Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Verizon added 1.6 million wireless customers and 202,000 FiOS TV customers in the third quarter, the company reported Monday. Additions in customers getting high-speed Internet came in at 229,000. Total revenue was up 5.8% to $23.77 billion. (The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires 10/30, The Washington Post/Associated Press 10/29, Forbes/AFX News Limited/Thomson Financial 10/29)
NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker, speaking at a breakfast hosted by Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, is dismissive of talk that parent General Electric could sell off the unit. His biggest nightmare, he says, is NBC’s digital strategy: “Nobody has figured out the economic model.” (http://www.forbes.com/business/media/2007/10/29/television-nbc-zucker-biz-media-cx_lr_1029zucker.html 10/29)
Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons is expected to announce his exit from the company in the near future. But political strategists say it appears unlikely he will try to succeed Mike Bloomberg as mayor of New York City. Talk of Parsons entering politics is said to be subsiding. (http://www.nysun.com/article/65514 10/30)
Landlords often enter into exclusive deals with cable companies, leaving apartment dwellers with little say in who provides their pay television. Now U.S. regulators are poised to invalidate those contracts in hopes that competition from phone companies will drive down prices. (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cable30oct30,1,1853299.story 10/30)
BBC Worldwide plans to establish 30 more channels internationally during the next two years. The channels will join existing brands such as BBC America and BBC Canada. Also in the works are a new high-definition channel and an on-demand service in the United States. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/29/uknews.bbc 10/29)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Comedy Central, in an unusual strategic about-face, plans to move its Internet-only original programming off Comedycentral.com and onto AtomFilms.com, a Web site that Viacom acquired in 2006. Viacom plans to re-establish Atom as a comedy-oriented vertical channel. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3ie25482ef248abb4874f4d7f598c121a0 10/30)
NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker lashed out at Apple at benefit hosted by Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications according to reports, claiming its inflexible pricing practices have destroyed the music business and are poised to do the same to online video. NBCU, which earned just $15 million in revenue during the last year of its deal with Apple, had been pushing for the right to charge more per episode for hit shows and to share in some of the revenue Apple earned from hardware sales before talks to renew its deal collapsed. He also defended the viability of the just-launched Hulu.com. Mr. Zucker noted NBC.com served up 50 million streams of TV shows during the month of October, proving there is ample demand for full-length shows on the web.
Google is said to be developing a social-networking element for all of its applications, with a project that goes by the codename “Maka-Maka.” (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/29/googles-response-to-facebook-maka-maka/ 10/29)
Australia’s antitrust regulator won’t intervene in Google’s proposed acquisition of online advertising firm DoubleClick, ruling the merger as unlikely to result in a lessening of competition. A Google spokesman says: “We are confident that other governments will approve this deal.” (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/australian-regulator-clears-google-purchase/story.aspx?guid=%7B460B1C51-F6D2-4E47-BCBB-3F9F560AD5F9%7D 10/30)
Yahoo is adding media-playing features, large file transfers, new languages and other tools to its instant messaging service. The move comes as a growing number of rivals — from incumbents like AOL to social-network sites like MySpace — boost their positions in the market. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2952520620071030 10/30)
Meebo.com, a Silicon Valley startup aiming to morph from a Web-instant-messaging company into a general-purpose media company, will open its Web site to software developers, throwing it into possible competition with the likes of Facebook and Google. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119370202753875653.html 10/30)
Hulu.com, the new NBC-News Corp. video site, is often called a “YouTube killer.” But Hulu doesn’t offer user-generated content like the Google-owned video-sharing site. Instead, it allows viewers to watch mainstream television online without the cost of a cable TV service. (http://www.thestreet.com/s/hulu-to-hurt-cable-not-google/newsanalysis/mediaentertainment/10387093.html 10/29)
The rise of Internet television will make it easier — and more important — for studios to release new TV shows simultaneously around the globe, says Jason Kilar, chief executive officer of Hulu, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. The film industry has already made moves toward simultaneous release to combat piracy. (MSNBC/FT.com 10/29)
During MySpace/MTV.com‘s Presidential Dialogue Barack Obama promised to make net neutrality the law of the land if he were elected president. “Facebook, MySpace, Google might not have been started if you had not had a level playing field for whoever has the best idea,” he noted. The statement was given in response to a question posed by a former AT&T network engineer, the top rated query on 10questions.com’s interactive poll. (Broadcasting & Cable 10/29)
MySpace is entering a deal with Silicon Valley startup Zazzle.com that will enable musicians with MySpace pages to create virtual stores for T-shirts, posters and other merchandise, using artwork and graphics that their fans can customize when they order it. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119370187696075639.html 10/30)
A friend turned me on to Zazzle earlier today. I wish I would have known about this site before I ordered a bunch of Daily Marauder shirts on cafepress.com. Cafepress.com is easy and fun to use but zazzle offers even more options and easier editing functionality. Marauder likes it.
