Burgeoning OTT VUit Debuts 24/7 “Battleground States” Channel Highlighting Local Market Coverage of the Presidential Race in Key “Swing” States

New York, NY
October 5, 2020

Showcasing Key Moments On The Campaign Trail Where the Vote is Far From Decided, New VUit Channel Provides Viewers Across the Country an Up-Close Look at What’s Happening on the Ground During the Final Weeks of this Pivotal Moment in U.S. Politics

VUit (pronounced “view it”), launched in September by its parent company, Syncbak, as a new free, ad-supported national streaming service aiming to be the “Netflix of Live, Local, and Free,”  unleashed today a brand new channel meant to fill a void in the current presidential election coverage: Battleground States. VUit’s Battleground States channel, named eponymously after its content, will provide viewers across the country a 24/7 digital destination to watch local news segments and campaign events about the Presidential election across “swing” states including: Iowa, Colorado, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada. The new offering aggregates and curates election focused news content produced by the wide array of local TV stations in these states carried by VUit and will include both traditional news segments and longer form coverage of rallies, keynotes, and other events happening in these locales where the 2020 election is likely to be decided. Battleground States will also include coverage of critical down ballot races grabbing national attention in those regions.

Syncbak CEO and founder Jack Perry said, “In launching VUit, one of our key objectives was enabling viewers anywhere to connect with local towns and see what’s happening through the power of streaming.  We are at a watershed moment with the 2020 election, where just keeping up with the national news or your hometown news will not provide the viewer with the full picture.  Our hope with the launch of Battleground States is that we fill in some of those blind spots.”

With access to content from local stations in every key state, Battleground States will deliver non-stop (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, refreshed daily) coverage of the states and voters poised to have a major impact on the 2020 election. In addition to event coverage, the Battleground States channel will help viewers track voter sentiment, campaign engagement and real-time election updates in swing states leading up to the 2020 presidential election.

Gray Television, an initial lead investor in VUit, will be sourcing a majority of the Battleground States coverage, providing content from approximately three dozen local stations included on the channel. On its investment in Battleground States, Pat LaPlatney, Co-CEO and President at Gray Television said, “We’re in virtually all of the key states with the best on-the-ground reporting in our communities. Voters across the country will benefit from our front-line, political content that allows viewers to educate themselves on relevant issues. The ability for viewers to consume important local content happening elsewhere is at the core of what VUit is all about.”

In addition to Battleground States, VUit also recently debuted another premier political channel: Politics Uncut. Politics Uncut features political news segments from local television stations across the country and presents headline local coverage on relevant national topics such as Hurricane Laura and the Democratic and Republican National conventions. Since its launch, Politics Uncut has become one of the most viewed live curated channels on the platform.

Doubling down on the power and potential of hyperlocal live content, VUit is producing channels to help inform and entertain national audiences. Overall, VUit expects to stream more than 3 million hours of live programming annually, featuring a wide range of local, regional and special interest programming produced by leading television stations from across the country, along with thousands of “VUit Originals.”

Built using Syncbak’s autobuild technology and programmed and populated with content from across all the participating stations, VUit is now available on all major streaming platforms and devices, including iOS and Android devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, AppleTV, and more.