Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: AmericanIdol, JayLeno, JeffZucker, National Football League, NbcUniversal, Oprah Winfrey, Television, The New York Times Company
As expected, Comcast and the NFL Network have made final a carriage deal. The agreement means that the National Football League‘s cable channel will be available by Aug. 1 on the digital-basic tier of the country’s largest cable provider, adding 10.8 million subscribers to the network’s roster. The Wall Street Journal (5/20) , The New York Times (5/19
As Fox’s “American Idol,” U.S. television’s No. 1 series, ends its eighth year, the juggernaut is seeing a 8.4% drop in average audience this season. While advertisers spent $903.3 million on “Idol” last year, it “has begun to show signs of wear,” analysts say. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-05-19-ratings-american-idol_N.htm 5/19)
A few years before NBC signed up Jay Leno to host a nightly series in prime time, the network approached both Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman about taking on similar gigs. NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker says Winfrey declined his offer to move her show to the network. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003977.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 5/19)
The season two finale of HISTORY’s Ax Men on Monday at 10p attracted 1.1 million A25-54 and 1.9 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 5/20)
The final episode of the first season of “River Monsters” on Animal Planet drew 1.4 million viewers, good enough to make the show the most-watched in the network’s history. “River Monsters” averaged 1.4 million viewers in its eight-episode first year, topping “Whale Wars,” which averaged 1 million viewers in its freshman season. Multichannel News (5/19)
A special sponsorship with Subway sandwich shops is enabling NBC to renew “Chuck” for a third season. Subway played a role in an episode of the series last month. Chuck’s girlfriend, Sarah, works at a mall food court. She could be selling Subway sandwiches next season. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/business/media/20adco.html?_r=1 5/20)
ABC confirmed the following returning series Better Off Ted, Castle, Scrubs, True Beauty, America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Private Practice, Supernanny, Ugly Betty, Wife Swap, 20/20 and Saturday Night College Football. Cynopsis 5/20
Nickelodeon and DreamWorks Animation are working on a triple crown of sorts. The two companies, which collaborated on “The Penguins of Madagascar” and recently announced plans for “Kung Fu Panda: The Series,” now say they will team up on a pilot for Nick based on DWA’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” movie. The Hollywood Reporter (5/19)
Eight of the 11 new shows ABC is lining up for next season are made by outside suppliers, breaking with tradition. The move could save money for ABC because most shows fail, losing millions for the studios that produce them. Even successful programs typically lose money. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-abc20-2009may20,0,441327.story 5/19)
Comcast Corporation made an agreement with Disney and ESPN Media Networks to add ESPNU to its Digital Classic level as well as ESPN360.com to Comcast.net. The launch of ESPNU will coincide with the opening of the college football season. This launch takes ESPNU to more than 46 million subscribers and ESPN360.com will be available to almost 41 million homes. Cynopsis 5/20
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: comScore, Fox Interactive Media, Google, Hulu, The New York Times Company, Twitter, Yahoo, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Optimedia U.S. has released a new survey that attempts to measure not only how many people watched a show across multiple platforms but also how engaged viewers are in it and how much buzz it gets. “American Idol” on Fox was at the top of the Content Power Ratings, AMC’s “Mad Men” was the highest-ranked prime-time cable show and Showtime’s “Dexter” was the highest-ranked pay-cable program. The New York Times/TV Decoder blog (5/14) , TVWeek.com (5/14)
YouTube remains the largest online-video brand site, but Hulu has grown from 63.2 million total streams in April 2008 to 373.3 million in April 2009 — a 490% increase, according to Nielsen Online. Other online-video brands on the list were Yahoo!, Fox Interactive Media, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Network, MSN/Windows Live, ABC.com, MTV Networks Music, and Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital. TVWeek.com (5/14) , Mediaweek (5/14)
While Nielsen says Hulu received 8.9 million visitors in March, comScore claims the video site received 42 million. The wildly divergent numbers demonstrate the nascency of the market for online video measurement. Advertising execs complain: It’s “still the wild wild West.” (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/business/media/15nielsen.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1242417777-hPCG7aRJ6N313TbLNTrCjg 5/15)
How many Twitter followers do you have? Chances are it’s nowhere near 1 million — only seven users have that many. Oprah
just joined the club as the 8th member. But what’s crazy is that she gained her millionth follower just 28 days after signing up for the service. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/14/28-days-later-oprah-races-past-a-million-twitter-followers 5/14)
The New York Times is said to be nearing a decision on how to charge for some of its content on the Internet. One proposal will allow a reader to roam freely on the Web site until hitting a predetermined limit of word-count or pageviews, after which a meter will start running. (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.observer.com/2009/media/new-york-times-considering-two-plans-charge-content-web 4/15)
Google has rolled out a new recommendations gadget that allows sites that use Google Friend Connect to see which parts of their websites their visitors like best. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/15/google-friend-connect-adds-recommendations-gadget 5/15)
RealNetworks, which is waging a court battle against Hollywood studios over its DVD-copying software, is now filing antitrust claims against them, saying they are trying to prevent other companies from building products that let consumers legally copy DVDs for personal use. (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/drm/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217500225 5/14)
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will test a paid download model for access to some of its vast library of online video content next month. The test will make the lifestyle media company the latest media operation to try charging for content online. “It has to happen,” says Stewart. (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090514-000657-1426 5/14)
