Category: media

“The phenomenon of appointment TV, where viewers in vast numbers mold their personal schedules to a network’s, is pretty rare these days. It’s mostly a relic of an era before home VCRs gave the audience a measure of scheduling control. An explosion of newly liberating innovations (streaming video and mobisodes; podcasts, vlogs and TiVo) gives you ever more power over what you see and hear — and better access to it, as it spreads everywhere. It’s a gold rush, all right, across the digital universe, with bazillions of dollars riding on which gadgetry and content strike the public’s fancy.”

“HBO has joined a recent FCC filing in which it argues that its video-on-demand programming-and all ‘Subscription Video On Demand’ services-should fall into the category of ‘Copy Never.’ In a broadcast-flagged world, that translate into consumers not being able to record on-demand broadcasts by HBO. No TiVo, no VCR, no video capturing on your PC, no nada.”

Nielsen is now breaking down its rating information by how many viewers watch shows live and how many times shift with digital recorders. Why does it matter? Many of the time shifters zip through the commercials, making them less valuable to advertisers.

Pirate radio is booming in London. “The more established stations with sizeable followings are able to kit out a studio and buy a transmitter for less than £3,000, while raking in up to £5,000 a week in advertising revenue. In addition to advertising income, up and coming DJs are charged a fee of between £10 and £20 an hour for the privilege of playing and the stations often have links to local nightclubs. At weekends there are now more than 80 pirate radio stations operating in London and more than 150 around the country.”

The Denver Public Library plans to become the first major library system in the U.S. to offer free downloadable movies, concerts, and videos to anyone with a library card and an internet connection. Patrons would “check out” the digital films just as they would a book, and the video file would remain playable for a week before erasing itself.

The Berlin International Film Festival is all about politics this year, with “dramatized documentaries” playing alongside straight docs and other movies with a message. There is lighter fare as well, but from opening night in Berlin, it was clear that current events would be the main attraction.

NBC’s broadcast of the Olympics Tuesday night got trounced by “American Idol.” “Since its opening on Friday, the Turin games have been running well below the 2002 Salt Lake City games in viewership interest. Much of that was expected, but Tuesday’s ratings was the first alarming sign for NBC that increased TV competition has taken a toll.”

A prominent Catholic group portrayed in The DaVinci Code as a power-hungry collection of conspirators is urging that Sony Pictures remove passages of the book that are “insulting to Catholics” from its upcoming film version. Opus Dei, which is based in Rome, stopped short of calling for a boycott of the film, saying instead that “changes to the film would be appreciated by Catholics.”

It isn’t often that a public broadcaster will intentionally turn down free money, but that’s just what’s happening in the Twin Cities, where Minnesota Public Radio is balking at a new state law requiring it to release a list of all employees earning more than $100,000 in order to qualify for $190,000 in funding from the state. The law is the brainchild of a state representative who made news two years ago when he proposed another measure which would have proibited anyone working for an arts organization from making a higher salary than the governor of the state.

“Originally conceived at the Academy Awards in 1989 as a way to thank actors for presenting awards at the Oscars, the gift basket has in recent years outgrown its origins to become a marketing juggernaut in its own right, in some cases all but overtaking the events themselves. Even celebrities seem somewhat mystified by the trend.”