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The brand new CBS HD Gallery features full-length shows like CSI, Survivor and Big Brother in 720p, sponsored exclusively by Intel. “We’re focused on providing the highest-quality audio and video that technology allows, and we’re working with leaders across the industry, and clients like Intel, to make that objective a reality,” said CBS Interactive SVP/GM Anthony Soohoo.

Lin TV has announced that it has the number one TV sites in 15 of its 17 markets and the number one media site in “visit time” in all but two of its markets. While I’m sure Lin sites do very well in their markets, the data source is Hitwise for a single month — not always a reliable metric.

Because Redlasso is stealing video. No law degree required here.

I apologize in advance for my snarky blogging today, as I’m running on very little sleep with a new baby. And just a few minutes ago, a DISH Network telemarketer called my wife’s hospital room where she was asleep for one of the first times since undergoing a C-section. It started with a canned announcement, and then when prompted I hit “1″ to talk to the telemarketer . When I told him where he had called (whispering) and told him to put the number on his do not call list, he didn’t even apologize. Instead, he said in a mocking fashion, “Oh, oh, thank you sir,” and hung up on me. DISH, are you really THAT desperate for business?

I thought it was interesting that a blogger for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer here in Seattle made fun of KING-TV’s “pull the plug” digital TV test. You know, the test that dozens of stations around the country are doing — switching to digital for a few seconds to alert analog viewers that they need to upgrade before February. “Skip the fuss, avoid calling KING-5’s ‘experts’; and just go to the store and get a converter box or buy a new TV. It’ll take you five minutes,” writes Moises Mendoza. Clearly Moises hasn’t bought a digital television recently — a buying decision nearly as complex as buying a new car, which can take hours of online research and/or endless wandering through the halls of Best Buy. And for older folks who watch tons of TV, it’s rocket science. Perhaps the promotion for these “pull the plug” tests can get a little too dramatic, but I think they’re very effective. And for local TV, that’s important going into the switchover. (Moises also got the facts wrong in his blog post. KING’s test is 20 seconds long, not five minutes. Full disclosure: I used to work for KING-TV and can’t stand uninformed newspaper people making fun of TV.)

Update: Well, the downside to doing these live tests is you really can’t test it first. KING’s DTV test today also happened to interrupt many cable and satellite subscribers.

Internet Broadcasting has inked a deal with TheStreet.com for financial articles and video on IB’s affiliate sites.

Several WorldNow sites I frequent have a neat new Flash-based video player. Kudos!

But I doubt the player is getting embedded a whole lot… the video plays on load. Not when you click play - but as soon as it loads. There’s actually been two occasions in the past month where I’ve wanted to embed a video on my other blog - but it’s a no go because I don’t want to BLAST audio on my users.

Ya’ win some…

KXLY.com, the ABC affiliate in Spokane launched a cool new video archive site. LR regular (and KXLY.com site manager) Rob Kauder tells us the site has more than 10,000 video clips dating back several years. “(We) had all this video from our in-house archival system built for our old website and I didn’t want it to go to waste so we built a website around all this video,” Kauder said. You can stream or embed any of the video for free at video.kxly.com. All of the video is available for download - for a fee. Who needs that crazy third-party monitoring service when folks can throw a video clip on their computer hard drive for free!

Qik, a video streaming service moved into public beta today. You’ve read about Qik on LostRemote before. I thought it was pretty cool when we started streaming via a SlingBox but imagine a newsroom full of reporters who can in an instant turn their cell phones into a live shot. Oh and by the way the feeds are automatically archived and they are a social networking site of sorts. (iPhone on Qik still in alpha).

Today Google announced that they are opening Knol (short for Knowledge). The Wikipedia like site allows users to create articles about anything. The twist is, they allow the author of the article to manage the updates. That means various articles on the same topic but a different perspective.

Some bloggers are saying that Knol is a direct challenge to media companies. Danny over at Journalistopia has a good summary of bloggers thoughts on Knol.

Today radio took a big step in the direction of local TV sites, with 140 CBS stations signing up for WorldNow’s video system. You can see the player now on the homepage of WCBS-AM. The press release contained a very telling quote:

“Rethinking and evolving our business had led us to this transformation and in the very near future every station will have a major video component transforming radio from a purely audio medium to a visual one as well,” said David Goodman, President, Digital Media and Integrated Marketing, CBS RADIO.

WorldNow has 452 total local media clients in broadcast TV, newspaper and now radio. So, your local competitors for video pre-roll ads are no longer limited to TV and some newspapers.

Brian Lowry has a column in Variety stating that TV and radio news is going to suffer greatly from the print decline.

As print fades, then, the fallout promises to hasten broadcast news’ descent as well — from “Rip and read” to simply “Read it and weep.”

In what reads like a reaction to the Pew study noted earlier on LR, Lowry opines that print newsroom cuts are going to have a ripple effect that will create “an information stream that’s often a mile wide and an inch deep.” But his premise that Web news outlets are primarily opinion focused and don’t have enough original reporting resources represents the old bias and narrow scope. It is nearly as offensive as referring to radio news persons as “lonely gnomes.”

