| MediaBytes 11.13.2007 - 113 sec
KEVIN MARTIN is proposing a 75% reduction in the rates that cable operators can charge to lease extra channels. To promote more diverse programming, prices would drop from 40 cents a month per subscriber to 10 cents. The plan will be voted on this month and could be enacted next year.
GOOGLE is reportedly in talks with British entrepreneur Simon Fuller about a new service that will "change television." Details on the TV venture are extremely limited at this time. On Monday the company furthered its plans to upset the mobile phone industry by offering $10 million in prizes to developers that create the best applications for Android, its new mobile operating system.
WARNER BROS. TV has unveiled MomLogic.com, a site targeted specifically at mothers. It will offer filtered news, original online shows, how-to articles and more. Warner Bros. has already seen great success with niche site TMZ.com, which focuses on celebrity gossip.
LIFETIME NETWORKS will also target a niche female audience by overhauling LifetimeTV.com and turning it into a women's social networking portal. The site has been renamed myLifetime.com and will be populated with content from Hearst, About and Glam Media. Lifetime looks to double its online presence by creating an online Lifetime Network (a collection of niche female sites) and by providing content to the Glam Media network of sites.
PUBLICIS GROUPE will create Insight Factory, a new entity that brings together elements of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest, and Leo Burnett. Insight will allow clients to get services from a single provider and the three units will share resources from the joint venture, which is expected to begin next year. Publicis CEO Maurice Levy drew attention this week by calling Microsoft's $240 million Facebook investment "insane" and saying there is not enough advertising money to support the recent explosion in online advertising services. Levy compared the current state of online advertising to the Internet bubble of the late '90s.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news kevin martin fcc chairman google android developers prize simon fuller american ido
 | | MediaBytes 07.26.2007 - 93 sec
* DIGG dumps GOOGLE, goes with Microsoft adCenter.
* FOX and MYSPACE looking for pilots on MySpace.
* ADPINION to let users vote on which ads they see.
* COMSCORE tweaks metrics for overall user activity.
* JOOST nets over one million users.
Auteur : Media30dotcom
Tags:digg google microsoft adcenter comscore joost adpinion fox myspace
| | 2008 06-16 MediaBytes: APPLE - IPHONE - GOOGLE - ANDROID - A - 135 sec
* AT&T considering pay-per-bit.
* TW looking to sell AOL.
* FCC Chief OK's SIRIUS-XM merger.
* AP says No to blogs.
* FCC adopts new broadband definition.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news apple iphone google android time warner jeff bewkes aol earthlink fcc kevin martin
| | Apple Unlocked - MediaBytes 11.21.2007 - 107 sec
YAHOO signed a deal that will allow users to legally upload videos containing SONY BMG music to Yahoo's video-sharing site. Sony BMG will receive a cut of advertising revenue generated by videos, which can be placed in a Yahoo.com player or embedded on third-party sites. Sony BMG cut a similar deal with Google Video and YouTube last year.
THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA has reached a tentative three-year agreement with ABC, CBS and NBC covering staff and news free-lancers. The pending contract gives DGA members wage increases and establishes guidelines for future wage negotiations. Guild members will vote on the agreement in January.
APPLE's exclusive iPhone deals have hit a snag in Germany, where a court has prohibited T-Mobile from bundling the iPhone with a two-year contract and requested that it function on competing cellular networks. Apple may be forced to offer an unlocked iPhone in Germany, which could threaten iPhone profits by letting consumers use the device on networks that do not have revenue-sharing contracts in place. The injunction was a result of a Vodaphone lawsuit claiming that exclusive mobile phone contracts violate German law.
ABC STUDIOS has a payment agreement in place with writers for upcoming webisodes of Lost, which were written by regular Lost writers before the strike. Writers (and other talent) were paid specifically for web use of the content and will earn residuals. The deal currently in place gives WGA members many of the rights that are at issue in the strike and could become a model for agreement when negotiations resume on Monday.
US NEWSPAPERS suffered further declines in ad revenue during the third quarter. Overall ad revenue fell 7.4% for the papers with a 9% drop specifically in print ads. Real-estate and classified ads suffered the biggest declines.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news yahoo sony bmg youtube google ugc user generated dga directors guild of america appl
| | MediaBytes 07.19.2007 - 124 sec
* VERIZON adds VEOH content to phones and FiOS.
* NHL to stream live ad-free games using NEULION.
* HEAVY.COM to experiment with "sequential advertising."
