CBS Discovers Cell Phone Messaging: “CBS News TO GO” Launches Next Week

Beginning next week, CBS will send news alerts “that include video and pictures” to your cell phone for 99 cents a month.

Today the company announced two types of “CBS Alerts,” called “CBS News TO GO” and “ET TO GO.”

Alerts from CBS News will cost just 99 cents a month, but alerts from Entertainment Tonight will cost $3.99 a month. (In other words, entertainment “news” is four times as valuable as national and international news.)

“Subscribers will receive up to five alerts daily and have the option to read text and, if their mobile phone allows, see matching pictures and video. ‘CBS Alerts’ will be available for all mobile phone models and wireless carriers,” the press release says.

In today’s NYT, Les Moonves says the alerts are aimed at people who follow news closely. “You’re literally going to be able to see an explosion in Baghdad a couple of minutes after it happens, right from CBS News,” he said.

In the future, “the plan is to allow people to customize the alerts to their interests — for instance, the war in Iraq or the pregnancies of various celebrities.”

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