This post was originally published on this site
There’s a palpable excitement among broadcasters about FAST channels, and there’s plenty to love about them for local TV newsrooms.
For one thing, they work just like linear television merely transposed to a streaming environment, allowing newsrooms to tap into muscle memory to put content there. And for another, stations have near-limitless latitude in programming FAST channels, not having to navigate around network programming or other linear guardrails.
Angela Grande is director of streaming news channels at NBCUniversal Local, and her job of late has been to build out the group’s rules of engagement for FAST. The role involves mediating between the local stations, the various FAST platforms themselves — an ever-growing number — and the group’s back-end technology partner. It’s an environment of constant communication and iteration of increasing strategic importance as FAST gains currency among viewers.
In this Talking TV conversation, Grande explains how she choreographs it all, what NBCU Local is learning about FAST’s utility value and where she sees the landscape headed.
Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.
Michael Depp: Broadcasters have been very leaned into FAST channels for a couple of years now. Like everything else, that platform is evolving quickly and it’s a moving target for programmers. FAST channel strategies need to be nimble and nuanced, and there needs to be plenty of conversations, both internally within a broadcast group and with FAST streaming technology and platform partners, to keep the product well-oiled.
I’m Michael Depp, editor of TVNewsCheck, and this is