Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
The battle over who will control access to your online identity is heating up. In the wake of more and more partners finally starting to take a shine to Facebook’s competing FB Connect, Google’s Friend Connect is now in an open beta. Before it was in a limited preview release, but now any website can add Google Friend Connect as a login option. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/google-friend-connect-now-open-to-all-websites 12/4)

Not an hour after Google announced the general availability of Friend Connect, Facebook is doing the same for its competing Facebook Connect service. Now any third party website that wants to pull personal data about visitors from Facebook – and send back activity reports to their news feeds – can do so by first filling out a self-service application. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/facebook-connect-now-generally-available-as-well 12/4)

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reiterated its final offer to the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) put forth on June 30, naming it the “richest ever by historical standards.” The contract stipulates minimum increases of 3.5% in the first and third years and 3% in the second year of the contract, with pension and health benefits increasing from 14.5% to 15%. New Media residuals for ad-supported streaming of films and TV are spelled out in great detail for the first time. Coverage of performers in “Experimental New Media Productions” – defined as costing $15,000 or less per minute, $300,000 or less per production or $500,000 or less per series – is given as the Producer’s option (provided that the performer does not have 2 or more old media credits.) (Cynopsis 12/5)

While one investment banker claims NBC Universal “has been quietly shopping iVillage for the past three months,” the Web site for women is not for sale, according to NBC exec Lauren Zalaznick. The site did, however, let go 17 people this week as part of NBC’s cost-cutting effort. (Iwantmedia 12/5, http://www.wwd.com/media-news/fashion-memopad/not-on-the-block-but-wouldnt-taxes-come-first-1878866 12/5)

TV Land handed real-life celebrity married couple Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin an unscripted project, reports THR. A pilot presentation was ordered by TV Land, allowing cameras into the private life of the couple and their two daughters. (Cynopsis 12/5)

Web video distribution service ClipBlast has signed a deal to integrate its video search platform into KickApps‘ on-demand social media, online video and widget applications. Using ClipBlast, members of a KickApps-powered site can now search and embed online videos from premium video publishers, YouTube and other video-sharing Web sites onto KickApps-powered blogs, message board posts, member-to-member messages and comments on other member profiles. (Cynopsis 12/5)