Iowa television station uses internet for political purposes

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NBC WHO-TV Des Moines Iowa, in conjucntion with newspaper The Des Moines Register, will be producing political debates in advance of primary elections, running them live over the internet and then broadcasting them over the air at a later date.


The station is owned by group Local TV.

The events are being called “Conversation with the Candidates” and are a hour long. Republican primary candidates for Iowa’s 3rd District US House of Representative seat will be entertained 5/18/10; and Democratic candidates for the US Senate will sit 5/25/10. Both shows will be live over the internet and televised the following Sunday at 9AM.

A third session does not involve the WHO, but will involve television. Republicans running for governor will be hosted 5/20/10 by the Register and IPTV World – IPTV standing for Iowa Public Television. It will be seen live on the internet at noon, then rebroadcast over IPTV stations that evening at 7PM.

RBR-TVBR observation: This illustrates an excellent way to utilize your website – making it a destination – all while serving the public interest. It allows scheduling convenient to politicians, and airtime that is less disruptive to the broadcast business model than was ever possible in pre-internet days.

Another great place for this type of programming would be on a digital side channel.