BROADCAST/CABLE

Discovery Channel’s 21st annual “Shark Week” of programming attracted more than 29 million viewers from July 27 to Aug. 2. “Shark Week” also performed well online, where Discovery racked up a record 7.5 million page views and more than 600,000 total visits. Multichannel News (8/5)

News Corp. reported revenue of $8.59 billion for Q2, up 16.5% over the previous year on income of $1.48 billion. Television was hard hit due to lower ratings and revenue, with income dropping 28%, while investment costs at Fox Interactive Media were high, driving operating income at FIM down to just $6 million. A silver lining was MySpace’s new contextual display advertising efforts; advertisers are paying double CPMs on hypertargeted branding campaigns within the social network. (Cynopsis 8/6)

Time Warner Cable added 200,000 digital-video subscribers in the second quarter and earned a profit that exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The company, which is being spun off from Time Warner, said that revenue was up 7%, to $4.3 billion, and that net profit hit $277 million, up from $272 million in the comparable period a year earlier. Reuters (8/6) , American City Business Journals/Buffalo (8/6)

Cablevision Chief Executive Officer James Dolan said the company was “actively looking” at a number of strategic alternatives to boost the firm’s stock price. One of those alternatives, according to analysts, would be to spin off Rainbow Media — which holds cable networks such as AMC, the Independent Film Channel, the Sundance Channel and WEtv — for an estimated $4 billion. Los Angeles Times/Associated Press (free registration) (8/5) , Bloomberg (8/5)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Although music subscription service Rhapsody’s customer base is down to 1.85 million from 1.9 million earlier this year, analysts predict that a recently signed deal with Verizon Wireless could help the company tap into a new market. Unlike the popular iTunes, Rhapsody users do not own the music they download but can only access it as long as they pay for a subscription, which has been a difficult sell, according to this analysis. USA TODAY (8/5)

Apple’s iTunes store held onto its lead as the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., despite gains from Amazon after the launch of its MP3-download store. Runners-up to iTunes were Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Amazon and Target. The NPD Group surveyed music customers ages 13 and older who purchased music in digital or CD form. PC Magazine (8/5) , CNET (8/5)

Comcast reportedly has agreed to pay $125 million for DailyCandy, an e-mail-based newsletter covering fashion and culture for upscale, urban women. The newsletter, currently owned by investment firm Pilot Group LLC, will become part of Comcast Interactive Media, which includes sites such as Fancast, Fandango and Movies.com. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/6) , The Hollywood Reporter (8/5)

The Pew Internet Project has released a report detailing the search habits of Americans, and they confirm what many of us already know: Internet search has become a part of daily life for many people, to the point that it is challenging the dominance of Email, the web’s longstanding killer app. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/06/search-challenges-email-as-most-popular-daily-online-activity 8/6)

VH1 muscled its way into the crowded landscape of celebrity news with Scandalist, a celeb/pop culture blog launching with - you guessed it - a list of the Top 100 Celebrity Scandals of all time. In case you’re curious, The Murders of Tupac and Notorius B.I.G. edge out the Monica Lewinsky Affair and the death of Princess Di. (Cynopsis 8/6)

Federated Media Publishing and Microsoft teamed up to launch CrowdFire, a social networking platform for uploading, sharing and remixing music and musical performances with the festival scene as a sweetspot. (Cynopsis 8/6)

Hulu increased its HD Gallery of shows adding a few full episodes of shows such as Heroes, The Office and 24 as well as nature programming, movie trailers and the entire Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. (Cynopsis 8/6)

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has tapped MySpace to create an online portal for the upcoming election season that will include live streaming video and real time polling. The site, called MyDebates.org will be open to anyone (you don’t need to create an account), and will launch as we get closer to the first debate on September 26. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/05/myspace-to-offer-official-web-portal-for-presidential-debates 8/5)

The web is full of hipsters scouring the indie music scene for the next big thing. And while there is no shortage of communities where these trendsetters can share their picks, they’ve never stood to gain anything from being ahead of the crowd (aside from a slight sense of superiority). Popcuts, a Y Combinator-funded music store that launches today in public beta, is looking to reward these early adopters by paying store credit to the first people who buy a song that later goes on to become popular. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/06/y-combinators-popcuts-pays-you-to-find-good-new-music 8/6)

