Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
The FCC has denied the request by the NCTA for an industrywide waiver on the ban on integrated set-top boxes that went into effect Sunday. The FCC’s Media Bureau did grant waivers to some multichannel providers that currently have all-digital networks deployed. (Broadcasting & Cable 6/29, Multichannel News 6/30)
In preparation for the digital-TV transition in February 2009, Charter is upgrading its equipment and phasing out analog-cable controllers in the St. Louis area. On July 17, Charter will no longer service the analog-cable controllers. (Collinsville (Ill.) Herald 6/30)
The Carlyle Group is reportedly putting together an $8 billion deal to buy Virgin Media. Virgin Media, a cable TV and communications group, was formed by the merger of NTL and Telewest. (The Independent (London) 7/2
A court of appeals has upheld a ruling that an Omaha, Neb., man must pay almost $2.2 million to Comcast for selling cable descramblers. Ronald J. Abboud was ordered by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pay Comcast of Illinois after his company, Multi-Vision Electronics, sold the descramblers through magazine and Web ads. (Yahoo!/Associated Press 6/29)
Cable networks, led by Turner, garnered double-digit advertising rate gains during the recent upfront ad sales negotiations. According to industry experts, sales are on pace for a 5% increase over last year’s totals of $7.3 billion. (Variety 7/1)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Amazon.com announced Sunday that it would soon start selling on-demand HD-DVD versions of independent films, which will be printed by the retailer’s CustomFlix Labs subsidiary. Sundance Channel’s “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” series will be one of the first titles available through the on-demand service. Amazon said it would waive its processing fees for the first 1,000 films it accepts for the program. (The Seattle Times/Associated Press 7/2)
EMI Music signed a deal with SNOCAP to start selling music through widgets placed on MySpace pages, blogs and artists’ official sites. EMI becomes the first major label to sign with Napster founder Shawn Fanning’s new SNOCAP MyStore service, and end-to-end digital licensing and copyright management service for artists and labels. Tracks will be available for $1.30 a piece from artists including Korn, 30 Seconds To Mars and Dean Martin.
Below is a link to an artist’s MySpace page with MyStore incorporated on the page. In the screenshot below, the widget is in the bottom right portion of the screen.
MySpace set a webcasting record for itself on June 20 when 330,000 users from 25 countries logged on to watch the latest MySpace Live! Concert, featuring rappers T.I. Twista and Lupe Fiasco.
MTV launched a new site to encourage viewers to express themselves and share their personal goals with others. WannaBeMade.com (no, it’s not a primer site for the Mafia) features social networking, input from life coaches and searchable video profiles. The online vertical to MTV’s Made (which premiered a new season on Saturday) is the fifth companion site launched by the network in last two months.
MTV’s Atom Films doubled its unique user base to 4.35 million users during May according to ComScore Media Metrix, thanks to the launch of AtomUploads, a new service that allows users to upload, share and compare video content.
Under a new NFL rule intended to boost team Web sites, media organizations must limit online video coverage, including news conferences, interviews and clips from practice, to 45 seconds per day. The move, which news organizations are working behind the scenes to change, underscores a growing conflict between sports leagues’ goal of controlling Net access and ad dollars and the public’s access to information, via the media. (The Washington Post 6/30)
Social Event discovery service Attendio launched a new widget that display’s bands’ photos, event dates and ticket buying info. The widget can be embedded on personal profiles, blogs and homepages to help spread the word about upcoming gigs. It’s currently embedded on the official websites of The Police, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce and Couting Crows, to name a few.
Digital content management system provider MediaSpan and local TV and radio website group Broadcast Interactive Media launched YouNewsTV, a platform to allow local sites to add user generated video of breaking news, local sports reports, weather and events. Over 50 Broadcast Interactive TV stations have signed up to add the service including Fisher, Granite and Journal Communications stations. Fisher’s Komo-TV in Seattle already has an active crew of citizen journalists.
The latest entry from former Website of the Day FrenchMaidTV, How To Share Photos, topped YouTube’s “most viewed” list last week with nearly 2 million views! The episode, featuring the maids hunting down a cat burglar and catching her in the act, was made to help showcase Adesso Systems’ social digital sharing service Tubes, a client-based desktop media solution that automatically downloads favorite webisodes and facilitates sharing between members.
I’m shocked. Other than blatant sex appeal, this video offers little else.
Streaming media audio and video advertising will reach $1.37 billion in 2007, an increase of 38% over last year, according to a new report by AccuStream iMedia Research. The company estimates 1.4 – 1.6 billion pre-roll avails will be sold against inventory of 2.1 – 2.7 billion views per month, making up 26.7% of gross video ad spending in 2007. In contrast, embedded or in-page placements are expected to make up 58.8% of gross billings this year, falling to 55.8% in 2008.
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) became the first member of the House of Representatives to launch his own Facebook application. The SplashCast widget allows Facebook users place Miller TV, the congressman’s branded video channel, on their profile pages with the click of a mouse.
Vuguru’s 80-webisode Prom Queen will be offered as a full-length download on Amazon.com’s Unbox video service. The interactive Emmy award nominee totals 130 minutes in a single shot. It’s being offered as a download-to-own for $9.99 and as a 30-day rental for $3.99.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Analysts predict that weekend sales of Apple’s iPhone may have reached 500,000 units, surpassing many top projections. “This is a very successfully handled launch,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said. “The real sign of success would be what kind of legs this product has in 2008 and 2009. In 2009, we estimate a third of Apple’s sales will be from iPhone. This is a huge product.” (Bloomberg 7/2)
Overloaded servers have been blamed for activation problems reported by several iPhone owners. “We are working on any issues on an individual basis with customers who were impacted,” AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said. (
ClipSyndicate 6/30, TIME/Associated Press 7/2)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
June sales of Nintendo’s Wii gaming system beat those of Sony’s PlayStation 3 by a ratio of 6-to-1 in Japan, according to new data. Sales of the Sony PS3 continue to suffer from high sticker prices and a lack of attractive gaming titles. In the U.S., consumer demand for Wii continues to outpace supply and console sales are more than double those of PS3. (CNNMoney.com/Reuters 7/2, The Honolulu Advertiser (Hawaii)/Associated Press 7/1)
Xbox LIVE Marketplace allows users to download and view high-definition programming, using their Xbox 360 console. The service continues to expand, according to Microsoft officials, although critics have complained of slow download times and payment hassles. (The New York Times 7/2)
More and more companies are carving out an online presence and getting involved with digital-marketing trends, but some companies are taking this to the next level. This winter, video game publisher Electronic Arts and clothier H&M will hold contests for would-be clothing designers to create fashions on the Sims 2 computer game that could become real products in the physical world. (BusinessWeek 6/29)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
The HD-DVD camp is going after consumers by touting its players’ ability to connect to the Internet as several new movie releases begin to take advantage of the capability. The HD-DVD version of “300,” for example, will allow users to re-edit the movie, upload it to a Warner Bros. server and share it with other users. Other new releases will feature online polls and downloadable subtitles. (The Oregonian (Portland)/Associated Press 7/2)
Filed under: MISC
MISC
Blockbuster announced plans to close 282 underperforming stores in the U.S. this year to concentrate more on its online rental business, now that it has settled its lawsuit with Netflix. This is not a new trend for the leading hard-copy movie rental chain; Blockbuster closed 290 stores last year, managing to distribute 25% of the revenues from those stores to nearby locations. Blockbuster’s Total Access online service (which allows both online and in store rentals) has signed 3 million subscribers to date, compared to 6.8 million subs for Netflix.
