Today, the ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Media General and Raycom Media announced the upcoming launch of a live-streaming news hub, NewsON.
It will be a free, ad-supported app available for mobile devices, set to launch in early fall 2015. Users will be able to watch live and on-demand news content from any of the 112 participating news stations, in 84 viewing markets across the country. In about 21 of those markets, users will be able to “change the channel” across live news broadcasts. They plan to add additional markets to this live stream category, otherwise it’s all on demand. Louis Gump, who’s worked for The Weather Channel and CNN, among many other mobile and marketing gigs, has signed on as the CEO. He said in an official statement:
Americans place a great deal of trust in their local news teams, who are typically the first informers from the local scene of the biggest news developments around the country. NewsON will bring instant access to live local news to a generation of viewers accustomed to using mobile and connected TV platforms to stay informed. And this is just the start. We’ll welcome the participation of other TV station owners, as this service only gets better with each additional station.
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NewsON will be a direct competitor to WatchUp, another mobile app that offers on-demand news content, though there’s no capability to watch live broadcasts yet. In the past year, they’ve partnered with Scripps, Meredith, the Tribune Company and also Cox Media Group, one of the NewsONE partners.