A new screen-sharing app launched today from drop.io, which keeps adding features to its private file-sharing service. The new product is called present.io and it lets you set up a screen-sharing presentation with multiple participants in just a few clicks. Present.io has a lot in common with drop.io’s chat feature which it added last month, except that it looks like this scales to hundreds of participants and is designed specifically for webinars and group presentations. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/14/dropio-adds-seamless-screen-sharing-app-with-presentio 5/14)
Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, which bought a big stake in Forbes Media in 2006, is resigning from the Forbes board. The investment firm’s bet that Forbes.com would come to offset the company’s declining print business “proved to be wrong,” he admits. (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.nypost.com/seven/05152009/business/at_forbes_media__the_knives_are_coming_169342.htm 5/15)
Cablevision, the New York-area cable-television provider, is in talks to offer an interactive travel service to subscribers in competition with Web sites such as Expedia and Orbitz. The service would allow Cablevision customers to book trips through their TV sets. (Iwantmedia 5/15, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a.qDlgdX26JA 5/15)
Cablevision Systems Corp., which has set up thousands of Wi-Fi hot spots in the Long Island, Connecticut and Westchester-Dutchess, N.Y., areas, has announced that it has expanded its high-speed wireless Web access in New Jersey to include areas such as Shore Points and Morris, Ocean and Monmouth counties. Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision also said that it was now offering Wi-Fi speeds up to 3 Mbps, which is double its previous offering. Forbes/The Associated Press (5/14)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Amazon Kindle, Hearst, Newspaper, Publishing, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Company, Wall Street Journal
Several top publishing companies are looking to develop electronic reading devices similar to Amazon’s Kindle as a way to get their products out to a wider, tech-savvy audience that has lost interest in traditional print. For example, Hearst Corp., which owns newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle and magazines such as Cosmopolitan, is working with a company called FirstPaper to develop a software platform to accept the digital download of newspapers and magazines. The Wall Street Journal (5/4) , The New York Times (5/3)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, Ashton Kutcher, Craigslist, Katalyst Media, Microsoft, Punk'd, Television, The New York Times Company
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Boston police say they have captured a suspect they believe to be the so-called “Craigslist killer,” a case that has attracted national attention. Philip Markoff, 22, of Quincy, Mass., is accused of preying on several women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166939 4/21)
With all of the online video services now offering much of the same content, the new differentiating factor seems to be high definition quality. Microsoft has been there for a while (with videos over Xbox Live), as has Apple (over the Apple TV), and now Amazon is joining the gang. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/21/amazon-jumps-into-the-hd-stream-as-well-doesnt-really-make-a-splash/ 4/21)
Janet Robinson, CEO of the New York Times Co., says the struggling publisher is exploring alternative, online business models for newspapers, such as subscriptions. The company is reporting a first-quarter net loss of more than $74 million, with advertising revenue down 27%. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090421-000444-1154 4/21)
“Punked” is one of those words that started out as a slang term, but was taken to a whole new level by a pop culture moment — in this case, the MTV show Punk’d. But as quickly as it heated up in 2003, it quickly burned out, lasting just 4 years. But the company behind it, Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media
, may have found a way to revive the formula — take it live and online. Katalyst is teaming up with Ustream, the online streaming video service, to bring “Punk’d-style experiences” to the platform. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/20/katalyst-media-taking-punkd-live-with-ustream/ 4/20)
Google is unveiling software tools that let people search the Internet using pictures or chronologically organize results of queries for news. The new News Timeline amasses stories from newspapers, magazines and blogs and presents search results in chronological graphs. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090421/tc_afp/usitinternetmediagoogle 4/20)
Social-news site Digg is ending its advertising partnership with Microsoft more than a year before their contract is due to expire. Instead of relying on Microsoft as its exclusive ad partner, Digg will now primarily use the internal sales force it recently began building. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10223354-36.html 4/20)
Years after Yahoo and Google integrated web IM features into their free webmail services (Yahoo Messenger in Yahoo Mail and Gtalk in Gmail, respectively), Redmond is finally enabling users to log into their Hotmail accounts and converse with their contacts over instant messaging directly without the need to log on to Windows Live Messenger separately, or to even have the program installed altogether. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/21/ages-after-yahoo-and-google-microsoft-finally-enables-web-based-im-in-hotmail/ 4/21)
Time Inc. is trying to build its online advertising business with an ad network of its own that will, among other things, allow advertisers to make targeted buys across its properties. One of the biggest sites on the network is People.com, which attracted 13 million people in March. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=136123 4/20)
More Americans are said to be making their income from blogging than from working as computer programmers, firefighters or bartenders. More than 20 million Americans are now blogging, with 452,000 of those using blogging “as their main source of income.” (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html 4/21)
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Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Computer, Gamer, Games, Keibi Technologies, NPD Group, The New York Times Company, Video game, Wall Street
Sales of video games, game hardware and accessories tumbled in March 17%, 18% and 15%, respectively, according to a study by NPD Group. The report connected the poor performances to the sluggish economy and the dearth of hot, new releases last month. 
