Category: media

“A report commissioned by the U.K. Film Council this month found that industry jobs dropped 20 percent last year and predicted that investment would fall to $570 million in 2005, down 70 percent from last year. More movies shot elsewhere would have a devastating effect on a sector that contributes about $5.5 billion annually to British gross domestic product, the report added. Tourism officials are also worried. They estimate that around one-fifth of the 28 million people who come to Britain each year do so after seeing the country depicted on screen.”

Seattle radio station KEXP has a puny transmitter. But the station is becoming a force in the indie music world through its popularity on the web. “In spring 2004, about 26,000 people listened to KEXP online every week — more than any other radio station in the country, according to Arbitron’s now-defunct Internet broadcasting service. This year, that number has jumped to 50,000, with large clusters of listeners in New York, where KEXP broadcasts live twice a year; Chicago; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. Listeners are giving the non-profit station a projected $1.7 million this year, nearly $1 million more than they gave in 2003.”

“In a town full of dirty little secrets, the composition of writers in Hollywood rises to the level of scandal. Though Tinseltown pays lip service to liberalism and equality, women and minority film and television writers get work and get paid with a disparity that is striking. The 2005 Hollywood Writers Report found that among film writers, women represented just 18% of employment while minorities combined stood at 6%. The median earnings gap between men and women, and minorities and white men in film work widened from $12,500 to $19,000 since the WGA’s last report was released in 1998.”

“Video games are among the fastest-growing, most-profitable businesses in the entertainment world. In the United States, domestic sales of video games and consoles generated $10 billion in revenue last year, compared with movie ticket sales of $9.4 billion. But with the exception of a few well-known directors – like George Lucas, who created a series of Star Wars video games, and Andy and Larry Wachowski, who wrote and directed “The Matrix” movies and helped create Matrix games – few in Hollywood have been able to successfully operate in both worlds. But that seems to be changing.”

Two Hollywood talent agencies are suing Paramount, contesting the studio’s claims that although the popular TV show “Frasier” has earned $1.5 billion dollars, it has lost $200 million. “Complaints about the way studios divvy up the profits are rampant within the industry. And it’s not just the little guys doing the complaining.”

Traditional TV ad revenue is down in Europe. But broadcasters are finding a great new stream of revenue from cell phones. “The tide of calls, televotes and text messages billed at premium rates of more than 1 euro a message are building a market that could top 750 million, or more than $900 million, in Europe by the end of the year. To hook viewers on their handsets, producers are focusing on universal topics like love and money, and eclectic ones like cosmetic surgery.”

“In the borderless world of movie making, the scramble over Hollywood’s production dollars is a financial arms race of government subsidies. Eager to get the best deals, Hollywood skillfully pushes the ante up by playing off one another the myriad countries and states hungry for the dollars and glitz a film production generates. It used to be Canada and America. Now, everybody is competing for the film business.”

Hollywood is battling over the next format of DVDs to be adopted. But does it really matter? More and more, consumers are moving away from physical disks as a way to get their media. Online seems to be the future…

“Sony’s Blu-ray DVD technology has won over another heavyweight supporter in the battle to be Hollywood’s format of choice for the next generation of DVDs.”

“As the White House scrambles to find ways to pay for an expensive war in Iraq and the rebuilding of New Orleans, public broadcasting is once again being offered up as an expense the American public can possibly do without. PBS television and radio receives $400 million US annually in federal support. The Republican Study Committee, a conservative group within the caucus, recommended on Wednesday that it all be cut.”