Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
CBS Sports will stream select games from its 2008-09 SEC College Basketball schedule live on CBSSports.com beginning on Saturday, Dec. 13 (4p ET) with Indiana at Kentucky. A total of 12 games will be streamed live and free of charge on the site, concluding with the SEC Championship Game on Sunday, March 15. The games can also be accessed through a link on the websites of all CBS affiliates. (Cynopsis 12/12)

The BBC, UK broadcaster ITV and telecom giant BT Group announced a proposal to jointly create open source standards for broadcasting television to broadband-connected digital receivers. The IPTV devices, which could be ready in 18 months, would be subscription free and carry terrestrial channels as well as a vast selection of on demand shows, movies and interactive content in both standard and high definition formats. BT has already been experimenting with on demand television over broadband this year, offering a stripped down version of BBC’s iPlayer referred to as BBC Replay. The BBC also unveiled a plan to share its web video iPlayer technology with other broadcasters to help speed the distribution of television content online. (Cynopsis 12/12)

Bargain hunters, rejoice: Thursday will be celebrated by dozens of top retailers as a day of free shipping. The concept was organized by FreeShipping.org, which lists about 35 retailers that will not charge consumers to have those last-minute holiday gifts shipped Dec. 18. Consumer Reports/Money blog (12/2008) , nbc5i.com (Dallas-Fort Worth) (12/10)

U.S. ad expenditures fell by 1.7% overall during the first 9 months of 2008 according to TNS Media Intelligence, despite boosts from election and Olympics spending. Internet display ads were up only 7% during the period, less than half their growth rate during the same 9 months of last year. Newspaper ad revenue plunged by 10% during the first 9 months of 2008. (Cynopsis 12/12)

Percent Change in Measured Media Ad Spending
Jan-Sept 2008 vs. Jan-Sept 2007
Media Type                      % CHANGE
(Sectors and types listed in rank order of spending)
TELEVISION MEDIA 2.1%
Network TV                          3.0%
Cable TV                              3.7%
Spot TV                              -2.6%
Spanish Language TV            0.3%
Syndication – National           9.0%
MAGAZINE MEDIA -3.9%
Consumer Magazines            -3.8%
B-to-B Magazines                 -6.9%
Sunday Magazines                 0.3%
Local Magazines                   -6.5%
Spanish Language Magazines 4.9%
NEWSPAPER MEDIA -10.0%
Local Newspapers              -10.2%
National Newspapers           -8.9%
Spanish Lang. Newspapers -12.7%
INTERNET                          7.0%
RADIO MEDIA -8.8%
Local Radio                         -8.8%
National Spot Radio           -11.1%
Network Radio                   -2.6%
OUTDOOR -0.5%
FSIs 0.9%
TOTAL -1.7%
Source: TNS Media Intelligence