SIDEWALK ART: NYC
Mid-block between 2nd and 3rd Avenue on 9th Street, pixilated art inspires a good laugh.
Today at the corner of 42nd and 6th, I snapped this shot of a virtual crater intended to promote Will Smith’s upcoming movie Hancock.
The site is a blog of Hancock sitings. A little cheesy but I appreciate the effort at least. Here’s a look at the trailer from the upcoming movie:
Numerous reports peg Jimmy Fallon to take over the NBC Late Night hosting gig starting 2009, as Conan O’Brien moves to host the Tonight Show following Jay Leno’s retirement from the late night gig. NBC is expected to make a full-out announcement of the late night shifts at their May 12 upfront presentation in New York, tho now that the news is out, the official word may come sooner. (Cynopsis 4/25, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117984592.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 4/24)
TNT is scoring some big ratings points with its telecasts of NBA playoff games, averaging a 2.1 household rating, a 16% increase over last year’s games, and 2.3 million homes, according to Nielsen data. TNT, which will present playoff matchups during April and May, is also between 25% and 30% ahead of last year in all male demos. (Mediaweek 4/24)
CBS drama Criminal Minds has found two new homes in national syndication. A&E secured the exclusive cable rights to the series from CBS Television Distribution, airing it as a strip starting September 2009. In the meantime, A&E will air episodes from the first three seasons once a week. In addition, ION Media Networks, Inc. made its own content pact with CBS Television Distribution for the exclusive weekday broadcast syndication rights to the series. ION plans to air the show in primetime next year. (Cynopsis 4/25)
After 765 days of calling on Sen. Barack Obama to appear on “Fox News Sunday,” the perseverance of the FNC show is paying off. On Sunday, the Democratic presidential hopeful will go head-to-head with moderator Chris Wallace, thereby allowing the show to retire its “Obama Watch” clock. (TVWeek.com 4/24)
Jon Stewart Pokes Fun at the “Obama Watch”
If you’ve heard rumors that NBC’s The Celebrity Apprentice is considering bringing in OJ Simpson as one of the players, you’ve heard wrong. NBC says it has never considered OJ. Yes, OJ and Trump spoke earlier this week, but nobody saying what they talked about, only that the idea of OJ being on the show was never considered by either Trump or the network. (Cynopsis 4/25)
Developer M. David Paul/Worthe Real Estate Group is purchasing NBC Universal’s 34-acre Burbank, Calif., lot, according to an internal memo. Among the groups to be moved from Burbank to the company’s Universal location are the local NBC stations and NBC Network News. (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6554860.html 4/24)
Oxygen is getting rebranded in June as part of an effort to focus in on an audience that it’s dubbed “Generation O.” The network, making its first upfront presentation to advertisers since being acquired by NBC Universal last year, is unveiling a new logo and tagline — “Live Out Loud.” (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i50885cdcb3e92d8871d759bc541e0de7 4/23)
Several major media companies will announce first-quarter operating results next week, including Comcast, Time Warner and Viacom. Analysts expect Comcast to announce Thursday that it earned $8.18 billion in revenue in the first three months of the year, compared with $7.39 billion a year earlier. (MarketWatch 4/24)
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that he would not stand in the way of new cable-leased-access rules from taking effect May 31, as planned. The cable industry is fighting the onset of the rules in federal court, asserting that they will force cable systems to basically give away channel space to independent programmers and lead to subpar content. (Multichannel News 4/24)
Robust ad sales from cable channels such as HGTV, Food Network and DIY helped Scripps Networks increase revenue 6.8% and net income 22% in the first quarter. Overall, cable revenue grew to $311 million and profit rose to $147 million, both 15% increases, during the period. (OneTRAK 4/24)
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
As Microsoft’s self-imposed Saturday deadline approaches, CFO Chris Liddell reiterated the company’s position that it is ready to take its offer to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion directly to shareholders. Microsoft reported that net income fell 11% during Q1 to $4.38 billion. But online and entertainment services and devices proved to be bright spots - up 40% and 68% respectively from a year ago. (Cynopsis 4/25, http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2435171420080424 4/24)
Yahoo is opening its Web platforms wide open to let outside developers create applications across its network of sites. It is also radically stitching together its online services to replicate the social experience that MySpace and Facebook have made so popular. (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,145062/article.html 4/24)
