Category: media

“Rock’s share of overall music sales has remained steady at about 20 percent of the market, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But on the radio, rock’s numbers — both in audience share and in number of stations — are on the decline, in part because rock fans are moving to the Internet and satellite radio for their music and in part because the rock audience doesn’t spend nearly as much time listening to radio as do audiences for black and Hispanic music.”

The Christian network Daystar says its bid to buy the station was higher than the one tendered by a community support group, and should have been accepted.

Actor Jackie Chan says asian filmmakers should work hard to protect their own culture and not mimic American movies. “Why do we need to ape their culture? I see an Indian saying ‘Yo Man!’ but that’s not what Asian are about. Cinema reflects culture and there is no harm in adapting technology, but not at the cost of losing your originality.”

Hollywood has not had a good fall. “The North American box-office total for the fall was $1.34-billion, down nearly 4 per cent from the $1.39-billion registered in 2004. The latest tally was down 18 per cent from the record-shattering $1.63 billion collected in 2003. Because ticket prices have increased slightly, estimated admissions for the fall presented an even bleaker picture of the season. Estimated ticket units were 208.1 million, down nearly 8 per cent from the 223 million reported a year earlier and well shy of the record 268.3 million rung up in 2003.”

Owners of the popular downloading software BitTorrent have settled with major movie studios over downloading policies. “The agreement requires 30-year-old software designer Bram Cohen to prevent his Web site, bittorrent.com, from locating pirated versions of popular movies, effectively frustrating people who search for illegal copies of films. BitTorrent must remove Web links leading to illegal content owned by the seven studios that are members of the Motion Picture Association of America.”

“A raft of companies offering specialised media services has sprung up, eager to lend Hollywood a helping hand in producing and marketing films with a Christian-friendly message.”

UK TV viewers say there is more bad language than ever on TV. “Overall, the Ofcom report said viewers felt that swearing started earlier in the evening and that soaps and reality programmes had contributed to this decline more than other genres.”

“Because the studios are trying to respond to a clear audience demand for more material that’s fresh and unpredictable, they are greenlighting riskier fare. The results this fall were disastrous. A spate of fall movies crashed and burned, movies that if they had been produced and marketed at the independent level might have worked.”

CBC broadcast chief Robert Rabinovich is expected to come under fierce rebuke by a Canadian parliamentary committee today over his running of the public broadcaster.

“Marketers are worried about new technology that allows viewers to zap through commercials. So they are pushing reluctant networks to rethink the age-old format of the ad-break — known on Madison Avenue as a ‘pod.’ Among the options: special “pod-puncher” ads — blips as short as five seconds — strategically positioned at the end of a commercial break to get more attention from viewers. At the other extreme, marketers are working on ads lasting several minutes, as well as groups of ads that mirror a program’s theme.”