Google’s DoubleClick division is utilizing NBC Universal Digital Media’s herculean Olympics coverage to showcase In-Stream, a new capability to serve video ads within the Microsoft Silverlight 2 platform. The IAB-compliant system is designed to integrate with the reporting features of DART for publishers, provide a full complement of tracking metrics and accommodate a range of video ad effects including Shadow Ads, Bugs, Telescoping and Interactive Video elements. (Cynopsis 8/6)

WIRELESS

Taking aim at the low-end and middle market, Motorola has shipped three ROKR handsets, the EM30, EM28 and EM25, the company said. At the top of the line is the EM30, which carries a candy-bar design with technology that flashes different colors to help users change modes with a single click, while the clamshell EM28’s front display houses a touch-sensitive key for media control. The EM25 is aimed at music lovers. Telecomtiger.com (8/6) , Pocket-lint.co.uk (8/5)

A breakdown of Apple’s first 1 million iPhone sales shows strong pent-up demand for the device, with 600,000 sold in the U.S. and 70,000 in Japan, where Apple did not release the original iPhone, according to a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report on the Medialets Web site. T-Mobile and Orange have recorded the most customers behind AT&T and ahead of Japan’s Softbank as both carriers have contracts in multiple European countries. The Washington Post/TechCrunch.com (8/5)

With a strong lift from early-year results, mobile-phone sales will rise 11% this year to 1.28 billion, according to a report from research firm Gartner, which predicts that new products will provide a solid boost in the fourth quarter even if sales tail off in the next few months. Gartner tagged second-quarter sales at 300 million to 305 million units, a 15% increase from a year earlier. mocoNews.net (8/5) , Computerworld (8/5)

TECHNOLOGY

ZeeVee is now shipping its ZvBox, which allows users to stream media content from a PC to multiple HDTVs. The ZvBox “localcasts” the content on a channel called Zv to all the HDTVs in the home, with no subscription required. The ZvBox, at a suggested retail price of $499, is sold at Amazon, Best Buy, J&R and other electronics stores. CEPro.com (8/5)

Hewlett-Packard Co. senses the future of computing will be done with touch screens similar to the interface of Apple’s iPhone. According to one estimate from iSuppli, the number of touch-screen devices should more than double to 800 million by 2013. “We see touch as the almost preferred method for nontechnical users,” said an HP spokesman. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (subscription required) (8/6)

HP’s Expansion Base Docking Stations connect to any HP laptops and add a number of ports including an S-video out, allowing you to plug in peripherals without having to plug and unplug them every time you get up. The cheapest of these goes for about $100, while the more advanced costs over $300, including a DVD Rom drive. Simply connect an S-video cord to the back of your TV and you’re good to go. (Cynopsis 8/6)

Sharp has announced a new addition to its product line of high-definition LCD TVs with the 42-inch LC-42SB45U, which will be available in September for $1,399. The 42-inch model joins the 46-inch model ($1,699) and 52-inch model ($2,299) currently on the market. All of the models come with a dedicated PC input and pixel-response time of 6ms. TWICE (8/5)

BROADCAST/CABLE

Sci Fi Channel’s finale of Doctor Who on August 1 delivered a 1.0 HH rating and 1.26 million total viewers, according to Live + Same Day Nielsen data. In key demos, Dr. Who delivered 695,000 A25-54 and 588,000 A18-49.  Overall Season #4 was up over the previous season by 25% in household ratings, and 6% in both key demos. (Cynopsis 8/5)

Coming up next for AMC - a new political thriller, reports THR.  The project from Jason Horwitch is about a secret society who is using the political system as its own puppets, and a think tank analyst who realizes his employers are not what he thought they were. Production is scheduled to begin in October. (Cynopsis 8/5)

In a move that could potentially transform the way advanced video services are rolled out to viewers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled Monday that DVRs that operate via a central storage server rather than a set-top storage device do not violate copyright law. Analyst Craig E. Moffett said the decision “means a huge increase in the number of viewing hours per day potentially subject to ad-skipping.” The use of networked technology paves the way for the delivery of interactive and dynamic advertising via recorded programs. The New York Times (8/5) , The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/5)

