Archive for July, 2006
Antique Roadshow, Nova, Arthur and a handful of other PBS shows are now available for sale on Google Video. “We’ve received significant viewer feedback this year, requesting that we offer our television content in downloadable formats,” said PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger. Nova is selling for $7.99 a pop, but Antique Roadshow and Arthur episodes are selling for $1.99 each. Also, PBS announced today that it’s teamed with the Open Media Network to sell downloads as well.
July 26th, 2006
One of my favorite shows, Arrested Development, is getting a second life on MSN, HDNet and G4. No, the show is not going back into production, but later this year you’ll be able to watch all of the episodes FOR FREE on MSN along with a bevy of interactive elements. HDNet is getting high-def rights and G4 will rebroadcast the shows on cable. “We’re thrilled that this groundbreaking, critically acclaimed show will find an entirely new audience through a complementary array of platforms,” said Peter Levinsohn, President of Fox Digital Media. “The aftermarket for high-end content is exploding right now.” Full press release below…
Read the full post July 26th, 2006
The top winner will be announced September 18 at the National Press Club during a morning symposium. This year’s winners were chosen for pioneering audience participation opportunities and unprecedented transparency and advancing new information tools. “The hallmark of this year’s entries was the use of basic technology to add value to the process of journalism and not just the packaging.”
July 26th, 2006
The live stream from the fourth annual Stanford Summit begins at 6 p.m. PT. Viewers can also follow the summit and join in the debate via the AlwaysOn Video Blog.
July 26th, 2006
Raleigh-Durham
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Fox has signed on Teletrax, a television monitoring firm, to track the usage of its network promos by its affiliates. Michelle Garry, executive director, affiliate marketing for Fox says they want to provide better marketing tools for their affiliates, “Only by analyzing what they are using can we accomplish this goal. We believe that our ability to provide a better product will enhance our relationships with our affiliates. It is truly a win-win situation.” In my humble opinion, if Fox really wants to see how effective their promos are, they should also monitor “engagement” or “attentiveness,” similar to ABC’s move to provide “ratings” for its commercials.
July 26th, 2006
Over the last 6 months I have been repeatedly asked if I know any good candidates to run a website. The most ideal candidates are tough to find, but they are out there. Also, keep in mind when recruiting someone to run your website, you want someone with business experience, as well as an appreciation of developing content. A current job posting for a Web Operations Manager at WTVD-TV, the ABC affiliate in Raleigh-Durham wisely does just that. (Great opportunity by the way to really have an impact on the development of their site!) Hiring someone with just a journalism background is not necessarily going to help you build a successful web business. Read WTVD’s full job description . . . .
Read the full post July 26th, 2006
Craig Newmark has given $10,000 of his personal money to help test an idea conceived by Jay Rosen to involve the public in assigning and funding news coverage. The non-profit venture will be called NewAssignment.net. “The betting is that (some) people will donate to works they can see are going to be great because the open source methods allow for that glimpse ahead,” Rosen explains. Professional editors and journalists would do the reporting, yet the public is in the driver’s seat when it comes to assignments. “If open sourcing really works, and the assignment page is strong, it should generate excitement about the investigation yet to be done, a sense that ’someone has to do this story.’” Sounds very promising.
July 26th, 2006
Digg has launched two “interactive visualizations” of how people interrelate with stories in real-time. Swarm, for example, shows “diggers” (users) swarming around stories as they vote for them. Very cool stuff. Sure, it may not be more than an entertaining animation, but you can’t dismiss the simple fact that Digg is learning more about user-created news through its experimentation than any news organization out there. Screen shot of Swarm below…
July 26th, 2006
It was dubbed an experiment when ABC.com launched ad-supported streaming of some of its biggest shows earlier this year, and now ABC brass says it was a clear success. Research showed users had a 87% ad recall compared to a television average of 24%. Each program was sponsored by a single advertiser — a tempting solution for clients trying hard to cut through the clutter. Disney ABC-TV chief Anne Sweeney says the network will share the full results with ABC affiliates, and the streaming experiment will become permanent when it relaunches in October. (Ad Age free reg. req.)
July 26th, 2006
Responding to pressure from advertisers, Google will give them a breakdown of invalid clicks that result from click fraud. “Advertisers asked us for more transparency on this issue,” said Google’s Shuman Ghosemajumder. Industry reports estimate fraudulent clicks could account for as many as 20 percent of total clicks.
July 26th, 2006
Forget minute-by-minute data, TiVo will soon sell marketers second-by-second data from a nightly sample of 20,000 TiVo users. As you can imagine, advertisers are very interested in the trigger points that may influence commercial skipping. Overall, TiVo says its subscribers spend nearly half of their time watching time-shifted TV, and viewers of those shows skip 70 percent of the ads.
July 26th, 2006
Oceanic Time Warner Cable in Hawaii says it’s the first cable company in the country to allow subscribers to upload photos and video to a TV channel. Here’s how PhotoShow TV works: subscribers (who also have to be Road Runner broadband subs) download an application that organizes all their photos and video on their computer. They pick what they want to upload, hit a button, and if it passes muster (no bad stuff) it’s made available on demand on TV. Viewers use their remote to navigate through the menus of categories to play it back. Hmmm. Great idea or is this just better left on the internet?
July 25th, 2006
Local television used to be the de facto destination for weather and traffic information, but the internet and mobile devices are turning the tables fast. Take, for example, today’s launch of Google’s mobile traffic service. I downloaded the application on my Blackberry, and it’s very impressive. It combines Google Maps with a layer that illustrates real-time traffic conditions with colors superimposed over major roadways in 30 markets. And unlike most mobile graphics, it’s crystal clear and allows zooming to street level (it takes a little time to load, especially on slower-speed services.) The next logical step is for Google to add the traffic feature as a layer on their popular web-based maps — a significant competitive threat for local TV newscasts and their websites.
July 25th, 2006
Jason Calacanis’ offer to pay $1,000 a month for Netscape power contributors has once again raised the question of whether citizen journalists — or any user who contributes content — should be paid. Mark Glaser tackles the question, and he interviews Digg CEO and co-founder Jay Adelson about the idea. “Oh no, that would be a complete destruction of what we consider to be the principles of Digg,” Adelson said. “Certainly no monetary compensation or things like that, because what we don’t want to do is create this artificial hierarchy.” User compensation is a big issue that will only get bigger as everyone gets into the user-created content game.
July 25th, 2006
WDIV’s Click on Detroit, WPLG’s Local10 and WKMG’s Local6 have all launched a new Internet Broadcasting design, and the rest of the Post-Newsweek station sites are relaunching soon. Take a look around and post your impressions…
July 25th, 2006
Beginning today you can find Friends, Aquaman, Babylon 5, The Flintstones, MadTV and The Jetsons (cool!) available for sale on iTunes. All are priced at the typical $1.99. You’ll notice there are no current hits on the list, thanks to the difficult ongoing discussions underway between Warner Bros. and the networks.
July 25th, 2006
Nashville, TN
Read the full post July 25th, 2006
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