Filed under: MISC
BREAKING NEWS: BUNGIE SPLITTING FROM MICROSOFT
Microsoft Corp said on Friday that Bungie, the crown jewel of its video game unit behind the hit “Halo” franchise, will become a separate company, opening the possibility that it could make titles for Microsoft rivals. Microsoft said it will retain a stake in the new company, to be called Bungie LLC, and will continue to publish future “Halo” games and other titles. (http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2007-10-05T174728Z_01_WNAS5665_RTRIDST_0_TECH-MICROSOFT-BUNGIE-COL.XML&archived=False 10/5)
And in related news:
Sales of Microsoft’s “Halo 3″ reached $300 million in the game’s first week. Microsoft officials have also announced that Xbox 360 console sales in the week after the Sept. 25 debut “nearly tripled” from the weekly average reported before the game went on sale. (The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)/Associated Press 10/5, The Wall Street Journal 10/5)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
USA has picked up the cable TV rights to New Line’s film Hairspray (2007), and is expected to pay in the $13 million neighborhood for the opportunity, reports Daily Variety. USA gets the film for four years beginning in 2010, during which time it will also be able to air it on Bravo. HBO which has an output deal with New Line, has the pay TV rights, and New Line Distribution can also carve out a few runs for broadcast. In the eleven weeks since its premiere, the feature film has pulled in more than $118 million domestically.
Bravo’s Top Chef 3: Miami finale drew nearly 2.2 million A18-49 viewers and 3.1 million total viewers. I won’t tell you who won, just in case you haven’t seen it yet. And there is one more episode of this season scheduled - all 15 contestants will return for the reunion show Top Chef: Watch What Happens Special on October 10 at 10p.
Bravo Top Chef 3: Miami Finale Episode
Showtime has ordered up a pilot for the project Possible Side Effects, written by Tim Robbins, who will also direct the pilot. Set in the pharmaceutical research industry, the show’s central characters are always on the hunt for the next big miracle drug which also has the potential of making them billionaires. The show also takes in all the political aspects of moving a new drug thru the process to bring it to market.
Many of the broadcast networks new fall shows aren’t cracking Tivo’s top 50 season pass titles. Only ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice and NBC’s Bionic Woman remake have registered on the list so far, ranking #18 and #43 respectively. Meanwhile the top 10 are largely the same this year over last, with the order differing slightly. Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and House rank as the top 3.
NBC Universal and Sony Pictures Television are stepping up to play central roles at CES next year, as the show becomes more focused on the content side of the entertainment business. NBCU will become the consumer electronics mega-show’s first official broadcast partner, debuting a variety of interactive and digital programming. Sony will showcase both electronics and content, participating in the new ContentCES attraction with EchoStar, Intel, Microsoft and others. The show is scheduled to return to Las Vegas January 7-10, 2008.
Verizon, which has been aggressively rolling out its fiber optic TV service, allegedly overstated subscriber numbers by including pending customers of its FiOS TV offering, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New York. The suit, by Digital Art Services, alleges that DAS paid unfairly high advertising rates that were based on subscriber counts. (Broadcasting & Cable 10/4)
Video-on-demand is fast becoming a saving grace for Hollywood studios, which are waging a war against foreign piracy and want to attract younger audiences overseas, according to this story. Disney-ABC International Television and NBC Universal have been particularly active in striking such deals with foreign broadcasters. (The Hollywood Reporter 10/5)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google shares will reach $700 by the end of next year as the company lures more users to its YouTube video site and more marketers shift advertising spending to the Web, says Bear Stearns. YouTube’s U.S. visitors are forecast to “almost triple” to 83 million by 2012. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTu4q9×1Jhww 10/5)
Yahoo execs should consider breaking up or selling the company to increase the value of the shares, according to analysts at Sanford Bernstein. Selling Yahoo to a buyer that will cut jobs and revamp the advertising and search businesses may boost the company’s shares, they say. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0544656620071005 10/5)
News Corp.-NBC Universal’s yet-to-launch Hulu.com, a video site aiming to challenge YouTube, is already being seen by some observers as irrelevant. “I don’t think the world needs another new online video site,” says Richard DeSilva, a partner at venture firm Highland Capital. (http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20071004-000738-1330 10/4)
As media and tech companies eye online acquisitions, Facebook may be boosting its value by narrowing the traffic gap with News Corp.’s social-networking site MySpace, its primary rival. Observers say Facebook has surpassed the “chaotic” MySpace in functionality. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8RinPzEzIPQ 10/4)
Time Warner Cable is now selling music to customers of its Road Runner Internet-access service, stepping up competition with Apple’s iTunes online store. Road Runner subscribers can pay $9.95 a month for unlimited access to 3 million songs, ad-free radio and music videos. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atAPHAzqcmnQ 10/4)
Just to keep this in perspective, keep in mind that this service is a gated community, meaning that this service is only available to Road Runner customers. This is the first way that this new service is unlike iTunes. Secondly, this is a monthly pay service rather than an a la carte (pay per song/video) model. I say, does the world need yet another music service?
