“Pterodactyl Trying To Grow Feathers:” Video Cos. Need New Distribution Model

Earlier this week, NBC announced plans to air NBC Nightly News on MSNBC.com. (Today and Meet The Press are coming soon, too.) But CNET’s Harry Fuller thinks the plan doesn’t go far enough.

“Why isn’t broadcast network news live online? Why aren’t the cable news channels live online?,” he asks.

We know why, of course. “Video news companies in the United States are trapped by corporate plans and old business models,” Fuller asserts.

He concludes: “American TV network structures date from a predigital time. Just as it once took outsider Ted Turner to bring the world 24-hour cable news, it may now take a not-TV corporation to bring live news video to the Internet. Four-hour-old NBC “Nightly News” online may be the pterodactyl trying to grow feathers.”