Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
New Line Cinema is talking with HBO to bring Sex and the City to film, and picking up where the television series left off. Negotiations continue, but looking good.
HBO’s “Coma” follows the progress of four people with traumatic head injuries as they try to recover over one year. While the show is compelling, it’s also difficult to watch as the patients’ families realize the injuries are life-changing, and for some, forever. (The Wall Street Journal 7/6)
Gemstar-TV Guide signed a multi-year patent license agreement with SKY Italia, allowing the satellite digital TV provider to use Gemstar-TV Guide’s licensed intellectual property in its electronic program guides (EPGs) deployed on its various platforms. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Capitol Broadcasting owner Jim Goodmon is petitioning Congress to allow TV stations to distribute their feeds over the internet within their own markets the way they are allowed to do via cable and satellite, according to TVNewsday. A public hearing is scheduled for July 23-26 in Washington to weigh the issue.
This shouldn’t come as a shock. Cable companies plan to pass on the cost of rolling out new cable card-compatible set-top boxes to consumers. A widely picked-up AP story quotes estimates of $2-$3 increases from trade groups but says not to expect the hikes until early next year.
There’s speculation that The Carlyle Group could sell off parts of Virgin Media to fund its takeover bid. Carlyle could sell off Flextech, the company’s content unit that was rebranded Virgin TV, and the Virgin Mobile unit, according to The Independent. (The Independent (London) 7/6)
A favorable analyst report caused a surge in Cablevision’s shares, which according to this article could hamper the Dolan family’s bid to take the company private. Cablevision’s stock hit a five-year high Thursday when it rose more than 3% to $37.73. (Multichannel News 7/5)
AT&T didn’t seek a set-top-box waiver from the FCC because its U-verse TV service doesn’t use boxes that contain both channel surfing and signal features. “The intelligence that this ban is seeking to separate doesn’t reside in our set-top box. It’s in our network,” AT&T spokesman Mike Balmoris said. (Multichannel News 7/5)
NBC has reportedly paid $12 million to extend its rights to broadcast the Wimbledon tennis tournament through 2011. The deal includes digital-media rights and live-mobile coverage. (Mediaweek 7/5)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
MSN is hoping this weekend’s global Live Earth concerts (tomorrow 7/7) will top AOL’s Emmy-winning Live 8 event in 2005 in terms of traffic and overall impact. MSN has sewn up exclusive web rights in 24 countries, partnering with Live 8 producer Control Room to provide streaming video footage of more than 150 bands. Yet given the extensive TV coverage across the NBC landscape, the real value of the portal should be in its community tools and interactive features, including an interactive map of venues, Soapbox-branded user-submitted video and free IM theme packs compatible with Windows Live Messenger. The event will also create a treasure trove of archived concert footage for MSN. Live Earth founder Al Gore himself kicked things off yesterday with a live Webcast on environmental topics, moderated Simran Sethi from Sundance Channel’s The Green.
For the voyeurs out there, Real Networks will again provide exclusive 24/7 live video feeds from within the Big Brother house on CBS.com. From today, fans can log on to chat about their favorite houseguest while viewing what’s going on inside the house. SuperPass subscribers ($14.99/month) can view four video feeds simultaneously and access blogs, chats, message boards and polls, in addition to exclusive Big Brother content from Real’s Film.com site.
Al Gore-backed Current TV announced a deal with social networking site Bebo to search for new talent and promote each other’s user generated content. In the Bebo Your Shout contest, users can upload video introductions of Current programming for a chance to spend a day at Current’s London studios to learn the ins and outs of presenting and directing on air. Current will also begin supplying Bebo with regular content for new branded page on its site.
In order to launch HBOvoyeur.com, it took 30 actors, six music composers and numerous prop employees on a soundstage in West Hollywood. The HBO-branded short films feature two- to three-minute clips that are vignettes of what happens to characters in several apartments. (Adweek 7/5)
Fox Interactive Media’s acquisition of photo/video sharing site Photobucket has been approved by the FTC. Photobucket is one of the most popular application providers on MySpace, powering uploads and embeds for 42 million users.
Broadband Enterprises launched vComm, a platform that allows advertisers to buy contextual ad space embedded within online videos similar to Google’s AdSense video pilot. The platform will work in conjunction with BE’s Vindico platform, allowing advertisers more control over video ad deployment. DoubleClick (bought by Google), Right Media (acquired by Yahoo) and Atlas (part of Microsoft’s aQuantive) are developing similar systems.
Broadband penetration continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate, with 7 in 10 Americans reporting they connect via high-speed lines, according to a new Pew Internet & American Life report. The Pew folks found that 47% of Americans have high-speed access at home (up 5% from early ‘06). The digital divide is also shrinking; 48% of white users now report a home broadband connection compared to 40% of black users.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
TransMedia has added iPhone support for its Glide Mobile online media sharing and storage service. Users can access the service through iPhone’s Safari browser to listen to MP3s, watch QuickTime Movies and read, create or edit documents stored on Glide’s 2GB of free storage. (An additional 10GB of storage can be purchased for $49.95/year.)
Palm’s products based on the Linux operating system will be available next year, but the company will introduce several Windows Mobile and Palm OS products before then, Chief Executive Officer Ed Colligan revealed in a recent call to financial analysts. The Palm OS has not had a major upgrade since 2004. (NewsFactor Network 7/4)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Microsoft announced Thursday that it had extended the warranty coverage of its Xbox 360 to three years from date of purchase, covering a general hardware failure that has been dubbed the “red ring of death.” The warranty will also reimburse customers who have already paid to have their machines repaired. ( 
ClipSyndicate 7/6, The Seattle Times 7/6)
Sony President Ryoji Chubachi has said that the company will not reduce the price of its PlayStation 3 gaming console to help increase sales. Chubachi has likened the slow sales of the technology-rich product to similar figures during the launch of the original PlayStation, which went on to become a success for the company. (Reuters 7/6)
A new, more active generation of gamers is present at this year’s World Series of Video Games. “These guys, it’s totally antithetical to ‘the lazy gamer,’” commissioner of the World Series of Video Games Matt Ringel said. “They’re highly regimented, highly disciplined. They’re into physical conditioning. They’re normal people.” (MSNBC/Associated Press 7/5)
(Photo Credit: Ed Reinke AP)
A new study suggests that playing violent video games helps young people deal with their anger. The report also found that 94% of kids surveyed had played games in the prior six months, and that M-rated games were more likely to be played in groups. (The Register (U.K.) 7/5)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Makers of luxury cars have begun teaming up with high-end audio companies to differentiate their models from the competition. Audi recently paired up with design firm Bang & Olufsen to produce a 1,000-watt stereo for its R8 sports car that includes technology to configure sound according to driving speed, wind effect and the noise caused by tire friction. (The Wall Street Journal 7/5)
Several new display technologies could challenge LCD screens, which are heavier and use more power. Organic light-emitting diode and bi-stable technologies, while still being perfected, are already in use. But LCD manufacturers are fighting back, improving their devices with new power-control technology and optical sensors for backlight units. (Red Herring/Reuters 7/5)
