Product Placement on the News Causing a Brewhaha

In the battle to find more income sources, local newsrooms are turning to product placement.

Kansas City's CBS-affiliate station KCTV is experimenting with a deal in which local eatery Steak n' Shake has paid to place a coffee cup, its logo visible to the camera, on the table during news segments. The placement, which occurs only on the weekend,l appears to tie into a Steak n' Shake-sponsored contest on the KCTV website.

The KCTV deal recalls MSNBC brewhaha over Starbucks' sponsorship of Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe show, and the 2008 story of Las Vegas KVVU FOX 5's deal with McDonald's.Continue reading...