Some 13 months after establishing itself as a stand-alone entity, NBCSports.com is returning to former home on MSNBC.com. Company execs stop short of describing the move as an admission that NBCSports.com failed in its attempt to take on leader ESPN.com. (http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.main&articleId=56852 10/29)
Fora.tv, which aims to become the C-SPAN of the Web, is closing a $2 million seed round from investors including Hearst heir Will Hearst. The site offers about 1,500 hours of public speeches and obtains its videos through partnerships with organizations like the Aspen Institute. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/29/foratv-raises-2-million-seed-round-from-adobe-and-will-hearst/ 10/29)
Curbed.com, a popular real estate blog network, is obtaining $1.5 million in financing to expand into more cities and add staff members. Publisher Lockhart Steele is a former managing editor of the Gawker Media blog network. Gawker Media is among the investors. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/technology/30curbed.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 10/30)
Hitwise launched a new Clickstream report differentiating between new and repeat traffic a website receives in a given day, week or month. The research should help marketers better analyze spikes and drops in visits. For instance, among social networking sites 6.23% of Facebook visitors for the week ending Oct. 20, 2007 were new users.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Google plans to unveil within the next two weeks a proposal to bring Google-powered cellphones to market by the middle of 2008. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119369951717475558.html 10/30)
Both AT&T and T-Mobile USA have introduced new handsets aimed at texters. AT&T’s new Pantech “duo” boasts both a phone keypad and a full keyboard. T-Mobile’s Shadow, made by HTC, comes with a single keyboard. Both run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. (The Boston Globe/Reuters 10/29)
AT&T’s Pantech Duo
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine/AT&T/Handout
T-Mobile’s Shadow
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
A new industry report found that men are as likely as women to play casual video games, although they are less likely to buy titles in the genre. The findings debunk a long-held industry belief that women were the target audience for casual games, and they may signal a shift in how the titles are marketed in the future. )(Yahoo!/Reuters 10/29)
Filed under: MISC
HULU TUBE
Hulu is finally unboxed. . .even though I don’t know anyone with access to the actual site. Hulu, the co-partnership site developed by Fox and NBC, has launched in “technical beta” today. Unlike YouTube, Hulu’s objective is to offer professionally produced content to the masses rather than user-generated content.
Click on the image below for some screengrabs of the new site. As a reminder, episodes on Hulu are free and ad-supported.
Current content: Includes full length current and library TV titles and feature films.
Electronic sell-thru: Not currently offered by the site but Hulu will get a cut of any DVD’s sold by referral from hulu.com
Access Points: While Hulu is in technical beta, users can access the Hulu channel through AOL’s video site. Users can also enter through a variety of other portals including MSN, Yahoo!, MySpace and Comcast’s FanCast.