Cablers with 2,500 subscribers or fewer that are not part of larger systems serving 10% or more of national pay-TV subscribers would be able to receive a three-year exemption from the HDTV must-carry rule, according to a proposal backed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. The exemption, scheduled for an Aug. 22 vote by the commission, in theory would be available to just about every cable company, except Comcast and Time Warner Cable, according to Multichannel News. Multichannel News (8/4) , Broadcasting & Cable (8/4)

Dish Network reported that its subscriber base dipped 25,000 in the second quarter, marking the first time the satellite provider had lost customers in its 12-year history. The company is facing increased competition from cable and telecom providers. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/5) , The New York Times/Reuters (8/4)

Insight Communications added 3,800 basic-cable customers during the second quarter, compared with 2,500 a year earlier, while digital additions totaled 9,200, a 3% uptick. The MSO added RGUs in the four key categories as it attracted more high-speed data and voice subscribers than it did in the same period in 2007. OneTRAK (8/4)

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Netflix is testing a service that allows users to order high-definition movies from its Blu-ray library for a premium. Blu-ray discs cost 25% more than standard DVD titles, but offer superior definition. Netflix has not announced how much more a subscription including Blu-ray would cost, but Netflix subscribers report paying an additional $1 to $2 per month for the high-definition discs. InformationWeek (8/4)

Rocketboom, the daily video blog, is turning over its distribution and ad sales to Sony Pictures Television in return for a seven-figure guarantee plus a share of revenues. Rocketboom will be distributed on Sony’s Crackle video site, as well as across other Sony platforms such as the PS3, PSP, and Bravia I-Link TVs. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/05/rocketboom-inks-seven-figure-distribution-deal-with-sony 8/5)

Golf fans will be able to find plenty of complementary coverage of this weekend’s PGA Championship on PGA.com, produced by Turner Sports. The site will host 4 channels of content presented in a new wide-screen format (some 224% larger than the previous player,) including a simulcast of the TNT production. The Playercam follows two select groups during the first two days then one group during the weekend. (Cynopsis 8/5)

Tribune’s TV-themed news and listings service Zap2it has created a handy Olympics widget sponsored by Comcast you can post on your profile page to help keep track of what events are on what channel. (Cynopsis 8/5)

Sundance Channel unveiled its latest web series, the 13-part “Eco-Heroes,” hosted and created by environmental activist Majora Carter, host of The Green. In each two-minute webisode Majora interviews one person who has been an inspiration to her and her work. Sundance Channel will also air episodes of the series as an interstitial on Tuesday nights. (Cynopsis 8/5)

Interactive broadcast application provider Jacked completed an integration with Comcast’s Versus to provide complementary programming around the network’s NHL, College Football and NCAA basketball games. The Jacked SportsTop is an online app that synchronizes with live sportscasts allowing users to customize the interface with a variety of widgets including up-to-the-second stats, video highlights, news and interactive features such as live chat and trivia. (Cynopsis 8/5)

The syndicated entertainment news show “Entertainment Tonight” will provide content to the MSN Web portal in a new deal between Microsoft and CBS. As part of the deal, “ET” will begin 24-hour operations to provide round-the-clock updates. Currently, “ET” operates its own Web site, attracting of late a reported 1.7 million monthly unique users. Broadcasting & Cable (8/4)

Disney Interactive Media is acquiring the parenting advice site Raisingkids.co.uk. The site will be added to the Disney Online portfolio, which also includes the recently launched UKfamily.co.uk. Rasingkids claims more than 100,000 registered users. (Iwantmedia 8/5, http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/39036/Disney+buys+parenting+advice+site.html 8/5)

WIRELESS

Mobile/Broadband TV service MobiTV announced its subscriber base surpassed 4 million subscribers, up from 3 million less than 10 months. MobiTV provides TV programming for 15+ mobile carriers including Sprint, AT&T Wireless and Alltel. (Cynopsis 8/5)