ClipSyndicate/Bloomberg (4/17) , The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (4/17) , Reuters (4/17)
There are, or will be soon, more than 200 virtual worlds designed with the young computer user in mind up and running, according to industry leaders, which has prompted several companies to develop monitoring software to keep these gamers safe while online. Crisp Thinking, Keibi Technologies and eModeration are among the companies making inroads in this space. The New York Times (4/18)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Android, Google, Personal computer, Philadelphia, T-Mobile, The New York Times Company, University of Warwick, Wi-Fi
The University of Warwick’s Audio Technologies group says it has developed a new kind of speaker that is flat, flexible and only 0.25mm thick. Warwick officials say the speaker panels are cheap to make and could be adapted to fit a variety of interiors where space is in short supply. The first commercial application of the “Flat Flexible Loudspeaker” is due later this year. Pocket-lint.co.uk (4/3)
T-Mobile plans to launch a home phone and a tablet PC in early 2010, according to company documents. Both devices will run on Google‘s Android operating system, which powers the company’s G1 smartphone. The move represents a push by T-Mobile and Google to enter the home-electronics market. The New York Times (4/5)
AT&T announced plans last week to sell a selection of netbooks in Atlanta and Philadelphia with the lowest cash barrier to entry yet. If a subscriber commits to its 2-year $60/mo. netbook plan, they can take home an Acer netbook for just $50 or a mini Dell PC for $100. Both computers can connect to the net via AT&T’s 3G DataConnector network or the company’s Wi-Fi network at Starbucks across the country. (Cynopsis 4/6)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Amazon.com, AT&T, HD Radio, New York Times, News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, The New York Times Company, Wall Street Journal
(Below) Um…don’t Amazon and Sony have pretty good versions of these already?
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch says his company is investing in a mobile reading device for newspaper content. Murdoch didn’t delve into details but hinted the reader might be part of a plan to increase revenues for the flailing media companies. “People are used to reading everything on the net for free, and that’s going to have to change,” Murdoch said. The Wall Street Journal (4/2)
This morning’s news about the latest unemployment statistics was dismal and quite sobering. The U.S. has lost 5 million jobs in the past 16 months, and the unemployment rate has hit a 25 year high, reaching 8.5%. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/03/dicecom-shows-45-drop-in-tech-jobs/ 4/3)
AT&T says connectivity will soon be a major component of every type of consumer-electronics device, forcing the company to look for new pricing strategies to accommodate users who want wireless service for multiple devices. AT&T President of Emerging Devices Glenn Lurie said he did not think customers would be willing to pay a flat monthly fee for most connectivity services, but might be willing to pay on a per-use basis. Computerworld (4/2) , InformationWeek (4/2) , The New York Times (free registration) (4/2)
TomTom, in the midst of building its first wireless navigation device for the U.S., has reached a deal with TrafficCast International for real-time data on traffic and weather as well as the closest low-cost fuel stop, the Dutch company said. Navigation companies are under pressure from telecoms, which increasingly are offering similar services at more convenience and a lower cost. The Wall Street Journal (4/1)
HD Radio will be optional in 11 Mercedes models for the 2010 model year. The HD Radio will be packaged with other premium features. TWICE (3/30)
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