Archive for February, 2007
Updated: In an aggressive expansion of Fox’s existing owned-and-operated streaming initiative, more than 200 Fox affiliate websites will soon offer network programming, both as free streams and paid downloads. Under the new revenue-sharing deal that includes 20th Century Fox, the affiliates will be able to sell 30 percent of the streaming ad inventory. Video downloads — which include 24, Bones, and Prison Break – will sell for $1.99 an episode. Visitors to Fox.com will have the option to enter their zip code and be directed to their local Fox affiliate site for the video. “This is the next logical step in our partnership as the affiliate body and network move forward into the digital age,” said Joe Denk, VP and GM of KFXA-TV in Cedar Rapids and Chairman of the FOX affiliate board. Fox says it plans to begin rolling out the players by the end of March and to finish within three months. Press release with more details below…
Read the full post February 28th, 2007
Portland, OR
Read the full post February 28th, 2007
Portland, OR
Read the full post February 28th, 2007
After 24 hours of enjoying the retro Lost Remote logo (ah, the memories), I’ve switched it back to the new logo. The vote is in, 55 percent of you voted for the new logo, 42 percent for the old, and 3 percent said we should find a new one altogether. I do like the idea that perhaps there’s a way to punch up the old logo, but I’ll leave that to another day. Thanks for your input!
February 28th, 2007
There are only three things that stand in the way of the XM/Sirius merger: The FCC, The FTC and the Justice Department. Oh - and the NAB and Consumers Union. So five. Probably more. Still, Mel Karmazin’s a smart businessman. And he says he’s willing to have the new company cap prices and do the regulation tango with the government if he has to. So your opinion of whether you want it to happen or not aside, will the XM/Sirius merger be allowed to go through?
February 28th, 2007
This certainly isn’t new technology, but a great use of it. On today’s NYTimes.com homepage, just under the photo and headline of the Picasso stolen paintings story, is an embedded audio player with a report from the Times’ reporter in Paris. Just click and play. I like this idea of seamlessly embedding multiple media types in a flexible yet well-produced page, and the NYTimes.com does a fantastic job of it.
February 28th, 2007
CBS Interactive has hired former Google exec Patrick Keane to oversee marketing and selling CBS content on emerging media platforms. Keane headed up advertising sales strategy at Google. In December, CBS Interactive hired Yahoo! executive Michael Marquez as VP, strategy and corporate development.
February 28th, 2007
The WSJ reports that Time Warner’s AOL is in talks to acquire mobile advertising startup Third Screen Media, although the deal could still fall apart. MSN was in discussions with the company last year, but no deal resulted.
February 28th, 2007
Well lookie loo. The Dow ended the day up 50. And all the papers are full of front-page graphs showing the huge downward roller-coaster of the disaster that was yesterday’s massive, disaster-ridden sell-off. It was a massive sell-off right? I mean - the Dow lost 416 points! That’s… the 268th biggest drop ever. That’s right. Not the top ten. Not the top 100 or even 250. Please keep in mind: the Dow is above 12,000. Losing 416 was a 3.3% drop. By contrast, when the Dow lost 407 points on October 19, 1987 - that was 22% of its value. I had to go to the B section of my paper to dig out that chestnut - and don’t blame the paper. TV and news websites behaved no better. Context. It’s taking a beating. And the hysterical points-driven reporting must have added to the problems. One other point: during a “sell-off” someone is buying. It’s not like the stocks disappear.
CLARIFICATION: After re-reading the post, along with your good comments, let me clarify/amplify… I’m not saying the story wasn’t a story. As Andrew Tyndall rightly points out in comments, “Safran’s ‘268th biggest drop ever’ is another reporter’s ’single worst day since the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks’ –which sounds like a news story to me. I’d wage Safran two bags of chips that he would headline the #1 biggest event of the past six years in many categories.” What I was trying to say (badly, apparently) was that the stories focused on the point drop and didn’t put it into context. A graph showing a giant downward crash of 400 points looks horrifying. When you put the story into the context of relative days of historic losses from a percentage POV, it is less of a screaming nightmare. Context, Anna Nicole, context.
