Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes’s major challenge is to figure out “how AOL fits in the whole mix,” says former chief Richard Parsons. “That is something I wrestled with for six years, and I’m still not sure I got it right. I wish him luck.” Also: Running for New York mayor “is not something I want to do.” (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.first30days.com/making-change-easier/multimedia/change-nation-richard-parsons-31808.html 3/18)
CBS will follow this winter’s Big Brother 9 edition with another one this summer, which thus far has averaged a 2.1 A18-49 rating. The summer editions tend to rank higher: Summer of 2005 Big Brother averaged a 2.9 A18-49 rating, while the summer 2006 and 2007 airings averaged a 2.8 A18-49 each. CBS has not released a premiere date for the upcoming summer installment. (Cynopsis 3/18)
Click the image below to watch full episodes.
FX has picked up the cable rights to five Marvel Studio films: Paramount’s Iron Man and Universal’s The Incredible Hulk, plus three other superhero movies, titles TBA, reports Variety. A four year broadcast deal will be made with the same titles, and both titles will have their pay TV airings - Iron Man on Showtime and Incredible Hulk on HBO. The estimated cost of the five picture deal is in the $100-$110 million neighborhood. (Cynopsis 3/18)
HBO has decided not to continue developing “12 Miles of Bad Road,” a comedy about a real estate agent in Dallas starring Lily Tomlin and Mary Kay Place. The show’s producers now are looking for a new cable home, which, according to this article, might be Lifetime, but no commitments have been made. (Variety 3/17)
About 9% of the 1,000 viewers surveyed by N.Y.-based ad buyer Carat said they have been watching more TV since the writers strike ended. More than 60% said they plan to watch their favorite shows when they return with original scripts in April. (The Hollywood Reporter 3/18)
NBC Domestic Television Distribution said Monday that it had inked deals for Fox’s “House” and USA’s “Monk” to be available on TV outlets covering 99% of the country for their broadcast weekend syndication debut this fall. (Broadcasting & Cable 3/17)
House
The U.S. Supreme Court is deciding to hear its first broadcast indecency case in 30 years. The case, to be argued in the fall, involves “fleeting expletives.” In March 2006, the Federal Communications Commission cited Fox for expletives uttered during the Billboard Music Awards. (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031700842.html 3/18)
Comcast is asking a federal appeals court to overturn a U.S. Federal Communications Commission rule enacted in December that bars it from making a major cable acquisition. The U.S. cable giant says in a filing that the order is “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.” (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20080318_Comcast_takes_FCC_to_court_over_ownership_rule.html 3/18)
Standard & Poor’s says the U.S. economic slowdown will hurt some media companies, as cutbacks in consumer spending could be reflected in the number of attendees at Disney’s amusement parks and advertising revenue at Time Warner’s magazines or News Corp.’s newspapers. (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-23847090.htm 3/18)
DISH’s launch late last week of the AMC-14 satellite did not go as planned, leaving the bird in a lower-than-expected orbit and the TV provider’s HD-expansion plans on hold. One analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein’s Craig Moffett, released a report on Monday describing Dish’s high-def plans as “lost in space.” (Multichannel News 3/17)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Today, Yahoo filed a presentation detailing its three-year financial plan that management gave to its board of directors in December, before Microsoft’s unsolicited bid. Yahoo is projecting revenues after traffic acquisition costs (TAC)—i.e., what it shares with other Websites that run Yahoo ads—to grow from $5.1 billion in 2007 to $8.8 billion in 2010. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/18/yahoos-three-year-plan-grow-revenues-73-percent-by-focusing-on-display-ads-mobile-and-better-search 3/18)
Google is “well positioned” in case of a U.S. recession, says CEO Eric Schmidt. “We’re not particularly dependent on any particular one market. There tends to be a flight in a global slowdown to higher quality advertising, and higher quality advertising is determined by what sells.” (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSSYD17339220080318 3/18)
NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker “We’re looking to use online to extend the brands we already have. And then growing mostly organically or with ventures like Hulu where we can distribute our content and make it ubiquitous.” Hulu gives advertisers “a quality environment.” (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/the-tech-observer/2008/03/17/nbcs-jeff-zucker-on-hulu-joost-internet-tv 3/17)
Television ratings should be combined with online video consumption, says Patrick Keane, VP of CBS Interactive. While the Grammys attracted 16.9 million TV viewers — down 15% from the previous year — the show also generated 7.9 million online video streams. (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=78656 3/18)
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman more than doubled the media giant’s digital revenue last year by “managing to create a large enough audience based on aggregate impressions across its 300 Web sites.” (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125746 3/17)
With millions of people obsessed with picking the winners of the NCAA men’s hoops tournament, sports Web sites that offer bracket games are winning with audiences. ESPN.com, CBS SportsLine.com, Yahoo Sports and Fox Sports are signing up several blue-chip advertisers. (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.nypost.com/seven/03172008/business/sports_sites_scoring_big_with_march_madn_102382.htm 3/17)
Like its owner Google, YouTube has become an integral part of pop culture: Mariah Carey references the video site in her new single, “Touch My Body.” She sings: “I’d best not catch this flick on YouTube.” Unsurprisingly, the music video has snagged some 3 million views on YouTube. (Iwantmedia 3/18,
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23676004 3/17)
Nothing sticks out like a standard def ad sandwiched between HD video content. Video Ad network BrightRoll figures the web is actually better suited to deliver HD video advertising. The company is launching a new unit allowing advertisers to get their messages across on “high def ready” publisher sites. BrightRoll is currently working on a HD campaign with Universal McCann. (Cynopsis Digital 3/18)
Top 10 Social Networking Sites for February 2008 (U.S., Home and Work)
Site UA (000) Feb-08 UA (000) Feb-07 % Change
Myspace.com 55,419 53,362 4%
Facebook 20,043 9,923 102%
Classmates Online 12,955 12,815 1%
Windows Live Spaces 7,882 9,253 -15%
LinkedIn 7,392 1,990 271%
AOL Hometown 6,004 8,907 -33%
Club Penguin 4,727 3,233 46%
Reunion.com 4,323 4,348 -1%
AOL Community 3,337 4,641 -28%
Flixster 2,619 1,591 65%
Buzznet.com 2,526 1,332 90%
Source: Nielsen Online
Top 10 Blogs for February 2008 (U.S., Home and Work)
Site UA (000) Feb-08 UA (000) Feb-07 % Change
Blogger 37,241 23,572 58%
WordPress.com 16,510 5,340 209%
Six Apart TypePad 9,603 9,122 5%
tmz.com 8,102 7,932 2%
TheHuffingtonPost.com3,749 1,098 241%
LiveJournal 3,707 4,225 -12%
Gadling 3,637 443 721%
Thatsfit 2,407 820 194%
Xanga.com 2,196 2,969 -26%
Engadget 2,114 1,175 80%
Source: Nielsen Online
Filed under: WIRELESS
Nokia has introduced a jet black version of its N82 handset that features a 5-megapixel camera that supports photo geotagging. The device also sports integrated navigation and broadband-Internet connectivity. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 3/18)
News Corp.’s MySpace is launching a free mobile version of the No. 1 social networking site. The service will be monetized by advertising. Prominent links on the main MySpace pages will encourage users to visit the site from their mobile devices. (Iwantmedia 3/18, http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=4324 3/18)
Filed under: GAMING
There are no plans to develop a Blu-ray add-on, a top Xbox 360 manager said in an interview, countering some speculation from analysts who had noted that Microsoft had been in talks to make such devices after Toshiba pulled out of HD DVD. Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, said the company would focus on digital downloads. (vnunet.com 3/17, Dealerscope 3/17)
Nickelodeon, which reportedly is creating 600 casual games for its Web sites, is among the marketers and media companies increasing investments in online games aimed at a young audience. The strategy is partly a reaction to stricter regulations that limit how brands can advertise to children via TV, according to this article. (The New York Times 3/18)
Nintendo’s newly released “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” for the Wii sold more than 1.4 million units in the U.S. in its first week on the market, a record-busting number that the company said amounted to more than 120 units a minute between launch and March 16. (GameDaily BIZ 3/17)
