While Kagan Research data do not distinguish between spending on personnel and spending on technology or infrastructure (studios, equipment, and so on), other reports suggest that the channels have been emphasizing synergy and cross-promotion with other platforms.

CNN.com has been one of the popular online news Web sites for some time (See Online Audience [1]). In 2005, Time Warner took additional steps to link its cable and online entities. In August, in a trial run in San Diego , it broadcast 75 cable channels — including CNN, MTV and ESPN — over the Internet. Subscribers were able to download the CNN signal (along with other channels) through Real Media players. Results of the exercise have not been disclosed, but Time Warner, with help from RealNetworks, the creator of the online media players, was reported to be looking into offering digital video recording for the computer, as well as multicasting.21 [2]

CNN’s head of sales and marketing, Greg D’Alba, emphasized the channel’s adaptability to new platforms — essentially the Internet, but also video-on-demand and cell-phone TVs. He is quoted as saying “advertisers… believe in, and pay for, CNN’s ability to reach consumers in a number of ways with the same content.”22 [3]

Another milestone in the network’s move into new media was the launch of “CNN Pipeline” in December 2005. This online news channel provided both live streaming video content and access to recent video-on-demand clips and deeper video archives. It was launched as a commercial-free subscription service (costing up to $25 annually) and could be accessed through the main CNN.com site.23 [4]

But Time Warner wasn’t the only media conglomerate expanding its news platforms. News Corp., hoping to extend its brand, launched a new unit in July 2005 that grouped together the Internet properties owned by its Fox Entertainment, News, and Sports businesses. The new division was named “Fox Interactive Media” and was headed by Ross Levinsohn, formerly chief of Fox’s online sports business. The division hoped to make it easier for browsers to move from one Fox-owned site to another, to personalize what they see and to get better access to video. In December 2005, Levinsohn forecast revenues for Fox Interactive for the fiscal year 2006, ending in June 2006, would be $300 million (but that was largely from non-news-related properties like myspace.com and the gaming provider IGN).24 [5]

Meanwhile, Fox News has also developed a new model of synergy via radio.25 [6] Fox News Radio offers a format combining hourly news updates with talk shows hosted by Fox personalities, including Alan Colmes and Tony Snow. In June 2005, it became the primary national news service for more than 100 of Clear Channel’s news/talk stations under a five-year deal. By mid-2005, it had reached 360 stations across the U.S. It planned to expand its newsgathering resources and have 500 affiliates by the end of 2005.26 [7]

In addition, content from the Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio, newly packaged under one brand name, was expected to become part of XM Satellite Radio’s programming in early 2006. The Fox Talk News Channel would feature most of the cable channel’s noted pundits, including Greta Van Susteren, Tony Snow, Sean Hannity, John Gibson, Alan Colmes, and Bill O’Reilly. According to one business analyst, “Fox News Channel will continue to make News Corp. shareholders smile with this XM marketing scheme. The channel’s radio exposure should lead to higher TV ratings and more lucrative advertising rates over time.”27 [8]

It’s interesting that while MSNBC lags far behind the other two as a cable channel, its presence online is just the opposite. Among all the three cable channels, MSNBC has had the most success in online synergy. The channel’s partner Web site, MSNBC.com, has been the most popular news Web site since its inception in 1996, thanks in part to its ties to Microsoft.

In August 2005, MSNBC.com drew the most visitors of any news Web site, receiving 26.6 million unique hits, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. “They have a much savvier Web news staff than their competitors have,” an online news consultant told the New York Times in September 2005.28 [9] As recognition of the Web site’s success, that month the company created the post of president of MSNBC.com to be employed directly by the joint venture company. Charles Tillinghast, who was previously general manager and publisher of the site, was named to the post.

MSNBC on the Web synthesizes elements from both NBC and MSNBC-TV. It continues to run feature stories from the NBC News staff and Newsweek magazine, and in 2004 began to showcase MSNBC cable’s talk shows and personalities as well. MSNBC has also been a way for Microsoft to publicize its own Internet services. In November 2005, it increased its efforts to woo news viewers by posting the entire “NBC Nightly News” broadcast on the site for on-demand viewing. While ads shown on the TV station weren’t transferred, MSNBC was reported to be looking into the possibility of selling ad space on both the TV broadcast and the webcast.29 [10]

In other words, beyond what it contributes to the bottom line on its own, MSNBC (the TV channel) has become useful as an effective platform for promoting its two parent companies and their products and helping amortize NBC’s news costs.