Every company is a media company these days. That will mean different things to different organizations. To Best Buy, it means launching Best Buy On, a multimedia content network that is, according to a report in AdAge, “filled with original editorial content spanning everything from how-to videos and gift guides to new-technology primers and behind-the-scenes looks at popular movies.”

Best Buy On will also be promiment in retail locations, with stores adding some 100 screens dedicated to content from the network. According to the Daily Dooh:

Advertisers can access close to 145,000 screens, as well as video players and standard ad units on Best Buy???s global home page, each product???s home page and BestBuyOn.com. Between two and four screens per department are being added, allowing advertisers to specifically buy into the mobile and/or portable entertainment department, for example. Some 100 to 150 screens per store will ultimately be a part of the network, which is now active in 98% of its nearly 1,100 U.S. stores.

So far, Canon, Sony, Braun and Duracell are among the companies that have bought into the concept. As Marketing Pilgrim’s Cynthia Boris points out, people like to browse in Best Buy outlets. “Because of that, video displays should do exceptionally well,” she writes. “By entertaining instead of advertising, Best Buy???s in-store video program should help the store sell more than ever before.”

On the Best Buy On website, in addition to content produced for categories like TV & Home Theater, Cameras & Camcorders, and Tablets & eReaders, Best Buy is offering more timely featured content. Right now, this spotlight provides frequent updates from CES, putting Best Buy squarely in the reporting business.

Tom Foremski, one of the leading advocates of the “all companies are media companies” notion, isn’t impressed with Best Buy On. In his ZDNet column, Tom argues that Best Buy would be better off leaving coverage to third-party media because “It is the perception of the reader that is important and anything coming from Best Buy about Best Buy???s products will automatically be suspect and less trustworthy.”

I’m not sure I understand the distinction between Best Buy and Intel, whose Free Press online publication Tom praised. After all, Intel is hawking chips. Isn’t anything they write suspect, too?

I could understand Tom’s point if Best Buy On featured mostly blatant pitches for Samsung TVs and Acer laptops. So far, though, the push of any particular product is subtle and secondary to the messages. As Boris points out, it’s entertaining content and, according to AdAge, the company is avoiding traditional product-focused content like product reviews. For example, there are several 101 videos that explain a fundamental concept, like how 3D TV works or how motion gaming works, as opposed to a look at the latest Sony 3D TV or Microsoft Kinect.

Best Buy already has a reputation for knowledgable store personnel. Circuit City went out of business, largely because the people working on the store floor didn’t know a router from a switch and were essentially useless if you had a question. Best Buy thrived because you knew you could walk in and talk to a blueshirt and get solid information. Best Buy leveraged its workforce with Twelpforce, through which some 2,500 volunteer employees respond to consumer electronics questions submitted via Twitter.

Best Buy On’s videos feature some store reps, but I hope to the slick, hihgly-produced approach (see the example below—all videos can be embedded on other sites) the videos currently employ balanced with something more along the lines of what Home Depot is doing, where any employee can upload a video that answers a customer question. In fact, some integration of Twelpforce and Best Buy On would make great sense.

Products mentioned in the video are listed below it, with links to their description on the Best Buy site (although the first one I tried led me to the message, “Sorry, the page you requested was not found”).

In addition to videos, there are articles and slideshows. Comments are open on all content, but there’s no rating feature and no by-lines on articles. Again, this is a missed opportunity to create connections between consumers and Best Buy’s people, who truly are the company’s greatest asset.

Given time, Best Buy should be able to tweak the network (which has been in “soft-launch’ mode for over a year). As a resource for how-to’s, content to help you understand technologies (which, in turn, will help you make informed purchase decisions), and exclusive entertainment (like an inside look at the animation process applied to the movie, “Despicable Me”), I expect Best Buy On stands a good chance of becoming a go-to resource and a case study of just how a business can become a media company.