Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Time Warner boss Dick Parsons is purchasing about $500,000 worth of the company’s stock in a show of confidence in the company’s future. Time Warner stock trades at a discount to its big media peers. Uncertainty over the media giant’s future is keeping some investors at bay. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN0639823420070806 8/6)
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. is expected to report a higher profit in its fiscal fourth quarter this Wednesday on strong earnings growth at its U.S. cable television networks, including Fox News Channel. News Corp.’s earnings are expected to soar by about 17%. (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/news-corp-profit-likely-higher/story.aspx?guid=%7B6BA916EA%2D8B47%2D444E%2DBDC2%2DC50F88E33764%7D 8/6)
Filmmaker Sydney Pollack has withdrawn from the upcoming HBO movie “Recount” because of illness. The 73-year-old, Oscar-winning director will be replaced by Jay Roach on the film, which focuses on the contested 2000 U.S. presidential election. (The Washington Post/Reuters 8/6)
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has singled out HBO’s outreach campaign “The Addiction Project” and Fox’s “Idol Gives Back” fundraising effort to receive this year’s Governors Award for outstanding public-service works. The HBO program is designed to help people see that addictions are a chronic, but treatable, brain disease, while “Idol Gives Back” helped raise more than $75 million for impoverished children in America and Africa. (The Hollywood Reporter 8/7)
USA has licensed eleven theatrical titles from Universal Pictures - the two biggest titles in the group being the recently released The Bourne Ultimatum and I Know Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. The deal will cost USA in the neighborhood of $60 million for the 54-month term, and Universal Pictures retrains the rights to set up broadcast windows for both Bourne and Chuck & Larry, as well as a handful of runs to be sold to another cable network. The Bourne Ultimatum goes to USA in early 2010, and Chuck & Larry in late 2009.
NBC has extended its relationship with late-night talk show host Carson Daly for another two years. In addition to his duties on “Last Call With Carson Daly,” he will again host “NBC’s New Year’s Eve With Carson Daly.” (The Hollywood Reporter 8/7)
Nearly 20% of U.S. homes still rely on antennas to receive over-the-air TV signals despite the fact that the transition to digital-only television is just a year and a half away. With the February 2009 deadline looming, TV manufacturers beginning next March must make all new TVs digital-ready. (USA TODAY 8/6)
In one of the biggest rate-deregulation requests ever filed by a cable company, Comcast has asked the FCC for pricing relief in 150 communities. The petitions for effective competition include areas such as Salt Lake City; Du Page County, a suburban county near Chicago; and Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Multichannel News 8/6)
Cox’s field technicians are now able to move from one computer application to another with the help of NetMotion Wireless’ Mobility XE platform. The virtual-private-network system maintains the IP state of laptops and allows techs to switch applications, whether they’re based on cellular technology, Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection. (Light Reading 8/6)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
The Weather Channel’s weather.com launched a new interactive video player powered by Brightcove that utilizes DoubleClick’s In-Stream video ad serving solution. The “Blue Box” player features enhanced search, share and embed options and offers easy-to-browse category tabs to navigate back and forth between multiple genres. Weather Channel Interactive also signed a deal to adopt the Brightcove IPTV platform on a corporate-wide basis, allowing the company to syndicate video content to website affiliates through blogs, emails and social networks. 
Freemantle Media Enterprises will launch a new direct-to-consumer web portal to offer classic shows for purchase or rental via download. TVComedyClassics .com, due to launch later this month, will feature comedy shows from the Fremantle archive including Tommy Cooper Half Hour, George and Mildred and Bless This House. TVComedyClassics.com will be cross-promoted on branded DVD releases, which FME is looking to expand by introducing local versions of the site around the world.
In my most humble Marauder opinion, sites like this one are inherently flawed. As a consumer, I want one place where I can find any piece of content that I want. I don’t want 10 different sites that require 10 different program downloads. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. After all of these many downloads and online product tests, my laptop is beginning to look like a digital wasteland.
Comcast’s Eonline announced a new online game to promote the fifth season of Dr. 90210. ”Celebrity Face Lift” will allow users to create an avatar by utilizing facial features from multiple celebrities and embed or email their creation to friends.
I give this a 5 out of 5 as an online game. Quick to play, easy to understand, and completely in line with the scope of the series.
Meet my avatar. Hot no? Katie Holmes’ hair, Angelina’s lips and Cameron’s mouth. Et voila! Now, If only plastic surgery was this easy. . .
ABC Family’s entry into the social networking arena VirtualRush.com, a web component for the original series Greek, helped more than double the network’s online unique user base in July. VirtualRush and the Kyle XY Continuum helped grow unique users by 114% with users spending an average of 12 minutes on the site each time they logged on, according to ABC Family.
Conde Nast launched Concierge.com, offering travel clips from a new 57-video library of Insider Guides – first person tours of top restaurants, clubs, shops and attractions.
