ABC News Now, a new 24/7 news channel set up to cover the 2004 General Election in the US, signed on at 12 noon today in the States.

The service is available online through ABC's website, on Sprint PCS Vision mobile phones, and on television in some markets.

ABC is trying a new TV distribution method for this service - instead of it being available nationally on cable and/or satellite, the News Now stream is being carried as part of the digital multiplex offered by local ABC stations across the country (more info). Ten local stations that are owned and operated by ABC will be carrying it as part of their DTT multiplexes, and it is expected that more ABC affiliates will add it into their multiplexes as time goes on. Also, if the local station has a retransmission agreement with a local cable operator to carry its digital stations, cable subscribers in that market will be able to access News Now through their cable box. For example, WABC-TV 7 in New York transmits the News Now service on channel 7.2 (channel 7, multiplex service 2). Cable operators in the area with whom WABC have an agreement then retransmit this signal on their digital cable service, in this case Comcast channel 216, Time Warner channel 730, and RCN channel 250.

The channel is currently providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts.