Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Arts, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, NBC, Nielsen Media Research, Nightline, Sports, Television
Lifetime’s “Army Wives” began its second season Sunday night and was watched by 4.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research, the biggest audience ever for an original drama on the channel. The series drew well in all key age groups: averaging 805,420 women 18 to 34, 1.96 million women 18 to 49 and 1.97 million women 25 to 54. (Mediaweek 6/9)
Click below for the first episode of season 2.
ESPN is getting ready to blanket the U.S. Open golf tournament, presenting the event on a whopping 15 platforms, including ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile TV. The sports channel will offer 14 hours of live coverage in the first two rounds alone. (Mediaweek 6/9)
HBO has ordered up a new scripted series – Bored to Death, from 3 Arts Entertainment, contingent on casting, reports Variety. The story is about a writer from Brooklyn who after a nasty breakup, begins to daydream he’s a private eye in an old novel, and the idea becomes a reality as he hires himself out as an amateur detective. (Cynopsis 6/10)
In a twist on the typical “dating” series format, MTV ordered 6 episodes of Bromance, a reality show where guys will compete to be a new best pal of The Hills star Brody Jenner. Guys will try to corner Brody to get noticed while one will be eliminated from Brody’s bachelor pad each week, similar in style to MTV’s A Shot at Love or ABC’s The Bachelor. (Cynopsis 6/10)
VH1 approved a new series from Lionsgate called Scream Queens where 10 wannabe actresses compete for a role in a horror flick produced by Lionsgate Films, according to THR. (Cynopsis 6/10)
If Time Warner is considering an acquisition of NBC Universal — as has been speculated since the media conglomerate announced it would spin off Time Warner Cable — it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said the company did not “need to or have a particular agenda” when it came to NBCU, which includes a number of big cable networks. (Reuters 6/9, Variety 6/9)
Despite lower prime-time ratings and a weak economy, the five major broadcast networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW — should bring in nearly $9.2 billion in prime-time business, about the same as last year. But the networks had to sell more inventory to maintain that level. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-upfront10-2008jun10,0,5458989.story 6/10)
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says that the company is unlikely to make a major large-cap acquisition, but will focus on smaller deals in the short term. He adds that the era in which big deals bring “value creation” is “largely over.” The company is likely to focus on smaller “tuck-in” deals. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/viacom-says-era-making-big/story.aspx?guid=%7B38B27AEC%2D6D52%2D481B%2DA388%2D9EE7745B4418%7D 6/9)
The FCC launched a proceeding on whether to let video program distributors remotely block consumers from recording recently released movies on their DVRs, reports Ars Technica. The FCC currently restricts the use of the Selectable Output Control (SOC) technology that blocks such access but the MPAA is seeking a waiver on the restriction in the case of HD movies broadcast prior to their release on DVD. (Cynopsis 6/10)
Time Warner Cable Chief Operating Officer Landel Hobbs said the company would nearly double its high-definition offerings in New York — from 55 channels to about 100 — and make its Start Over service available there soon. The moves come as Verizon plans to roll out its FiOS service in the Big Apple in the third quarter. (Multichannel News 6/9)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Arts and Entertainment, Asia, Disney.com, Facebook, Google, Google Labs, North Korea, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Disney.com is announcing that for the first time ever the site will stream full-length movies. The family films will first air on ABC as part of the network’s “Wonderful World of Disney” presentation on Saturdays, then will be available for free streaming the following week. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080610005595&newsLang=en 6/10)
YouTube‘s latest scheme for monetizing its massive audience is to let content creators sell their own ads via click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos, per AdAge. Professional content producers have shared in revenue from ads sold by Google so far on their own branded YouTube channels. YouTube will demand the same revenue split for creators’ own ads. Ad revenues at YouTube have nowhere to go but up. The online video juggernaut is expected to earn just $90-$200 million this year, while Google is expected to take in $22 billion overall. (Cynopsis 6/10)
