Category: media

There’s a growing “after-market” audience for TV shows that didn’t make it because of low ratings but somehow made it to DVD. Trouble is, the TV biz is stuck on this ratings model that requires an audience up-front when shows first air…

Hollywood is making some big-budget bets on religious movies. “This may be just another step in Hollywood’s new dance with the ‘faith-based’ community, but given that Fox executives estimate that audience at more than 80 million, the rest of Tinseltown is paying close attention.”

Critics were beside themselves with joy this fall when the major TV networks unveiled a slate of serious-minded programs. But several weeks into the season, critical praise is not translating into high viewership. “Observers have plenty of theories on what’s hampering the latest crop of programs, which critics have praised for their intricate plots, strong casts, and movie-worthy production values.”

Filmmaker David Lynch has decided to bypass the usual Hollywood system and self-distribute his latest film, a 3-hour digital epic called Inland Empire. Self-distribution is extremely unusual for a director as accomplished and bankable as Lynch.

Palestinian television has launched its first-ever locally produced soap opera, and its immediate popularity says much about modern life in the Occupied Territories. “Politics are in the air, naturally, but are rarely center stage. References to guns and checkpoints are rare. In the one episode that deals with the road map – a US plan to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – most of the characters acknowledge that they don’t really know what the road map represents.”

The show has been on the air since 1969 is currently available in 120 countries.

So Google now owns YouTube. What does it mean? “The acquisition will give Google a major foothold in the emerging market for video advertising, but it also stands to inherit court challenges from independent film makers, garage bands, television studios and others who may chafe at YouTube users uploading copyrighted material to the site without permission.”

YouTube, Google’s newest bauble, “has at least partially succeeded in convincing established media companies that it can be a partner, and not a mortal enemy that must be destroyed. Along with the (Google) deal came a flurry of licensing announcements with the likes of CBS, Universal and Sony BMG. That doesn’t mean the GoogTube Goliath will be completely immune from a swarm of copyright lawyers descending upon it like a horde of locusts. But it suggests that this new beast will survive their onslaught.”

A group of Southern churchgoers banded together to counter Hollywood entertainment with a movie of their own. “Now, ‘Facing the Giants,’ the low-budget feature film about faith and high school football they made with church donations and Bible-inspired moxie, is playing at more than 400 theaters around the country — a gigantic release for any independent movie, let alone one created by near-novices. The movie has made $2.7 million in 10 days, and ticket sales were good enough last weekend to place it 13th in the box office rankings, one notch below ‘Flyboys,’ a war movie with a $60 million budget and starring James Franco.”

“Moving to assuage critics who say the TV ratings don’t reflect the watching people do outside their homes, Nielsen Media Research said Monday it will start measuring the viewing habits of college students next year. It’s the first time that the ratings firm will include any out-of-home viewing in its national sample. … (The) college students whose habits will be tracked will already be members of a Nielsen family — that is, from a household where meters are installed to track which family members are watching what shows.”