‘Studio 60′ losing its luster

I watched the first two episodes of NBC’s big fall show, Studio 60, but the rest are stacking up unwatched on my DVR. And now the critics are starting to doubt its future success, but CBS MarketWatch’s Frank Barnako is trying to stay with it. “One reason I’ve been rooting for the show is that NBC really was aggressive using new media to promote the show and build buzz,” he writes. “But the dog isn’t hunting on TV or online.”

News Corp. in talks with Digg

TechCrunch is reporting that Digg has been in recent acquisition talks with a number of companies, including News Corp., but the company was unable to land offers in the $150 million range — its target sales price. “If a firm offer isn’t made in the next week or so north of $150 million, look for Digg to close a $5+ million second round of financing later this year,” writes Michael Arrington. As LR readers know, I’m a huge fan of Digg, but the site is still proving itself with coverage outside of its technology niche.

16 comments October 24th, 2006

Senior Web Developer, The Roanoke Times

Blacksburg, Va

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Using emotional talent to counter the internet

Fox News is leaning on its emotional stars to create programming that’s not easily replaced by the internet. “What’s become increasingly challenging over the past 10 years is that the internet has exploded, and we’re trying to create programming that caters to those viewers who have other places to go now,” said Fox News executive producer Suzanne Scott. Adds Yankee Group’s Adi Kishore, “O’Reilly is not news—he’s O’Reilly. It’s almost like watching Oprah. It’s harder to create that experience online.” A controversial point, but an interesting one to consider. (Via TVNewser)

14 comments October 24th, 2006

Online video news briefs

A few broadband programming stories worth a quick mention today…

6 comments October 24th, 2006

Coming tomorrow: LR liveblogs NAB NYC

Stephen Warley, Richard Warner and I are heading down to New York City for the RTNDA Future of News and Technology Summit, part of the NAB New York Content Creation + Show at the Javits Convention Center. We’re doing a presentation Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 (Making the Web Work: Lessons from the LostRemote.com Guys), so come on by. When we’re not busy pontificating, we’ll be liveblogging from the floor.

2 comments October 24th, 2006

Political races not taking advantage of YouTube

YouTube is the most powerful means of sharing video yet created. It also has a great demographic, and is an easy way of getting out a grassroots message. So lots of politicians are taking advantage of it for next month’s election, right? Nope. Reel Pop’s Steve Bryant did a little YouTube digging and found a woeful lack of interesting campaign-contributed video. The official ones that are there are boring TV ads. The most successful official one seems to be - no surprise - a funny one for the Ned Lamont campaign. Steve also has some good practical advice: if you don’t control your keywords, your opponent will - and will use that against you. How are candidates missing out on this obvious - and free - opportunity to reach young voters? The days of spending jillions on wasted TV time are ending. Put a real, human message on YouTube and let your passionate supporters help spread it.

5 comments October 24th, 2006