Group items tagged

The XBox moves into cable TV turf. What does it mean for the industry?

A list of the top 10 mergers in recent times according to PC Authority magazine. Not all are media companies, but still a useful overview.

Numbers of people viewing online video during primetime have increased following the spread of over-the-top technologies.

NBC plans 20 pilots this year. Remember that after the writers strike everyone said pilots (and scripted TV) are dead? Besides that, the article is mostly a rehash.

Description of the rebranding project for ESPN360 a complete Over the Top internet TV network of ESPN

Net-Neutrality sets precedent for online video traffic.

Explains Georgia tax credits. Changes in law have made GA one of the top five states for attracting film production.

The BBC is poised to sell its selection of UK-based magazines, including such titles as BBC Good Food, Gardening World, Top Gear and Radio Times. The corporation is looking to cut over $150 million USD in overhead costs and evidently plans to accomplish this by "looking to move away from physical media" and focusing more deeply on digital media as well as looking overseas for merger opportunities. The BBC has already begun stripping itself of media such as audio books, non-BBC channels outside the UK and two radio stations. It also cut the number of websites it owns by half, resulting in an estimated loss of 600 jobs.

BO revs heavily rely on franchise films and 3-D. DVD rev plunges $1b. Tix sales for 3-D top $1.3b before Avatar.

A News Corp. women's network is in the early stages of planning as top female journalists met to discuss some of the details.

"The Los Angeles Times' critic may have panned the film, but that didn't stop Disney from paying top dollar to turn the newspaper's front page into a special advertisement for the new movie, "Alice in Wonderland." The ad, believed to be the first of its kind among America's leading big-city dailies, dismayed some readers and was lamented by media scholars as the latest troubling sign of difficult times at the newspaper and for journalism generally. Hollywood blogger Sharon Waxman cited one "media buyer insider" as saying the Walt Disney Co, the studio behind the film, paid $700,000 for the space.

"Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts and NBC Universal President & CEO Jeff Zucker faced a barrage of questions Feb. 25 in a marathon--over five hours with one break--hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on their proposed joint venture, their third Hill visit in as many weeks as they push for government approval of their $30 billion joint venture.\nDuring that time, the pair defended their records on diversity, and in some cases pledged to do better, reiterated their pledges to keep NBC free and over the air, and their programming available to competitive distributors."

Facebook has a patent on "news-feed" style social networking. Uh oh.

Good technology has value, but leading social networks require "network effects." Facebook is infinitely more valuable because all your friends are on it. Facebook has leveraged this "critical mass" of users to stay ahead of new rivals, too. Why visit Twitter, you may ask, when Facebook has continually extended its feature set to keep up with its less popular competitor? The story of social networks is in fact a story about network effects: How can a service reach a point at which there are enough users and content to be useful?

Could this be the year online journalism really crashes the party at the Pulitzer Prizes? With entry deadlines having passed for the Pulitzers and many other contests, the prospect that Internet-based work might take home major awards is one of many questions on prize-watchers' minds. Initial indications are that both online-only and collaborative online-print projects will be stronger this year.