Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Goodfellas, HBO, Leah Remini, MartinScorsese, Television, Television program, Time Warner, United States
With baseball season officially underway, HBO announced a renewal of its baseball-themed comedy series Eastbound & Down for a second season. The Danny McBride-headlining series, about a former MLB star pitcher returning to his home town to teach P.E., will begin production later in 2009 with new episodes scheduled to hit HBO’s lineup next year. (Cynopsis 4/9)
FOX is playing off the uncertain economic times with a new reality competition series called Someone’s Gotta Go. The series, from Endemol USA, will go inside real American businesses giving employees the chance to decide which colleague will be laid off. (Cynopsis 4/9)
Leah Remini rejoins the world of sitcoms in the ABC comedy pilot Don’t Try This at Home, per THR. From ABC Studios, Don’t Try This at Home is about marriage and parenting from the perspective of three couples. (Cynopsis 4/9)
Part of AMC’s programming magic over the past few years, according to network chief Charlie Collier, has been to partner edgy original shows with feature films that present a related theme. “When ‘Mad Men’ debuted, we led into it with ‘Goodfellas,’” he said. “The notion was that you’d take this iconic Martin Scorsese piece about a group of guys who thought they could play without rules, and it led to an iconic television program about a group of men who again thought rules did not apply.” The Wall Street Journal (4/8)
Shares of Disney, Time Warner, News Corp. and other media giants are seeing gains. But Wall Street analysts warn: “The rally will meet resistance once the market realizes that the first-quarter results are below consensus.” Within a few months, “things turn ugly again.” (Iwantmedia 4/9, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/finance/news/e3i4f09d44ee2455d728c72b6547178e4bd 4/8)
Michael Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, says he intends to “right the injustice” of the lack of diversity in U.S. broadcasting. The agency is OKing a proposal to improve data collection about media owned by women and minorities. (Iwantmedia 4/9, http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090408-711361.html 4/8)
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes was awarded compensation in 2008 valued at about $21.5 million, according to an Associated Press tally of data filed with regulators. That figure is up 11% from a year ago, as the company cut costs and moved to shed assets such as its cable unit. (Iwantmedia 4/9, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_bi_ge/time_warner_executive_compensation 4/8)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: App Store, Apple, Apple App Store, Cellular network, Cox Communications, iPhone, Nokia, Time Warner
The Samsung SGH-a877 Impression is now available from AT&T, featuring a full keyboard and the first commercially available 3.2-inch AMOLED touch-screen display. The phone will also include a 3-megapixel camera. It retails for $199.99 with a 2-year contract and a mail-in rebate. MobileBurn (4/7) , IntoMobile (4/7)
Nokia Executive Vice President of Markets Anssi Vanjoki says that in 2010, high-end phones will include QVGA screens, a 5- to 12-megapixel camera comparable to standalone digital cameras, touch-screen input and GPS access. All these features will become commonplace in mobile devices by 2013. The New York Times/GigaOm (4/7)
(Below) In an iPhone world, the brand is not as important as utility. I certainly see ‘fun’ as something which falls within utility. Publishers who attempt to make apps whose only function is to advertise the brand will find themselves falling short of expectations.
No apps from publishers like the New York Times or broadcasters like CBS appear in the top 25 downloaded apps in the Apple App Store, where external developers launch programs or tools for iPhone users, says a report by comScore. Games dominate in Apple apps. (Iwantmedia 4/8, http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/mobile/e3i877cb25050675ce95d66a8ae78d066d6 4/7)
Cox Communications, the U.S. cable operator, plans to start a wireless service this year. Cox is building its own cellular network — a strategy that contrasts sharply with that of its peers, Comcast and Time Warner. Cox could attempt to exploit the nascent mobile video market. (Iwantmedia 4/8, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123915134035899477.html 4/7)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: AOL, Arts, Electronic Arts, Music Video, Time Warner, Video game, Yahoo, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Time Warner is making moves that could pave the way for a spin-off of its beleaguered AOL unit. Some fund managers speculate that the media giant will try to buy video-game makers Electronic Arts or Take-Two Interactive. Games are “the fastest-growing industry in the media field.” (Iwantmedia 4/07, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002186.html?categoryid=10&cs=1 4/6)
Male-targeted online video network Break Media acquired HBOlab per NewTeeVee, HBO’s digital media studio created to incubate original web series such as the 10-part Hooking Up show starring LG15′s Jessica Rose. (Cynopsis 4/7)
Yahoo is launching Artist Pages that allow users to connect to digital music at YouTube, iTunes, Pandora and other sites. Artist Pages are designed to showcase music videos, streaming tunes and more. The online destination eventually will let users publish their own music. (Iwantmedia 4/07, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090406/tc_afp/entertainmentusitinternetmusiccompanyyahoo 4/6)
Sugar Inc.’s
flagship celebrity news and photo blog, PopSugar, has launched its 3rd annual PopSugar 100 tournament. It’s kind of like the NCAA’s March Madness, except this single-elimination contest is meant to determine who the most popular celebrities are in a given year. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/07/popsugar-launches-march-madness-for-celebrities-popsugar100 4/7)
So much fun…so much time wasting.
