Don’t call the lawyers, though; CBS has approved this deal with Blinkx.tv, which makes localized content like news, weather, and entertainment available from CBS TV websites to the Blinkx search engine.
Part of CBS’ online media initiative, “Always On,” follows the network’s shift of news from a broadcast to an Internet-first focus. With numerous CBS-owned stations present throughout the US, CBS has ambitiously moved to deliver that content to more online visitors.
The network disclosed this step in the Always On initiative recently. Seventeen websites dedicated to those stations were relaunched or are in the process of being relaunched to support CBS’ broader Internet plans.
Blinkx became part of those plans with the CBS partnership. Content developed by those local stations in cities like Chicago and Philadelphia can be searched and delivered by the Blinkx video search engine.
There are some search relevance issues they will need to address as they go forward with this initiative. Blinkx allows users to move a slider to change the way it returns search results. The balance can be weighted toward recency by date, or relevance, or places in between.
A search for “CBS Philadelphia traffic” weighted by date brings up a first page of results from stations in San Francisco and Chicago. Shifting to the relevance end yields results from Philly’s KYW, but the first SERPs to appear are dated December 5th, 2005. Useful if you’re driving Marty McFly’s DeLorean.
It is a relatively new initiative, and one that CBS seems to be approaching with enthusiasm:
“This partnership with blinkx is important for us in that it broadens the opportunities for users to have exposure to our unique local video content through the growing area of video search,” said Jonathan Leess, President and General Manager, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group.
“The award-winning news departments at our local TV stations are the best in the business, and creating broader access to their reports is a critical component of our strategic digital media plans.”
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
