NBC abandons fall programming tradition
NBC announced it would shift to a year-round schedule of new program debuts, an “endless season,” instead of just focusing on the fall season as networks have done for decades. If it succeeds, “it could alter an American cultural cycle that extends all the way back to the days of radio,” writes the NY Times. [...]
Fired CNN producer blogs about his dismissal
Chez Pazienza, the American Morning producer who was fired for blogging, has written a long post about his dismissal. Regardless of who you think was in the right, I found it interesting to note that Pazienza admits that “the profession I once loved and felt honored to be a part of has lost its way.” [...]
Yahoo Pipes lets you “rewire the web”
Have you seen Yahoo Pipes yet? The service allows you to take any data source, run just about any processing you could conceive, and reoutput the data stream in a variety of formats. For instance: I wanted to put a module with the items I post to Lost Remote on my Idaho Radio News blog. [...]
Could ‘reverse syndication’ be a new news model?
Jeff Jarvis calls it reverse syndication: big publishers pay smaller publishers to link to their material. Jarvis has a fascinating, albeit early-stage idea to help pay for expensive news coverage. He uses the New York Times’ Iraq coverage as an example. The NYT says it puts out nearly $3 million per year to cover the [...]
Are you an angry journalist?
Well, you’re in luck. Welcome to AngryJournalist.com. (Via Fimoculous)
A search engine… for your television
A new Samsung set-top box, called See’n’Search, is a search engine of sorts for your television. Using closed captioning and program listings, the box automatically searches the internet to give viewers more information on the shows they’re watching. In this video demo, a newscast on the Iowa Caucus popped up key topics: Hillary Clinton, Barack [...]
HD DVD format officially dead
Today Toshiba officially pulled the plug on the HD DVD format, ending the format wars with Blu-Ray. “This was a very difficult decision to make…but when we thought about the trouble we would cause to consumers and our partners, we decided it was not right for us to keep going with such a small presence,” [...]
Briefs: BBC, Martha, Gates, Netflix, Clear Channel
- BBC inks deal to put TV shows on iTunes – Martha Stewart buys Emeril’s show, website, cookbook – Gates says Microsoft isn’t negotiating higher price for Yahoo – Will Microsoft announce Netflix deal for Xbox? – Clear Channel station deal to Providence Equity on the rocks
American Idol partners with iTunes, Apple
The top show in American has now partnered with Apple to post performances, both music and video, on iTunes the day after they air on TV. Apple will also be a premiere sponsor of the show, just like Ford, AT&T and Coca-Cola. So, what kind of in-show placement will we see? Apple iPod and iTouch will become the show’s official MP3 player and the iPhone will become its official phone handset.
Press release follows below…
Media work force sinks to 15-year low
Take a look at this graph from Ad Age: Wow. While the media industry’s employment declines, there’s a surge of hiring in marketing consulting. Ad Age has all the details here.
HD low priority for reality shows
So why are so few reality shows produced in high-def? The cost, of course.
NBC stations cancel iVillage show
The NBC owned-and-operated stations have canceled In the Loop With iVillage effective March 28th, reports TV Week. The show was heralded as the first true multiplatform daytime show, with web interactivity and live streaming. (Here’s our first story when the show launched, and the follow-up when it relaunched in Chicago.) TV Week reports that NBC [...]
Inside the AP’s battle with its members
Forbes has a great in-depth look at the battle brewing between the Associated Press and its newspaper members. It covers a lot of ground we’ve already talked about – but also focuses on the collectives changing revenue picture. For decades, the newspaper industry accounted for the lion’s share of AP’s revenue. But during the 1990s, [...]
Analog cuts out: old cell network to be shut off
The TV industry isn’t the only one going through the end of the analog era. AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless will shut of their analog voice networks Monday – signaling an end to the first generation of cellular technology. AT&T says more than 99.9% of its traffic is already digital – and they’ve been pushing [...]
Google added 60% more employees in 2007
The Google army continued to mushroom in 2007 – with headcount growing from 10,674 to 16,805 over the course of the year, according to SEC filings summarized by PaidContent. Of those employees – a whopping 5,788 are considered R&D jobs. Google snapped up 19 companies, saw traffic go up 43% – and got 99% of [...]
What happens when nobody needs a TV?
Last week, a Broadcasting & Cable editorial warned that TV newscasts could follow the way of the newspaper. This week, B&C’s Jennifer Yarter asks, “What happens when the web starts to replace the television?” Yarter said the catalyst of her column was a dinner with a group of tech-savvy 20-somethings who said they don’t watch [...]
Quarterlife to hit MTV before NBC debut
Here’s the way the world works: A show debuts on one of the broadcast networks – then goes online… then maybe gets a cable run. Except – not so much anymore. Web series Quarterlife started as a series on MySpace – and is set to debut on NBC later this month. But before it hits [...]
Stick a fork in it: HD DVD headed for history
It looks like this generation’s VHS versus Betamax battle may be over. Toshiba – which is responsible for the format – put out a statement saying it “may” pull the plug, but that no final decision has been made. Regardless of the decision – external forces have thrown it to the scrap heap: Wal-Mart said [...]
NBCsports.com relaunches on msnbc.com
Joining the MSNBC family, nbcsports.com relaunched this weekend as part of the parent site. The Alpha Blog details the changes, including: What’s new? More sports videos in a new video player, NBC Sports personalities including John Madden, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Jerome Bettis and Johnny Miller, and special content from NBC Sports’ marquee coverage of [...]
NBC’s evening news program turns 60
Sixty years ago Saturday, NBC launched a regularly scheduled evening news program – then known as the NBC Television Newsreel. That evolved over time with a variety of hosts (John Cameron Swayze, David Brinkley, Chet Huntley, Roger Mudd, Tom Brokaw). Here’s a few minutes of the June 14, 1948 broadcast – featuring “late news, pictures [...]
