C-SPAN Debuts Online 'Convention Hub' for Upcoming Democratic and Republican Conventions

C-SPAN Debuts Online 'Convention Hub' for Upcoming Democratic and Republican Conventions

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- C-SPAN announces today its "Convention Hub," a unique online addition to the network's coverage of the upcoming 2008 Democratic and Republican conventions.

Convention Hub, comprised of two websites, is designed to track coverage of the political blogosphere and social media, while making embeddable C-SPAN convention video available for online use.

C-SPAN's Democratic Convention Hub and Republican Convention Hub are slated to launch at: www.c-span.org/politics later this month, just prior to the start of the two political party conventions.

C-SPAN has engaged New Media Strategies (NMS), an Arlington-based online intelligence and marketing firm, to design proprietary software technology for Convention Hub. C-SPAN will maintain editorial control over each of the websites.

Convention Hub features include:

-- Real-time tracking of credentialed state and national political bloggers, aggregated on the websites, to enable users to follow the latest online convention news and analysis;

-- Video clips from the network's convention coverage, embeddable, to facilitate use by political bloggers and other convention watchers;

-- Linkable access to the complete C-SPAN Video Library, allowing interested users to fully search all C-SPAN video content;

-- Live coverage of C-SPAN television and radio networks;
-- Blogger Tips and Online Convention Video Finder tools;

-- Real-time feeds from Twitter users using the hash-tags #RNC08 and #DNC08

"For nearly 30 years, C-SPAN has given voice to the opinions of the American public through its televised call-in programs. In 2008, Convention Hub allows C-SPAN to become a central point for the political opinions of the online community," said Susan Swain, C-SPAN Co-President.

"C-SPAN's Convention Hub recognizes the importance of the online environment in shaping political news and conversation. Just as C-SPAN is known for direct interaction with viewers through call-ins, NMS will help C-SPAN build direct relationships with bloggers by linking, featuring, and even soliciting their content," added Pete Snyder, NMS Founder and CEO.

About C-SPAN C-SPAN, the political network of record, was created by America's cable companies as a public service in 1979. C-SPAN programs three public affairs television networks, C-SPAN Radio, a Washington, D.C. radio station, distributed nationally by XM Satellite Radio, and a video-rich website, c-span.org. C-SPAN is currently available in nearly 92.3 million cable and satellite households. For more information about C-SPAN, visit: www.c-span.org.

About New Media Strategies

New Media Strategies, a subsidiary of Meredith Corporation, pioneered the Online Brand Promotion and Protection industry. An Online Market Intelligence and Web 2.0 marketing firm, New Media Strategies uses the power of the Internet to give clients and their brands a competitive advantage online, while safeguarding their products and services from the effects of negative perceptions and attacks. Working closely with many of the world's leading corporations, New Media Strategies serves as the "eyes, ears, and voice" online for some of the biggest and best known brands. Leading companies such as ABC, PepsiCO, Intel, Chrysler, and Sony all use NMS to add value to their brands and guard their bottom lines. NMS also was named one of the "Fastest Growing Companies in America" by Inc Magazine for three consecutive years. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, New Media Strategies was founded in 1999 by former pollster Pete Snyder, who also serves as CEO. To learn more, visit www.newmediastrategies.net.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: C-SPAN

CONTACT: John Cardarelli of C-SPAN, +1-202-626-8797,
jcardarelli@c-span.org

Web Site: http://www.c-span.org/

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