A large part of the myCBCvancouver project is now finished — all the new technology associated with the project has now been installed. (The last piece was the live camera on top of the Royal Bank building.)

The myCBC project is a national initiative that is aimed at rejuvenating and expanding our news service, including bringing more citizen-generated content to CBC’s web site and airwaves. The first rollout is in Vancouver. [wmv video]

Here are some of the new services to give you a taste of what’s coming to regional web sites across the system:

• A new page called Your Story showcases stories generated in one way or another by users. The page has only been up a few days and it’s already generated video that’s been used on air. (We used cell phone video of an apartment fire and home video of a warehouse fire. We also found, through the page, a friend of the crane operator who was killed on the job.)
• Another page called Your Community is designed for people in communities to share information about what’s going on in their areas — be they geographic or organized around a particular subject. It’s early days for this page. The web team is working on ways to encourage groups to use it.
• Other features are being added, including other languages, which should show up early this Spring.

So far, the numbers seem to demonstrate interest. The site has had a 25% increase since its soft-launch in September.

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	Vancouver, myCBC	Posted at 12:03 am (05 Feb 2008)

As just about all CBC employees know, for more than a year now the corporation has been working on the development and implementation of “My CBC” - a renewal of local news and a move toward “Web 2.0″ online initiatives.

The test bed for this has been Vancouver, with “myCBCvancouver” - described as
“a strengthened and innovative integrated local news service in Vancouver” designed to create “a more accessible news service that encourages people to interact with the CBC in various ways everyday.”

The project is known internally as the “Vancouver incubator.” It launched this fall, with a significant expansion of local radio and TV news (including new noon and 11pm TV newscasts; local Saturday and Sunday TV newscasts were added last month.) According to a recent update from project manager Joan Andersen, “We’re not done yet, but we’re well over the hump.”

Good thing, too. Because the competition is about to heat up.

According to a source, CTV News is declaring war in the Vancouver market, making it a ratings battleground leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, to which it holds broadcast rights.

For the past several months, CTV’s news division has been reportedly working on plans to boost their morning programming by combining the Canada AM and CTV Newsnet teams. In the new year, the source says, they are planning to air Canada AM live, nationwide, six hours a day (three hours a day in each time zone and all six hours on CTV Newsnet.)

Johnny Michel, CBC’s regional director for British Columbia, thinks the changes can only benefit B.C. viewers.

“I think this is great news for the viewing public,” he told Inside CBC. “For many, many years, CTV has been serving Western Canada with a three hour tape delayed morning news. Global (at the time BCTV) took advantage of that fact about 10 years ago and established its now dominating local Morning News, however up to now, viewers had no other choice.”

Among the things CTV apparently wants to improve is western coverage - more live programming, more voices from the western provinces, and a greater focus on Vancouver. There will also be a new focus on breaking news.

Michel welcomes the competition, and believes the CBC and CTV initiatives will make the entire market more lively.

“I believe the ultimate winner with any increased competition is the consumer,” he says. “MyCBC was built on the philosophy of putting viewers and consumers first.

“While I agree that the morning timeslot will be extremely competitive, I believe that in today’s environment any news organization needs to be available 24/7, delivering accurate and reliable information in more ways and places and on more platforms that ever before. I know that MyCBC brings us closer than anyone else in the Vancouver market to accomplishing this goal.”

So it looks like the gauntlet that CBC has thrown was picked up.

What do you think of the changes in the Vancouver media landscape? How will the battle for viewers  unfold?

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	The Media Landscape, Vancouver, myCBC	Posted at 2:40 pm (04 Dec 2007)