. more » » » 
• Stations Ready for Mobile DTV Trials
  At the same time that broadcasters are wrapping up the final pieces of their transition to digital television (DTV), they are also busy trying to create a new technical standard that will allow them to broadcast to mobile devices within their existing digital spectrum. more » » » 
• NAB Tells FCC Retrans Regime Is Working
  The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) told the FCC Wednesday that it should not expand its inquiry into program tying and bundling into a "wide ranging attack on the retransmission consent process," and that broadcaster negotiations for carriage of channels rather than cash is the free market at work. more » » » 
• FCC Cross-Ownership Order Published in Federal Register
  The FCC's order loosening newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules was published in the Federal Register Thursday morning, according to one media activist, who added: "Let the games begin." more » » » 
• WEUX TV Chippewa Falls Runs Afoul of Kids’ Ad Limits
  The FCC proposed fining WEUX TV Chippewa Falls, Wis., $8,000 for violations of FCC limits on advertising during kids’ programs. more » » » 

Around The Web

GOP candidate's farewell on TV raises some eyebrows
As the Associated Press reports, Republican Secretary of State candidate Rick Dancer, who has spent some 20 years in the anchor's chair at KEZI, Eugene's ABC affiliate, broke the story of his candidacy for Secretary of State by announcing it himself at the top of the 11 o'clock news.

KREX news returns for first time since blaze
Colorado's Grand Junction Journal reports on the return to the air of KREX, which was silenced by a fire six weeks ago. Partly as a result of having to start again from scratch, the station now boasts “the first fully digital television newsroom in town.”

WSAZ cuts 8 jobs in switch to digital
Eight people at WSAZ-TV have lost their jobs in a cost-cutting move, the Charleston Gazette reports. The elimination of three full-time and five part-time production positions was attributed to the switch to digital broadcasting and the consolidation of work that's coming with it.