Yahoo acquires Rivals.com

Yahoo has bought the college sports network Rivals.com for around $100 million, reports PaidContent. Yahoo calls it “extremely complementary to Yahoo Sports.”

2 comments June 20th, 2007

YouTube goes international, expands video editing

Google today announced it is adding nine localized versions of YouTube - Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Ireland and the UK. The sites are translated into the appropriate language, and editor’s picks, most popular videos and other features are customized.

Also: YouTube now features do-it-yourself editing in a web-based application powered by Adobe Premiere. I gave it a spin and found it incredibly easy to use. Remember when getting non-linear editing in a newsroom was a big deal?

Earlier: iPhone to play YouTube clips

Add comment June 20th, 2007

Networks score ad increases in upfront

TV is far from dead, as this year’s upfront can attest. The demand for network spots is higher than anticipated, and this may be the first year in three years that upfront spending has grown. Part of the success can be attributed to new ratings that take DVR viewing into account as well as ad packages that include presence in online streams. “Digital assets are definitely a factor” in the robust demand, said Joe Mandese, editor at MediaPost in New York. “Packaging the online properties as part of upfront buys is attractive to a lot of advertisers who see that as a way into the new media,” which they may be reluctant to try on their own, he added.

Add comment June 20th, 2007

The CGM money boom is coming

The amount of consumer-generated media being cranked out is clearly booming. But so far, the amount of revenue attached isn’t keeping pace. Research firm eMarketer says the current $450 million CGM ad market will zoom to $4.3 billion by 2011. EMarketer notes that sites will have to find ways to climb over the barriers of people uploading questionable content - but that the potential audience for CGM is likely to hit 101 million users in the US by 2011.

Adds Cory: Despite the fact that user content isn’t generating a lot of revenue right now, it’s a powerful way to gather registration data from users without forcing it on them. As ABCNews.com and USAToday.com have recently noted, their registrations are WAY up since they integrated user content in their sites.

4 comments June 20th, 2007

Koppel to Stewart: ‘You suck’

Remember that Nightline interview back a couple years when Jon Stewart squared off with Ted Koppel? Well last night on The Daily Show, “the big head” of Koppel appeared behind Jon Stewart to announce… “you suck.” Video below…

Add comment June 20th, 2007

Internet won’t be free on Wii

The Nintendo Wii has won its fair share LR praise for its innovative online applications. One of those apps - the “Internet Channel,” will cost users $5, starting July 1. The other “channels” - News and Forecast, will still be no charge.

4 comments June 20th, 2007

Meteorologist goes live underwater (it’s not sweeps)

One of our meteorologists here at KING 5, Jeff Renner, did a two-camera live shot and interview underwater in the newly-expanded Seattle Aquarium. If you work in TV, you gotta admit it’s kinda cool. Watch the video here.

2 comments June 20th, 2007

You cannot use that name, Sam I Am!

They did not like it on your show.
They did not like it on the web
They did not like it in a promo.
They did not like it here or there.
They did not like it, Sam-I-Am!

OK, so I butchered the meter. Anyway, the estate of Dr. Seuss wasn’t pleased with ABC’s decision to name its new Christina Applegate sitcom “Sam I Am,” since that’s also the second-most-famous line of Seuss’ iconic book “Green Eggs and Ham.” After several weeks of promoting the show without a title, the network pulled a switch and renamed the show “Samantha Be Good.”

3 comments June 20th, 2007

‘Just’ 17% of Stern fans followed him to Sirius

Inside Radio has the scoop on a Bridge Ratings survey that found out of Howard Stern’s 12 million former terrestrial radio listeners, two million followed him to Sirius. You can spin this either way: that only 17% of his audience slid over to the pay service, or that he compelled two million people to pay for something they used to get for free. Bridge posits that Sirius could add up to another 600,000 Stern fans.

8 comments June 20th, 2007

iPhone to play YouTube clips

When the iPhone ships next week, it will be able to play about 10,000 YouTube videos. Going forward, YouTube will encode all of its videos in H.264, which is the iPhone video format. Although watching video over AT&T’s current cell phone network won’t be the fastest experience, the iPhone is also equipped with WiFi. “iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far,” said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs.

2 comments June 20th, 2007

Briefs: CBS soaps, Current TV, ABCNews.com

-     CBS soaps now available on CBS.com and partners AOL, MSN and Joost
-     Current taps into viewers to create ad campaign for XM Radio
-     Ed O’Keefe named senior political editor for ABCNEWS.com

Add comment June 20th, 2007

CBCNews.ca partners with Technorati

In what’s believed to be a first for a broadcast site, CBCNews.ca has teamed up with Technorati to list relevant posts from outside blogs alongside news stories (see here and scroll down). WashingtonPost.com has had a similar relationship.

2 comments June 20th, 2007

Blinkx to launch speech-based video ad network

The video search company Blinkx is expected to debut a new ad network next week that uses speech recognition to target ads in video clips. With “AdHoc,” advertisers will be able to buy keywords that trigger their ads whenever those words are spoken. Not just pre-roll and mid-roll ads, Blinkx will offer lower-third ads or display ads that appear around the player. Video publishers who join the network can integrate the ad serving on their own sites.

Google and others are also working on similar technology, but it looks like Blinkx will be first to market. This is a major development in the online advertising space, and certainly worth watching very closely.

1 comment June 20th, 2007

Verizon’s FiOS hits a half million subs

Verizon’s budding IPTV service FiOS is up to 500,000 subscribers since its launch 20 months ago. The service is available to 3 million homes in 11 states.

1 comment June 20th, 2007

VeohTV service now in beta

The online video site Veoh (backed by Michael Eisner) is beta testing a new online service that it describes as a DVR for online video. VeohTV allows you to watch online video from NBC, ABC, MySpace, YouTube and other video sites using a TV-like guide and even a remote control. So for example, VeohTV can pull in Grey’s Anatomy and play it outside ABC’s player, without ABC’s permission. “This could be controversial as content companies may want to keep their own branding and player experience,” explains Rafat Ali in PaidContent. To say the least, and Veoh is in discussion with various media companies to come up with some kind of revenue share arrangement.

VeohTV’s interface looks pretty slick — think of it as Joost but with an open video ecosystem — and you can try to get invited for the beta test here.

3 comments June 20th, 2007

‘Anna Nicole Judge’ gets own TV show

Tell me you didn’t see this coming. Judge Larry Seidlin, the histrionic, weepy, wisecracking judge who presided over the ruling to decide where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried, is getting his own TV show. Broadcasing and Cable reports Seidlin will develop the show with CBS Television Distribution (CTD). First up is the production of a pilot, and if CTD likes what it sees, it will distribute the show starting in the fall of 2008. Just yesterday, Seidlin announced he is resigning from his Florida courtroom effective next month. In his letter to Florida Gov. Charlie Christ, Seidlin wrote: “it is now time for me to devote more of my daily life to my own young family and to pursue the many opportunities that have been offered to me outside the judicial system and I have disregarded until now.” No word if there were tears on the letter.

5 comments June 20th, 2007

33 ways to watch free TV online

We all know about sites like YouTube and Joost, but what about Babelgum and TV-video.net? Some are legal, some are not, and Mashable has the full list here.

2 comments June 20th, 2007