Adds Cory: I can’t even get beyond the first line of Lowry’s column. Some newspaper people, like Lowry apparently, have this news-of-record attitude that quality journalism will cease to exist once papers are severely downsized or gone altogether. But the truth of the matter is existing and up-and-coming news organizations will fill the void just fine (this is a big opportunity for TV stations and hyperlocal blogs, for example). Yes, the decline of newspapers is extremely unfortunate and difficult to watch, but it’s time for columnists like Lowry to bag this holier-than-thou blathering.

The Online News Association is heading to Washington DC again this year for their annual confab. The schedule so far looks pretty decent. I’ve always gotten a lot out of ONA because it casts a wide net over broadcast, print and online pure plays so everyone gets a chance to get out of their respective silos and see what is really going on out there. While seats are limited, I do recommend the IRE workshop in Django and Ruby for anyone who has wanted to get a handle on frameworks and hasn’t had the chance.

Update from Cory: ONA is terrific and well worth the time/investment. Unlike many conferences, you come away with some great, actionable ideas. It’s been well-attended over the years from national sites and newspapers, but not local TV sites. I would encourage TV groups to invest the money to go — despite deep cuts in travel/conference budgets.

Wordpress 2.6 (code-named “Tyner” after jazz great McCoy Tyner) hit the pipes about 10 days ago. I was disappointed with 2.5 when I found a number of my favorite WP features, like posting photos via e-mail and press it, were AWOL, so I have been looking forward to this release. I’ve been steeling myself for the upgrading process of multiple sites. Before I dig in my heels and start unpacking tarballs, I want to ask the LR faithful if you’ve done it and what you think. (note: Papa Cory handles the LR WP deployment and administration)

Shelly Palmer has this blast on HuffPost to counter remarks made by Ben Silverman, co-head of programming for the NBC Television Network. Sliverman said: “We’re managing for margin and not for ratings.” Palmer writes: “There is nothing technology can do to help or hurt this strategy. It is truly the end of broadcast television.” And continues with:

If you want to see TV ratings improve, the business improve and the ROI improve, try investing in programming, not margins. It will be a refreshing twist for the 21st century. And, it is really the only thing that will turn the business around. The recipe for profitable broadcast television is pretty simple: Develop large audiences that you can accurately measure and sell them to advertisers who need to reach them. The shows that do this even have a name: “hits.” If, on the other-hand, you want to sunset an organization and squeeze every last dime out of it before it gives up the ghost, manage for margins.

Hmm, maybe the print folk should read this too? Your thoughts?

  -   WRAL kicks off mobile digital television trial
  -   Is Digg selling to Google? Speculating about the rumors
  -   NYT Company revenue continues slide, but online numbers up
  -   Could peace be near for YouTube and Hollywood?
  -   Buy Amazon.com stuff straight from your TiVo
  -   Comcast’s The Platform to power Time Warner Cable video portal

If users don’t find business news relevant because it’s local, they typically find it relevant because it’s about their industry. LinkedIn will begin showing headlines from the NYT’s business and technology pages. Editor and Publisher reports, the headlines will be selected based on their profession. Just one more example of hyper-personal news.

In my years in the news business, I’ve jumped out of bed many times in the night to rush to cover a story. But when my wife announced at 1:30 a.m. on Monday that her water broke — a full month early — the adrenaline was flowing like never before. At 2:14 a.m. today, Kate gave birth to a baby boy named Kai. Both mom and baby (5 pounds 14 ounces) are doing just fine. Now I just have to figure out how to teach the little guy how to blog.

Update: Thanks everyone!!!

According to an AP story about a study done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, newspaper cutbacks are affecting the quality of their product. When you actually read the story or the results (as opposed to just the CNN headline) it tells a different story. They say that “nearly two thirds of papers surveyed have cut back on foreign news, over half have trimmed national news and more than a third have reduced business coverage.”

The study goes on to say “In effect, America’s newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads.” Yes they are becoming niche reads. And their niche is local. Is there something wrong with that? Probably not since the study points out that more than half of the editors surveyed “think their news product is better than it was three years earlier.” Read more for the other three “major findings.”

UPDATE: I found a much better article (NY Times) on the study.

• “The majority of newspapers are now suffering cutbacks in staffing, and even more in the amount of news, or newshole, they offer the public.”

• “The culture of the daily newspaper newsroom is also changing. New job demands are drawing a generation of young, versatile, tech-savvy, high-energy staff as financial pressures drive out higher-salaried veteran reporters and editors.”

• “Newspaper websites are increasingly a source of hope but also of fear. Editors feel torn between the advantages the web offers and the energy it consumes to produce material often of limited or even questionable value.”

Full report available here.

Limelight is gearing up to stream 5,200 hours of content online for the Beijing Olympics for NBC/MSNBC.com - about 2,200 hours live and 3,000 of clips. The massive undertaking is thought to be the largest video streaming effort in history. “It won’t surprise us if (the Beijing Olympics) breaks all the records,” said Gordon, Limelight’s chief strategy officer told The Hollywood Reporter.

“We’re adapting to the way Americans born after 1980 are consuming content.”