 - M I N N E S O T A - M E D I A - In many ways, the formation of Internet Broadcasting and its Channel 4000 site for WCCO radio & TV established the standard for economic viability of local media sites on the Internet. It was the first to create a economic model for a local media site that works. Its founders were Internet visionaries and it's alliance with WCCO gave it early credibility and success. The reported $100,000 banner commitments from AT&T;, Byerlys and Marquette Bank plus a huge on-air promotional effort by WCCO didn't hurt either. Editor & Publisher Interactive recently reviewed the Channel 4000 business model with quotes from Reid Johnson, CEO of the WCCO site. The article's title: First Profitable TV Web Site swoons over the 300,000 visits the site receives each month. This article is a good read for those of us interested in the future of website media ventures. Channel 4000 was certainly not the first Minnesota media business to stake out territory online. The Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press newspapers have that distinction with early efforts at proprietary, paid service attempted by both publications. In each case the paid subscription model failed. Today, the Star Tribune offers one of the most comprehensive free sites on the web. With a style that complements its newspaper, the online version of the Star Tribune provides most of what you get with the version delivered to your door, plus some new aspects available only to those who surf the site. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has held true to its name, pioneering the online frontier with a website that has changed many times over the short history of the World Wide Web. Now a free subscription site, Pioneer Planet has refined its web site to include much of its daily paper content plus added sections and economic alliances to create an exemplary product for its Knight Ridder parent owners. A directory site, presumptuously calling itself 'Ultimate TV', has published a listing of all Minnesota Television Stations along with web or Email links to those 'connected' stations. A dozen plus Minnesota newspapers are currently listed in the Newspaper Association of America's directory of Minnesota Newspapers. Check them out; it's fun to get a glimpse of Minnesota life from the perspective of a local newspaper in Mankato, Rochester, Winona or even St. Cloud.
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