Category: media

With all the money in the commercial world hanging on the results, TV ratings folks are constantly reinventing the way they measure ratings, and updating the demographics numbers for various networks, stations, and individual shows. And yet, radio, which relies at least as much on advertising revenue as television, has a laughably ineffective method of measuring audience share and ratings. The Arbitron company, which collects radio listenership data, “has long been under siege from its clients — radio stations — for this extraordinarily funky system, which is often blamed for wild spikes up and down in a station’s ratings.”

Movie studios are trying to shut down slick new internet sites operating out of Malaysia that are offering pirated DVD copies of all the latest Hollywood fare for $13.99 a disk. “Pirated DVDs have been available on the streets of New York and other U.S. cities as well as on the Internet for years, but Temple said Web sites attempting to mass-market bootlegs were a relatively rare and recent phenomenon.”

Instant news response has always been one of radio’s greatest strengths. However, with consolidation of ownership in the radio industry, many radio stations are automated, programmed from miles away. So when big news happens, it’s often impossible for “local” radio stations to report on it. “This debate is particularly acute now, because the FCC is considering whether to let companies own even more stations.”

“Chicago,” the musical, leads Oscar nominations with 13. “Other best-picture nominees for the 75th annual Oscars were the 1860s vengeance epic `Gangs of New York’; the Virginia Woolf-related drama `The Hours’; the fantasy adventure `The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’; and the Holocaust saga ‘The Pianist’. Nominations were announced Tuesday morning

The film “Max,” which portrays Adolph Hitler as a struggling artist in Munich after the First World War has been controversial in Europe. “Hundreds of films are being shown at this week’s Berlin Film Festival, but Max was rejected, despite that fact that it has been hailed as a brave, thought-provoking picture with one of the sharpest scripts and some of the best acting you are likely to see this year.”

When a national crisis hits, TV networks scramble to examine everything they’ve got on the schedule to see if it’s appropriate. “Promos and scheduled commercials are reexamined as well. The discussions include heads of programming, sales departments, standards and practices and other top officials. The shuttle tragedy on Feb. 1 illustrated the intricacies of these behind-the-scenes machinations. Heavily promoted episodes of fictional dramas were yanked; movies and specials were sidelined.”

Women are featuring much more prominent roles in the movies of the past year. And their box office clout has been climbing. In an industry where male stars are routinely paid more than their female counterparts, the shift in the balance of power is changing the industry

The two major American performers unions have taken the first step in merging to form a new union. “At a joint meeting, the national boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Saturday approved principles of consolidation that are the first step in forming a new union. Supporters said consolidation would maximize their strength and resolve jurisdiction fights, such as who represents actors in digital productions.”

Producer Ivan Reitman has some ideas. “The Canadian producer has been trained and encouraged to focus on qualifying for a range of content rules and points set by an ever-changing platoon of politicians and bureaucrats. Unfortunately, this intense focus on technical criteria sometimes means that creating films for the real world is ignored. The audience is forgotten. Navigating the minutiae of this hermetically sealed world of institutionalized filmmaking genetically selects Canadian producers for failure.”

The Bafta Awards are the British equivalent of the Oscars. But this year the field is so crowded with Americans, the exercise looks more like a Hollywood preview. “The pre-eminence of all-American stars, films and craft talents in the nominations made by those who consider themselves the elite of the British film industry is causing a scandal. And rightly so. ‘Where are the Brits?’ is what’s being asked as the lists are scanned.”