Music labels increasingly are bundling extra content with high-profile albums on Apple’s iTunes service in an attempt to boost flagging album sales. The companies are selling the additional material on a subscription basis, parceling content over time to help justify premium pricing. Labels also are going to begin using a variable price structure on iTunes, charging more for new hits and less for older catalog tracks. The Wall Street Journal (4/7) , Reuters (4/6)
A $17 iTunes “pass” for the Fray, above, buys songs, video footage and photos.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Web TV Network KoldCast TV signed a deal with Emerging Artist Productions to distribute a 13-episode theatrical themed web series EXIT Stage Left, about an off-Broadway theatre troupe staging a new play. The web series is produced in high-definition by creator Sinohui Hinojosa with a cast of Bay Area actors and crew members. (Cynopsis 4/7)
Nearly anyone who has watched TV in the last twenty years is familiar with The Simpson’s intro, which always features a different brief segment at the end as the family rushes to sit together on their couch. Even after 436 episodes it’s a gag that still hasn’t gotten old. Today The Simpsons is teaming with MySpace to launch a contest that invites users to create their own Simpsons couch gags. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/06/myspace-wants-you-to-make-your-own-simpsons-couch-gag/ 4/6)
Facebook is working together with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) to make its social networking service more accessible to users who are blind or visually impaired. In a company blog post, the non-profit organization’s President, Carl Augusto, explains which problems visually challenged users encounter when surfing the web and how they’re able to overcome these issues with the help of website publishers, developers and designers. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/07/facebook-commits-to-making-social-networking-more-accessible-for-visually-challenged-users/ 4/7)
Free entertainment hub Boxee keeps on getting better and better. A couple of hours ago, the venture-backed startup released a full API that allows developers to build applications for the open-source platform using a set of API calls in Python and writing the GUI using XML. At the same time, the company is laying the groundwork for a richer App Box, which it refers to as an open application store where they are not the gatekeeper (like Apple for its iPhone App Store) but rather a facilitator. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/07/boxee-continues-to-innovate-with-api-and-new-alpha-version-for-mac-apple-tv 4/7)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Arts, Colbert Report, Digital distribution, Netflix, Philippe Dauman, Television, Time Warner, Twitter
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Increasingly iconic online video-rental firm Netflix has announced that it has crossed the 2-billion-delivery mark. The company, founded in 1999, has more than 10 million subscribers and ships about 2 million discs every day. Reuters (4/2)
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes is defensive of the company’s “TV Everywhere” premise. The industry “can’t just blow up the revenue structure” that cable operators and programmers have come to rely upon by continuing to stream shows free online to people who don’t pay. (Iwantmedia 4/3, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/time-warner-ceo-you-cant/story.aspx?guid=%7B5D0E3B69-73D0-408D-AA5E-2DA7BE4EB96B%7D 4/2)
(Below) It’s a VERY interesting discussion. In fact, I think this discussion regarding the online subscription model without commercials vs. the free ad-supported model is the most interesting discussion in the digital distribution world these days. Here’s the thing. I think that most people won’t pay for content unless that content is connected to a television screen. If content is provided on a monthly basis for online, that content needs to be easily connected to a television environment which these days is still narrowed to the tech elite. As the connections from online to the television increase in simplicity and allowance, I think this model will make a whole lot more sense. But unfortunately, the revenue structure can blow up. In fact, it already has. Now, it’s a question of what that revenue structure will become as the pieces come back together. The race to making money is one of that I find most interesting and the most critical to content providers.
