This is a VNR (Video News Release) and they have been a common practice for years. They are targeted to local television news organizations, and they are carefully crafted to look and sound like local news (hence the production values). Stations that need to fill a few minutes on their newscast might run something like this as is. You'll sometimes hear this referred to as "VNR Journalism". A somewhat less common relative to the VNR is the SMT (Satellite Media Tour), in which some sort of expert is made available for live interviews to talk about why Sony Running Shorts (tm) are a very popular Christmas gift this year. Guess who paid for the whole thing? Anyways, it's one of the reasons why I don't bother watching local TV news.