The leading 100 media companies will earn $20.7 billion in Internet revenue, with advertisers forecast to spend $2.9 billion annually on online video ads by 2010, according to a new report from the Screen Actors Guild. Some 9 billion videos are watched online every month, led by YouTube. (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i0f3a7216274d5d82b1cb8bfc2996dc9e 4/24)
A yearlong effort by AOL to transform its content Web sites into crowd-pleasers is beginning to pay off. Traffic to the sites grew 15% to 56.5 million unique U.S. visitors in the first quarter from a year ago. Also: AOL is acquiring the fantasy football site FleaFlicker.com. (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120908335534743525.html 4/25, http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=81375 4/25)
LeepFrog.tv launched an online music video discovery site offering video, audio sampling and full-length tracks for purchase from a range of labels including Interscope Records, Bad Boy Entertainment and Epic Records. The site will curate the platform to limit the focus to only 50 new releases at any one time. (Cynopsis 4/25)
Video search provider ClipBlast introduced a new “Playbox” feature to combine video search and syndication into a unified experience across various providers, reports VideoNuze. The application also provides a recommendation feature, linking to related 3rd party videos that are played directly from the site. (Cynopsis 4/25)
The following web site is brought to you by, Mishaps in Web Site Design. It seems that 60% of the problem most video search providers are experiencing is directly related to user interface and 40% to poor search results. I want to find what I’m looking for without having to look at a page which inspires vomiting and seizure. A strobe like of web sites. . . (Note, percentages above are not hard data. I know someone is just waiting to respond.)
White label mobile and IPTV streaming video service MobiTV raised an additional $5 million from Leader Ventures, according to VentureBeat, in addition to the $125 million it has already raised. MobiTV says it now has more than 4 million subscribers and is adding 1 million new subs every 6 months. (Cynopsis 4/25)
After a price promotion, Apple’s 8GB iPhone is becoming a scarce commodity in the U.K., and sellers are not saying whether they will restock the item. Carphone Warehouse said that it was sold out of the mobile device throughout the country — although the 16GB model remains in stock — while wireless carrier O2 said it had a limited supply in its stores, but none left online. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 4/25)
The potentially record-breaking sales for next Tuesday’s launch of Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto IV” has sent video game retailers into overdrive through the planning of thousands of midnight store openings. Best Buy said on its Web site that more than a hundred outlets will open at the witching hour while GameStop posted a list of midnight openings in a 68-page PDF file on its site amid plans by Wal-Mart and Game Crazy to do the same. (CNN/GAMETAP 4/24)
Nintendo more than doubled its operating profit to a record 487.2 billion yen ($4.7 billion) for the year ending March 31, thanks to strong global sales of Wii consoles and games. Up next for Nintendo in the U.S. is the exercise-oriented Wii Fit, launching May 19. (Cynopsis 4/25)
A new study from Frank N. Magid Associates shows that 5.5 million Americans bought their first HDTV set during the period from last year’s holidays to this year’s Super Bowl. The report went on to say that 3 million homes added a second HDTV during that period and that 10 million U.S. home now have two or more high-def sets. (Multichannel News 4/24, Ars Technica 4/24)
Apparently getting the jitters about the music business, Starbucks announced it would cede control of its Hear Music label to the Concord Music Group. The company will continue to work with William Morris on suitable book and entertainment ventures, such as the iTunes Wi-fi promotion. (Cynopsis 4/25, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSWNAS968120080424 4/24)
Remember when Starbucks/iTunes launched the Song of the Day in October ‘07? Yup, me too. Wonder how it’s doing? Yup, me too. 6 million songs downloaded. Not bad. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7BBB9E786D-D1B0-42CE-8811-A369EF73D886%7D 4/15
A U.S. Senate committee is voting to reverse a federal rule that lets media companies including News Corp. and Tribune own a broadcast station and daily newspaper in the 20 largest markets. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., says the resolution aims to combat “galloping” media concentration. (Iwantmedia 4/25, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aarb83_Kkt8s 4/24)