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says that there is unlikely to be a negative consumer backlash against the Time Warner-led “TV Everywhere” plan. “People are used to paying for video subscriptions. They’re used to paying for broadband service, so there’s nothing new there.” (Iwantmedia 4/3, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Viacom-CEO-sees-no-backlash/story.aspx?guid=%7B52C63A77%2D6EED%2D45EB%2D85D6%2D5A39F02B4139%7D 4/2)
Disney CEO Bob Iger has reservations about walling off online content on a subscription basis, particularly content from broadcasters like ABC, which he notes is free over the air and depends on advertising. Such a move “could be viewed as anti-consumer.” (Iwantmedia 4/3, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090402-000767-1047 4/2)
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone appeared on The Colbert Report last night. In case you haven’t seen it already, the video is embedded above. Stone describes Twitter as “The messaging system that we didn’t know we needed until we had it.” To which Colbert responds: “That sounds like the answer to a problem we didn’t have until I invented the answer.” (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/03/biz-stone-plays-it-cool-on-colbert/ 4/3)
Digg may have 19 million unique visitors and nearly 85 million pageviews (Comscore worldwide, Feb ‘09), but one thing it’s never had is a decent search engine. There’s no rhyme or reason to the ordering of results. A lot of stuff just seems to disappear. And the filters are overly complicated. That’ll change in the near future, the company noted in a blog post today. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/digg-to-finally-fix-search-see-the-screenshot/ 4/2)
The new Digg toolbar product called DiggBar launched yesterday. If you want to try it out immediately, just add “digg.com/” before any URL at all (the image above is using the techcrunch domain). The toolbar is made for the new Twitter generation, which has a desperate need for very short URLs to fit in the tiny space allotted per message. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/02/diggs-toolbar-is-here-go-shorten-those-urls/ 4/2)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: CNN, Fox News Channel, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, MSNBC, Prime time, Television, Time Warner, Viacom
The NBC drama “ER” will air its series finale Thursday after 15 seasons, leaving behind a splintered prime-time landscape as the networks struggle to compete in a digital world. Executive producer Neal Baer admits: “I doubt we will ever see the likes of a show like ‘ER’ again.” (Iwantmedia 3/30, http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-er28-2009mar28,0,1083134.story 3/28)
Time Warner’s CNN is set to finish March third in prime-time ratings behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the first time this has ever happened for the channel that pioneered the cable news genre. CNN is suffering more audience erosion than its rivals. (Iwantmedia 3/30, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090328/ap_on_en_tv/tv_cnn_in_third 3/27)
NBC sliced the cooking competition series Chopping Block from its primetime schedule after airing episodes for only three weeks. NBC told affiliates last Thursday night the series will be off Wednesday nights as of next week, replaced with reruns of Law & Order: Criminal Intent previously seen on NBC. Chopping Block, featuring Chef Marco Pierre premiered March 12 and NBC will likely air the remaining episodes at a later date. (Cynopsis 3/30)
MTV is adding more music videos to its schedule — at 3 a.m. The Viacom network is launching “AMTV,” a six-hour block for music videos and related programming, harking back to MTV’s origins as a 24-hour home for music videos. The new schedule gives MTV a “palette to experiment.” (Iwantmedia 3/30, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/media/30mtv.html 3/29)
Tiffany “New York” Pollard returns to reality TV in a new series for VH1 titled New York Goes to Work opening May 4 at 10p. Viewers will vote via their mobile phones each week on three possible job opportunities for Tiffany. If she does well and impresses her employers, she gets a $5,000 weekly bonus, but if she quits, gets fired or messes up, she gets nothing. Episodes will be available at VH1.com the day after each air on the network. (Cynopsis 3/30)
CBS dropped the most in four months in New York trading Monday after UBS analyst Michael Morris recommended selling the shares because the advertising slump may be deeper and longer than expected. Industry-wide ad sales in 2010 will be “very similar” to this year. (Iwantmedia 3/30, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=awY0atdMmecA 3/30)
As expected, Charter Communications has filed for bankruptcy as a way of restructuring its debt. As a result of the move, the country’s fourth-largest cable company will gain about $3 billion through refinancing and new equity investment and pare back its debt load by about $8 billion. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (3/28) , Light Reading (3/27)
Comcast is reconfiguring its video-on-demand architecture and, according to this article, is developing two centralized libraries for its VOD assets, one in West Chester, Pa., and the other in Denver. The initiative apparently will enable the cable firm to offer more than 100,000 VOD titles and a platform for serving personalized ads on a national basis. Comcast officials declined to comment. Multichannel News (3/30)
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Cable television, Charter Communications, Microsoft, MTV Networks, Time Warner, Time Warner Cable, United States, Wall Street Journal
Despite industry assurances to the contrary, federal regulators are expressing concern about whether there will be enough set-top digital-converter boxes for viewers who will need them after the transition to all-digital TV signals in mid-June. “I do share the concern about whether inventory levels will be sufficient to get us through June 12 and also after June 12,” said Anna Gomez, the acting head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The Wall Street Journal (3/26) , Reuters (3/26)
I love that the WSJ chose to use this photo of a balding old guy in their representation of those still using bunny ears to capture a signal. Dear grandparents, just get digital cable already.
