Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
ABC’s fifth installment of Dancing with the Stars, produced by BBC Productions, premieres over three nights: September 24 at 8p with the female contestants showing off their moves; September 25 at 8p giving the guys a chance to strut their stuff; and on September 26 at 8p the first Dancing with the Stars Results Show will air. Hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris return along with the same judges: Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba. Dancing with the Stars also introduces the most contestants for this new season, twelve altogether.
E! Entertainment TV has picked up three theatricals from NBC Universal Domestic TV Distribution for their first basic cable premieres — Knocked Up, Evan Almighty and Man of the Year, reports Variety. The deal also includes secondary basic cable windows for Miami Vice, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Pride & Prejudice, Georgia Rule and Because I Said So. Total cost of the package – approx $40 million. Knocked Up will go to E! in October 2009 for a four year exclusive deal. The other titles are non exclusive, and USA has picked up a window for Man of the Year. USA also has the premiere windows of Chuck and Larry and Miami Vice; Oxygen has the first window for Pride & Prejudice and Georgia Rule.
With a boost from the credit crisis and a rollercoaster stock market, CNBC is posting its best August numbers in five years. During the month, CNBC’s business day, which runs from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., averaged 87,000 viewers in the channel’s target audience of adults age 25 to 54. (http://www.crainsny.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070829/FREE/70829008/1084 8/29)
TiVo reported a widening net loss of $17.7 million for Q2, up from $6 million during the same period last year. However, revenues increased by 5.1% to $62 million on the strength of HD DVR sales and its partnership with Amazon that allows TiVo users to download Amazon movies directly to the unit. TiVo closed the quarter with 1.71 million subscribers. (http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2007-08-29-tivo_N.htm 8/30)
Comcast and TiVo are moving ahead with plans to allow TiVo DVRs to operate on Scientific Atlanta set-top boxes. The companies are expected to debut the TiVo service commercially in Comcast’s New England division shortly. (Multichannel News 8/29)
New York-based ImaginAsian Entertainment, Korea-based Sidus Corp. and CJ Group affiliate M-net Media signed a new multiplatform content deal that will give ImagineAsian U.S. distribution rights to popular Korean dramas, music and variety shows including Thrilling Blind Date, Jaeyong’s Chaste 19 and M Countdown. M-net Media will serve as content aggregator for CJ Group’s catalog of shows in the U.S.DirecTV is beta testing its upcoming VOD service, called DirecTV On Demand. The system, slated to be launched in the fall, is expected to download content to an HR20 receiver outfitted with an Internet-enabled DVR. (Light Reading 8/29) Borrowing a page from Best Buy’s Geek Squad, Cox is launching a new service that will bring its technicians to a subscriber’s front door. The service, called Tech Solutions, features white-shirted Cox agents making house calls in hybrid Honda Fit cars. (The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) 8/30)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
MTV will run Sept. 9 a live simulcast of its Video Music Awards on Sprint TV and offer viewers a number of new wireless and online ways to interact with the program. The channel will offer instant updates through its MTV On Demand and will create an online “virtual world” based on the show. (The Hollywood Reporter 8/30)
AOL Latino announces the top 3 finalists of Fashionista today, the online reality design contest sponsored by Mercury Milan. As part of the finale, AOL Latino will debut three webisodes on Friday showcasing the finalists as they design outfits for a runway show. The winner will then be announced Friday at aollatino.com. Meanwhile AOL Music Live! premieres an exclusive live concert with platinum artist Daughtry, also on Friday night.
National Lampoon launched its own video channel on Yahoo! Video, featuring clips from classic comedies, webisodes of made-for-internet shows from nationallampoon.com.
