Friday March 30 NO INSURANCE: Making movies is a huge financial risk. Nine out of ten Holywood movies lose money. So a few years ago someone came up with the idea of writing insurance policies against production costs. It worked great for producers, but was a disaster for insurers. The Economist 03/30/01 PAY TO READ? “A survey published … Continue reading “Media: March 2001”
Wednesday February 28 MAD FOR MOVIES: The audience for movies in Korea grew by 12 percent last year. But that audience wasn’t wild about the home team. “The audience share of Korean films decreased 3.2 percent to 32.6 percent, with foreign films attracting 67.4 percent of the audience.” Korea Times 02/28/01 WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: One of the … Continue reading “Media: February 2001”
Wednesday January 31 WHEN MORE ISN’T NECESSARILY BETTER: Minority activists have been complaining that American TV networks have not portrayed enough minorities on television. A few recent shows have included more, but “do Latinos come out looking like a bunch of losers and victims? Because that’s no victory. Don’t do us a favor, OK?” Los Angeles Times … Continue reading “Media: January 2001”
Britain’s TV channel 4 scored one of the worst ratings in its history Saturday night with its filmed version of Glyndebourne youth opera Zoe. “The programme was watched by a mere 300,000 viewers, one of the broadcaster’s worst prime-time audiences ever.” – The Guardian
The BBC’s shift of its national newscast from 9 pm to 10 pm is calculated to get more viewers. “What surprises me about this gloomy, shifty discussion of news programming is how little people consider why it has become, over the course of a decade, such a ratings calamity. With more competition, there will be … Continue reading “DOES ANYONE CARE?”
Ratings for the TV networks have been slipping for years, and it looked, even a year or two ago, that network TV might not be profitable again for a long time. That was then…”The networks’ parents don’t break out numbers for the properties, but analysts estimate that earnings in the second quarter were up across … Continue reading “STILL A LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY”
“There are three people truly disliked by Hollywood. John McCain, conservative moralist William Bennett and Joe Lieberman. That’s because each has sought the spotlight to further his own career by picking on an easy target — the pop culture spewed out by television, movies, music and video games. Most of the culture-war cackling from these … Continue reading “EASY TARGETS”
“The Boston station produces or co-produces nearly 35 percent of PBS’s prime-time lineup – an output rivaled only by WNET-TV in New York – and also generates roughly 20 percent of the children’s programs. The advent of the Internet has expanded the station’s reach: More than one-third of all visits to PBS Web sites are … Continue reading “THE STAR OF PBS”
— about rating TV shows for violence and content, new studies show that parents aren’t using the ratings. “Two in five parents have a V-chip or other form of technology to block out objectionable programming, one study found, and half of those with the devices use them. But the researchers found that awareness of the … Continue reading “AFTER ALL THAT FUSS —”
— about rating TV shows for violence and content, new studies show that parents aren’t using the ratings. “Two in five parents have a V-chip or other form of technology to block out objectionable programming, one study found, and half of those with the devices use them. But the researchers found that awareness of the … Continue reading “AFTER ALL THAT FUSS —”
