Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Business, Business and Economy, Criss Angel Mindfreak, John Malone, Liberty Media, NBC Universal, Sun Valley, Time Warner
NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker reportedly will be much sought after at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, where media titans including Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and Liberty Media’s John Malone may be seeking him out to discuss possible mergers or other deals, this article says. “Zucker’s made it pretty clear that he’s looking to do deals and remake NBC’s overall approach,” a source said. (New York Post 7/9)
A&E’s fourth season of Criss Angel Mindfreak will debut with a one hour show on July 23 at 10p, and followed a week later with a first-time live special on July 30 at 10p. During the live episode titled “Building Implosion Escape,” Criss will be chained to a 6-story building in Florida and must free himself before it implodes. (Cynopsis 7/10)
HBO is working on a new pilot titled Fat Sells which will delve into the herbal weight loss industry. Forrest Whitaker and 25/7′s Dave Broome are set to executive produce. The story is about a weight loss business kingpin whose life gets shaky when the FDA starts investigating his company’s claims. (Cynopsis 7/10)
William Shatner will host a new celebrity interview series called Shatner’s Raw Nerve for A&E’s Bio Channel, premiering August 19 at 10p. As he chats with his fellow celebrity guests, Shatner will attempt to find their raw nerve touch points to reveal interesting, surprising and funny facets about their personalities. Some of the celebrities slated to appear include John Voight, Judge Judy, Valerie Bertinelli and Leonard Nimoy among others. (Cynopsis 7/10)
Verizon Communications and the Big Ten Network have inked a carriage deal that will put standard and high-definition versions of the sports network in more of the telecom’s FiOS TV service markets in the next few months. Verizon intends to add the channel on a region-by-region basis. (Broadcasting & Cable 7/9)
Time Warner Cable is about to ramp up its video-on-demand offerings in Southern California. According to SEC filings by Concurrent Computer, Time Warner Cable’s VOD vendor, the cable provider plans to spend about $2 million for VOD equipment in San Diego and Los Angeles. (Multichannel News 7/9)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Arts, Big Brother, Big Brother Australia, Big Brother UK, Big Brother US, Programs, Reality-Based, Television
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google continues to come up short in its attempts to monetize YouTube‘s billions of video views, points out The WSJ, with ad revenues expected to yield only $200 million worldwide this year. Google is fast at work at an initiative to update antiquated ad systems called “Project Spaghetti” (nothing to do with Quentin Tarantino‘s new Spaghetti Western.) YouTube is even considering introducing dreaded pre-roll and post-roll ads. (Cynopsis 7/10)
Last.fm announced the official launch of its Artist Royalty Program allowing unsigned bands to register their uploaded music on the site, so they can get paid royalties when their tracks are listened to by Last.fm users. Since offering the option in January over 450,000 independently-produced tracks have been registered on the site. (Cynopsis 7/10)
CBS’ reality warhorse Big Brother is back for a 10th season on multiple platforms this Sunday including a newly redesigned website featuring enhanced social networking capabilities. The layout is a lot cleaner, making it easier to browse through clips and catch up on missed events through summaries of past episodes. The CBS Audience Network will again lend support distributing nightly clips through embeddable widgets. And RealNetworks will resume its 24/7 live video streams from 4 cameras placed in the Big Brother House, available to SuperPass subscribers. (Cynopsis 7/10)
Playboy has published profiles of nine women bloggers (loosely defined) – Xeni Jardin, Violet Blue, Julie Alexandria, Veronica Belmont, Amanda Congdon, Brigitte Dale, Sarah Lacy, Sarah Austin and Natali Del Conte – and asked readers to vote on which one is “sexiest.” The winner will be asked to pose for Playboy. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/09/one-step-backward-playboy-asks-which-female-blogger-youd-like-to-see-sans-clothing 7/9)
Despite competing for customers in the VoIP space, Comcast and Vonage announced they will work together in the future to ensure that Vonage’s Internet phone service operates smoothly over the cable company’s broadband network. As part of the deal, the companies’ network operations centers will cooperate to resolve customer problems. (vnunet.com 7/10, The Wall Street Journal 7/10)
By 2013, around 1 billion people worldwide will consume video content delivered over broadband lines, according to ABI Research. The study goes on to say that this growth in “over-the-top” video will be propelled by the confluence of a number of forces, including traditional content providers, Internet portals and online TV purveyors. (Telecommunications 7/9)
Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: App Store, Apple, iPhones, iPod Touch, ITunes Store, Mobile, Steve Jobs, The Wall Street Journal
Observers say the opening of Apple‘s App Store for iPhones could have a bigger impact on the mobile industry than the introduction of the new 3G device itself. Apple CEO Steve Jobs called the App Store launch a huge step in establishing handheld devices as mobile computing platforms, saying, “There’s been nothing on a mobile phone a fraction as good as what’s on PCs.” (The New York Times 7/10, The Wall Street Journal 7/10, Los Angeles Times 7/10)
Techcrunch reported earlier that the App store was available here for download. Don’t check for updates within your iTunes program. You must go to the link if you want to be an early bird. Techcrunch also posted demo overviews of a variety of applications.
