Daily Marauder

BROADCAST/CABLE

HBO is closing in on naming a replacement for Chris Albrecht. It still could be weeks before Time Warner officially announces the pay channel’s new corporate hierarchy. Some observers suggest that former Viacom head Tom Freston is in the running. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966006.html?categoryid=18&cs=1 5/30)

Viacom agreed to sell Famous Music publishing to Sony/ATV for about $370 million. Famous Music’s catalog includes more than 125,000 songs including the albums of Shakira and Eminem and the film scores of The Godfather and Mission Impossible.

GetConnected will integrate its commerce engine into Sling Media’s SlingPlayer software to enable Slingbox customers to purchase premium digital content and services from local area cable, Internet and satellite providers.  The GCi add-on will be integrated into SlingPlayer and be available on Sling Media’s website later this quarter.

Primetime television is losing its allure, according to a new study released by marketing firm Relay Worldwide. Some 38% of American adults know they can get primetime TV on the Internet for no additional cost. Primetime on the Internet is “already coming of age.” (http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Research_25/Fact_is_primetime_has_lost_its_urgency.asp 5/31)

According to Nielsen data, TNT will finish the month of May as the top advertising-supported cable network in prime time. TNT’s coverage of the NBA playoffs gave it a boost, including a May 16 semifinal game between the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs that drew a total of 4.97 million viewers. (Mediaweek 5/30)

Reality-series pioneer Mark Burnett will debut “Pirate Master” on CBS tonight, with the new twist being that the reality-show contestants are dressed up in pirate garb, and with some being rewarded with gold each week. Burnett is also producing Sunday’s live “MTV Movie Awards,” but his “On the Lot” show on Fox is struggling despite a tie-in with Steven Spielberg. (USA TODAY 5/30)

Telecom and cable companies are looking for an edge when it comes to winning over customers to their respective services. One area that is getting a lot of attention these days from companies such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T are Web sites that offer videos, games and other features that work well over broadband connections. (The Wall Street Journal 5/31)

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts touted the company’s success with the triple play at a conference Wednesday, but he played down suggestions that the company should increase its share-buyback program. Roberts said the priorities for its free cash flow included putting it back into the business and to “find new things to invest in.” (Multichannel News 5/30)

Verizon has upped the ante for customers in Delaware by introducing a discount for its triple-play services. Verizon is offering its triple play for $99 a month for 24 months or $109.99 a month for 12 months while Comcast offers its bundle for $99 a month for a year or gives customers the option of locking that price in for two years. (The News Journal (Del.) 5/31)

While most TV networks have been dubious of the Online Media Exchange system, Oxygen’s willingness to participate has given the leading organizers of the exchange a reason to push forward with the venture. The exchange, which was developed by eBay and counts Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard among its advertisers, uses an online auction site for buying advertising time on TV, but some TV networks fear the system could erode prices. (The Wall Street Journal 5/31)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google is creating Web software that runs online and off to let users work remotely on planes, trains, slow dial-up connections or remote locations. The technology, called Google Gears, will let users manipulate e-mail, online calendars or news readers even if they are offline. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN3046226320070530 5/30)

Google is dramatically expanding its operations in Boston to work on projects such as extending search to digital books and cellphones, and to tap the expertise of area universities and startups. For its new staff of 50, Google is leasing a floor of Boston’s One Broadway office building. (http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/05/31/google_brand_of_growth_takes_root_in_kendall_sq/ 5/31)

Google is acquiring Panoramio, a photo-sharing Web site based in Spain that lets people upload photos and identify where they were taken by placing them on Google Earth or Google Maps. The deal is expected to help strengthen Google’s position against Yahoo in online photo services. (http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/31/Google-buys-Panoramio_1.html 5/31)

Everybody seems ready and willing to join the online digital photo web site wars.  News broke yesterday that Fox Interactive was acquiring Photobucket.  Yahoo! owns the photo-sharing service Flickr.  In the battle of Google vs. Yahoo!, Google now holds a bit of an advantage in the digital photo wars.  While Flickr photos are available on Google Earth maps, Panoramio photos will become the default layer. 

Internet auctioneer eBay is acquiring social bookmarking site StumbleUpon for $75 million. The popular startup allows users to approve or disapprove of Web sites and then guides them to other sites that users with similar tastes have recommended. (http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22447&hed=eBay+Makes+Social+Networking+Play 5/30)

News Corp. and NBC Universal’s “new site” joint venture added Fuel TV, Speed, Oxygen, Sundance Channel and TV Guide Broadband to its content provider/distribution partner roster. New site will feature shows such as The Bad Girls Club, Big Ideas for a Small Planet and America’s Next Producer as well as syndicate them across its network of affiliated sites including AOL, MSN, Yahoo and MySpace. (http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/30/internet-television-video-biz-media_cx_lh_0530portal.html 5/30)

(Below) FYI.  Only available by downloading the 7.2 upgrade.

Apple officially launched iTunes Plus, a selection of DRM-free music tracks offered for $1.29 from the DRM catalog including singles and albums from The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Frank Sinatra and, for the first time, Paul McCartney’s solo career. Apple is also offering 30-cent upgrades to those who bought the DRM version of tracks, and predicts half of its complete library will be available DRM free by the end of the year.

