sMoRTy71.com: Two dumb media moves this week

Two dumb media moves this week
I have seen a couple of really bad ideas brought to life by two of the biggest broadcasters that deserve ridicule here in my blog.

1. ESPN's simulated press conferences
I get up early each morning to work out, drink some coffee and ease into my day with a little Sportscenter in HD. Well, I was baffled the other morning when ESPN held a "simulated news conference" to discuss the Boston Red Sox. Some guy, pretending to be the GM of the Red Sox, sitting in front of bank of mics making statements and answering questions from reporters about what the Red Sox should do in the offseason.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get my head around this. Faux reporters all waving their arms in the air trying to get noticed by a faux baseball GM? Why should I be watching this?

Well, tonight, I saw this story on CNN which explains that the "simulated news conference" is something ESPN is trying to liven up its baseball news in the offseason.

According to the news director at ESPN, "it was done to enliven what is often a dull segment: analysts like Phillips sitting behind a desk and speculating about what teams will do." Dull? That is what Sportscenter is -- a bunch of analysts sitting around talking about sports!

I can tolerate (barely) the former NFL pros standing on a fake football field explaining how a screen pass is set up or how to protect against a blitz; however, a fake press conference is just dumb. And guess what? ESPN plans to do more of them! Can't wait.

2. NBC's video on demand announcement
Today, NBC announced that they were going to try a new approach to distribution - selling commercial-free versions of their big shows for $.99 the day after they air. At first, I thought they were going head-to-head with ABC and Disney and making their shows available for the iPod video (but at a lower price point).

Unfortunately, I gave them too much credit. Their idea is much, much simpler than that. They plan to sell commercial-free versions of shows to DirecTV subscribers who own a DirecTV DVR. That's right, they're going to sell you something (the day after it airs) that you can easily record for free when it airs (and zip through the commercials). Brilliant!

I would much rather see NBC and others trying to extend the medium to new devices (even if those devices are made by Apple) than see them reinventing the wheel and then trying to charge you for it.