Category: media

“The French government is considering extending the television licence fee to include computer screen owners to boost revenues for public-sector broadcasting operations, the culture minister said on Saturday.”

“It is known as the ‘Little French Box’, a 1980s design classic now seen as the ultimate in beige plastic kitsch. But once it was an audacious precursor to the world wide web, introduced the first cybersex into people’s living rooms and had a user-friendly design that may have inspired Steve Jobs’s first Macintosh computer.”

“With ticket sales declining in the past few years, some theater owners have discovered that sometimes letting people yell at the movie screen might actually not be such a terrible idea–and in some cases, might even enhance the experience.”

“There is a version of your life, offered by Google, in which all your friends and household members have Android phones, many have Android tablets, and all of them buy their movies, music, and reading from the Play Store. Your lazy evenings, parties, and beach excursions are all very media-rich, DJ-ed by everybody at once, and every moment is instantly shared in this version. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the same vision Apple has for its customers–just change the names of the devices and software. The two tech giants are now battling for your total device gadget allegiance.”

The Motion Picture Academy invited 176 new members to join – and more of them than usual were people of color and international actors or directors. Will Oscars voting change?

“In February the Library of Congress and the French Institut National de l’Audiovisuel announced their plan to exchange some 500 hours of digitized film and television footage over the next three years. This swap, between the French archive and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, will focus on how each country portrays the other in TV news, documentaries, travelogues, educational and even home movies dating to the early days of film.”

“Unlike other decades-old industries, Hollywood not only has a hard time forecasting, but it also has difficulty analyzing past results. Why was The Hunger Games such a big hit? Because it had a built-in audience? Because it starred Jennifer Lawrence? Because it was released around spring break? The business is filled with analysts who claim to have predictive powers, but the fact that a vast majority of films fail to break even proves that nobody knows anything for sure.”

“YouTube’s homegrown stars tend to be self-starters. They understand the intimacy of the platform in a way most Hollywood A-listers don’t. YouTube is not just television on a computer, and YouTubers, whether established or aspiring, are their own breed.”

“The media regulator said in its annual public service broadcasting report that total spend on arts and classical music content – including original programming and content that was acquired – decreased from £72 million in 2006, to £44 million in 2011.”

“Spending on arts programming by the five main public service broadcasters – including the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 – fell by 39% over the five years to 2011, according to a report published by [UK media regulator] Ofcom today.”