NBC News has announced plans to podcast hourly news updates as well as portions of its broadcast and cable news TV programming.

"This is one more way that the power of NBC News is made accessible to our audience," said NBC News presient Neal Shapiro. "Whether you are heading out the door for your commute, at the gym working out or simply want to have the freedom to take the headlines with you, this is for you. With technology racing at lightening speed, its incumbent upon us to keep up with it -- and podcasting is a great example of how we are doing just that."

The podcast updates will be available on the website of MSNBC, NBC's cable news channel. MSNBC is a joint venture between NBC and Microsoft.

"With the proven success of our free video, 41 million streams in the month of April alone, podcasting NBC and MSNBC features was a natural next step in serving relevant news to our viewers," said MSNBC.com's general manager and publisher Charlie Tillinghast. "While other news networks will attempt podcasting, none have the resources of NBC News or MSNBC.com's reach and impact online."