Category: media

Hollywood TV and movie execs told Congress Thursday that “without copy protection the threat of extensive piracy will force the industry to move its best programming to pay services such as cable and satellite TV. ‘Over-the-air television as we know it today will be a thing of the past’.”

DVD recorders are here. But the movie industry doesn’t seem to be greatly concerned. “The reason? Hollywood has learned from the piracy woes of its music-industry cousins. Unlike music CDs, DVD movies have encryption codes that make them almost impossible to burn. And the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has aggressively prosecuted pirates like Norwegian teenager “DVD John” Johansen, who publicized on the Net the copyright-protection code of a range of DVDs.”

“The price of making a movie soared dramatically last year, with the average major studio production costing nearly $59 million, a 23% increase from 2001, the Motion Picture Assn. of America announced Tuesday. It was the biggest percentage increase since 1997 and a little more than double the $29 million of 10 years ago.”

Toronto’s “Cinefranco” festival of French-language films gets underway this month, but the lineup will not include Gaspar Noe’s celebrated Irreversible, which is part of a new wave of ‘shock-violence’ films. Cinefranco “has also refused to screen several other French art-house films using extremes of violence in recent years. These new films, which blend sophisticated scripts with protracted and gratuitous use of violence, are the object of great controversy among critics.”

The Screen Actors Guild has issued a strong statement warning against an industry blacklist of those who oppose war with Iraq. “While passionate disagreement is to be expected in such a debate, a disturbing trend has arisen in the dialogue. Some have recently suggested that well-known individuals who express ‘unacceptable’ views should be punished by losing their right to work. This shocking development suggests that the lessons of history have, for some, fallen on deaf ears. We deplore the idea that those in the public eye should suffer professionally for having the courage to give voice to their views. Even a hint of the blacklist must never again be tolerated in this nation.”

When the Canadian government announced this year’s budget for the CBC last week, it looked as though the national broadcaster was in line for a $50 million cut. Then Heritage minister Sheila Copps indicated that with supplemental funding, the CBC would be funded at an all-time high. Then a couple more budget figures came out, and clarifications failed to make things less cloudy. So will the CBC be getting more or less money? Unclear – even the CBC itself seems bewildered…

The Learning Channel, The History Channel, Black Entertainment Television – they’re all proper names for their respective cable networks. But those networks have been abandoning the names for letters. It’s a matter of branding. “If you think about a lot of brands and how they are successful – Tide or Cheer – it’s because they have simple, short names that people can remember.”

More than 2 million copies of the “Chicago” sountracks have been sold. The connection between movies and soundtrack success has long been strong. “Big movies and big soundtracks always feed off each other as we’ve seen in the past from Top Gun to Titanic. Certainly a big soundtrack can extend the life of the movie.”

South Florida radio is woefully narrow. “Looking for local news? Buy a newspaper. Want to hear rock en español? Load up the CD player. Crave a Triple-A (adult album alternative) outlet like those in other cities that play such new, talked-about artists before they break through? Get a moving van. And if you have a desire to hear classical music on FM, well, tough tubas. How about alternative country, progressive/alternative hip-hop or Hindu chants set to dance beats? Uh, you’re kidding, right? Miami’s 36 English-language and 17 Spanish-language stations have each carved out their little piece of the pie with generally narrow playlists, and their owners are perfectly happy about it.” Let’s blame consolidation.

Back in 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a Telecommunications Act which allowed large media companies to hold multiple TV and radio stations in a single market, and to consolidate and merge their businesses as never before. Predictably, the large companies which took advantage of the legislation now control a high percentage of the nation’s media outlets. Now, the FCC is considering a further loosening of restrictions on ownership, sparking a familiar debate between Big Media and, well, most everyone else.