Online personal media network Slide.com is launching a widget-based ad network offering advertisers “sponsored skins” applied to slideshows spread virally around the web via social network pages and blogs. Discovery and Paramount Pictures will use Slide’s photo and video widgets to promote shows and movies across networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo. Slide was launched in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and has received funding from Mayfield Fund, Blue Run Ventures, Khosla Ventures and Founders Fund.
Multimedia channels widget SplashCast launched a new Facebook version of its player. The “white label” service creates a custom media wrapper for clients and loads the application into Facebook, sharing revenue based on ad impressions. NPR is one if its first clients with the NPR Podcast Player, allowing Facebook users listen to and share the latest NPR podcasts.Search engine marketing agency AdGooroo has signed a deal with Publicis Groupe to provide SMG Search, Digitas, Moxie Interactive and Publicis Groupe Media with proprietary search query and trend data to improve consumer trend analysis. AdGooroo automates a number of competitive intelligence and data collection tasks, including keyword optimization and competitive intelligence tools, to support strategic decision-making and provide structure and direction for managing campaigns across platforms.
The author of the popular Fake Steve Jobs blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs (subtitle: Dude, I Invented The Friggin iPhone, Have You Heard Of It?) has been unmasked! The satirical blog was created by Daniel Lyons, a Senior Editor at Forbes magazine, starting out as a parody of corporate blog and evolving into a playful platform in which to explore Apple’s high-profile happenings. Forbes has the whole story on video, (with lots of commercials). (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/technology/06steve.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin 8/6)
Online advertising will overtake U.S. newspaper advertising in terms of size by 2011, according to a new forecast from Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Consumers are shifting to digital alternatives and migrating away from newspapers, broadcast television and other media. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6098d396-4448-11dc-90ca-0000779fd2ac.html 8/7)
The New York Times is said to be preparing to stop charging readers for online access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content in its TimesSelect subscription service. The number of subscribers who pay $7.95 a month or $49.95 a year dropped to about 221,000 in June. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/08072007/business/timesselect_content_freed_business_holly_m__sanders.htm 8/7) NBC
Universal and News Corp.’s planned YouTube-like online video venture is expected to launch in September and still doesn’t have a name. NBCU digital exec George Kliavkoff reveals that the so-called “New Site” will charge for full-length movies but make television episodes free. (http://www.forbes.com/media/2007/08/06/nbc-internet-video-biz-media-cx_lh_0806kliavkoff.html 8/6)
A group of music publishing companies is joining a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google’s video-sharing site YouTube. The National Music Publishers’ Association says it is joining the lawsuit out of concern that many songwriters aren’t receiving proper compensation. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070806/ap_on_hi_te/youtube_music_publishers 8/6)
Web advertisers are spreading their online ad dollars across more sites and are paying lower rates, putting pressure on established Internet players like Yahoo and AOL. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the tech-focused CNET are reporting slowing Internet ad growth. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/08072007/business/online_ad_war_business_holly_m__sanders.htm 8/7)
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Google’s search engine, e-mail and interactive maps will come preloaded on the mobile phone it plans to launch early next year. The company hopes that the new GPhone will rival the Apple iPhone. Google is expected to be seeking revenue from the lucrative mobile advertising market. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/03/wgoogle103.xml 8/4)Phone image unconfirmed by Google. Google had some great mobile test experience integrating their search engine and Google maps into cell phones. Now its time for the real deal. It’s official folks. Google vs. Apple. Round 1.
A new market survey released by ChangeWave Research found that 16% of early technology adopters who plan to buy a cell phone in the next six months will buy an iPhone. The research also suggests that Motorola has suffered the largest losses from the iPhone. (TWICE 8/6) According to the Web site AppleInsider, Apple’s iPhone will soon be available through Best Buy and other retailers. The site cited “people familiar with the matter” and said Best Buy could begin carrying the iPhone in September or October. (Dealerscope 8/6)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING Microsoft has announced that it will cut the price of its main Xbox 360 gaming console by nearly 13% in the U.S., as the company gears up for the all-important holiday shopping season. The price cuts, scheduled to go into effect Wednesday, will also apply to the elite and core versions of the gaming system, with those prices dropping $30 and $20, respectively. (CNNMoney.com/Reuters 8/7, The Seattle Times 8/7)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
While the iPhone has done a cannonball splash into the media and consumers, Apple is looking to draw attention back to its flagship Macintosh consumer line. Apple will hold an event today at company headquarters that it’s calling a “Mac-centric” event. (MarketWatch 8/6)
Dell is paying an undisclosed amount for music startup Zing. Zing makes software for SanDisk’s Sansa Connect wireless player, but, according to this article, Dell may be planning its own Wi-Fi music player. (The Register (U.K.) 8/7)
