CBS News & Yahoo! Announce 60 Minutes “Packaging” Partnership

This is a strange deal: CBS and Yahoo! are partnering to create a 60 Minutes “microsite” on Yahoo.com, the two companies announced today.

Each week, the microsite will host two news packages. The press release says: “One package will expand on a segment featured that week on the television broadcast of 60 Minutes. The second will be based on a topical news theme for that particular week. Both offerings will include never-before-seen 60 Minutes video footage, as well as interactive elements such as maps, a reporter’s notebook, blogs and photo galleries.”

The site will go online this fall. Web surfers can catch a preview of the free video programming on Sunday, March 26, when CBS airs an interview with Tiger Woods.

Sean McManus says: “This deal with Yahoo! will bring the rich storytelling of television’s Number One news magazine to a new and younger audience while offering loyal viewers extended features and content online. We believe this is an important step toward establishing 60 Minutes as the news magazine of the future.”

Questions: Who is in charge of packaging the Yahoo content? How will correspondents and producers feel about these remixed packages? Who will produce the blogs and photo galleries? Do “new and younger viewers” really want to watch 60 Minutes content on Yahoo!? Just asking…

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