Do you want movies on that pizza? Starz’ Vongo broadband video service is offering a promo with Dominoes Pizza to give a free 30-day trial of the service to anyone that orders a pizza online. The companies are also giving away a flat panel LCD HDTV, a laptop and twenty 1-year Vongo subscriptions.

MTV owner Viacom says it “welcomes” the opportunity to license its content to Apple after the iPod maker signed a deal with top online video distributor YouTube. Viacom sued Google’s YouTube in March for $1 billion, charging it with “massive intentional copyright infringement.” (http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSWEN847820070530 5/30)

Warner Music, home to Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is putting its archive of music video online and making it available for free to fans. Warner will work to create online TV sites or “digital hubs” that will be organized by artist, genre or label and funded by advertising. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL3124530220070531 5/31)

The recent spate of malware attacks propagating throughout the user base of the Skype Internet calling system illustrates a broader trend toward cyber-criminals moving to take advantage of VoIP platforms as they become increasingly popular. (http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/30/Attackers-get-chatty-on-VoIP_1.html?source=NLC-WIR&cgd=2007-05-31 5/30)

FoodNetwork.com launched an interactive broadband cooking series on May 28. Ellie Krieger’s Healthy Recipes debuts four new recipes each week with printable directions and nutrition information.

Digital Music Group will launch a channel on Veoh from this summer, featuring a selection of video content from its library of more than 4,000 hours of shows. DMGI’s catalog includes classic shows (I Spy, My Favorite Martian) stand-up footage (Jamie Foxx) and contemporary performances (Criss Angel).

Monster.com inked a deal with Comcast to provide online job search tools to the Comcast.net portal. Monster has been diversifying to reach job seekers in locally-branded portals, also signing recent deals with Community Newspaper Holdings and Internet Broadcasting. 

Farzad Nazem, Yahoo’s chief technology officer and a long-time exec, is leaving the company. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will assume Nazem’s responsibilities while the company searches for a replacement. Several top execs are leaving following a companywide revamping. (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/31/business/quit.1-65266.php 5/31)

Jason Calacanis, a former exec at Time Warner’s AOL, is launching Mahalo, a Web search start-up that relies on humans to generate search results — a strategy harkening back to the early days of Yahoo and Ask Jeeves. “Mahalo” means “thank you” in Hawaiian. (http://blogs.wsj.com/dnotebook/2007/05/30/calacanis-aims-to-clean-up-web-searches/ 5/30)

WIRELESS

The number of global mobile broadcast TV subscribers will grow from 4.4 million today to an estimated 155.6 million by the end of 2012, according to new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor. That’s a compounded annual growth rate of 66.2%. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to have 76.3 million subscribers by then, Europe an estimated 42.7 million subscribers and the U.S. a subscriber base of 35.6 million. However lack of interoperability and fragmentation of content-bearing technologies may slow mass-adoption.

AOL’s Advertising.com subsidiary Third Screen Media is teaming with mobile game provider Hovr to sell, manage, and deliver ads into its free mobile game applications and communities. The deal will adds a new venue for Third Screen’s TSMI Network of mobile inventory and a way for Hovr to server users with relevant opt-in ads targeted to gamers.

The sun came out for EarthLink’s Philadelphia Wi-Fi network on Thursday even as prospects for its San Francisco
project remain shrouded in fog. (http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/24/EarthLink-to-build-Philadelphia-WiFi-network_1.html?source=NLC-WIR&cgd=2007-05-31 5/24)

GAMING

Online gaming rental company Gottaplay Interactive, a Netflix for games, is adding social networking features. The site now allows users to comments on games, send messages to individual gamers, make buddy requests and view the libraries/rental histories of each other.

The latest round of movie-inspired video games includes Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3. Video games centered on theatrical releases typically don’t fair as well as original content, although last year’s “Cars” title found acceptance from a wide audience. Yahoo!/Associated Press (5/30)

TECHNOLOGY

Motorola is laying off 4,000 workers in addition to the 3,500 job cuts announced earlier this year. The company is trying to adjust to falling sales of its cellphones.

BROADCAST/CABLE

NBC fired its entertainment president, Kevin Reilly, on Tuesday and will replace him with two co-chairmen. “Ugly Betty” independent producer Ben Silverman will be a co-chairman along with NBC West Coast President Marc Graboff. The changing of the guard will also mean a shift in digital strategy. Both men will take active roles in overseeing digital content, monetizing TV assets across new platforms including nbc.com and “new site” and making sure digital media efforts are fully integrated into the programming model from the beginning of the development process. (The Washington Post 5/30)

The NCTA and other groups are asking the FCC to allow cable companies to participate in the upcoming auction of broadcast-television spectrum. A May 23 filing with the FCC by the NCTA asked the FCC to reject proposals that would deny cable companies and local-exchange carriers from taking part in the 700-MHz auction. (Light Reading 5/29)

