#cox enterprises

Cox Expands Low-Cost Internet Access... #Cox Communications has broadened its affordability portfolio by expanding its low-cost internet tier, #ConnectAssist.

Cox Communications has broadened its affordability portfolio by expanding its low-cost internet tier, ConnectAssist. (more…)

GateHouse Media’s Free-Rent Sweepstakes a Gate-and-Switch

Imagine the hardworking staff’s delight when we received an email from GateHouse Media with the subject line Win a Mortgage-Free or Rent-Free Year!

      Excellent!

(We’ll pass over in silence the inconvenient fact that up to $15,000 would be more like an entire three months of mortgage or rent payments in much of Massachusetts.)

Even so, the hardclicking staff went right to Enter Now!, which…

Activision Blizzard has five franchises lined up for its new Call of Duty esports league

Activision Blizzard said it has lined up five franchises for a brand-new, city-based Call of Duty esports league.

Atlanta, Dallas, brand-new York, Paris and Toronto will all play host to franchise teams that will challenge in a skillful league based on what is perhaps Activision Blizzard’s most successful title, the company announced after its earnings call earlier today.

Each city is partnering…

Venture Atlanta 2018 Ushers In Next Wave of Technology Innovators, Unveils List of Most Promising Companies

Companies will share their solutions at the highly anticipated annual event credited with helping infuse the Southeast with over $2.6 billion in funding to date

Venture Atlanta, the Southeast’s premier technology innovation and investor conference, announced today the 67 most promising technology companies that will be showcased during its annual event on October 16-17. Leaders from 33 venture…

New Post has been published on http://www.learn-digital-marketing.com/cox-buys-ticket-upgrade-service-experience-for-200m/

Cox buys ticket upgrade service ‘Experience’ for $200M

Cox Enterprises, parent company of TV provider Cox Communications, has acquired ticketing startup Experience in a deal worth over $200 million, the company announced today.

Experience is a mobile-based ticket service that focuses on improving the live experience fans have when attending events like concerts, sports games, and more. The service allows fans to purchase upgraded seats while at the event, plus gives them access to other promotions and benefits. And those with season tickets can sell their seats through Experience’s platform, too. Experience has partnerships with a handful of professional sports organizations, including MLB and the NFL, as well as deals with Ticketmaster and LiveNation.

Presenting people at live events with the option to “upgrade” seems like a pretty sound business idea, and at $200 million Cox seems to agree. Event-goers have already splurged on tickets and may want to ensure they get the most out of an experience by paying a bit more for better seats or even access to a VIP room with a band.

The Experience acquisition is part of Cox’s overall strategy to grow a healthy stable of technology services. Earlier this year the company purchased the remaining stake in AutoTrader, which it will now roll into a newly announced entity, Cox Automotive. The company also has plans to bring high-speed Internet access to residences through Cox’s cable provider business. The company also set aside a $250 million fund last year to develop new tech startups, of which Experience was the first to grab funding from.

I'd like to piggy-back off of my last post about the late traffic reporter Captain Herb Emory by profiling his long-time employer.

WSB Radio out of Atlanta is one of the top-rated news/talk stations in the country. WSB Radio, owned by and the flagship radio station of Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, is a news/talk station consisting of news, traffic, weather, and talk shows (many of them nationally-syndicated, but flagshipped at WSB). WSB is one of the oldest radio stations, having been in consistent operation since 1922. The station's talk shows are mostly politically conservative-based shows. 

WSB airs a considerable amount of news along with its talk shows. It is an affiliate of the CBS Radio News Network, but it rarely airs any of their top of the hour news updates. Many of its reporters, however, are also Atlanta-based correspondents for the CBS Radio News Network. I have heard these familiar voices reporting Atlanta-based stories on stations like WCBS 880 here in New York.

As for WSB as a whole, it airs two news programs, "Atlanta's Morning News with Scott Slade" and "Atlanta's Evening News with Erick Erickson", which are formatted in a similar fashion as an all-news station. The way I see it is that the morning show is based more on a 1010 WINS-like format, while the evening show is based more on a WCBS 880-like format. 

As mentioned in an earlier post, WCBS 880 makes room for discussion, while 1010 WINS is straight news with little to no room for discussion of the news. What I find very unique about WSB is that it uses more of its own reporters and less contracted services. For example, it uses its own weather team, rather than contracting out to services such as "Accuweather" and "The Weather Channel". The latter would be very convenient, since it is also based in Atlanta. Also, it has its own traffic team. Granted, WSB does use some of the resources from Total Traffic (Clear Channel) to do its reports, but its reporters are all either in-house or, if they are contracted, their traffic reports go to WSB first and foremost before any other station gets them.

It also makes great use of its own resources as part of the Cox Media Group Atlanta cluster, which happen to be in the same building as WSB. Channel 2, WSB TV, is in the same building, which makes it easy for WSB Radio to utilize reporters from the TV side and vice versa. Many of WSB Radio's reporters also provide reports for its sister music stations in Atlanta and even for the Cox Media Group-owned Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, in the case of WSB-TV and Radio weather anchor Glenn Burns. 

Below, you will find the program schedule for WSB Radio.

Having been to the studios of WSB Radio, I can truly say that it feels like a family. It is one of the least-corporate radio stations in the country. Even though it is owned by a huge conglomerate (Cox Enterprises), it feels like a small family hometown station. Part of this feeling probably stems from the fact the Cox Enterprises is a family-owned company. 

This is not the only news station in Atlanta. Another station popped up about a year ago called All-News 106.7. Keep your eye out for my next post profiling All-News 106.7!