Google is turning to new attention to its often-ignored social networking site, Orkut.com, with a redesign intended to prettify the site’s Spartan look. Despite its low profile, Orkut now draws 38.2 billion page views a month worldwide — 7.8 billion more than Facebook. (http://www.forbes.com/business/media/2007/08/28/google-brazil-network-tech-cx_ag_0828orkut.html 8/28)
Netflix doubled the amount of viewing via PCs during the past 6 weeks. As of August 22, Netflix users watched 10 million movies and TV episodes as more subscribers became aware of the feature rolled out slowly from January.
The theft of contact data for job seekers in the database of Monster.com may be much greater than the 1.3 million individuals reported earlier, admits CEO Sal Iannuzzi. While investigating the recent theft, the company learned that its Web site had previously been hacked. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSWEN072620070829 8/29)
YouTube signed an agreement with the MCPS-PRS Alliance of 50,000 UK-based music writers, composers and publishers to license 10 million tracks of music for a flat fee, reports The Financial Times. After YouTube hands over the funds the alliance will decide how to distribute it among its members based on online usage. This is the first such deal struck by YouTube outside of the U.S. (http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2355094.ece 8/30)
The U.S. is lagging behind in terms of speed and affordability of broadband access, according to a report in the Washington Post. For instance Japan, once a laggard in the race, offers speeds 8-30 times faster than U.S. broadband services for half the price, in some cases. Competition among DSL providers has pushed the rates down to around $22 for a speeds that exceed what Comcast and Cox offer in the U.S.
Using “powerboost” technology, Comcast has begun increasing its upload speed to 2 megabits per second. By comparison the typical speed of AT&T’s DSL service is between 384 kilobits and 512 kilobits per second. The service is available to Comcast cable-modem customers who subscribe to services with 6- or 8-megabit download speeds. (The Sacramento Bee (Calif.) 8/30)
Many assume the growth in online video consumption is driven by teens and twenty-somethings watching amateur content. But according to a survey conducted by Advertising.com and InsightExpress, streaming video fans are mostly over-35 news junkies. (http://www.clickz.com/3626896 8/30)
U.S. Internet advertising spending is poised to overtake radio advertising for the first time, says a report from eMarketer. Radio ad spending will inch up to $20.4 billion, short of online’s of $21.7 billion. Radio station Web sites will become a “principal driver” of radio ad growth. (http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/29/advertising-radio-internet-cx_lh_0829radio.html 8/29)
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Deutsche Telekom AG is in talks with Apple Inc. about selling the iPhone in Germany and expects the U.S. company to announce its German distribution partner soon, a senior executive said Wednesday in Berlin.
(http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=191CD0C:DA82C51354DCEC5D328C663D8C5E9746EFF29049075316B4 8/29)
LG Electronics Inc.’s battle to beat the iPhone is far from over. The South Korean electronics company has unveiled its second iPhone-like handset and this one packs several important features the iPhone doesn’t: 3G and high-speed cellular data networking. (http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=191CD0B:DA82C51354DCEC5D328C663D8C5E9746EFF29049075316B4 8/30)
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Microsoft is signing up Fox as the newest partner for its Xbox Live Video Marketplace. The two are launching with “Family Guy,” a show aimed squarely at the service’s young male gamer demo. Video Marketplace allows Xbox 360 owners to download movies and TV shows. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971070.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1 8/29)
Sony and Microsoft might have found a way to better compete against Nintendo’s Wii gaming unit. By dropping their PS3 and Xbox 360 prices and introducing a bevy of appealing gaming titles, industry analysts predict Nintendo might lose market share to the two this upcoming holiday season. (Bloomberg 8/30)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Sony is introducing a new U.S. version of its Sony Walkman that includes the ability to play digital video, the latest potential rival to Apple’s dominant iPod media player. The announcement comes amid speculation that Apple will soon introduce new iPods. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN3040394620070830 8/30)
Apple shares experienced a five-cent increase Wednesday after increased speculation the company soon will introduce new iPod models. “The product announcement is likely to include a full lineup of revamped iPods with significantly greater functionality at current price points, including the much-anticipated full-screen video iPod,” Goldman Sachs said. (The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters 8/30)
