Filed under: MISC
BREAKING NEWS ALERT
After six years of leading Yahoo, CEO Terry Semel resigned today in a letter to the portal’s board of directors. Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has been named as his replacement, with Mr. Semel moving to the role of non-executive chairman. Susan Decker, former exec VP-advertising and publishing, was elevated to president in the board’s announcement.
(http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=117405 6/18)
Filed under: MISC
Online Game of the Week
Loving the new episodes of Entourage? Try out Making Medellin: The Game. One lucky player will win a 40″ flat panel TV, game system, and Entourage seasons 1 – 3 (Part 1) on DVD. 150 winners will win some cool Entourage schwag. Chances are, you’ll do MUCH better than I did. The game is currently available for play through hbo.com.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
HBO Family picked up a 3D animated series ordered by the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Magic Cellar will debut on June 23 at 630p in the U.S. and Bermuda, marking the first time that an animated television series from Africa was purchased by a top U.S. network. The Saturday show is based on 20 African folktales.
Premium networks such as HBO and Showtimeare increasing their HDTV offerings. HBO, which sees its viewers as early adopters of new technology, plans to make all 26 of its feeds HD, while one Showtime executive notes an increased interest in HD subscription VOD. (Multichannel News 6/18)
MTV is partnering with Visible World on technology that allows advertisers to tweak the messages in their ads instantly. (Advertising Age 6/18)
NBC Universal President/CEO Jeff Zucker told analysts that slowing DVD sales were dragging on the studio’s bottom line, but that the transition to digital, when complete, would increase efficiencies and improve synergy. NBCU’s new online video joint venture with News Corp. is on track to launch in September, according to the company.
NBC Universal wants the federal government to enlist the help of broadband-access providers in the fight against content piracy. The FCC “should make unmistakably clear, as part of its regulations governing broadband-industry practices, that broadband-service providers have an obligation to use readily available means to prevent the use of their broadband capacity to transfer pirated content,” NBCU said. (Multichannel News 6/15)
Bravo has decided to reshape itself as a multimedia-content company, complete with publishing, radio, talent management, merchandising, multiplatform programming and sales. The move aims to snare a bigger piece of the international market and grow the visibility of the net’s on-screen personalities. (C21 Media 6/15)
DirecTV and Echostar have signed distribution agreements with wireless broadband provider Clearwire to begin offering bundled service packages. The news gave Clearwire’sstock a huge boost on Friday, pushing it back up close to its IPO price of $25/share.
Comcast Interactive invested $17 million in BroadLogicNetwork Technologies, with #6 MSO Advance/Newhouse joining in on the second-round financing. BroadLogic manufactures video processing chip-sets that recover bandwidth to help cable operators in their quest to improve delivery of video, voice data and gaming services. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1526485420070615 6/15)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
YouTube launched Remixer, a new application to help users remix, title and add transitions, graphics, text and audio to their video submissions. The tool is powered by Adobe, which also built Photobucket‘s Remix tool.
I was waiting for YouTube to get around to doing something like this. Below is my attempt to edit together video I took at a Beck concert. This application is very tame in regards to what it could do but at least its a start. This type of mash-up application allows users to personalize their favorite clips and use them in any way they would like. If this process was monetized, I think this could potentially make some media folks a whole lot of $$.
ABC.com was ranked the top-visited entertainment site for May, according to Media Metrix and Nielsen/NetRatings, more than doubling its unique user base from a year ago to 14.6 million. The site had more than 7 million episode starts for the week of May 19 (The week of Lost and Dancing With the Stars season finales), its best week since the relaunch of the ABC video player last September.
Shares of Expedia, the world’s largest online travel agency, rose after Theflyonthewall.com said chief Barry Diller may take the company private, spin off the TripAdvisor unit and cut about 400 jobs. The report is “absolutely not true,” says an Expedia spokeswoman. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601205&sid=avT2heWLBQcI 6/15)
Internet TV service Brightcove is entering its first deal with a major conglomerate, signing to become the online video platform for Fox Entertainment Group. The Fox broadcast net, FX and Speed will host ad-supported Internet video channels with Brightcove technology. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117967102.html?categoryid=20&cs=1 6/17)
Microsoft and Chinese TV manufacturer Sichuan Changhong Electric Co. announced a deal today to jointly develop in-home digital-networking products linking TV and the Internet. The exact type of equipment and software to be developed and the countries where the products will be sold have yet to be announced. (The Cincinnati Post/Associated Press 6/18)
IM social networking service Twitter, community content site Digg and a web-based shopping list application called OneTrip have already launched versions of their software optimized for the iPhone. itweeter allows users to read their latest “tweets” and instant messages from friends. Digg allows users to simply drag and slide stories around. OneTrip ports your shopping list over to your iPhone.
