Archive for November 13th, 2006
C-SPAN has unveiled “Viewfinder,” a new feature that encourages users to upload video — the best of which will be aired on TV. “With Campaign 2008 around the corner, Viewfinder will be a valuable tool to enable the C-SPAN audience to participate in and respond to campaign activities, and will also become a direct link to viewer-submitted video from candidate events around the nation,” reads the press release. Viewfinder is powered by Streamload. Full release…
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Up until now, TiVo has made a select number of clips from internet content providers available on TV. Those clips use a MPEG2 format, and TiVo plans to add more, including video from CBS and Forbes. But TiVo is also unveiling new software that will allow anyone to play MPEG4, QuickTime and Windows Media clips on their TV sites from a wide range of online video providers. “People don’t care how a program is delivered,” said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers. “But for a majority of people, it’s not going to be television until it’s on the TV set.” It’s interesting to note that TiVo’s software will not work with Flash video, which has quickly become the format of choice for media sites. Also, TiVo said it will unveil “unified search” next year that will allow viewers to search across broadcast, cable and broadband content sources. Press release with lots of details…
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“Don’t hear about it in the morning. Be there Monday night,” booms the announcer in a dramatic promo for NBC’s Heroes. In other words, don’t suffer from the DVR workplace spoiler syndrome. Or, watch it live Monday night because our advertisers aren’t paying for time-shifted ratings.
November 13th, 2006
Ok, so I’m blogging this a day late, but the one who keeps coming up a dollar short online is public broadcasting because neither NPR or PBS are enfranchising their audiences to build communities. How did MySpace get positioned to become the biggest clearinghouse of unsigned musical acts online? How did YouTube become a billion-dollar video powerhouse in less than a year? Because they gave the PUBLIC a platform and the people not only got in the game, they changed the rules. The Internet is the platform that can truly deliver the promise of what public broacasting SHOULD be. So why am I still tuning out annoying pledge breaks as I hit the paypal donate button on the grassroots podcaster sites?
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A photo in Marie Claire shows Elizabeth Vargas breastfeeding a baby… at the anchor desk. The Photoshopped image accompanies an interview Vargas did with the magazine. “Elizabeth was more than happy to sit for the interview but was disturbed that the magazine would set aside basic journalistic standards to Photoshop her head onto a fake image,” said a source close to Vargas.
November 13th, 2006
Full episodes of NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press will be available starting tomorrow as video podcasts via MSNBC.com, iTunes and the new Microsoft Zune download service. And it just so happens that Microsoft’s Zune (pictured) hits store shelves on Tuesday, as well. Press release on the podcasts…
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In just its second year, the New York Television Festival has sold its first pilot to a major broadcast network. It’s a testament to the festival’s growing importance in the network development process. NBC Universal picked up, “Split the Difference,” winner of the Best Comedy Pilot and the TV Guide Audience Award at this year’s NYTVF. “The New York Television Festival is thrilled for the team behind ‘Split the Difference,’ which was one of the standout pilots in this year’s competition,” said NYTVF founder Terence Gray. Click here to view the full 22-minute pilot on MSN. Full press release after the jump.
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Peter Scheer, who’s executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, has this proposal to generate revenue from subscriptions for online news content:
“Newspapers and wire services need to figure out a way, without running afoul of antitrust laws, to agree to embargo their news content from the free Internet for a brief period — say, 24 hours — after it is made available to paying customers.”
Then people would feel compelled to pay for the up-to-date content, and it would “quickly establish the true value of that information.” Interesting idea, but it will never work, of course. How about this instead: stop trying to copy newspapers to the web and start developing new information-related, niche businesses online.
November 13th, 2006
Wow, punch up the new MTV.com and you’ll be awash in Flash action, clearly a site for a ADHD generation. On the left, an embedded video player keeps rolling as you browse. Search for a music video and screen quickly animates into a full-sized player. Very cool, but it repeatedly wouldn’t allow me to find and play a simple JayZ video. Explains a comment on Digg about the new site, “Thanks for helping to prove even more why Flash sites suck. I’ll admit that the sites are beautiful. But they lack the functionality and speed that I demand and can achieve from an HTML design.” Screen grab…
November 13th, 2006
B&C has an interview with 35-year-old Quincy Smith, who took over as president of CBS’ interactive division, replacing Larry Kramer. Here’s how he answered the question, is your priority buying new businesses or building them?
“We’re looking to do everything we can to make sure our content is seen and we’re getting paid for it. We’re all about generating a community around user-generated content, but there’s also commercial application that can get our content out just as aggressively and effectively as an acquisition. So I’m going to be looking a lot of times at larger commercial deals.”
November 13th, 2006
So up until a few days ago, if you went to the Parents Television Council site and searched for, say, CBS’ Without a Trace, it would turn up ads promoting the show in the search results. But the PTC has been on a mission with the FCC to kill Without a Trace and other “sleazy” primetime shows. Since the search tool was free — with built in ads — the PTC had to pull the entire thing off their site. Too funny.
November 13th, 2006
Stephen Warley and I have put together this presentation for you, based upon the one we did at Streaming Media West. It is not a video of the presentation, but rather a unique version of it with more examples. It’s 26 minutes long, so feel free to download and watch in segments. (Google Video allows downloads.) Comments are welcome.
November 13th, 2006
Gannett has put in a bid for the entire Tribune company, and execs visited both the LA Times and Chicago Tribune. Several private equity firms are already in the bidding, and News Corp. is said to be interested in buying Newsday in New York.
November 13th, 2006
There is a growing belief that pre-rolls will not be here forever. Although currently the ad of choice for online video, a new report from eMarketer suggests the pre-roll is only temporary. True enough, I hear complaints from people who don’t like the ads - and it takes a significant number of repeats to make a campaign worth buying. Still, pre-rolls aren’t likely to go away soon: according to the article on ClickZ News, online video ad spending has grown 82 percent since 2005 and will grow another 89 percent next year.
November 13th, 2006
Ed Bradley was obviously a very generous man. In that spirit, I humbly suggest CBS News and “60 Minutes” take advantage of Sunday’s wonderful tribute to Mr. Bradley to raise money for leukemia, the illness that took his life. Make the episode available as a paid digital download and DVD, and then donate the proceeds towards leukemia research. Have Bradley friend Jimmy Buffett appeal to “Parrotheads” to buy the show and make donations at his concerts.
November 13th, 2006
