Congressional Quarterly has made an interesting acquisition: it has bought FedNet‘s reCap, reClip and Alert services which allow users to search, replay, and post video content of congressional activity within moments of floor debate. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
As the company describes it: reCap allows users to search on the full text of floor debate and quickly link to a video of that debate. reClip allows users the ability to post that video to their site. The alert service allows users to be notified whenever a specific word or phrase is mentioned on the floor of either chamber—and instantly receive a video of the comment. FedNet was founded in 1996. CQ is owned by the Times Publishing, publisher of the St. Petersburg Times and other publications.
I’m hoping CQ.com will take this service and make it open on the Web for users, especially as the especially with the political elections coming up.
More details in the release here.