The beta version of the online video site Hulu.com launched today, set up by NBC and Fox to rival the major viral video sites such as YouTube, Veoh and Google. Available on the site and full shows from NBC and Fox, as well as programs provided by Sony and MGM, including The Office, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, Monk, and older programs such as The Pretender, Picket Fences and Miami Vice. The site also promises to offer up to ten feature films, among them The Blues Brothers and The Breakfast Club. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-nbcu-nws-jv-hulu-launches-with-private-beta-open-distribution-sony-mgm- 10/28 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fc43a4b4-858f-11dc-8170-0000779fd2ac.html 10/29, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-hulu29oct29,1,7587581.story 10/29)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Time Warner’s formal announcement of the Dick Parsons-Jeff Bewkes CEO transition is planned for early November, according to a top company official. Getting the news out of Bewkes’s ascension before third-quarter earnings are released could boost Time Warner’s lethargic stock. (http://www.newsweek.com/id/62216 10/26)
Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s CEO-in-waiting, is described by colleagues as “sharp witted” and as “the first true businessman” to head the company. A Time Warner exec says Bewkes was a success during his years running HBO, because he created a “distribution model that worked.” (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117974860.html?categoryid=1&cs=1 10/26)
Sumner Redstone plans to meet in the coming weeks with his daughter, Shari, in an attempt to resolve their ongoing feud over the future control of CBS and Viacom. CBS chief Les Moonves recently had his contract rewritten to insulate himself from Shari, should she take over. (http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/1112/108.html 10/26)
The stock of IAC/InterActiveCorp, which Barry Diller heads and in which John Malone’s Liberty Media owns a majority stake, is underperforming. And Malone, who refers to their relationship as a “marriage,” appears to want a divorce. But to buy out Liberty, Diller may have to sell off assets. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119344185734273462.html 10/27)
Despite the onslaught of publicity for the nearly 30 new television shows of the fall season, viewers so far prefer old standbys like ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Right now, Disney’s ABC is “in the catbird seat,” with its heavy lineup of returning hits. (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fall-tv-lineup-old-favorites/story.aspx?guid=%7B50055F80-A526-4D1D-910A-145577C4B81C%7D 10/28)
Discovery has inked its first syndication deal, selling the domestic rights for “Deadliest Catch” and “American Chopper” to Debmar-Mercury. “American Chopper” is scheduled to be offered to TV stations in the fall of 2008, and “Deadliest Catch” is expected to enter syndication in 2009. (The Hollywood Reporter 10/29)
U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) want a congressional hearing to probe cable and telco providers’ “power to discriminate against content.” Also: Comcast staffers who talk about the company’s interfering with file sharing are subject to termination. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071027/ap_on_hi_te/data_discrimination_senate 10/27, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071028-comcast-to-employees-talking-about-blocking-p2p-can-get-you-fired.html 10/28)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
The social networking site for NBC’s The Office fans saw over 800,000 unique users coming to view some part of the site, according to NBC.com, with over eight million page views and over 100,000 consumers signing up to be a part of the virtual Dunder Mifflin work force. Fans who register are given positions in the other “branches” of Dunder Mifflin and asked to perform weekly tasks and challenges that tie in to each week’s storyline. An “Office” convention was held over the weekend in Scranton, PA to give fans a chance to meet the real stars of the show.
The NBA is in talks with a number of partners including Turner to find someone to manage its fledgling NBA TV network and digital properties like NBA.com, according to Multichannel News. While bullish about the revenue potential of distributing games digitally, longtime NBA commissioner David Stern has no plans to offer fans an online subscription package of games the way Major League Baseball and the NHL do. Live games are currently available on NBA.com only to cable NBA League Pass subscribers. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/nba-in-talks-with-turner-to-run-nba-tv-and-nbacom-no-plans-for-standalone-o 10/28)
As a take off on Barack Obama’s “One Million Strong for Barack” group, Comedy Central’s Stephen T. Colbert launched a Facebook group of his own to garner 1 million supporters to his mock campaign out to register folks to vote. (Over 2,600 have registered to vote from the site so far.) The group acquired 1 million members in just six days while Obama’s profile has managed just over 385,000 in 9 months.
Facebook’s $15 billion valuation — more than CBS and Viacom combined — puts pressure on CEO Mark Zuckerberg to deliver astronomical growth. Some of the growth is expected to come from the social-networking site’s new advertising strategy, set to be announced on Nov. 6. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10282007/business/now_zuckerberg_faces_the_press.htm 10/28)
Starz Media’s Manga Entertainment launched a new site dedicated to streaming clips of famous anime titles. Manga.com features ad-supported excerpts organized by genre – “Babes,” “Meca,” “Kill Shots” and “Monster” for instance – and provides product information for the latest anime-themed DVDs, TV shows, movies and game releases. Brightcove is powering video and syndication for the site.
