Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
In the spirit of Friday the 13th, I bring you the online video of the week. This video has amassed over 5 million views on YouTube. I mean, who doesn’t love a good David Blaine impression? Happy weekending all.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Programming on HBO will continue to follow the course set by former chief Chris Albrecht. The new presidents outlined a season Thursday that will include an American take on the BBC comedy “Little Britain,” the sixth season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the new drama “Tell Me You Love Me.” (The Hollywood Reporter 7/13)
The comic story of Andy Millman, a background actor turned sitcom star, will come to an end after two seasons as planned with a one-hour “Extras” special, HBO says. Ricky Gervais (Millman) and Stephen Merchant created the story. (Zap2it.com 7/12)
Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against Google over copyright infringement heated up today when Google CEO Eric Schmidt bashed Viacom for using litigation as its foundation for growth. “Look who they hired as CEO, Philippe Dauman, who was the general counsel for Viacom for 20 years,” Schmidt said. (The Washington Post/Reuters 7/13)
TV Guide launched an ambitious marketing campaign in support of American’s Next Producer, premiering July 18 at 8 pm ET/PT. Video content from the show will be distributed via AOL Video, YouTube, Google Video, Veoh and Brightcove. The company has also built a microsite for the show, featuring video featurettes of the contestants.
A new report found that two-thirds of consumers want their TVs to link with the Internet. “The awareness and demand for media home networking is growing rapidly among consumers,” iSuppli analyst Steve Rago said. (Electronic Engineering Times (Asia)/InformationWeek 7/11)
NBC had 67 of basic cable’s top 100 individual prime-time entertainment shows telecast in the first six months of this year, according to a ratings analysis to be released soon, says Variety. Building on its success, the conglomerate will use new segments of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” to build a Thursday block on USA Network, is launching a modern take on Homer for the Sci-Fi Channel and will pick up a fourth season of “Top Chef” on Bravo. (Variety 7/12)
Comcast is launching a “Get Local” push for on-demand programming in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The company hopes to develop about 20,000 shows in a region, mined from local events such as parades and high school sporting events. (MSNBC/Fool.com 7/12)
Cablevision is pitching a new premium service that makes a static-Internet-protocol address host for services reached through e-mail and e-commerce servers. Companies can use a single customer-specific IP address as their computer’s permanent Web address. (Multichannel News 7/12)
DISH is the first satellite-TV provider to carry all Reds games in high-definition (Channel 377) — beating out DirecTV and Time Warner to the Fox Sports Net Ohio programming in the Cincinnati market. (The Cincinnati Enquirer 7/13)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
MySpace tried to set the record straight about its continued dominance in the social networking space with a detailed release of new comScore MediaMetrix data. The site gained 2 billion page views from May to June, and its users spent more than 200 minutes for the month on the site, ten minutes more per user than its closest social network competitor (presumable Facebook). MySpace’s demographic sweet spot continues to be 12-17 year olds, according to a new Forrester report. The researcher found 80% of this group checked their MySpace page at least once a week.
Warner Music dropped the lawsuit it filed in May against social networking site imeem, choosing instead to license its entire catalog of music and video videos to the company in exchange for a portion of the revenue it generates. imeem launched a new ad supported music service in June that shares ad revenue with participating labels. Warner stuck a similar deal with YouTube last year to avoid going to court.
Widget publishers Freewebs is launching a creative new widgetized advertising campaign for Universal Studio’s Knocked Up, encouraging fans to interact with the movie and its characters. A “Baby Maker” photo page allows users to upload a photo themselves and someone else to generate pictures of what their baby might look like if the two were to mate.
While this is a hysterical idea, I think I would like the functionality a bit more if the ‘baby’ looked remotely like the parents. Check out the baby album on the site to see what I’m talking about.
Widgetbox announced a new solution to automatically insert third-party paid ads into sponsored-content widgets. The widgets can be used to syndicate content throughout the web on blogs, profile and home pages. Forbes.com launched a series of sponsored widgets with advertising from Visa Small Business.
Widgets have the potential to dramatically alter the Web — particularly social networks — by empowering users to distribute, publish and make decisions about content, according to this article. “We’ve got to push it [content] out to where they are,” said CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith. “We can’t drive everyone to CBS-dot-com-backslash-CSI-backslash. Nobody is around.” BusinessWeek (7/23)
Filmmaker-targeted website Iklipz.com launched a new 6-part series called Bridging the Gap according to Variety, featuring interviews of veteran directors, actors and producers by emerging young filmmakers. Iklipz is headed by Arthur Cohen, former marketing chief for Paramount Pictures.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Nokia has announced that it would allow easy access to install eBay -owned VoIP tool Skype on its mobile handsets, which would allow mobile users to make calls over Wi-Fi networks. (The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires 7/11)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Microsoft demoed several blockbusters titles due out for the Xbox Live platform later this year, including the latest versions of Madden NFL (to be released in HD this fall), Grand Theft Auto (Oct. 16 release) and first person shooter Halo 3 (Sept. 25). These three titles are expected to account for a third of all new release sales in the U.S. during the second half of 2007, according to IGN Entertainment’s GamerMetrics. All but Madden NFL ’08 are Xbox exclusives.
Madden NFL
Grand Theft Auto IV
Halo 3
Meanwhile, developers such as Activision, Eidos and Epic have singed on to the support the new Windows Live online gaming platform with nearly 30 new titles. Close to 10 million users worldwide are on the platform, according to Microsoft.
Sony unveiled more than 30 exclusive gaming titles for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles. Titles for the next-generation machine have been slow in coming, leading to disappointing sales. New versions of God of War, Killzone and Gran Turismo, as well as new franchises, help Sony stage a comeback. Sony also expanded the PS3′s hard drive to 80GB and announced a new sleeker, streamlined PSP design, 1/3 lighter and 20% slimmer than the current model. Sony executives presented at E3 both in person and as their virtual selves to promote PlayStation Home, the virtual world for PS3 users.
Nintendo’s announcements for the Wii were again geared more towards casual and neophyte gamers, a strategy that has so far paid dividends. The company is planning some hardware upgrades to add even more physicality to its game play. A pressure-sensitive “Wii Balance Board” will enable fitness games and aerobic activities. The new Mario Kart edition will come with a steering housing for the Wii remote controller. Developments are also underway to improve play for hard-core gamers. The “Wii Zapper” will house two separate controllers to form a gun for first person shooting games.
Mario Kart
MTV Games and Harmonix announced a new videogame Rock Band for the Xbox 360 and PS3, which will digitally distribute game levels based on classic rock albums. Like Guitar Hero, Rock Band allows gamers to play along, using controllers to play lead or bass guitar, drums and vocals. Who album Who’s Next will become the first offering. Electronic Arts is distributing the game in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
Rock Band
Sony has unveiled a new slimmed-down version of its portable gaming PSP unit. The streamlined version includes more memory and a new video port as Sony tries to better compete against industry-leading Nintendo. (
ClipSyndicate 7/12, TechNewsWorld 7/12)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Macintosh users can rely on a program called TV Forecast to create their own guide to favorite shows. After the user selects favorite shows, the software will look up the airtimes and, when a show is clicked, launch the browser to a site that provides detailed information. (Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio) 7/13)
Sony has announced the addition of nine BRAVIA high-definition LCD flat-panel televisions to its popular home-entertainment line. The new models will feature Sony’s BRAVIA Theater Sync feature, which allows users to control external components, such as AV receivers and Blu-ray high-definition DVD players, at the touch of a button. (Manage Smarter 7/12)
