By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Atlanta-based Cox Media Group is part of a venture launching a new app that will provide live and same-day local newscasts on demand from TV stations nationwide - including Channel 2 Action News - to consumers’ mobile and selected connected TV devices.
NewsON will enable people to watch live feeds of WSB-TV's newscasts as well as on demand for free starting this fall. As more people consume programming on their smartphones and tablets, this is a way to access that market.
The other media companies involved are ABC Owned Television Station Group, Hearst Television, Media General and Raycom Media. In total so far, 112 television stations in 84 markets will be available but NewsON expects more to sign on.
Louis Gump has signed on as NewsON's chief executive officer. Gump presided earlier in his career over benchmark-setting mobile businesses for The Weather Company and CNN before becoming CEO of mobile media and advertising company LSN Mobile.
According to the March 2015 report “Local News in a Digital Age” by the Pew Research Center, local TV stations remain a dominant source of news for Americans in markets both big and small. The appetite for local and neighborhood news, the staple of TV station newscast coverage, is up to twice the appetite for national and international news, the study found.
CBS recently launched a subscription-based "All Access" app but it does not make CBS46 newscasts available. WGCL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, is owned by Meredith Corp.
WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.
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