Category: media

“Radio advertisers who for years complained about the low-tech way of tracking listeners are getting what they asked for and more: Electronic ratings are delivering accurate counts, but are also upending basic assumptions about the industry.”

“Right now, the biggest drama on TV isn’t a cop show or a medical show. It’s the attempt by you to dodge the commercials.” As a direct result of new digital technologies, “by the end of this TV season, the system could go haywire. Advertisers and the TV networks have agreed on a new system. Instead of ad prices being based on the number of overall viewers, the key component will be the number of people viewing during a commercial break.”

Boston is already seeing the results of its recently enacted tax breaks for filmmakers, and a healthy dose of newly installed upscale clubs, hotels, and restaurants are drawing in the glitterati as well. “Boston has built it – a powerful celebrity electromagnet, that is – and they have come. “It’s not a complex formula, but it can raise the heat index for a city like Boston, which has been traditionally regarded as more a net celebrity exporter (think Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Denis Leary, Jay Leno) than an importer or destination point.”

“There seems to be enough projects in theaters and in development built on the intersection between celluloid and what used to be called vinyl to fill a jukebox.” So what’s making the world of rock and roll so attractive to Hollywood all of a sudden? It’s all about new technology…

NBC will buy the Oxygen channel for $925 million. “The acquisition is in line with previous deals by NBC Universal to build female audiences. Last year, it bought the iVillage group of women-oriented Internet sites for $600 million.”

“The harsh rhetoric surrounding the WGA negotiations plus the guild’s recent move to seek strike authorization have convinced execs that the threat of a Nov. 1 strike may be very real. A possible lockout is also being discussed.”

Stephen McPherson, 42, “runs the Walt Disney’s broadcast television empire. As president of ABC Entertainment, he woos Hollywood divas and indulges advertisers, tweaks prime-time schedules and manages affiliates. Most important, he identifies hit scripts while balancing huge budgets, exhibiting what colleagues and competitors describe as an unusual combination of creative and business acumen. Still, Mr. McPherson finds himself on perpetual thin ice.”

“Most television viewing still occurs live, even in DVR-equipped households, according to Nielsen. But the striking rise in DVR ownership — to 20 percent last month from 9 percent in September 2006 — is permanently altering the television playing field.”

With shorter attention spans and the rise of digital video recorders making viewers more adept at commercial avoidance, “breaking up commercial pods with compelling content is a way to make programs and networks more sticky and to keep viewers from drifting, which has an effect not just on the programs’ ratings but on the network’s bottom line.”

“While some may regard this trend as an example of Hollywood liberals’ flying the peace flag, the Iraq films are made by directors from the political center to left. And though their makers are trying to sway public opinion, polls suggest they are following it: In the latest ABC/Washington Post poll, 68 percent of adults from across the nation said they disapproved of the way President Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, and 59 percent said they did not believe the war was worth fighting.”