* SPRINT and CLEARWIRE plan WiMax partnership.
* EU chooses mobile TV standard.
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Tags:shelly palmer media 3.0 news verizon sprint clearwire heavy.com
| | 2008 04-01 MediaBytes: Google - Virgle - Rick Astley - Gmail - 171 sec
GOOGLE is using April 1st to roll out a number of exciting new initiatives. The company has unveiled a joint venture with Virgin called Virgle, the first human settlement on Mars. Users can sign up online to be a Virgle pioneer. Gmail users received a useful Custom Time upgrade today, allowing them to send email yesterday. And, lastly, all Featured Videos on YouTube.com now redirect users to Rick Astley's hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up," complete with 80's dance moves and a stylish trench coat. Enjoy.
COMCAST is facing an increasing online backlash for re-compressing HD channels so that it can increase its channel offerings. Users began noticing degraded HD quality and posted screenshots in forums comparing the Comcast images with Verizon's FiOS HD images. Comcast's HD showed increased pixillation and distortion. A company spokesperson confirmed the practice, saying "Compression is a reality." Perhaps, but this is certainly a poor time for a cable company to offer lower video quality than a telco TV service.
SONY has launched C-Spot, a new online comedy channel. C-Spot features short-form comedies, including "Hot Hot Los Angeles" and "The Roadents," an animated show about traveling guinea pigs. Actor Kevin Pollack will be featured in a C-Spot series called The Writer's Room, a look behind the scenes of a sitcom. New episodes will be posted on a daily schedule and distributed trough AOL Video, Hulu, YouTube, Crackle and more.
NICKELODEON is seeing increased online traffic due to iCarly, a network show that incorporates user-generated material. The show now accounts for a staggering 20% of all visitors to Nick.com. iCarly urges viewers to visit Nick.com to upload their own videos, offering them the chance to be seen on TV. This clearly works.
NIELSEN reports that Internet ad spending jumped 18.9% in 2007, while all ad spending combined only increased .6%. National cable ads were up 2.2% but network TV fell 1.5%.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news google gmail virgle rick astley youtube comcast hdtv high-def sony c-spot roadents
| | MediaBytes 07.17.2007 - 97 sec
* TIVO starts monthly release of top commercial rankings.
* CARMEL GROUP study says DVR usage will double by 2010.
* NBC reveals huge list of enhancements to NBC.com.
* GOOGLE wants to take over your phone.
* NEWS CORP. offer to face DOW JONES vote tonight.
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Tags:shelly palmer media news headlines tivo google dvr commercial ratings
| | 2008 03-21 MediaBytes: Verizon - AT&T - PlayStation - Quadra - 143 sec
VERIZON and AT&T were the big winners in the FCC's 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction. Verizon Wireless will pay $9.4 billion for 109 licenses while AT&T will spend $6.6 billion for 227 licenses. Both companies are expected to use their newly-won spectrum to provide next-generation wireless Internet services and possibly some form of mobile TV. Dish Network also participated in the auction, spending $712 million for 168 licenses providing mostly one-way communication. Analysts believe that Dish may be planning a new video service. However, companies are barred from discussing their plans until down payments have been submitted. The deadline is April 3rd. Of course, the new spectrum will become available when analog television shuts down forever on February 17, 2009.
SONY will release a free update to the PS3 this month that adds the ability to download video, games and ring tones. The update will also install Blu-ray's BD-Live functionality and wireless communication with PlayStation Portables. The PS3 will become the first Blu-ray player on the market with Internet access, offering a wide variety of downloadable movie trailers, bonus material and more. Meanwhile, Toshiba announced that its HD DVD flop will cost the company $1.1 billion.
ONLINE ADVERTISING is under attack in a new bill proposed by New York assemblyman Richard Brodsky. The bill would make it illegal for companies to track information about Internet users for advertising purposes without their consent. It would also require the choice to opt-out of targeted advertising based on web searches, browsing history and other private data. Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo are all sending lobbyists to Albany due to the growing support for the bill.
DIRECTV launched a new satellite that will allow it to offer 150 national HD channels and local HD channels in over 100 markets. It is expected to begin service this September. DirecTV will launch another satellite in 2009, providing support for up to 200 national HD channels. Of course, earlier this week Dish Network reported problems with its own satellite launch, which may hurt its performance in the growing battle for HD supremacy.
