NBC (Selfishly) Creates Content for High Schools

Have you seen the Time for Kids mini magazine that comes in some elementary school kids' backpacks? It provides a good way to get kids reading about topical news, and a good way for Time to cultivate lifetime customers at a young age.

NBC is going after older students in a similar way. NBC has announced iCue, a web site for high school students designed to supplement their study of historic and current stories. In the process, they hope to lure high schoolers to NBC via the web for the news so they just don't get their news from Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

"Selfishly, we're looking to create a long-lasting relationship with these students," Adam Jones, chief financial officer for NBC News, told the New York Times. Simply, they are trying everything they can to reach and grab a future audience—one that has come of age more comfortable getting information online than from other media sources.

Look for iCUE to tap NBC archival footage of famous historical moments and align them with high school A.P. (advanced placement) courses. NBC plans to charge schools a subscription fee based on the number of students per school. There will be ads on the site, too, though they would run only outside of school hours.

Sounds good as long as the video is truly supplemental and sparks discussion about material students and teachers are already covering. It's got to provide more than a reason to sit and watch TV during school hours.

LINK: NBC Developing Web Site for Students [NYT]