Sony is pulling the plug on the music and video component of its Connect service in the next couple of months choosing instead to focus on the PlayStation group’s technical needs, according to paidContent.org. The online download service was introduced last year to provide content for the PSP and other Sony devices but never made much a dent in a market dominated by iTunes. The unit’s eBook division will remain intact, servicing the electronic Sony Reader.
Sony is happy with its acquisition of video sharing site Grouper, according to remarks made by Sony’s Welsh-born CEO Sir Howard Stringer in a Q&A with the Financial Times last week. Stringer expects Grouper to have more of an impact when the PlayStation 3 becomes networked to enable digital downloading. Grouper will get a new name and look when it re-launches next month with themed channels and mashable TV show material.
ABC is testing the hour-long user generated news show i-Caught for six weeks from August 6 in an attempt to get the YouTube generation interested in TV news. Amateur video submissions captured via camcorders and cell phones will form the backbone of the show, in the areas such as breaking news, celebrity scoops, investigative journalism and new media-flavored human interest. Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Bill Weir will host, and a companion website I-caught.com is up and running and collecting submissions.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media (BAM) is growing at a rate of over 30% from last year, nearing 50 million unique visitors a month including 1 million paying subscribers according to a profile in Newsweek. The venture, formed in 1999 when each Major League team invested $2.6 million in start up capital, is expected to earn $400 million in revenue this year.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Sprint today announced the Mogul, a smart phone that runs the Windows Mobile 6 Pro operating system and will support EV-DO Rev. A when available. The Mogul, built by High Tech Computer Corp., will support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, as well as voice over the Sprint CDMA network. (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=16&articleId=9025161&intsrc=hm_topic 6/18)
MTV’s short-form mobile series Dances From Tha Hood spawned its first primetime special last night, incorporating user generated dance clips shot and submitted via the web or cell phone. The most watched routine “Pop, Lock and Drop it” has over 3,300 views.
I just learned how to Pop, Lock, and Drop it. Love this as a wireless series.
ESPN, CBS, MTV, Hearst and other media companies are exploring the production of original content for mobile phones. Cellphones rank higher than television in the 18-to-26 age group, and media execs hope that the demographic will have a large appetite for mobile video content. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/business/yourmoney/17mobile.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 6/17)
Best Buy Co. has ruled its pilot test of Best Buy Mobile cell phone stores in New York City a success, and it will open 180 more stores in eight U.S. markets over the next nine months. Some new Mobile stores will be free-standing, while others will be set up inside existing Best Buy stores. (MLive.com (Mich.) 6/18)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Sales of video game hardware and software rose 49% over last year’s May figures thanks to increased sales of Sony’s hand-held PSP gaming device and Nintendo’s Wii. Nintendo had the top two gaming devices with its popular Wii and DS consoles claiming the highest sales. (The Wall Street Journal 6/18)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Toshiba recently announced two new digital video recorders that will be able to record in HD DVD. Part of the company’s Vardia product line for the Japanese market, the DVRs will come with 300GB or 600GB drives. (Indiantelevision.com 6/16)
Apple has reportedly signed a deal to design an in-car maintenance, communication and navigation system for Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The system will be exclusive to Mercedes-Benz for six months. It will be introduced in the company’s 2009 auto line, reports the German magazine Focus. (TechCrunch 6/17)
Blockbuster announced today that it would offer only Blu-ray high-definition DVDs when it expanded its retail high-def offerings starting next month. The company had been renting both Blu-ray and HD DVD disks in 250 of its stores, and Blu-ray took more than 70% of rentals. Blockbuster said it would rent only Blu-ray disks in the rest of its 1,450 stores, but would continue offering HD DVD in the original 250 pilot stores and through its online-rental service. (International Herald Tribune/Associated Press 6/18)