MySpace and MTV have partnered with politically-themed 10questions.com to enhance its Presidential Dialogue series. The top-voted user generated videos as of 10 am ET this morning submitted at 10questions will be selected and posed to Senator Obama during today’s MySpace/MTV dialogue, which was streamed live today at 1:30 pm ET from the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA. The 10questions Presidential Forum is being produced by techPresident in cooperation with The New York Times editorial board, in association with MSNBC.com and sponsorship from a large, cross-partisan group of bloggers, online media and organizations.
Senator Obama was asked for his stance on net neutrality and to my delight, he replied that he is firmly planted behind a net neutral ideology. I may have to vote for him based on this alone. OK, yes. . .there are other issues.
Netflix is considering set-top boxes and other new alternatives for online video distribution, CEO Reed Hastings said. The company is looking at different models and working with a number of unnamed partners to find inexpensive ways to deliver online content to TV viewers. (TheRetailBRIDGE.com 10/29)
Meanwhile mtvU, in partnership with Logo, has created a web-based Wiki site to offer advice on coming out. HowDoISayThis.com was developed and produced by a group of students from UCLA and combines social networking features with a series of short-formed video submissions providing advice and personal experiences on the daunting task. The site is a result of mtvU’s Digital Incubator initiative sponsored by Cisco.
This November, MTV Networks will start a wave of multi-platform programming centered around song lyrics for its three primary music brands MTV, VH1 and CMT. The idea: to connect lyrics with a variety of shows, specials and multiplayer trivia games including an update of TV warhorse Name That Tune. Online CD-information database Gracenote is supplying the lyrics information. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-mtvn-broadcast-music-channels-prep-programming-tied-to-lyrics-across-tv 10/28, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117974887.html?categoryid=16&cs=1 10/28)
Writers Guild of America members could go on strike as early as Thursday unless a new deal is reached by Wednesday night. The big fear is that television viewers, without their favorite shows, could migrate to the Web — and not return. The key issue in the talks: new media and the Internet. (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-strikeblow28oct28,1,4755553.story 10/28)
With the exception of “Lonelygirl15,” most original Web series are yet to go mainstream. On television, you can flip channels and find a new show worth watching. But on the Internet, channel-flipping can be a chore among Heavy, Bebo, Blip.tv, My Damn Channel and other video sites. (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/newmedia/la-ca-webscout28oct28,1,529263.story 10/28)
At left, Yuri Baranovsky from the “Arrested Development”-like online comedy series “Break a Leg.” At center, the girls from MySpace’s new original web drama “Roommates,” and at right, Craig Robinson from MSN.com’s “Mr. Robinson’s Driving School.”
Six Internet retailers are filing a lawsuit against Queens, N.Y., man Thomas Simon for counterfeiting and selling versions of their products from Second Life, the online virtual world. Some Second Lifers support themselves via the virtual world’s economy, which averages a real $1 million a day. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10282007/business/now_zuckerberg_faces_the_press.htm 10/28)
Time Warner’s CNN is set to open a news-gathering outpost in Second Life in early November. And unlike news service Reuters, which is embedding a real reporter in the online virtual world, CNN will rely on Second Life “residents” to transmit copy and photos. (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003664297 10/29)
The judge in the Google-Viacom piracy lawsuit is criticizing both sides for their “gamesmanship.” Google wants the hearing to be made private out of fear that “confidential” data could be revealed; Viacom refuses to disclose presentation details as part of its litigation strategy. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i249adc6d308db50dd551be93f4a430a5 10/27)
Google is confident that its $3.1 billion bid for online advertising firm DoubleClick will win over European and U.S. regulators, according to the Internet giant’s chief economist, Hal Varian. Google and DoubleClick together will help expand the booming Internet ad market, he claims. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i249adc6d308db50dd551be93f4a430a5 10/26)
Time Inc.’s Maghound.com will allow subscribers to pay one monthly fee for three subscriptions from a variety of publishers, with the ability to swap one title out for a new one or cancel entirely at any point. Maghound, in development since 2004, isn’t slated to go live until September 2008. (http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=121539 10/26)
Interactive marketing spending is on track to more than triple over the next 5 years according to a new Forrester Research report, growing 27% annually to reach $61 billion by 2012. Search marketing is expected to triple, display advertising will reach $14 billion by 2012, online video ads will increase dramatically and social media will drive spending in new areas including mobile, game marketing, widgets, podcasts and RSS feeds.
