Category: media

Companies are rushing to build online TV services. “These companies are building flexible online networks that can host content, serve up ads and dish out interactive features. These new Internet TV platforms are designed to host full-fledged channels that content creators can control.”

“Everywhere we look, we live in a confessional age. The novel has been replaced by the memoir as our most talked-about literary genre. The sitcom, for years TV’s water-cooler conversation starter, has been superseded by reality TV and talk shows, forms that thrive on exhibitionism. Hip-hop has done such a good job of blurring the lines between self-expression and self-promotion that it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between Jay-Z’s new album and his beer ad.” No wonder stoicism has largely disappeared from our movie screens — or are we aping what Hollywood shows us?

YouTube is removing videos of Comedy Central shows after the network decided to assert its copyright. “The situation is tricky for a network like Comedy Central, part of Viacom. Its audience is young and technologically sophisticated, and Comedy Central stars in the past have used YouTube and clip services to interact with their audience.”

“In the euphemistic world of network TV, executives make cutbacks sound like boldly progressive new ventures. The fact is, nobody knows whether today’s cutback will yield tomorrow’s creative, fantastically successful breakthrough program.”

Critics have been practically begging viewers to support a raft of new serialized dramas on American TV this fall, but reality (in the form of ratings) seems to suggest that few viewers have the time or interest to commit to watching a complex and ongoing story week after week.

Has Hollywood suddenly begun churning out too many high quality movies for its own good? “All these quality adult-oriented movies can only mean one thing: Oscar fever. The industry’s obsession with the Academy Awards, which began as a symbol of achievement and are now a high-powered marketing tool, has transformed the end of the year into the Oscar Follies, offering a legitimate batch of award contenders surrounded by a scrum of hapless pretenders being released at year’s end only because of studio delusions, blind adherence to conventional wisdom and arm-twisting by narcissistic stars and filmmakers. The result is often a bloodbath.”

Hollywood has a favorite promotional angle for controversial films: it involves giving as much airtime as possible to the people who don’t want you to see them, thus creating a sense of dangerousness around what are frequently relatively innocuous movies. But does the ploy actually convince anyone to buy a ticket? “In fact, veteran movie marketers say that while entertainment journalists keep falling for the ploy, audiences have long since wised up to it.”

When satellite radio was first launched, its proponents promised that it would revolutionize the music business, and allow consumers to discover untold amounts of new music that didn’t fit the increasingly narrow playlist of terrestrial radio. But have satellite and other new music delivery services delivered on their promise, and more importantly, is the public buying into it?

“A strike threat looms over U.S. film and TV shoots in Canada after local actors said Thursday they could form picket lines to fend off North American producers’ demands for steep pay cuts.”

“It’s almost comic. Viewers want consistency. They want to know a show is on a certain night at a certain time — without fail, every week. But with five broadcast networks to pick from (don’t mention cable or the Internet), and an average of about 30 new shows to choose from, not to mention returning series, viewers can be excused for being confused. It takes them weeks to sample, to settle in. But in the TV business, weeks of waiting cause executives to go temporarily insane. They start playing tricks, like moving shows to special nights and times.”