2,200 hours of live Olympics video
NBC will offer up a ton of live video during the Olympics: 2,200 hours. “We think it will generate a tremendous amount of engagement. We think it will generate more television viewership,” said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics. But there is one limitation: events that will be televised on NBC will not appear online [...]
‘We have recreated the mass media’
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has teamed with Google to distribute a new internet-only cartoon series in an unique way: through the AdSense network. Google will use AdSense’s targeting capability to distribute 2-minute sponsored clips of “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” to male-oriented sites that carry AdSense ads. Some of the clips will feature [...]
WWLG: Where Will Leno Go
The Hollywood Reporter puts together all the possible options for Jay Leno’s future after NBC pulls Conan up to the 11:35 slot. Some you’ve heard of: shows on ABC or FOX; some you haven’t: Leno replacing Letterman at CBS? Though that last option seems unlikely, THR makes an interesting case.
Newspaper site ordered to ‘out’ anonymous posters
On the heels of this site being protected from the dumb things commenters write anonymously on the Internet comes another piece of news that may make some take pause. A judge is set to order the (New York) Journal News to fork over the identity of three anonymous posters. Three folks used nicknames to attack [...]
AP watch: OHNO gets traction
We first told you about a coalition of Ohio newspapers that are side-stepping the Associated Press model with a new collective known as the Ohio News Organization, or OHNO (which might be exactly what AP execs are thinking about now). OHNO allows the papers to swap content without feeding it to the AP machine. As [...]
Time to launch Netflix-for-magazines service
Time Inc. will take the wraps off MagHound this September – a new service that will allow folks to mix-and-match magazine subscriptions and have them delivered to their door. The key difference is commitment: you can trade titles at any time, and get out whenever you want. The pricing model is three titles for $3.95, [...]
NBC introduces new slogan… I guess
NBC is rolling out a new promotional slogan, but so far it’s subtle. The network is tagging promos with the text “chime in” next to the NBC peacock (and the G-E-C chime sound). I’ve scoured the Interwebs and can’t find any official reference (though, of course, it’s on Wikipedia) to the new branding statement. So [...]
Judge rules in favor of site sued for comments
It’s what many media folks are still worried about: what if someone posts a comment on our site that gets us sued? Well, a federal court has ruled that ConsumerAffairs.com can’t be held responsible for user comments that blasted car dealers. Very good news.
BillG’s last day here at Microsoft
Some 33 years after co-founding Microsoft with Paul Allen, Bill Gates is ending his full-time employment with the company today, which would explain the TV crews standing in front of a Microsoft sign as I arrived to work. That made me a little reminiscent of my days as an 11-year-old programming in BASIC on an [...]
Questions remain on Olympics coverage
You’d think with six weeks to go to the Olympics, everyone would have a good grasp on the rules. But the IOC has just issued new sweeping restrictions for online video and audio for non-rights holders. And the Chinese government is still trying to figure out what to do with all the roving TV crews [...]
When is Friend Feed coming to my favorite news sites?
I don’t know about you, but I’m not entirely on an aggregator/RSS diet. So, given today’s news that MySpace has launched data portability, here’s something on my want list: Friend Feed functionality built in to my favorite news websites. Ideally, my favorite news sites’ “latest stuff” feed would include: 1. Newest items posted to the [...]
Local media should take on Google, says Heaton
Terry Heaton writing in the AR&D newsletter: “When I’ve noted that we MUST work to outdo Google at the local level, the immediate reaction is one of disbelief. After all, the thinking goes, Google already does a fantastic job of organizing local information, and we’re fooling ourselves if we think we can do better. But [...]
PBS: We’re beating the networks online
Using data from Hitwise, which roughly estimates online traffic, PBS.org says it’s beating ABC.com, NBC.com, CBS.com and Fox.com in share of online visits since late May. PBS says traffic is up 25% from the 2006-07 season to the 2007-08 season. “Much of this growth has been driven by enhancements to PBS.org’s video offerings and by [...]
MySpace, NBC recruit citizen journalists
MySpace, NBC and msnbc.com have announced a contest to recruit two citizen journalists to attend the political conventions later this year. Contestants submit video entries on the MySpace Decision ’08 section which will be judged by a combination of MySpace users and judges from NBC and MySpace (which include Joe Scarborough and Tom Anderson). More details in the press release below. (Full disclosure: I work for msnbc.com.)
Questionable cable ads blast IPTV
Sure, IPTV services like FiOS are taking forever to roll out, which means limited service areas. But some cable companies are getting a little too aggressive in their ad campaigns. “We already have a fiber-optic network serving ALL our homes,” says one Comcast ad. Technically, cable TV networks are fiber only up to a point [...]
Lost remote? What remote?
I thought I’d get one of these for the front of One LR Plaza. The photo above is of the world’s largest LED video display, located on the side of a building in Bejing. Per the official website, “the building performs as a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to [...]
Disney.com to redesign, again
Disney believes its recently reworked Disney.com looks too corporate, so it’s getting another redesign. I found this paragraph from the NYT story interesting: “It is also no accident that video search pages will look similar to those of YouTube: Disney designers worked to incorporate certain YouTube hallmarks, figuring that kids had grown accustomed to viewing [...]
Local business video spending to skyrocket
A study by The Kelsey Group predicts that small and medium-sized businesses in local markets will increase their video spending from $10.9 million in 2007 to $1.5 billion in 2012. But these aren’t pre-rolls folks, but advertorial video sold by the increasingly aggressive online yellow pages, city guides and local business directories. See an example [...]