QUADRANT ONE received a major boost on Thursday, adding 26 newspaper companies to the online ad network of newspaper publishers. McClatchy and Media General were among the additions. QuadrantOne was started by the Tribune Co., Gannett, the New York Times Co. and Hearst Corp. to offer advertisers a one-stop-shop for placing ads in newspapers across the country. The new additions have doubled the network size, bringing it close to 250 newspapers. In related news, the Tribune Co. will reportedly offer Newsday up for sale. Bidders include Rupert Murdoch, The Daily News publisher Mortimer Zuckerman and Cablevision's Jim Dolan.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news verizon at&t spectrum auction dish network directv fcc sony playstation ps3 bluray
| | MediaBytes 09.06.2007 - 132 sec
* ABC and WBTV agree on rights for online content.
* VUDU launches set-top box for movie downloads.
* HP to ship IPTV software with its computers.
* MICROSOFT launches Silverlight with strong list of partners.
* UNIVERSAL MUSIC sues VEOH for copyright infringement.
* APPLE reveals new iPods and slashes price of iPhone.
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news abc wbtv warner brothers vudu hp hewlett packard iptv microsoft universal music veoh
| | MediaBytes 11.02.2007 - 111 sec
* WGA committee recommends strike.
* MYSPACE and BEBO join GOOGLE's OpenSocial.
* VERIZON promises 150 HD channels by end of 2008.
* FTC commissioner vows to regulate online advertising.
* WARNER MUSIC snubs NOKIA music service over "Mosh."
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news wga writers guild strike myspace bebo opensocial google facebook verizon hdtv iptv f
| | Martin Retreats - MediaBytes 11.28.2007 - 105 sec
KEVIN MARTIN conceded defeat yesterday for his suggestion that the 70/70 rule is in effect. He withdrew a report that contained the 70/70 claim as justification for further cable regulation and will re-submit his proposal without it in the coming months. Martin's plan to lower channel lease fees for independent networks was passed and will go into effect early next year. His proposal to relax media-ownership rules will be voted on in December.
VERIZON shook up the mobile industry yesterday by announcing plans to open its network to any device or phone that meets a set of minimum standards. Verizon will release the technical standards required for access early next year. Google CEO Eric Schmidt called the move "a great step forward" and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin released a statement supporting the move.
YOUTUBE will host its Republican debate tonight on CNN. Almost 5,000 users have submitted video-taped questions for the candidates - twice the amount that participated in YouTube's Democratic debates in July. This debate may have serious ramifications. The pivotal Iowa caucuses are only 6 weeks away and the polls show a tight race.
BRIGHTCOVE will stop accepting user-generated uploads to its consumer-oriented site after December 17. Brightcove.tv was a YouTube-like video destination that accepted uploads from ordinary users as well as professionals. The site is dropping the user-generated focus and turning Brightcove.tv into an outlet for its professional and semi-professional customers.
GANNETT has chosen thePlatform to manage video content for more than 150 newspaper websites, including USAToday.com. thePlatform will handle video aggregation, distribution and syndication to external sites. Gannett has chosen Maven to handle its video advertising.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news kevin martin fcc commission verizon open network sprint google eric schmidt youtube
| | RIAA - Google - CBS - Apple - WGA - MediaBytes February 27, - 130 sec
THE RECORDING INDUSTRY lost a major ruling in Atlantic v. Brennan when a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that merely making music available to other users is not evidence of copyright infringement. The judge also found that no proof of infringement was supplied by the record companies that brought the suit. With two of three findings going to the defendant, the case was thrown out.
GOOGLE suffered a 7% drop in ad clicks from December to January and a .3% drop year over year according to comScore. Clicks also declined 7% between November and December. Wall Street responded to the news by hammering down Google's stock by as much as 8% during trading on Tuesday. While the company has not verified comScore's findings it did officially report substantially slowed growth during the fourth quarter. The cause may be any number of factors, from a tightening economy to increased success in battling click fraud.
CBS reported a 15% decline in Q4 revenue and flat ad revenue due to slowdowns in TV and radio. Les Moonves said that the company would cutback on pilot expenditures, calling them "vastly overrated." He also tried to ease concerns about the slowing TV business by saying that "Network TV will always be a must-buy" for advertisers. (Maybe.) In other TV-slowdown news, DISH saw a 76% decline in subscriber gains during Q4.
APPLE announced that iTunes has become the number two music retailer in the US, trailing only Wal-Mart in music sales during 2007. The store has 50 million customers and has sold 4 billion songs to date. The iTunes juggernaut continues.
