Broadcasting & Cable has the early word on the Today Show’s plans for its new fourth hour - set to debut in September. Current third-hour anchors Anny Curry and Natalie Morales will be joined by Dateline NBC reporter Hoda Kotb. In addition to her Dateline duties, Kotb anchors syndicated weekly series “Your Total Health.” As had been noted earlier, Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira will not take part in the fourth hour. The show will also use several guest hosts, including Tiki Barber and Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis, according to B&C.
This seems a little late, but TiVo is just announcing the highest rated commercials for June, according to the data they gather from users. The results show that Wendy’s had the top commercial, followed by Bank of America and AT&T. The press release on the data is pretty difficult to understand, but it’s interesting that those weird Wendy’s commercials are top in the ratings. For your viewing pleasure, a Wendy’s commercial:
My favorite lifecaster Justine Ezarik just received her AT&T iPhone bill. It came in a USPS box. Why would a simple bill come in a box? It is three… hundred… pages long.
Gizmodo quotes Ezarik as saying the lines and LINES of billed items were mostly text messages. The total came to $274… some of that due to activation and a prorated bill.
Viacom and Google’s YouTube are in the discovery phase of their lawsuit, and Google says it wants to put Colbert and Stewart on the stand along with 30 others. “Both comedians have made favorable comments about YouTube and might be of use to the video-sharing site,” points out PaidContent. But it’s far from a done deal. “Courts don’t let you go on fishing expeditions,” explains one attorney. “If people are added for tactical reasons rather than for legal reasons it’s almost always scorned.”
This has been a running theory of mine, and I’m glad to see a study that backs it up, at least partially. Technology convenience isn’t the only reason people are watching less TV news — it’s because they don’t like TV news. For example, 39 percent of people who get their news primarily from the internet say they have an “unfavorable” opinion of network news compared to 29 percent of the entire sample. Cable news comes in at 38 percent (compared to 25 percent) and local news is 32 (compared to 22). Probably the most telling statistic in all of this is the question of whether TV “cares about the people they report on.” A whopping 68 percent of internet users say TV doesn’t care compared to 53 percent for the entire sample.
I have friends and family members all over the country who have abandoned TV news because it’s not “real” — plastic anchors with plastic words, an artificially urgent presentation with teases every 30 seconds. It’s hard to “sex up” an internet story like TV. The straightforward, scannable delivery is refreshing. And when combined with a non-linear presentation, on-demand video and two-way interactivity, the internet is clearly the superior medium for news.
Now, before my TV news friends and co-workers disown me, I’ll point out that there are exceptions to the rule — but many of the worst offenders are dragging us all down with their plummeting credibility. TV newsrooms that “get it” are focused on meaningful community enterprise coverage with smart, respectful storytelling and a ban on breathlessness. And close coordination with the web, of course. There’s room for two thriving news platforms here — TV and the web — but TV has to get more “real.”
From a great Broadcasting & Cable cover story by Marisa Guthrie: “After more than four years into the war in Iraq, television news organizations have awakened to their own grim reality: They’re spending millions of dollars a year to operate in a country where security costs them thousands of dollars a day…. And despite the fact that Iraq remains the largest single news story in the world and an obligation for U.S. news organizations, coverage has devolved into a tired drumbeat of insurgent mayhem—and viewers are tuning out. Not only are ratings stagnating, but Iraq reports are not bringing in the new viewers that the declining genre so desperately needs.”
Broadcasting & Cable has the early word on the Today Show’s plans for its new fourth hour - set to debut in September. Current third-hour anchors Anny Curry and Natalie Morales will be joined by Dateline NBC reporter Hoda Kotb. In addition to her Dateline duties, Kotb anchors syndicated weekly series “Your Total Health.” As had been noted earlier, Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira will not take part in the fourth hour. The show will also use several guest hosts, including Tiki Barber and Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis, according to B&C.
Viacom and Google’s YouTube are in the discovery phase of their lawsuit, and 
