LAS VEGAS — No longer is it enough for broadcasters to regard online channels as the shop-window for core analog platforms – now digital is part and parcel of their core business, says one man who powers web output for hundreds of TV stations.<\/p>\n
“A lot of the broadcasters used to have websites as a marketing arm to their core TV\u00a0business,” according to Lakana<\/a>‘s president Phillip Hyun<\/a>. “Now that digital has really become a real viable business, a lot of the marketers are seeing their digital strategies having to be run as real businesses.”<\/p>\n St Paul, Minnesota-based Lakana was formed in April when\u00a0Nexstar Broadcasting Group\u00a0merged three of its units<\/a> – Internet Broadcasting Systems, EndPlay and Inergize Digital – to create a multiplatform company supporting broadcaster efforts.<\/p>\n Hyun says Lakana\u00a0powers the websites and digital initiatives\u00a0of around 250 local US TV channels and has a combined audience of 100 to 130 million people.\u00a0When those channels want to publish thousands of videos each day and breaking news streams, cost can become prohibitive, he says.<\/p>\n