THE WGA ratified the new contract with the AMPTP with 93% of members voting to approve the deal. The contract is retroactive to February 13th and will be in effect until May 2, 2011. And the focus shifts to SAG.
NBC UNIVERSAL will soon close the beta period for NBC Direct. The download service will officially launch sometime this quarter, though no specific date has been announced. NBC Direct will offer automatic copy-protected downloads of top NBC shows, including "The Office" and Conan O'Brien. Let's hope they fulfill the promise of Mac support in a reasonable time frame.
ESPN will offer substantial online coverage of its first Masters tournament. Live streaming of the event will be offered to the handful of people that can actually access ESPN360.com. For the rest of us, video exclusives will be posted on Masters.org and live "look ins" will be available on ESPN.com. There will be blogs, live audio updates, chats and pretty much anything else you an imagine. Except, of course, access to ESPN360.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news riaa music industry lawsuit google comscore cbs apple itunes wga strike contract nbc
| | MediaBytes 11.12.2007 - 108 sec
NBC has launched NBC Direct, a service that allows consumers to download NBC content. Users can subscribe to shows and have them automatically download when new episodes become available. However, they must watch them within 48 hours of downloading. NBC Direct has some other major drawbacks: it requires a proprietary player, Windows Media 10 and Internet Explorer. If you live in the Dark Ages, this may be a useful way to watch Television.
THE CEA's survey of analog, over-the-air TV owners found that 22% plan to "do nothing" when the analog spectrum shuts down on February 17, 2009. The group estimates that up to 28 million analog sets will need digital-to-analog converters. If consumer opinion doesn't change, the spectrum shutdown could reduce the national Television audience by over 5 million households.
THE FCC is expected to release a report that finds cable "too dominant" as a video provider and proposes new programming and access requirements for carriers. The Commission may attempt to limit the programming rates and growth of the top cable providers. The new proposals will be based on a rule in the Cable Communications Act of 1984, which makes regulation possible if cable is available to 70 percent of the country and used by 70 percent of households. The NCTA and other industry groups have quickly responded, saying that cable is used by far less than 70% of the country.
WARNER BROTHERS TELEVISION is in negotiations with HULU to bring WBTV content to the new online TV service. The deal will focus on older shows form the Warner library. ABC will release mini episodes of Lost on its web site this week. The "mobisodes" were originally shot with original content for Verizon mobile phones.
THE STRIKE continues. The WGA issued a public letter condemning Guild member Ellen DeGeneres for returning to her show. The host received support from AFTRA, who said she was required to fulfill her AFTRA-related duties. Ellen will refrain from monologues as part of the WGA strike. News writers at CBS and ABC may join the strike. Over 500 CBS News employees, who are members of the Guild and currently working without a contract, will meet on Thursday to vote on strike authorization. Over 200 contract-less WGA employees at ABC News are considering similar measures.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news nbc direct cea analog digital television fcc warner brothers hulu lost ab
| | MediaBytes 08.31.2007 - 133 sec
* NBCU tells Apple it won't renew iTunes contract.
* DAILYMOTION draws $34 million in funding.
* JOOST lets developers make widgets.
* MTV plans multi-platform push for video award show.
* NBC to begin streaming Conan O'Brien.
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news nbc universal itunes apple contract dailymotion joost mtv conan o'brien online video
| | MediaBytes 09.24.2007 - 113 sec
* CW starts break-free show with paid segments.
* UNIVERSAL STUDIOS creating its own mobile site.
* MYSPACE launching ad-supported mobile site.
* FOX SEARCHLIGHT releasing short film on the web, for free.
* PUDDING MEDIA offers free, ad-supported phone calls.
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news cw network commercials universal studios myspace mobile fox searchlight pudding medi
| | Toshiba - HD DVD - MTVN - News Corp - MySpace - MediaBytes F - 109 sec
TOSHIBA is planning to retire the HD DVD format. Reuters reports that the company is in the final stages of planning its exit from the high-def disc market, handing Blu-ray the role of industry standard. The move comes just days after Wal-Mart ended support for HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray.
MTV NETWORKS has acquired BABUNGA and its collection of sites dedicated to small parenting niches. MTVN will establish an ad network that sells ad space on the sites and a handful of similar third-party parenting destinations. The initiative will be centered on the newly revamped ParentsConnect.com, an MTVN social network launched in 2006.
NEWS CORP. is trying to create a Hulu-like venture that offers content from the major music labels on MySpace. The deal calls for The Big Four to receive equity in MySpace in exchange for allowing their content to be offered free with ad-support. No label has signed on yet but talks are heating up.