Irvine, CA-based Hop-on is rolling out a line of pre-paid disposable phones at the MLB All Star game next week in the wake of the IPhone 3G madness. The 1800 series ranges from the HOP 1800, priced at all of $10, to the 3G HOP 1809, offered for $125, featuring video calling (yes, the camera is in front instead of in the back) and interactive services including mobile gaming. (Cynopsis 7/10)
More than 40 million US mobile subscribers (15.6%) now actively use the mobile internet, according to Nielsen Mobile, putting the US ahead of 16 countries tracked in terms of penetration, followed by the UK (12.9%) and Italy (11.9%). The Motorola RAZR phones were found to be the most popular phones among US mobile Internet users, while Nokia handsets lead the market in Europe and Asia. (Cynopsis 7/10)
Other findings include:
- 14% of US subscribers access the mobile internet with an unlimited data package, but 50% of data users say they prefer the unlimited pricing model
- 3G networks drive user satisfaction with mobile internet users, with data speeds as much as six times faster than 2 or 2.5G networks
- Today 26% of mobile internet users view ads while surfing
- Mobile internet users are more receptive to mobile advertising than average data users
Top Mobile Internet Channels by Unique Audience May 2008 (U.S.)
Channel Unique Audience (000))
Yahoo! Mail 14,200
Google Search 9,100
Weather Channel 8,600
MSN Hotmail 7,900
Gmail 7,500
ESPN 6,500
Google Maps 6,200
AOL Email 5,300
MapQuest 4,600
Yahoo! Search 4,100
CNN News 4,000
Source: Nielsen Mobile
Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Advertising, Atari, Casual game, Double Fusion, NeoEdge, NeoEdge Networks, Nolan Bushnell, Video Games
The future of in-game ads is in the casual-game sector, according to Atari creator Nolan Bushnell, who currently chairs NeoEdge, which has inked a deal with Yahoo! Games to sell and integrate pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll video ads. “We have all the power of the Internet, all the production value of the 30-second spot, which companies spend millions of dollars on to get just right, and then you have the click-through — it’s the perfect storm of advertising,” Bushnell said. (Advertising Age 7/9)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: 5Megapixel, Black Label, Cell Phones, LG, LG Group, Lumen, South Korea, XGA
TECHNOLOGY
Definitive Technology said it will ship next year its “Disappearing In-Wall” series of custom architectural speakers that will be all but invisible. The speakers will feature hidden flanges, discreet micro-perf grilles and small diameters, making them nearly invisible to the naked eye. (TWICE 7/9)
Net income more than tripled in the latest quarter for South Korea’s flat-screen manufacturer LG Display as demand surged for LCDs while supplies of PC panels dried up. But analysts are not so upbeat about LG’s prospects for the remainder of the year due to the global economic slowdown and falling panel prices. (The Washington Post/Reuters 7/9)
