Category: media

In the wake of last week’s record FCC fines levied against CBS for supposedly “indecent” programming, the WB Network is self-censoring the pilot episode of a new program, and offering up the uncut version on its website, for viewers who wish to see what had to be removed from theover-the-air version. Among the scenes removed by the network are “one that depicted two girls in a bar kissing on a dare and another of a girl unbuttoning her jeans.”

MTV’s previous entry into Canada was a bust. But MTV Canada returns to questions whether anyone will watch. “By sharp contrast, the newer, slicker version of MTV Canada will devote resources to original production; seven new homegrown series are already in the works. The network hopes to entice viewers with a zeitgeist-grabbing mix of entertainment, lifestyle and reality programming. But aren’t we already swimming in this kind of stuff? What is this drought you speak of, MTV Canada?”

A new study says that children who watch programs with sexual content are more likely to have sex. “There is a direct relationship between the amount of sexual content a child sees and their level of sexual activity or their intentions to have sex in the future, the study found. Such media also has at least an equal influence on sexual behaviour as religion or a child’s relationship with their parents and peers, the study said.”

New UK tax rules say “British films will no longer be able to claim tax relief on money spent overseas. The government says this is essential to bring the UK in line with European Union law. But some producers fear it may mean British movies that need to be filmed abroad will no longer be able to raise enough money.”

“A line of DVDs for babies and parents created by a national child advocacy group and the creators of Sesame Street is drawing heated criticism and renewing the debate over whether children under 2 should watch television.”

“Much has been made of how declining movie admissions and box-office grosses have clipped the earnings of movie studios and film exhibitors. But audience apathy also is taking a bite out of the oft-overlooked concession business. Particularly hard hit are those companies that rely on movie theaters for the bulk of their sales.”

“Once a medium dominated by men, the internet now draws approximately equal proportions of male and female users in the United States. Top search engines and portal sites draw about the same numbers of men and women. A recent Pew Research Center study found that men and women are about equally likely to go online to buy things, make travel arrangements or do their banking. Even so, it’s the differences between the sexes’ behavior online that intrigues marketers.”

CBS has struck a deal with Verizon to carry the network’s programming. “The wide-ranging agreement gives Verizon’s FiOS TV the right to carry CBS’ analog and digital signals as well as video-on-demand content from CBS and its company-owned stations. Terms of the deal weren’t announced, but sources said it was likely to average upward of 50 cents per subscriber.”

“In a few short months, the website YouTube has emerged from the obscure ranks of dozens of online viral-video outposts to dominate even giant portals in the category, including Yahoo! and Google. But its astonishing growth — streaming 30 million videos a day — also has put old-guard media empires on the defensive.”

What makes a radio format successful? It’s not just the size of audience. It’s got something to do with power ratios…