Because we’re supposed to write conversationally, I wonder why we stick to some choices that are clearly not conversational. As we approach the fall elections, ask yourself this: when was the last time you heard the word “gubernatorial” come up in a conversation? “Hey, Ted! Who do you like in the gubernatorial election?” “I don’t know, Stan, but that gubernatorial race is sure shaping up nicely!” Nonsense. We say governor. We say governor’s race. We say race for governor. Let’s take the goober out of gubernatorial.
Friday night, The Daily Show turned the tables on Carl Monday, WKYC-TV “investigative reporter” who produced a six-part, 22-minute investigative series on a young guy he caught masturbating at a public library computer. It’s local TV news at its worst…
Well, turns out WKYC and Carl Monday aren’t hiding the fact they’ve been rightfully disgraced on national television. It’s posted on WKYC’s home page, and Monday is blogging about it. “Remember, this is Comedy Central so don’t take it too seriously, folks,” he blogs. Yeah, and what about that quote from Tom Rosenstiel, Project for Excellence in Journalism? “Carl’s wrong. He’s made a mockery of what investigative journalism is supposed to be.” I can’t agree more, and I hope local newsrooms take notice. Safran says in comments, “It usually takes a plane crash for the airline industry to take action. Maybe this is the crash.”
Mark Cuban has a few choice words about YouTube. “They are just breaking the law,” Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. “The only reason it hasn’t been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue.”
The final episode of the MTV show “Two-a-Days” will stream on MTV.com. While that may not seem that interesting, the episode will not air on TV. “This is the first time that any network has shot a season finale specifically and exclusively for online air,” reads the press release. More…
Charlie Gibson invites Jeff Jarvis to file a video essay on the “ABC World News” webcast. True to form, Jarvis does so by shooting the video right on his computer. And truer to form, ABC News then overproduces it anyway. Readers of Buzzmachine will find Jeff’s points familiar - how online has changed the production and distribution of media. But maybe this is a sign that the older media is now willing to listen to Jeff’s teachings instead of writing him off. Well done, Jeff. UPDATE: Jarvis discusses experience, invitation to speak on CBS Evening News “Free Speech,” how bloated process of network production is.
An update on last night’s post that big news was coming with Mobile ESPN. Sure enough, Disney has decided to shut down the service later this year and license the brand to existing mobile providers. Subscribers will receive full refunds. The mobile virtual network, or MVNO, was likely the most ambitious ever launched by a media company. “As the business developed, we confronted a very competitive sales environment for our MVNO while at the same time attracting significant interest from others to license distribution of Mobile ESPN,” wrote ESPN head George Bodenheimer in a staff memo. Mobile ESPN had been criticized for analysts for not meeting subscriber goals. Press release announcing the change…
PC World takes Microsoft’s Soapbox for a spin and finds it pretty easy to use, but a little light on content so far. Not terribly surprising, given the massive head start YouTube has. What makes me nuts is the whole process of having to sign up for the waiting list, which involves a Passport/WindowsLive account and MSN or Hotmail. Whaaa?
Get this: I have two different Citibank credit cards. I have always been able to check my accounts online. Recently, Citibank decided to change one of my cards from a regular account to a business account. (Keep that in mind: they decided.) All of a sudden, I can’t access that changed account from a Mac. A call to Citibank refers me to their tech support. Their tech support says they don’t support Safari browsers. (Even though it works on their other card and worked on the old card.) They suggest I contact my ISP, Comcast - which is obviously not the problem. They suggest I use IE or Firefox. Neither work. So, I have to cancel my card because I can’t bank with them online anymore. One card works, one doesn’t. Same company and nobody seems to care about keeping me. Think of all the money they spend getting customers, and all the money they earn from our transactions. Think how easy it is to keep us. They had to actively change to lose me. And they did.
On Monday, we criticized FoxNews.com for not making the Bill Clinton interview video linkable and shareable. Clips of the interview were exploding in traffic on YouTube, in part due to a Drudge link, and some of the Fox News talent were even referencing the YouTube clips instead of FoxNews.com on the air. Then we learned that FoxNews.com demanded that YouTube pull the clips down. And then today, Fox News admitted it was all just a big mistake. “Our Internet division used poor judgment in asking this to be taken down,” reads a statement from Fox News. “We’re thrilled the Wallace-Clinton clip has received so many hits on YouTube.” And all the clips are back. Good grief.
JupiterResearch predicts that broadcast and cable TV will pick up $5 billion in revenue from new ad platforms by 2011. That’s the good news. The bad news is TV will lose $12 billion in traditional revenue over the same period, thanks to ad-skipping and other disruptive technologies. “We advise media planners not to cave in to TV and Nielsen’s talk about new live-plus ratings. If stuff is time-shifted, a lot of the ads will definitely be skipped,” says Jupiter VP David Card. Ah, finally someone who’s not fooled by the fuzzy math the network research gurus are spinning. (Via Pomo Blog)
CNet reviews the new flavors of Slingbox, including one that works with HDTV. The verdict? A good product made better. CNet gives Slingbox an 8.3. At a recent seminar I attended, cable MSO execs pooh-poohed “placeshifting.” Just like they dismissed timeshifting. At what point does old media get tired of being wrong? Ever?
Microsoft has announced that its Zune portable media player will be sold at a price 99 cents higher than an iPod. (Why would you price something 99 cents higher than a market leader? Why not 99 cents lower?) The 30-gig Zune will retail for $249.99. Songs at Zune Marketplace, the iTunes Music Store equivalent, will match the iTMS price of 99 cents. To start, Zune Marketplace won’t be selling video.
PaidContent reports that ESPN will make an announcement as early as today to either phase out or sell Mobile ESPN, the venture behind ESPN’s branded phone. The service has been up and running for about eight months with fewer subscribers than projected.
The final episode of the MTV show “Two-a-Days” will stream on MTV.com. While that may not seem that interesting, the episode will not air on TV. “This is the first time that any network has shot a season finale specifically and exclusively for online air,” reads the press release. More…
An update on last night’s 
On Monday, 
