Cincinnati's Public TV Affiliate: 97K Web Hits Last Month, Shooting For 500K And Paid Advertising

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- For WCET-TV to reach its goal, the tax-subsidized PBS outlet would have to increase its monthly Web traffic by more than 500%. Eventually, it wants to sell advertising, which would position it as a direct competitor of private, for-profit enterprises that have been paying taxes, creating content, and investing in their own online operations. Unfair advantage? The Business Courier's Dan Monk says the station had an all-time record 97,000 visitors in February, which does seem somewhat puny for a Web portal connected to a brand, PBS, that has been around for decades. Monk's column about WCET's (Channel 48) efforts to become bigger on the Web is behind a firewall, but here are a few graphs:

"Cincinnati's public television station is hoping to make its Web site a break-even enterprise by adding content and giving users a chance to customize the information they receive from www.cetconnect.org. The tricky part will be juicing the site's revenue potential while holding true to its non-commercial roots.

" . . . Channel 48 recently won a $200,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to expand its online offerings. In 2006, it was the first public TV station in the country to offer on-demand video via the Web. It now has more than 1,000 hours of video archives, most of it news and public affairs programming.

". . . The site set a record in February with 97,000 visitors. The new goal is to boost that to 500,000 by launching a new redesign next month. The site will feature audio podcasts and a registration page where CET members can customize their online experience."

Cincinnati Public TV Station: A Taxpayer-Subsidized Version Of YouTUBE?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A tiny story in today's Cincinnati Enquirer business section said the government-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting gave a $200,000 grant to its local public TV outlet to finance Web site development:

"Audio podcasts, personalized options and more video will be added to www.CETconnect.org, the Cincinnati public TV station's Web site . . . Launched two years ago, the Web site offers more than 1,000 arts, educational, history, family and public affairs videos on demand. The federal funding will allow CET to redesign the Web site and let users customize their areas of interests, said Susan Howarth, CET president and CEO."

Is this really necessary -- a jazzed up public TV Web site -- when the country is going broke? YouTUBE and web clones are clogging the Internet with every imaginable kind of video -- including public TV programming. A PBS-style miniseries about Founding Father John Adams isn't even on PBS this week -- it's on a private cable channel. There are big media companies, cable and private broadcasters from all over the world, now operating Web portals packed with online content. Inquiring minds are wondering: Doesn't the government have more worthwhile things to spend its money on -- things like care for veterans, or fighting crime, or finding a cure for breast cancer, or alternative energy sources? Maybe it's time to end government subsidies to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, where 44 percent of its $2.4 billion in total revenue comes from taxes.