Comedy Central unveiled its new slate of original shows Tuesday. The new lineup includes “Michael Ian Black Doesn’t Understand” and an unnamed animated feature starring Larry the Cable Guy as a co-owner of a cable TV station. (Multichannel News 5/29)

Back when NBC ruled Thursday nights, “super-sizing” a show such as “Friends” seemed like a good idea, but with the advent of DVRs and confusion in the TV listings NBC won’t be super-sizing any of its comedies this coming season. Super-sizing typically added five to 10 minutes to NBC’s comedies when it was used in the past, which also meant an extra commercial break could be inserted. (Zap2it.com  5/29)

TiVo has hooked up with Seven Media Group, the parent company of Seven Network, for a deal that will land the DVR pioneer in Australia in the first half of next year. The TiVo platform will be available for use by other broadcasters and broadband-content owners in a free-to-air digital terrestrial television format. (ClipSyndicate 5/29, World Screen News 5/29)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Apple’s svelte media device, the Apple TV, didn’t exactly garner rave reviews when it launched last month, mostly thanks to its rather limited specs and undersized abilities. In a few weeks, though, Apple TV owners will have a whole new suite of low-quality videos at their fingers, courtesy of YouTube. The free software update was announced today by Steve Jobs at the D 2007 conference, where all things digital are on display.  (http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/30/steve-jobs-live-from-d-2007/ 5/30)

Of course, this YouTube add-on is already available via a user hack but I must hand it to them, they brought the YouTube application pretty quick to market thereafter.  In addition to this new feature, Apple TV now comes with a 160GB hard drive.

Google is open to new acquisitions and remains hopeful it can close its purchase of DoubleClick by the end of 2007 despite a U.S. federal probe, says CEO Eric Schmidt. He adds that Google is unlikely to buy a media company. “We made a decision to focus on what we’re good at.” (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSSEO187420070530 5/30)

Google is launching Google Maps Street View, a new feature that shows a 360-degree view from the streets of New York, San Francisco and other select cities. “It feels as if you’re walking down the street!” says Google Maps project manager Stephen Chau. Live video may be added later. (http://www.informationweek.com/software/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=199703115 5/29)

Welcome to HBO, 1100 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY.  This is one of the coolest/creepiest features that I have ever seen.  The street level photographs are not real-time.  Judging from this particular photo, they are pulling from approximately 7 months ago.

Former Google engineers and product managers are quietly working on a new video start up called Ooyala currently in closed beta that has piqued the curiosity of Silicon Valley bloggers. Details are very sketchy so far, but the company seems to have had no problem attracting funding to hire software, video processing and Flash engineers in Mountain View and salespeople for planned offices in Los Angeles and New York.

News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media is acquiring Photobucket just weeks after a spat in which its MySpace social networking site partially blocked content from the photo- and video-sharing service. Fox is also buying Flektor, which offers Web-based tools video mash-ups. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070530/myspace_photobucket.html 5/30)

CBS is buying London-based Last.fm for $280 million, the largest-ever U.K. Web 2.0 acquisition. The social network allows its 15 million users to connect with other listeners with similar music tastes, to custom-build their own radio stations and to watch music video clips. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6701863.stm 5/30)

If you have been to pandora.com, this site is very similar.

Apple is now selling digital music from EMI without copyright protection on its iTunes store, giving chief Steve Jobs a victory in his campaign to see all online songs sold that way. Separately, Apple is creating an area on iTunes to offer free course lectures from top universities. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=a.9yn3Wg2Y0I 5/30)

AOL is launching a “jargon-free” consumer tech news site, called Switched.com, which will be a part of AOL News. Switched will feature breaking news, gossip, buying guides, celebrity interviews, editor’s picks, and other features in a blog-style format. (http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/05/30/aol-launches-tech-news-site 5/30)

Engadget anyone?

CBS/20th Century Fox will stream full episodes of the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” as well as original online content, on the show’s page on MySpace. Producers hope that Emmy Award voters will find the material by following tags on television and print ads. (http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_vstory/VR1117965955.html 5/29)

Despite earlier suggestions that it might scrap its struggling online entertainment channel Bud.TV, Anheuser-Busch is deciding instead to revamp the Web site to make it edgier. The changes will include features such as social networking and shorter videos. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118048404453417894.html 5/30)

TNT and TBS have negotiated for the rights to stream all seven of their original summer series on TNT.tv and TBS.com. Episodes of The Closer, Heartland, Saving Grace, The Company from TNT and House of Payne, The Bill Engvall Show, My Boys and The Frank Show will typically stream the day after they premier on air. Comcast and Time Warner will also offer the shows for four weeks on video-on-demand starting the day after their TV premieres, with the exception of the Fox-produced Saving Grace. The Closer, Bill Engvall, My Boys and The Frank Show episodes will also be available on iTunes.

Slate.com and washingtonpost.com have created politically-themed applications using Facebook’s new developer’s platform. Slate’s “Political Futures” allows users to place a mock $500 wager on who they think will take the White House in 2008, showing how everyone in your network of friends placed their bets. Washingtonpost.com’s “The Compass” asks users questions to create a schematic of where you stand in the political spectrum.