Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Disney is sticking by actress Vanessa Hudgens, the star of the Disney Channel hit movie “High School Musical,” who is apologizing for a nude photo that turned up on the Internet. Disney says the photo will not affect its decision to cast Hudgens in the third film of the lucrative franchise. (http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0746838620070908 9/7)
News Corp.’s annual meeting in New York on Oct. 19 will be a “historic day” because chairman Rupert Murdoch is up for re-election for the first time in decades. Shareholders will vote on a proposed resolution that could make the media baron “less powerful.” (http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/rupert-faces-historic-vote/2007/09/08/1188783558421.html 9/9)
Dow Jones must pay Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. $165 million if either company decides to terminate their sale deal, according to a regulatory filing. Dow Jones also says bankers held talks with 21 potential buyers but they never got a bid to compete with Murdoch’s $60-a-share offer. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOCkfzT5P6NI 9/7)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
The rumor that Apple is exploring a downloadable movie rental model is gaining credence as a Mac developer downloaded a screenshot detailing problems a user had requesting a refund due to non-delivery of rental movies. Such a service could add much appeal to the slow-selling Apple TV set-top. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b08aba9c-1773-11dc-86d1-000b5df10621.html 9/10)
Microsoft is showcasing its LiveStation IP-based broadcast platform, designed to distribute television channels via the internet using the new Microsoft Silverlight user interface. Developed by UK-based Skinkers, LiveStation uses peer-to-peer based distribution technology to deliver high quality (somewhere between standard def and high def) audio and video without having to buy more servers.
LiveStation Sample
The MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday gave out the honors on a main stage at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas, while music acts hosted separate suite parties where most of the performances took place. TV viewers never got full views of those shows; MTV is promising more via its Web site. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070910/ap_en_mu/mtv_awards 9/10)
Common and Kanye West Performing “Drivin’ Me Wild” in the Fantasy Suite at the Palms
Cool but WAY too short.
Viacom is launching a slew of new niche-oriented web sites during the coming months in the genres of music, entertainment, comedy and pop culture, further committing to the web as a distribution platform. Existing sites will also be greatly expanded.
- TheDailyShow.com will begin offering complete episodes the day after they air and archiving the entire video history of the show
- Jokes.com will house Comedy Central’s entire joke and stand-up archive
- ICarly.com will be a destination for Nickelodeon viewers to submit user generated videos
- An Engaged and Underage website will allow fans to chronicle their own disputes
- GameTrailers.com will launch a community hint site WikiCheats.com for dedicated gamers
- The-Ngames.com is a casual gaming site for girls planned for Q1 2008
The new additions will expand the MTVN global portfolio to more than 300 sites by year-end. Traffic across MTVN’s properties increased from 76 million unique visitors in January to 91 million visitors in July, according to comScore Media Metrix.
ScanScout, a Boston startup described as providing “AdSense for video,” is said to be receiving a strategic investment from Time Warner. CEO Doug McFarland claims that many of the benefits for ScanScout will come from opportunities created by its partnership with the media giant. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/09/time-warner-backs-video-ads-through-scanscout/ 9/9)
Click below for a tour of the product.
Time Warner’s Warner Bros. studio plans to introduce 24 Web productions in a range of formats including minimovies, games and television shows. For this latest online push, Warner is deciding to finance most projects itself and worry about lining up advertisers to recoup costs later. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/business/media/10warner.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 9/10)
Facebook, the fast-growing social networking site, with about 38 million members, could grow to 220 million members in a year’s time, claims investor Peter Thiel. He adds that Facebook over the next few months will unveil new aspects of its business model and advertising plans. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6195 9/9)
Michael Eisner’s Vuguru is launching a spin off of Prom Queen. The sequel, “Prom Queen: Summer Heat,” will pick up where the original left off, dramatizing the summer after Prom night. Vuguru has struck multiple distribution/promotion deals with several leading entertainment portals including Bebo, MySpace, YouTube, Veoh, Imeem, Revver and Blinkx. Verizon Wireless will stream all 15 two-minute episodes via V Cast on the mobile side. VideoEgg will also use its video overlay technology to distribute the clips, the first time the system has been used for content instead of ads. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3id0ccf9e5ef957dbbb7fca2312a24839c 9/8)
Episode 1
The Recording Academy is opening its video vault with a Web site, Mynightatthegrammys.com, that will allow fans to vote on their favorite Grammy performances over the years. Selected clips will be shown on a television special on CBS in November. (http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i3a070e987d4f747c7d873a5fe259748b 9/10)
Kate Modern distributor Bebo is planning a new interactive drama called Sofia’s Diary this fall, produced from Sony Pictures International. Like Kate Modern, it will include daily video and text updates and incorporate user generated submissions into the storyline. The series is based on a web and mobile service that began in Portugal and has since been adapted by SPI for television in several territories.
“TMZ,” the new syndicated television series derived from the hit entertainment Web site, is set to premiere today. But when it comes to scoops, the Web site will continue to take precedence over the TV show, says co-founder Harvey Levin. “The Web site pushes further than TV.” (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-channel10sep10,1,6003130.story?ctrack=1&cset=true 9/10)
A major overhaul at Yahoo appears unlikely as a result of a strategic review being undertaken by the company, sources say. Top execs have discussed outsourcing search-advertising activity to Google or Microsoft, but discussions of outsourcing search ads has cooled. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118938678775322168.html 9/10)
With the music industry in crisis from falling sales and file sharing, record labels are spending less to produce music videos that will mostly be seen in miniature on computer screens. Music artists are now embracing the YouTube aesthetic with cheap, low-production video clips. (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i81qx19nQkyCl_aWEtuvsx10dN2A 9/7)
A new report from London-based Screen Digest predicts revenue from movie downloads in the U.S. and Western Europe will total $1.3 billion by 2011 ($720m in the U.S. and $572m in Europe), accounting for only 3% of all home entertainment revenues. Screen Digest actually cut its projection in half from a year earlier, citing fragmented distribution strategies and the lack of penetration of devices to transfer video content from the PC to the TV.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Anticipation is growing that Apple is already preparing an iPhone that will run on a 3G network. The company signed a patent licensing agreement with mobile phone technology provider InterDigital last week that could be worth as much as $20 million.
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Sony’s latest digital audio player, Rolly, looks like an egg, plays stereo-quality music, and moves like a professional dancer, or at least a small robot imitating one.
The new palm-sized device combines audio and robotic technologies that allow it to spin, flash lights and move. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118941515250922430.html 9/10)
Click below for a link to the video teaser campaign. Weird. I don’t know that I necessarily need a professional dancer as a media player but. . .that’s just me. And when I say professional dancer, I mean the kind of dances you pulled out when you were in junior high. Way hot.