This summer, NBC will roll out a new alternative series I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!, based on a successful international series, about celebrities who exchange their posh lifestyles to try their hand at surviving in a challenging, snake-infested jungle environment. The series will premiere as a two-hour event June 1 at 8p, followed by one-hour episodes stripped Monday through Thursday over the first three weeks in June, then during the fourth week episodes will air Monday through Wednesday with the finale slated for June 24 at 8p. (Cynopsis 3/27)
MTV will use its global promotional muscle on April 24, when it exclusively presents a new single from megaband Green Day on 66 TV channels and 200 Web sites in 162 countries. The initiative is the first salvo in MTV Networks‘ bid to promote new music worldwide. Variety (3/26)
Charter Communications, controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is filing for bankruptcy to get relief from its creditors, as the fourth largest U.S. cable operator strives to keep its head above water and still compete with phone companies and satellite TV providers. (Iwantmedia 3/27, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090327/ap_on_bi_ge/charter_bankruptcy_filing 3/27)
Time Warner’s spinoff of Time Warner Cable is expected to be wrapped up later today, according to this article. Time Warner received $9.25 billion in the split and paid down $2 billion in debt. Analysts expect the company will use the rest of the cash to improve its balance sheet, make targeted acquisitions to boost its global reach and return money to shareholders. The Hollywood Reporter (3/26)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Blackberry, iPhone, Microsoft Windows, Mobile phone, Smartphone, Time Warner, Windows Mobile
The iPhone now accounts for 50 percent of mobile Web traffic from smartphones in the U.S., according to an AdMob Mobile Metrics report released this morning. Over the past six months, the iPhone has taken share from Blackberry and Windows Mobile. In August 2008, the iPhone made up only 10 percent of mobile Web traffic from smartphones. During the same time, Blackberry’s share has gone from 32 percent to 21 percent (with the Curve and the Pearl coming in stronger than the Storm), while Windows Mobile has taken an even bigger hit, declining from 30 percent to 13 percent. Palm is also down to 7 percent from 19 percent six months ago. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/24/iphone-now-50-percent-of-smartphone-web-traffic-in-the-us/ 3/24)
Time Warner’s AOL is releasing a version of its online coupons service, Shortcuts.com, optimized for mobile phones. Registered users will be able to redeem the coupons in-store without a paper receipt. Competition among mobile coupon purveyors is said to be growing. (http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10202079-12.html 3/23)
Dell will have to go back to the design table after cell phone carriers showed little interest in the PC maker’s attempt to compete with the iPhone and BlackBerry in the smartphone market, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. Wu said the pending Palm Pre, however, is already being viewed as a viable rival to the market leaders. vnunet.com (3/24) , InformationWeek (3/23)
Are iPhone app developers getting paid on time from Apple? Not all of them. On this iPhone developer forum
, there are numerous threads from developers who are complaining about delays in payments for January and not being paid the amount of money the developers are in fact due from sales. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/24/iphone-app-developers-gripe-about-payment-delays-and-dismal-customer-service/ 3/24)
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