Daily Marauder

ONLINE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: THE APPRENTICE PRANK

Many many years ago. . .OK, around 5. . .my co-worker David Thatcher asked me through the cubicle wall if I would participate in a prank on one of his friends.  Hence, what you’re about to see.  I played a very small part in the overall project but this prank is one of the most complex in its class.  Note the brilliant British accent I now pull out whenever trying to frustrate and annoy my British boss.

I had forgotten about this completely until a fellow co-worker was telling me about his latest prank attempt and Apprentice prank memories came rushing back.  Happy April Fool’s Day all!

Keep in mind.  There are three videos if you want more after watching the first.  They will all be listed under “Related Videos” on the right side of the screen.

BROADCAST/CABLE

The political season continues to be very good to Time Warner’s CNN, which will officially announce on Tuesday that for the first time since 2001, it managed to beat News Corp.’s Fox News Channel in prime time for one quarter of the year for viewers age 25 to 54, according to Nielsen. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/arts/01arts-POLITICSBENE_BRF.html?_r=1&oref=slogin  4/1)

 
The stocks of major media companies tumbled during the first quarter, with nearly all sector biggies — Time Warner, News Corp., CBS — hitting new 52-week lows amid weaker overall markets and concerns about the advertising market outlook fueled by fear of a U.S. recession. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i37a2ec580927b4288621c1bd19136cae  3/31)

 
Disney, with its eye on a new potential franchise, is using its television, radio and Internet properties to boost exposure of the Jonas Brothers. Last week, the boy band appeared on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards. Coming soon: the Jonases’ first movie. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nudisney1apr01,1,6516887.story  4/1)

The Jonas Brothers

 
A familiar face returns to daytime television as Kathie Lee Gifford joins NBC News’ Today as co-host of the fourth hour with Hoda Kotb. Kathie Lee starts next Monday at 10a. (Cynopsis 4/1, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102797.html  4/1)

 
Fans of the daytime drama Passions will have the chance to buy props, clothing, furniture and more used on the Universal Media Studios’ soap at a live auction April 5 and 6. NBC Universal Television DVD, Music and Consumer Products Group is teaming with Premiere Props for this two-day public estate sale which consists of several thousands of Passions items. The sale will be at the CBS Radford studio lot in Studio City, CA this Saturday and Sunday from 8a to 4p PST. Passions, currently airing on DIRECTV, will end this August after nine years. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
MTV’s Randy Jackson Presents: America’s Best Dance Crew finale last Thursday posted a 4.34 A12-34 rating and attracted 7.9 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 4/1)

The Finale

 
MTV premieres its latest series The Paper from MTV News & Docs April 14 at 1030p. The Paper is about the student-run newspaper The Circuit at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, FL.

 
The first installment of “The Capture of the Green River Killer,” Lifetime’s first original miniseries, averaged 2 million viewers Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m., a record for the channel. Part 1 also delivered strong numbers in key demos: 989,000 25- to 54-year-olds tuned in and 832,000 viewers 18 to 49 watched, according to Nielsen. (The Hollywood Reporter 3/31)

 
The NFL season opens on NBC September 4 at 7p as the Super Bowl champs New York Giants host the Washington Redskins. The NBC primetime game on September 7 begins at 815p with the Indianapolis Colts versus the Chicago Bears. (Cynopsis 4/1)

ESPN’s 39th season of Monday Night Football opens September 8 with a doubleheader: Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers at 7p followed by Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders at 1015p. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
Ray Romano may be returning to primetime TV.  Romano and Everybody Loves Raymond’s writer/producer Mike Royce, are working on a new one-hour dramedy called Men of a Certain Age for TNT. Ray will also star in the pilot about three 40-something men who have been friends since college and now find themselves going through different midlife crises. (Cynopsis 4/1)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA  

Two months after Microsoft made its $44.6 billion offer to acquire Yahoo, the software maker is said to have no plans to raise its bid. While speculation has swirled that Microsoft was poised to raise its bid, Microsoft is instead biding its time: “There’s no reason to bid against ourselves.” (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120701820580579519.html  4/1)

 
Comcast executive vice president David Cohen said he was “perplexed” and “disappointed” at FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s take on the cable company’s new collaboration with BitTorrent. After last week’s announcement that the two companies would work together to improve management of Internet traffic, Martin used the occasion to imply that Comcast admitted its current management strategies are flawed, something the company says is not the case, according to Cohen. (Multichannel News 3/31)

 
Google offered up a variety of April Fool’s Day fun today with Gmail Custom Time allowing users to tag e-mails with previous times.  Never again will that report be late.  Along with Gmail Custom Time, Google also offered the Google Wake Up Kit sending users a “relentless” round of notifications via Google Calendar ensuring you get you booty out of bed on time for that early morning meeting. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/01/google-wake-up-kit  4/1)

