Local TV news when you want it

Next time you miss the morning news, download it to your iPod and watch on the subway ride to work.

That's a likely possibility given one of the latest trends among local television news stations: distributing their programs via mobile devices and the Web as they try to hold onto fickle audiences. Local stations are following the example of broadcast and cable networks, which are rushing to make hits like ``The Sopranos" and ``Lost" available to viewers unwilling to be tethered to a schedule or their TV sets. Locally though, it's the news instead of mob dramas that is migrating to new devices.

Boston TV executives say their multimedia strategies are a response to viewers who are increasingly shifting their viewing to the Web and portable devices. Doing so, they say, is a relatively cheap way to expand the reach of their programming because it usually doesn't involve investing in new equipment or in many cases even the time it takes to produce new video.

Viewers, they hope, will tune in to the news where they have other devices but no televisions -- at work, on the T, in Starbucks -- and then check the tube for updates once they are home.

They also hope that, like viewers, advertisers will follow the content, leading to new revenue streams at a time when local TV news viewership has been on the decline over the past decade.

``Do I expect to make a ton of extra advertising money the day we launch it? No. But I do expect that this is absolutely going to be a vital part of any station's future," said Steve Safran, director of digital media at New England Cable News.

His station is unveiling on Monday NECN Anywhere, an initiative to reach viewers with video-on-demand, podcast, and eventually cellphone versions of some of its news and talk shows. NECN is also upgrading its website so that users of Apple computers can access the video available there. Executives at the station would not say how much the initiative cost, but it wasn't much.

``If you're smart about it and take advantage of the technologies, it's a small, incremental additional cost," said Charles Kravetz , NECN's vice president for news and programming.

CBS4 Mobile , a subscription service designed to give Sprint and Verizon Wireless customers access to news, traffic, and weather videos from the station and blogs written by some of its reporters, is days away from launch, said vice president and station manager Angie Kucharski. The service will cost about $3 per month and will be billed directly to subscribers by their cellphone companies.

This month Fox network affiliate WFXT-TV plans to relaunch its website with a focus on exclusive video not seen on its regular newscasts, said spokeswoman Maggie Hennessey Nees . WHDH-TV , the local NBC station, already offers text updates of weather and school closings via mobile phone and plans to add Web-only news video to its website in the near future, according to spokeswoman Ginny Lund .

Local PBS station WGBH-TV started offering podcasts of some of its programs last year and also has a video-on-demand channel on the local Comcast cable system. And ABC-affiliate WCVB-TV launched last year on its site three-minute Web-only newscasts, called ClickCasts, three times a day. The Web clips are hosted by news anchors Heather Unruh , Susan Wornick, and Liz Brunner . WCVB is also planning Web-only broadcasts of political events during the upcoming elections, said spokeswoman Erin Duggan .

Newspapers, amid declining circulations, are facing similar struggles. Yesterday, The Boston Globe started making its stories available via a new Boston.com service that sends news, sports, and weather updates to cellphones. And beginning June 12, front-page news from the Globe will be downloadable as an audio podcast.

``People have been moving to the Web anyway, and moving to MP3 players, iPods, and cellphones, so we're trying to meet people where they are," said John Yemma , a Globe deputy managing editor who works on the paper's multimedia initiatives.

Boston Herald editorial director Ken Chandler said his paper has only experimented with the use of video on the Web, but is working on a more aggressive multimedia strategy that might include podcasting and streaming audio and video over the Web.

NECN's Safran said he credits newspapers with making better use of their websites as multimedia hubs. Still, TV stations might have several advantages over their print competition. (NECN has partnerships with both Boston.com and the Globe. Boston.com hosts the station's website, and the Globe's reporters often appear on NECN to discuss their stories.)

Television news is by definition created using audio and video, making the leap to TV news over the Web, iPod, or cellphone shorter than for newspapers. Newspaper companies also are struggling to hold onto readers by giving away news free on the Web and elsewhere, all while trying not to cannibalize subscription and classified advertising revenue.

Already, about one-quarter of local TV stations' websites are profitable, and local news is consistently cited by visitors as the reason for going to those sites, according to the most recent survey by the Radio & Television News Directors Association .

When CBS4 relaunched its site last year, the goal was to break even in the first 12 months, said Kucharski. ``At this point, we are making a profit," she said.

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.