Facebook has launched a feedback feature for ads on its site, reports robwebb2k. Each Facebook ad now comes with a pair of “StumbleUpon style thumbs,” he writes. Rating a Facebook ad “thumbs down” results in the ad being changed. (http://www.marketingvox.com/myspace-critiqued-for-offensive-advertising-facebook-launches-ad-feedback-feature-039082/?camp=newsletter&src=mv&type=textlink 6/9)
This morning, Hitwise came out with its search market share numbers for May, 2008. In the U.S., Google was up slightly to 68.3 percent percent versus 20 percent for Yahoo and 5.9 percent for Microsoft. All the fighting over the fate of Yahoo cannot be helping matters. In the month of May, Google gained 0.39 points from April, while Yahoo was down 0.33 points and Microsoft was down 0.37 points. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/10/hitwise-google-up-yahoo-down-in-search-for-may-2008 6/10)
Google, Yahoo and other desktop brands could become “roadkill” — outclassed by a new generation of mobile phone-based rivals, say tech observers. The matchbox-size screens of handheld devices aren’t hospitable to the advertisements that are the lifeblood of current search engines. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2008-06-09-mobile-search_N.htm 6/9)
Google and Salesforce can’t seem to get enough of each other: over a series of announcements the companies have aligned their product strategies more and more closely over time. Now the companies are planning something new together, to be announced by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Google VP Engineering Vic Gundotra at Salesforce’s upcoming Tour de Force developer event on June 23 in Santa Clara. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/09/google-and-salesforce-cooking-up-something-new-together 6/9)
A Yahoo employee severance plan meant to protect workers after a merger with Microsoft should be scrapped, according to a shareholder lawsuit. Both the plaintiffs and activist investor Carl Icahn, who is seeking control of the Yahoo board, criticize the plan as an obstacle to any merger. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/technology/10yahoo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 6/10)
Time Warner is considering a possible sale of AOL businesses and certain Time Inc. magazines, says CEO Jeff Bewkes. Celebrity and lifestyle magazines are outperforming news and business titles “by a significant margin.” (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.thedeal.com/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1212755507067&pagename=hpa&c=TDDArticle&p=M4YD5AR1 6/11)
MyToons.com upgraded its site to enable streaming of original animated content in HD format, a first for an online animation site. (Cynopsis 6/10)
Sony‘s Crackle announced a line up of 9 original short-form shows including renewals of The Purple Onion as well as three new series launches. (Cynopsis 6/10)
Hulu has added full-length episodes of two Comedy Central series – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Additional new series to be included later on this month come from PBS: such as NOVA, Carrier, Scientific American Frontiers, and Wired Science, later this month. (Cynopsis 6/10, http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0929694520080610 6/10)
Microsoft Live Expo, their experiment with classified listings that launched in early 2006, will be shut down on July 31, says a notice posted on the site. New listings have already been suspended. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/09/microsoft-exits-classified-listings-business 6/9)
Consolidation of the online video sector continues as Toronto-based JumpTV is merging with Plainview, NY-based NeuLion, a start-up that powers online to TV video streaming for clients such as the NHL. (Cynopsis 6/10)
AOL is revamping its online radio service, adding streams from all 140 CBS-owned radio stations and upgrading its player to add more functions. AOL is looking for new ways to boost revenues from online music streaming a year after copyright judges sharply increased royalties for online. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_hi_te/aol_cbs_online;_ylt=AiN_1o1wC9dtoW.P7If7Muf6VbIF 6/10)
AOL’s social networking site Bebo is partnering with Universal Music for an online drama set in the record label’s London headquarters. “The Secret World of Sam King” will draw on real-life experiences and incorporate cameos of Universal recording artists. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/06/09/bebo-teams-with-universal-music-for-online-drama 6/9)
