UK: Regional newspaper sites taking advantage of broadband age

Posted by Anna-Maria Mende on October 14, 2005 at 5:25 PM

The news agency Press Association (PA) and Northcliffe Electronic Publishing (NEP), the internet division of publisher Northcliffe Newspaper Group, announced a deal on video news bulletins last week. PA will deliver video new bulletins to 28 local information sites published by the NEP on behalf of Northcliffe's regional titles, reports Journalism.co.uk.

The 28 websites, which include thisisleicestershire.co.uk, Website of the Leicester Mercury, thisisessex.com, website of Essex Chronicle and Gazette, etc., now provide 90-second video bulletins on international and national news, sport and entertainment. The bulletins are updated throughout the day and can be viewed with the Windows Media Player.

Through the move, the newspaper sites are taking advantage of the possibilities offered through broadband, to which more and more people have access. Asha Oberoi, multimedia head at PA, said on Journalism.co.uk, "We are delighted to be working with a regional newspaper group at a time when the impact of broadband internet on newspaper publishers is growing ... Over time we hope to develop the service with more regional content and work with NEP to incorporate locally generated video material into the multimedia products." Source: Journalism.co.uk