Small town TV station spreads to YouTube

A Temecula, California local news station may be among the first to put various news segments up on YouTube. And it's doing so in a very smart way. KZSW uploads popular video segments to YouTube because it's cheaper than burning the stories to DVD for the viewers who call and request a copy. The station also encourages viewers to subscribe and receive notices whenever KZSW has uploaded new content to the video site.

This is a great idea and I wish more local television news stations would stop hoarding their video on their own websites and share it on YouTube. Case in point: this week we had a lovely snowstorm in Portland, OR that shut down the city. The NBC affiliate, KGW, has great *exclusive* video of an SUV sliding down a hill and hitting 15 cars in the process. The video is spectacular, yet the station hoards it and keeps it on its own website. Why? Well, I can only speculate here but I think it's because they want people to sit through the advertisement that plays beforehand and they want people to come to their website to see it. They don't get it. That video could definitely be viral and therefore free marketing for the station. Duh.

The fear, of course, is that if all local stations finally do get on the bandwagon and start uploading segments to YouTube, the website will be flooded with stupid local news stories. Moderation, people. Moderation. If you watch local news, you know that is a concept news directors do not comprehend.