NBC, MICROSOFT ENTER THE 24-HOUR NEWS FRENZY

Hard on the heels of news that ABC and Fox will each launch round the clock news channels, NBC and Microsoft on Thursday threw a collective hat into the news channel ring. The two are joining together to provide a 24-hour news service that will be delivered both on cable and online. With the help of a $200 million investment from Microsoft, NBC will convert its America's Talking network into a 24-hour cable channel called MSNBC Cable. In return, NBC will contribute $200 million to help launch an online version of the service available through the Microsoft Network on the Internet. "This is appealing to NBC not only because it could eventually be profitable but because it gets the NBC logo out in front of a new and younger audience," says TIME's David Jackson. "But NBC admitted that they still don't know how they're going to make money on this, whether the revenues will come from advertising, subscriptions or some sort of pay-per-view." With the rollout of the network still months away, Jackson notes, the announcement is mainly a signal that NBC and Microsoft intend to be players in the scramble to challenge CNN's dominance of cable news.