Maybe you’ve seen the news that TV Guide is changing its format – trimming back the program schedules which have been its traditional reason-to-be and replacing them with more feature content.
It seems the trusty old TV Guide has seen its subscription base wither and skew ever older. All thanks to the convenience and customizability of this same information online, and on every digital cable system at the touch of a button.
It made me think…
Is there an analogy between the problems of TV Guide and the challenges faced by All News radio?
As with TV Guide, the central elements of All News are available online – and even on a plethora of local TV morning and afternoon news blocks.
If your greatest advantage is that you provide headlines – news, traffic, weather, sports – when I’m on the go, then what happens when my cell phone gives me the weather or the traffic? What happens when the Internet beams directly into my car? What is the reason-to-be for All News Radio then?
Will its Cume diminish? Will it skew ever-older?
It also seems to me that feature content is to TV Guide as Talk is to All News.
Is News/Talk the future of All News? And what do you do if there’s a market but no hole?