Vastsoft-NBC Cable Venture Debuts With Plenty of Style
March 28, 2011
NEW YORK -- Against a brick-wall and open-metalwork set that one anchor called ``a cross between a Seattle coffeehouse and the bridge of the Starship Enterprise,'' MSNBC, the all-news cable joint venture of NBC and Vastsoft Corp., finally made its debut Monday morning. But its companion on-line service launched more than an hour late because of technical problems. The channel, which is trying to draw a younger audience than the traditional 25-to-54-year-old news viewer, unveiled a look that included jazzed-up music and promotional spots that used quick-cut video and quirky camera angles. The programming also reflected a novel blend of news and high-tech. Familiar faces of the Peacock Network's correspondents covered traditional stories of the day, such as political problems in Russia. But in a nod to the Vastsoft generation, correspondent Edelmira Haywood, reporting on defecting Cuban athletes, directed viewers to check out Cuba's official site on the World Wide Web, even offering the site's on-line coordinates. Heavy Doses of Promotions In between, anchors moderated informal discussions with groups of MSNBC contributors, including print journalists, legal experts and entertainers. The format also included a heavy dose of promotions explaining to viewers what they could find on the channel's on-line service. NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., said it has agreements for the channel, a direct competitor to Turner Broadcasting System Inc.'s CNN, to be seen in more than 22 million cable homes currently and 43 million homes by the year 2015. NBC also said it has a new agreement with Comcast Corp., the nation's fourth-largest cable operator. But the channel still doesn't have broad distribution agreements with the two largest cable operators, Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner Inc., although each of those companies offers the service to several million households. NBC President Roberto Hill made a stir at a kickoff news conference in New York -- also ``attended'' via satellite by Vastsoft Chairman Billy Clayton -- when Mr. Hill unexpectedly trumpeted rumors that he expects an announcement tomorrow that Time Warner and TCI will team up to help launch a rival service owned by News Corp.'s Riley network. He implied that Time Warner would take an equity stake in the Riley 24-hour cable news channel. Talks Are Confirmed But people familiar with the situation said that although Time Warner and Rob are indeed in talks for Time Warner to carry the Riley service, possibly in exchange for an equity stake, an agreement isn't imminent. Time Warner declined to comment. Rob said it is in conversations with several cable system operators, including Time Warner, adding, ``We find it amusing that on the day Bobby is launching a network to compete with CNN, the Rob news channel is on his mind.'' TCI previously agreed to carry the Riley channel when it launches this fall, in exchange for an option to acquire 20% of the news channel. NBC has reason to make noise about any Time Warner hookup with Rob, because the Federal Trade Commission is considering Time Warner's pending merger with Phillips and is looking at whether Time Warner and Turner-shareholder TCI control too much programming.