February 28th, 2007
The Associated Press has entered into a partnership to allow people to embed its videos on their websites. The AP announced a deal with syndication network Voxant to distribute the vids on the web, with the Voxant site TheNewsroom as the base of operations. Good start, but a few issues may get in the way of this becoming the success it could be: you are asked to provide an email address to TheNewsroom to get the embed codes. That may not seem like much, but you don’t need to do any such thing at YouTube, ComedyCentral, or many other video sharing services, which one of the big reasons for their sharing appeal. Also, the AP will be running pre-roll ads. Still, full credit for allowing the embeds. Here’s a sample - raw vids of landslide damage in San Francisco…
Update from Cory: I’ve removed the player because of technical issues (see comments).
February 28th, 2007
The Academy issued a DMCA request and YouTube complied by pulling down clips of Sunday’s Academy Awards show, which featured Ellen’s opening monologue and the entertaining bit by Will Ferrell and Jack Black, among others. Meanwhile, the highly-promoted Oscar.com features a single five-minute highlight clip and some backstage video, but nothing more from the 4-hour show. When asked, Academy executive Ric Robertson said there were no plans to post more clips on Oscars.com, and the current clips will eventually vanish to “whet people’s appetite for next year’s show.” Um. Will someone remind Robertson that the networks have proven over and over again that posting video online increases demand for the same show on TV, not supresses it. But hey, it’s the Academy. Would you expect anything more?
February 28th, 2007
The CBS college sports site CSTV has launched a new user video section in time for March Madness that encourages fans to upload video clips cheering on their team or trash-talking their competitors. Screen grab…
February 28th, 2007
Tampa
Read the full post February 27th, 2007
The Hollywood Reporter’s Steve Bryant says he’s been a huge fan of the movie Borat. He’s IM’d video clips to friends, linked to deleted scenes on YouTube and blogged about it ad nauseam. The DVD will be released next week, but Bryant says he won’t buy it. Why? “The cultural moment has passed. What can we do with that DVD that we haven’t already done?” Very good point, but Bryant isn’t finished. “Media is changing from entertainment into utility. Media that can’t be manipulated is almost useless,” he writes (frame that quote). “Those tiny transactions I make online make a greater imprint on my psyche than any single media event inside a theater — or inside a DVD — could have. It’s simple reward/response psychology. Online, I can track who watches my clips, who reads my posts, who liked my mash-up. The Internet flatters us with attention in a way Hollywood no longer can.” Wow. Well said.
Adds Erik in comments: “I think it would be a bit premature to think that Bryant represents the zeitgeist. ‘Media that can’t be manipulated is almost useless’ packs a punch, but it assumes a great deal. It assumes that all media output should be hackable in the way that Borat is. While one-liners and quick outtakes are fun to play with, that doesn’t mean that Flags of Our Fathers or Chocolat or A Fish Called Wanda are inferior cultural products because they aren’t so amenable to IM/Digg/YouTube hackability…”
February 27th, 2007
I’m trying to figure out the logo for the Lost Remote T-shirts, which got me thinking about the old logo from 2000-2006. So I popped it up on the site to see what you think. Here’s the one that was there before. So which do you like? Vote here.
February 27th, 2007
The cable network experimented with some video shorts on MotherLoad, and now it’s bringing the best together along with video from Viacom’s AtomFilms in a new late-night TV show called Web Shows. Why will it air at 2 a.m.? The animated web short Baxter & Maguire is about a pair of testicles who are best friends. Hmmmm. There’s also Balloon Heads, a parody of celebrity; I Love The 30s, a spoof on the VH1 nostalgic countdown show; and Tiny Hands, a live-action show about a man whose hands are the size of a baby’s. “As we start to develop more of these [broadband shows], it’s our hope and goal to get linear-TV plays out of our short-form content,” said MTV VP of production Tim Healy.
February 27th, 2007
Some interesting but not surprising stats from Leichtman Research Group: Men ages 18-34 make up 41 percent of people who view online video but make up just 14 percent of the online population. The same group accounts for two-thirds of adults who watch user-created video online. And just 8 percent of men 18-34 who watch online video strongly agree they now watch less TV.
February 27th, 2007
Tonight’s World News Tonight just showed a piece on Bob Woodruff’s long climb back from the brink of death. I had no idea the extent of damage to his brain and how far Bob has come. Bob’s speech center was destroyed. It’s gone. And Bob had to teach himself to talk again. The brain is amazing. And seeing Bob’s own children teach him how to say “diamond” is enough to bring a tear to anyone’s eyes. Following the piece you could hear a slight clutch in Charles Gibson’s voice. That he could hold it to that is astonishing. I’ll be watching the full special tonight.
February 27th, 2007
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