A group of cable-television firms is unveiling plans for Project Canoe, a U.S. platform for targeted advertising, which is intended to be cable’s solution to the growing amount of ad dollars flowing to the Internet. Ad-industry figure David Verklin will serve as CEO. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121305869367359447.html 6/10)
GigaOM blogger Om Malik’s NewTeeVee.com is spinning off a new site, NewTeeVee Station, a guide to “quality online video” from video sites such as YouTube. Editorial reviews will be written by a team led by Liz Shannon Miller, formerly of Variety and the Daily Reel. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://newteevee.com/2008/06/09/newteevee-spins-off-newteevee-station 6/9)
Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Handhelds, iPhone, Mobile Web, Safari, Shantanu Narayen, Smartphones, Steve Jobs
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is unveiling a faster, cheaper iPhone handset that may help him convince business users to switch over from the BlackBerry. Apple shares sank 2.2% in Nasdaq trading after saying carriers will no longer have to give the company a cut of the lucrative service fees. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=axfO4WlkyfsA 6/9)
Mobile web usage spiked 24% during the first quarter with AT&T driving a third of the on deck traffic, according to the first Crisp Wireless Index study measuring mobile usage across a sample of 14 million users who surf via Crisp’s mobile web publishing network. While over half of the traffic – 53% – is still driven by on deck portals, off deck searches including manual URL type-ins and bookmark usage in on the rise, accounting for nearly 40% of the traffic. (iPhone searches using the Safari browser count as off deck.) Other trends include:
- Search engine traffic did increase slightly to 7.5% in 1Q08 from 7.3% in 4Q07. Local newspapers and television sites were the biggest beneficiaries, with 27% and 12%, respectively, deriving their traffic from search engines
- Nearly 30% of the search engine traffic for the average nationally branded mobile web site is driven by users who searched the specific property name (i.e. USA Today, Elle, etc.).
- The top searched mobile term was Obama during the Q1. American Idol was #10 and Hillary came in at #14
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: GameStop, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Microsoft Zune, Netflix, Reed Hastings, Television, Windows Mobile
Netflix customers purchased all of its set-top boxes for streaming movies from the Internet to television sets on stronger-than-forecast demand, says CEO Reed Hastings. Netflix, the largest U.S. mail-order movie service, is pressing supplier Roku to increase production. (Iwantmedia 6/10, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=a5AgcGMmW1z4 6/9)
GameStop recently announced that the company will stop selling Microsoft Zune digital music players. Brookstone and CarToys also have stopped selling the devices, or will do so once their inventories run out. (MSNBC/American City Business Journal/Puget Sound 6/8)
Microsoft‘s Robby Bach described Windows Mobile as the dominant smart phone platform saying 20 million compatible devices should ship using the software this year alone. He also defended the Zune and its new playlist-sharing site Zune Social, which has grown to 2 million members. Regarding the Xbox 360, one of Toshiba’s charter partners in now defunct HD DVD, he said there was “no plans” to switch to the Blu-Ray platform anytime soon. (Cynopsis 6/10)
With its second version of a home-theater audio system, Sony has added two-zone with wireless as well as optional wireless surround-sound speakers, 1080p HDMI inputs and other new features. Sony plans to ship the HT-IS100 Bravia Theater Micro System next month at $699. (TWICE 6/9)
Sony’s HT-IS100 consists of five “golf-ball-size” speakers and a hideaway floorstanding subwoofer/electronics module.
Hewlett-Packard has taken the wraps off the Voodoo Envy 133 laptop, which measures just a bit more than half an inch thick and weighs in at under 3.5 pounds. The laptop, which starts at $2,099, features a removable battery and the ability to boot up in less than five seconds. (CNET 6/10, The Wall Street Journal 6/10)
H-P’s new Voodoo Envy 133 laptop is taking on Apple’s MacBook Air.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against LG Electronics in its fight to force third-party users of its technology to obtain a license of their own. The court said LG did not have the legal right to exhibit control over the “downstream” use of a patent that has previously been licensed to a manufacturer. (
ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg 6/9, The Wall Street Journal 6/10, Los Angeles Times/Associated Press 6/10)
