Syndicated content (News, Sports, etc...) for your digital signage screen network

Having a fresh and interesting content mix is key to any digital signage network's success. It gives the audience a reason to look at your screens.

Here are a few services that I found on the web (some are free but most are commercial services):

• AccuWeather - A big player in this space, AccuWeather has a complete Digital Signage offering that includes a wide range of feeds (not just weather related).
  
  
• All Headline News - Offers: news articles, weather forecasts, financial market data and more with many feeds composed for digital signage use.
  
  
• Associated Press Digital News - Customized content from the Associated Press.
  
  
• EasyByte Newsfeeds - Customized RSS Service.
  
  
• News Feed Maker - Free feeds feature ads, huge catalog of feeds to choose from.
  
  
• News Knowledge - RSS Feeds mainly for web site use. Lots of topics to choose from.
  
  
• Screenfeed - Content tailored to Digital Signage Operators.
  
  
• SPG Media Feeds - Features technology and industry news feeds.
  
  
• The Canadian News Press - Customized news feeds available for digital signage use.
  
  
• The Weather Network Commercial Services - Offers custom data feeds for various uses.
  
  
• Thomson Reuters Digital Syndication - Neews feeds from Thomson Reuters.

This list is by no means exhaustive but it provides an example of what's available out there. You would expect most content syndication services are aware of digital signage by now and many offer content packaged for this specific use.

One word of advice when using free or advertising-based news feeds. Read the fine print. Some services are aimed at web site owners and therefore may have significant usage restrictions that make them unsuitable for digital signage use.

Some news feed aggregators will include a clause in their terms of usage that forbids embedding their feed in a scrolling text banner of any kind, making their feed pretty well useless for digital signage.

It's a good idea to familiarize yourself and respect all usage terms and conditions for this type of material. When in doubt, contact the feed aggregator directly and explain the intended usage for the material before publishing it on your signs.