The premiere episodes of The CW’s new primetime series Aliens in America and Life is Wild as well as returning shows Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends and Supernatural will be available as free downloads on iTunes. Each episode is available for free for one week following its debut.
(Below) I mean, I dig an IM agreggator but I would rather have a Meebo Facebook application. Luckily for me, someone has already gone to the trouble of developing one. Thanks Jake Jarvis. Open platform. Gotta love it.
Social networking site Bebo and AOL have partnered to enable AIM messaging to be delivered seamlessly between the two services. With 38 million registered AIM users, the integration should help Bebo capitalize on trend popularized by sites such as meebo.com, which powers IM across multiple environments.
MySpace is offering integration with PayPal’s electronic fund transfer service to help non-profits and political candidates raise funds through the site’s Impact Channel. Impact connects users with volunteer opportunities across the country, runs opinion polls, registers voters and aggregates political news. It also contains a link to the MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogues event. (http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN0432660320071004 10/4)
Microsoft is launching a free, advertising-supported online health portal called HealthVault.com that allows people to upload their medical records to the Web and share the data with doctors. Google and Steve Case’s Revolution Health are said to be working on similar portals. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/04/AR2007100400984.html 10/5)
Seems like a very cool idea but the conspiracy theorist in me finds uploading all of this personal information to a Microsoft-controlled database to be a little creepy. OK, I watched The Net with Sandra Bullock and it changed me forever.
Yahoo streams 240 million music videos monthly, while MTV attracts about 1 million prime-time viewers per month. “We still put [music videos] on MTV,” says Universal Music exec Rio Caraeff. However, “online is the single-largest place where consumers are watching music videos.” (http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2007-10-02-music-videos-web_N.htm 10/3)
The recording industry won a major legal victory Thursday as a jury found a Minnesota woman guilty of illegally sharing music over the Internet. The woman has been ordered to pay $220,000 in damages to the record labels who brought a joint suit against her. (
ClipSyndicate 10/5, The Sun (Baltimore)/Associated Press 10/4)
U.S. online advertising spending topped a record $10 billion in the first half of the year, according to a new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Google, MySpace and Facebook “are benefiting” as more advertisers abandon newspapers and television. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=au1nNO6kgLR8 10/4)
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
(Below)So far, I can’t get Juvee! to work on a brand new Samsung Sync (AT&T service provider). Being that they don’t offer much in the vein of support on their web site, I guess I’m just out of luck on this one. Thanks to JD for the phone. I’ll figure out some way to use it this weekend.
Santa Monica-based Martini Digital Entertainment launched a new mobile programming service Juvee! Mobile with 9 channels of original content targeting the 18-34 male demo. The content is available to Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T subscribers with video-capable phones.
(Below) If you need me, I’ll be working remotely from the GCT. Cool idea TWC. I’m going to sponsor an iPhone meet-up.
To increase awareness for the new season of Epic Conditions and the new series Weatherventures, The Weather Channel (TWC) is giving visitors to the lower level Dining Concourse of Grand Central Terminal in NYC free Wi-Fi access for a limited time. As patrons log on to the internet, the home page will be a promo for TWC and a preview of these two programs. The promotion was brokered by TWC’s strategic media agency Media Storm. Both shows debuted on TWC October 1.
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Nintendo’s decision to revamp its popular “Legend of Zelda” game for its DS handheld system may help the company extend its appeal outside of the stereotypical male demographic, according to this article. “Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass” lets DS users control the game using the system’s touch screen, adding a new level of involvement to the title. (The Boston Globe/Reuters 10/4)
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass DS Trailer