 
According to a new study released by Attributor, Google and DoubleClick control a whopping 69% of the interactive advertising market. Google, which recently acquired online ad service DoubleClick, controlled 34% of the market in January and DoubleClick snagged about 35% of the share. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://www.adotas.com/2008/03/google-and-doubleclick-rule-online-ad-market  3/31)

 
Warner Bros. Television is enlisting the help of video search and targeting firm Digitalsmiths to help manage the video inventory of a new WB video site slated to launch in the coming weeks, reports Daisy Whitney in TVWeek. Digitasmiths provides tools to help visitors find what they’re looking for online and serve ads to the content contextually. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
Comcast/Lionsgate/SPT’s multiplatform service Fearnet scored an off network exclusive. Episodes of NBC’s horror anthology series Fear Itself, premiering May 29 on NBC, will be offered on Fearnet.com and Fearnet’s VOD channel beginning Labor Day, Sept. 1, along with outtakes, director commentary and additional scenes. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
Blockbuster is repositioning itself as a multiplatform retail store/online rental service in hopes of competing with Netflix, which delivers DVDs only through the mail and online. CEO Jim Keyes has been telling Wall Street that the company will add movie downloads by the end of the second quarter and has plans to launch a trial of an in-store kiosk where consumers can download films digitally. (Internet Retailer 4/1)

 
Free ad-supported music service SpiralFrog signed a deal to add the catalog of Warner/Chappel Music to its roster of audio and video content. The site delivers offers free ad-accompanied downloads of more than 1 million songs and 4,000 music videos, claiming almost 850,000 users. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
OpenSocial opened its arms to another adopter, as hi5 became the latest social network to launch a developer’s platform.  hi5 is the first OpenSocial networking platform to offer a messaging API, allowing application builders to offer notifications, invites and other features. (Cynopsis 4/1)

Facebook and job-hunting site CareerBuilder are teaming up to help clients run job recruiting campaigns. Specialized recruiting ads will appear within Facebook pages. CareerBuilder, which is owned by McClatchy, Gannett and Tribune, plans to use the site to help clients recruit. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/03/31/daily16.html  3/31)

WIRELESS

What happens when you get Richard Branson and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin into the same room? Absolute chemistry. CG is liveblogging the keynote right now without using any fancy blogging software. Drop in if you’d like to follow along. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/01/ctia-2008-keynote-liveblog  4/1)

Sir Richard Branson at CTIA

 
Microsoft will be adding new capabilities to its mobile search app, Windows Live Search Mobile later this Spring. These will include the ability to map a contact, download custom maps from Virtual Earth on your PC to any phone running Windows mobile, integrated Web search and local weather. Blackberry users of the app will be able to conduct searches by speaking into their phone, a feature already available for Windows Mobile phones. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/01/windows-live-search-mobile-adds-new-mapping-features  4/1)

 
Sony Pictures Television says it will become the first Hollywood studio to offer full-length movies by cellphone. Sony films, such as “Bugsy,” “Ghostbusters” and “Karate Kid,” will be streamed with advertisements in a loop. AT&T says it has not yet determined a price. (Iwantmedia.com 4/1, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_hi_te/sony_at_t  4/1)

Ghostbusters

 
(Below) This is one of those simple but obvious changes which should provide a direct increase in NBC Mobile users.

Accessing WAP sites by having to type in the URL has severely dampened mobile interactivity. NBC Mobile has completed partnerships with Verizon, AT&T and Research in Motion to give users direct access to more than 60 NBCU mobile sites directly from these carrier’s home screens. NBC expects the integration to increase traffic to the ad supported sites, making the mobile platform a more important part of the media and promotional mix. (Cynopsis 4/1, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i1fd18f0059ccb9272bf86cc2da56960f  3/31)

 
VH1 Mobile announced two new applications this week at the CTIA show in Vegas. “VH1 Watch and Discuss Live Chat” enables VH1 viewers to connect via programming chat rooms tied to VH1’s on-air schedule. Launching at the end of April is the “Flavor of Love” mobile game, posing challenges seen on the show including pie fights, sky writing and water gun battles. (Cynopsis 4/1, http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003783133  3/31)

 
Veveo has developed a mobile-phone feed designed to make it easier for users to watch Web videos that reflect their interests. Dubbed vtap, the tool allows consumers to either set up a feed to register their preferences or link to a Facebook or MySpace profile, according to Veveo. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 4/1)

 
MySpace improved its mobile text messaging alert program with a new partnership with mobile transaction manager MBlox, giving U.S.  customers of Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, U.S. Cellular and Virgin Mobile access to the program. The integration gives over 90% of MySpace’s users access to real time messages and friend requests. (Cynopsis 4/1)

 
Price has become an increasingly important factor in picking a wireless carrier, according to new research from comScore, even as users seek service plans and handsets that provide mobile internet access. The new study also found rising usage of the mobile internet. More than half of users with internet-enabled phones reported surfing at least once a day, compared to only 35% in during the fall of ‘06 when the study was last conducted. (Cynopsis 4/1)