Group items tagged

PBS reporting on media ownership

PBS' 2003 reporting on media ownership

"Consumers who have been misled by advertisements into buying expensive products or services - or who are just plain irked to be confronted by yet another cheesy ad about working at home - might wonder where those ads are coming from, and why they appear on otherwise respectable websites. The answer is complicated, but becoming less so."

The Pentagon made an announcement that it is authorizing the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other sites classified as "Web 2.0" across the U.S. military, according to a report by Reuters. The article mentioned that the Pentagon said that "the benefits of social media outweighed security concerns."

"Facebook's news feed from its 400 million users has helped the social network far surpass its competitors, which also supply similar digital streams of consciousness. But now, Facebook owns the patent on news feeds."

"Media powerhouse News Corp is run by Rupert Murdoch. It owns - among other things -- Harper Collins, the \nWall Street Journal, 20th Century Fox, Hulu, MySpace and a host of other media outlets. Now News Corp and its MySpace CEO suddenly part ways. Why?"

"Social media blogs complain about too much advertising on NBC's Vancouver Olympics. And yet NBC has released new viewer data showing that in virtually every single category - including brand recall, engagement, and other marketing metrics - numbers are up for advertisers who bought into the winter games. Viewership is up right now, too: some 25% higher than the 2006 games in Torino, Italy."

"Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s release Wednesday of its Outlook Social Connector beta is another indication of how social networking has infiltrated not only the online world, but also enterprise software. The Outlook Social Connector, a new feature in Office 2010, blends social networking updates into the business functionality of the software. With Outlook Social Connector, a user can view an e-mail message and social networking activities from the same sender in the same window pane. For now, though, it doesn't allow posting updates back onto LinkedIn or other social-networking sites directly from the inbox."

An interactive timeline of the AOL Time Warner merger, and the subsequent fallout.

A decade ago, America Online merged with Time Warner in a deal valued at $350 billion, which is still the largest merger in American business history. But the trail of despair in subsequent years produced a deal now regarded by many as a colossal mistake.

Seattle-based interactive ad agency Razorfish has been sold twice in three years, operating against a seemingly constant backdrop of industry speculation about its fate. But the uncertainty appears to be over, now that the dust has settled on ad giant Publicis Groupe's purchase of Razorfish from Microsoft for $530 million - the second-biggest deal of 2009 in Washington state mergers and acquisitions.

Forget the last 10 years of post-Napster industry annihilation - Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) is now seeing growing income from both music sales and music publishing - but only if you factor in overseas sales; the U.S. business is still in rewind...

"On average, viewers watch FLO TV for 30 minutes a day while commuting, sitting at their desks, or waiting in line. The service is available in more than 100 U.S. cities now."

The Supreme Court on Tuesday resurrected a possible settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by freelance writers who said that newspapers and magazines had committed copyright infringement by making their contributions available on electronic databases. The proposed settlement was prompted by a 2001 decision from the Supreme Court in favor of six freelance authors claiming copyright infringement in The New York Times Company v. Tasini. After the Tasini decision, many freelance works were removed from online databases. Most publishers now require freelance writers to sign contracts granting both print and online rights. After the decision, the authors, publishers and database companies who were parties to several class-action lawsuits negotiated a global settlement that would pay the plaintiffs up to $18 million.

In our regular monthly series with analyst Michael Pachter, he now says he probably "aimed too low" on the $50 estimate for Natal.

Fox is pushing hard for carriage fees of $1 per subscriber. Part of broader Murdoch strategy to charge for content. CBS now getting about $.50 per cable sub. Altogether, bc stations should take in $933m in fees in 2010, while cable nets take in $28b. Explains opposing positions in the negotiations.

Electronics makers now pushing consumers to move beyond HDTV to 3-D. Article explains their marketing strategies and the technology.

"The time is ripe for media vultures to make their move. In 2007, the court blocked the FCC's attempt to change the rules of ownership. Now it is reconsidering that decision. 'A three-judge panel of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which had put the stay in effect…ordered the FCC and consumer groups to 'show cause' by mid January (2010) why the stay should not be dropped.'"

Google entered China in 2006, agreeing to censor some of its searches. Now, the company may withdraw from China due to less than desired returns.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who owns both the NY Post and the Wall Street Journal, has been been put in the humiliating position of asking for a favor from his competitors. The Journal has been getting ready to launch a new edition in April, with an NYC metro section intended as a tough competitor to the Times. Meanwhile, Murdoch's News Corporation is upgrading the Post's printing plant in the South Bronx so that it can print the Journal and the Post. But there have been major delays on that, and now Murdoch needs to outsource some of The Post's printing, so he's been reduced to begging his enemies for help.

Donations by text message to Haiti now exceed $22M.

The video website, launched by studios to distribute TV shows over the Internet without charge, now is considering ways to draw revenue, including charging for some episodes of popular shows.