Category: media

Film critic Roger Ebert has nixed use of his TV show’s thumbs until he gets a new contract. “Ebert, who is negotiating a new contract with the syndicated TV show’s distributor, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, is a copyright holder on the signature “thumbs up-thumbs down” judgment that’s part of each film review.”

“Most reality shows treat their participants a bit like game-show contestants in requiring confidentiality agreements. But reality-TV contracts are especially strict and designed to protect the producers. In many cases, people sign away practically all their rights just to appear on camera.”

“The crisis over trust has affected all four of the UK’s public service broadcasters, damaging their relationship with viewers at a time when audiences are migrating to multichannel competitors and advertising revenues are under pressure.”

Spain’s public television network has dropped live bullfighting from its schedule. “Bullfight promoters say dropping live broadcasts is unfair to older people who cannot afford to go to bullfights. The sport, described so eloquently by Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon, still draws 65 million people annually, promoters said. But bullfighting has few young followers in Spain and most audiences are middle-aged or older.”

“YouTube on Tuesday unveiled a new form of advertising to cash in on its 130 million registered users, who watch 3 billion minutes of video a month.”

“Ad-supported cable networks collectively are outperforming the six broadcast networks this summer in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic by more than 2-to-1, the largest margin ever.”

“During the last decade, the Toronto Film Festival, now in its 32nd year, has emerged as the unofficial beginning of a six-month movie-awards cycle that culminates with the Oscar ceremony in late February. While some high-profile offerings are tucked elsewhere in the program, the gala presentations tend to attract the movies’ stars and a frenzy of media coverage. This time around, the opening notes are a bit intense.”

This late summer, the entertainment getting the biggest ratings are focused on high school. “Every era, maybe every season probably seems special to its own constituents. Acknowledging that this, too, shall pass, I offer a modest proposal about the high school products on offer in the summer of 2007: Innocence, an especially keen yearning for a futureless state of suspended animation, is the transfixing allure of this year’s wildly popular productions.”

The Disney show premiered last Friday. “With that premiere drawing 17.24 million viewers — the largest audience in cable television history — Disney Channel averaged 5.93 million viewers for its prime-time programming from Aug. 13 through Monday, making it the third-most-watched network of the week, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.”

” ‘Once’ was written and directed by John Carney, 35, who was a bass player with the Irish band The Frames, between 1990 and 1994. The film tells the story of an Irish street musician who lacks the confidence to perform his own songs and who finds a muse in a Czech flower-seller and pianist he meets on the streets of Dublin. Having been made for only £75,000, Once has taken almost $7 million (£3.5 million) at the box office in a few weeks.”