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NS.nl
Wireless internet and screens with updated news are now available in some Dutch trains. |
Dutch publisher
PCM Media (owner of three national newspapers), and incumbent telco
KPN International are joining forces to launch a new multimedia publishing company -- as reported today by PCM newspaper
Volkskrant (in Dutch).
The joint venture will publish the country's fourth free newspaper. So far, the free papers Metro, Spits, and the recently launched The Pers are already distributed at train and subway stations. The new free paper will be called "Dag" (Dutch for "day"). According to PCM, Dag will be "very visual," aimed at young readers and "incomparable" to other PCM papers.
There is talk of some house-to-house distribution and a TV guide as part of the plans as well. So far so good.
The newly formed company will have three divisions: one owned by publisher PCM which will manage the print edition, one owned by telco KPN for digital distribution, and a joint division for "commercial and editorial exploitation."
The more interesting part of the venture ties in directly with telco KPN's recent strategy to develop a media network outside the home. Dag's news -- repurposed from PCM newspaper Volkskrant -- will be distributed online and via mobile services, as well as to KPN's network of screens in trains and bars. Currently, some 1200 train cabins owned by the Dutch national railroad NS are getting wireless Internet as well as public news screens. Also, KPN (in partnership with beermaker Heineken) is outfitting hundreds of Dutch bars and clubs with ON.media screens. Plus, KPN is putting screens in taxi cabs.
Who would have thought that your telco would get involved in news production because of its network of screens in trains? I think it's likely that, in the future, some major media brands will combine platforms we did not have until quite recently: free newspapers at stations, screens in buses, trams, trains and metros. News is increasingly on the go.
(CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, this story originally referred to ON.media as a program covering both train and bar screen installations. In fact, the train screen network project is separate from ON.media.)