ADVERTISERS are asking ABC, NBC and CBS to retire the $125 million in "integration fees" paid every year just to purchase time on their networks. The AAAA and the ANA will soon release a policy paper questioning the fees and asking the networks to defend their necessity. The paper contends that the need for the fees has been removed by advances in technology and points out that other networks (such as Fox) do not charge network integration fees.
CARAT DIGITAL is working on an ad sales platform that uses set-top box data to present on-screen targeted "bugs" to television viewers. The system is currently in testing stages, where it is being used to offer real estate services to viewers thought to be interested in buying a new home. In the future, the company will integrate purchasing data supplied by Acxiom to create a detailed picture of a household's location, demographics, viewing habits and purchasing history.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news toshiba hd dvd bluray sony mtv networks babunga parenting corp myspa
| | MediaBytes 09.18.2007 - 98 sec
* APPLE announces iPhone for the UK.
* GOOGLE unveils AdSense for Mobile.
* AOL to consolidate digital ad groups and move to NY.
* NYTIMES.com drops paid subscription wall.
* MYSPACE at work on hyper-targeting ad system.
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news apple iphone uk o2 google adsense mobile aol nytimes.com myspace online video sally
| | MediaBytes 10.31.2007 - 113 sec
* MYSPACE CMO Shawn Gold resigns.
* GOOGLE plans "universal" social network apps.
* NBC U sells in-game ads for IGA WORLDWIDE.
* AOL educates consumers about targeted advertising.
* FOX sells out 90% of Super Bowl spots.
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Tags:shelly palmer mediabytes media news shawn gold myspace google opensocial social networking nbc universal aol tacoda fox
| | 2008 03-27 MediaBytes: YouTube Insight - Comcast - BitTorren - 143 sec
YOUTUBE has added Insight, a new feature that tracks when and where videos are being watched. Insight breaks down views by both geography and time, giving video publishers some powerful new performance data. The tool has a number of practical applications, including market-testing TV ads to determine locations with high receptivity. Most importantly, it will provide more data on what makes a video popular on the top video-sharing site.
COMCAST and BITTORRENT will collaborate to make the P2P software run more smoothly on the Comcast network. Comcast will stop throttling traffic for all users of any specific application (such as BitTorrent) and focus only on users that consume a large amount of bandwidth. BitTorrent will also tweak its code to work more effectively on Comcast's network. Comcast plans to have its new policies in place before the end of the year.
THE COMMUNITY BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION has filed a court action to prevent the marketing of DTV converter boxes that block analog signals. The federal coupon program currently only supports boxes that are all-digital, which means that consumers who make the switch will be unable to access local low-power stations that are still broadcasting in analog. The CBA claims this violates the FCC's 1962 all-channel receiver act and creates a major threat to its stations. The group asked the FCC to rule on the matter last year but has not received a response. The issue will now head to court.
WIDEORBIT has launched VoterVoter.com, a powerful new tool that allows ordinary citizens to purchase political advertising on television. Users can create their own video ads, use ones that others have uploaded or choose standard spots offered by VoterVoter. WideOrbit will place the ad based on the desired demographics and locations, taking the standard 15% cut. Purchases are not subject to FEC donation limits. The site launches today with a focus on the presidential election. However, WideOrbit plans to add support for congressional, state and local races.
VERIZON has asked the FCC to force cable operators to accept disconnect orders directly from a customer's new video provider, just like they require for phone companies. Currently, cable operators will only accept disconnect orders directly from the customer, which Verizon says slows the process and hinders their ability to gain new customers for its FiOS TV service. The NCTA's VP of communications called the request a "fairy tale complaint" and a "lame attempt" at seeking a regulatory handout.
MOTOROLA has officially decided to spin off its troubled mobile pone unit, creating a separate publicly traded company.
TAKE TWO rejected EA's latest takeover bid.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news youtube insight analytics online video television advertising comcast bittorrent thr
| | MediaBytes 11.09.2007 - 112 sec
NBC in talks to acquire online show Quarterlife.
BOB IGER says Disney will expand online distribution.
FACEBOOK may face legal challenge to Social Ads.
IBM study says online exchanges take 30% of ad biz in 5 years.
HOWARD STRINGER regrets HD format war.
APPLE releases iPhone in Europe today.
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Tags: shelly palmer mediabytes media news nbc quarterlife wga disney bob iger facebook abc aol itunes online video ibm mobile
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