Archive for August 9th, 2006
I can sense the geek excitement building as we near the premiere date for the third season of Sci Fi’s enormously popular Battlestar Galactica. The Galactica team has always been incredibly tech-savvy, and this season will be no exception. Starting on August 28, fans will be able to watch a 44-minute recap of the first two season on cable video-on-demand. When the season gets underway on October 6, Galactica producers will unveil a new video blog and a fresh slate of podcasts.
August 9th, 2006
Some interesting stats from the Viacom earnings call (transcript): digital revenue is up 58 percent year over year, with ad sales jumping 75 percent. “As a percentage of our total revenue, I would say we will probably move this year from the first quarter to the fourth quarter anywhere from, say, 2 to say 5 percent of the year ending up in digital,” said CEO Tom Freston. Neopets revenue is up 40 percent. And video streams for Viacom properties skyrocketed from 100 million streams in March to 250 million in May. “I want you to know that our entire organization is focused on growing these key metrics,” Freston said.
August 9th, 2006
Mike Davidson, CEO of Newsvine, explains how a Blockbuster clerk required him to sign up for another membership just because he hadn’t rented anything in three months. “You mean you just delete accounts if people don’t rent for three months?” Davidson asked. “Why would you ever do that?” The clerk responds, “You know, to keep the database small.” Davidson quips, “Somehow I don’t think Blockbuster will have to worry about that for too much longer.”
August 9th, 2006
Sure, there are a billion sites (well, not that many, but it feels like it) that allow you to tag, discuss and share video clips, but new startup Viddler is offering the same functionality tied to specific moments within the clips themselves. And of course, it’s all searchable. Viddler is in private beta, but TechCrunch has a good write-up.
August 9th, 2006
Brian Williams spent two minutes at the end of tonight’s NBC Nightly News broadcast reading viewer email on a number of issues, not the least of which was the Iraq war. But the last one was the most memorable: “I like listening to Brian, but last night I actually switched to ABC News because I could not stand the way Brian was dressed. WHY does it have to be that way?” Williams responds, “Well, sir, you may force me to call that nice fellow over at ABC to see where he buys his stuff. Please, all of you, keep watching and please keep writing us.” Kudos to NBC News for investing that much time reading viewer email, especially the ones that are critical of the news organization’s coverage. Meanwhile, CBS News plans to add a segment called “Free Speech” with viewer commentary when Katie Couric debuts in September. It’s refreshing to see all this newfound transparency on the air, fueled by the openness of the internet.
August 9th, 2006
One of the roadblocks in the way of allowing people to download movies and burn them onto DVDs may be getting nudged out of the way. The DVD Copy Control Association (A joint operation of Hollywood studios) is getting ready to change its policy on the CSS - Content Scramble System - software that blocks us from legally burning video downloads into the recognizable DVD format. About damn time.
August 9th, 2006
Coming on August 15th, TNT will relaunch TNT.tv as a broadband site called “DramaVision.” As part of the launch, the site will feature the six-part miniseries Into the West. Programming schedule and more details in the press release below…
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A federal court has ruled it’s OK for an online fantasy baseball business to use the names and stats of Major League Baseball players and clubs without a paid license. As you can imagine, the MLB is going to appeal the case. If it’s upheld, the case could have a big impact on sports licensing. Online companies pay millions for fantasy league rights. The ruling held that sports stats are public information, even though the leagues are private entities. Most interestingly, the court found a First Amendment right in this.
August 9th, 2006
Cincinatti
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Viacom’s MTV Network division has agreed to buy Atom Entertainment for $200 million. Atom makes up AtomFilms.com, Shockwave.com and AddictingGames.com — a mix of rich media entertainment and online gaming. “This acquisition is right on the money with our digital strategy,” said Tom Freston, CEO, Viacom. “It adds great scale with users, improves our growing casual gaming position, and brings a world-class digital video library and a fantastic management team.” It also seems to be a logical fit with Viacom’s Neopets, iFilm, Y2M, GameTrailers, Nick.com and MTV.com. Full press release below…
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Goggles turns Google Maps into a cheeky flight sim, letting you fly over cities in a bi-plane. Don’t expect Microsoft Flight Simulator 2007 here - this is strictly a Flash game or mashup or whatever. But I promise you’ll get addicted. Come fly over Boston and see if you can find me having a beer. (Via Wired MonkeyBites)
August 9th, 2006
Too many media companies still see YouTube as the enemy instead of the terrific promotional tool that it is. Encourage your audience to put news stories of yours they think are interesting on YouTube. Have a contest. Promote it. You will empower the people who like your stories the most to spread the word. You will get them involved in the story-telling process, and you will build their loyalty.
August 9th, 2006
This is a fascinating story, well worth a read. There is a homegrown effort in China to download episodes of American TV shows, translate them, put up subtitles, and redistribute them. Piracy, yes, but it gets around the Chinese censors and it’s all-volunteer. (NYT free reg. req.)
August 9th, 2006
The results of a radical new way of measuring ratings will be out soon, and they could seriously change the way the ad market is run. “Project Apollo” is a joint effort of Nielsen Media Research and Arbitron. It looks at the relationship between the media consumers are exposed to and the decisions they make on purchases as a result. If successful, Project Apollo could change how programmers and advertisers think about demographics, which is fine with us. We’re not the sum of our age groups.
August 9th, 2006
This week marks the 10th anniversary of Flash. (Well, it started life as SmartSketch, then it became FutureSplash, and then Flash.) Adobe has launched a microsite to mark the occasion, and they have a poll that takes you back in time to vote on “the most influential Flash site” of each year, starting with 1998. As Flash hits the double digits, what are your thoughts on its technology? Is it the industry standard? Other formats may be of better quality, but does Flash have the edge in ubiquity?
August 9th, 2006
