NBC has announced it is going to launch a website in Boston that will cover news and entertainment. No biggie, right? Except that NBCBoston.com (not running yet) will go head to head with the NBC affiliate in Boston, WHDH. We’ve talked a lot about how the networks are going around the affiliates, but this is a major shot across the bow. WHDH has traded barbs with NBC before. Ed Ansin, owner of Sunbeam, the station’s parent company, was among the first to criticize the Jay Leno move back when it was first made. He threatened to run local news at 10 pm. Writes Johnny Diaz at Boston.com:
NBC has established 10 similar websites in markets where it owns and operates affiliates, including Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. Those stations, owned and operated by NBC, are broadcast partners with NBC’s online venture and their sites have been consolidated into the network’s website. But that will not be the case in Boston. Sunbeam Television in Miami owns WHDH and the station, which had been approached by NBC to collaborate on its new online venture, declined.
LR Pal Stephanie Miller, the director of digital media at WBZ, Boston’s CBS affiliate is quoted in the article: “Boston is ranked in one of the highest broadband-usage penetration markets… It’s ripe for the plucking.”
This is a declaration of independence, but it comes from both sides. WHDH just recently relaunched its site. It will be fascinating to see whether there are similar skirmishes at other network affiliates.