Report: Comcast to sell movie downloads

Comcast is gearing up to offer movie downloads that can be saved and viewed either on TV or PC, reports ArsTechnica. The most interesting component, according to the report, is Comcast will uncap bandwidth limits during the downloads to expedite the process. “Plenty of eyes will be watching, but we suspect that Comcast will tread lightly,” reports ArsTechnica, referring to all the heat over Net Neutrality these days.

1 comment October 8th, 2006

How the Apple-ABC deal rocked TV’s world

I remember when Apple unveiled the video iPod and announced it would sell ABC downloads on iTunes. I can’t say I was surprised. But I was surprised that ABC was leading off with its top shows, Lost and Desperate Housewives. TV Week has the story behind the deal that includes plenty of secrecy and a key moment when ABC chief Anne Sweeney realized that the best way to fight piracy is to start selling shows online. “For all of the talking we had been doing the year prior about digital media and what it could mean, suddenly we knew what it would mean. We could see it,” Sweeney said. As for the ABC affiliates? “It broke a lot of china.”

6 comments October 8th, 2006

Story summary of ONA 2006

Here’s a list of stories from this weekend’s Online News Association conference:

Mr. Techcrunch ‘purposefully controversial’ at ONA

Michael Arrington is one of those few lucky bloggers. He started Techcrunch, and less than a year later started raking in the cash (estimates have him at the high end of six figures). Apparently, it’s gone to his head. In a panel at ONA 2006 with Jeff Jarvis and Mike Davidson, Arrington slammed the NY Times folks, then apologized, then slammed them again. He urged “mid-level” journalists to leave their jobs for blogging to easily triple their income (um, riiiight.) And then admitted he was “being purposefully controversial to liven things up a bit.” PaidContent’s Staci Kramer paraphrases a comment at the ONA dinner, after the panel: “Who’d have thought that Michael Arrington could make Jeff Jarvis and Mark Cuban seem calm?”

4 comments October 8th, 2006

‘Heroes’ experiments with graphic novel online

My favorite new show of the fall season — and one of the few promising hits — is NBC’s Heroes. If you punch up NBC.com’s Heroes section, you can read through the graphic novel featuring some of the storylines leading up to the series. Very innovative idea, although the fact the sponsor — Nissan Versa — is written into the novel (and it’s clickable) is a little much, if you ask me.

29 comments October 8th, 2006

Online Content Manager, Coxnet

Atlanta

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MSNBC.com, Nola.com win Online Journalism Awards

The 2006 Online Journalism Awards were handed out at the Online News Association gathering over the weekend. Coverage of Hurricane Katrina led to awards in several categories, including MSNBC.com’s award for Outstanding Use of Multiple Media, NOLA.com’s Knight Foundation Award for Public Service and the overall award for Breaking News by a large-market outlet, and the Sun Herald’s award for Breaking News by a small-market outlet. The awards for General Excellence in Online Journalism went to: MSNBC (large), Roanoke.com (medium) and The Center for Public Integrity (small). The only local TV site to win an award is WTHR for investigative journalism. Full list below…

Read the full post 6 comments October 8th, 2006