Media Industries Project - Carsey Wolf Center

"New fancy TV/video digital providers beware: Not all content providers are interested in your new platform -- especially if you can't verify your audience through research.\nA CBS technology executive says CBS won't deliver content to alternative distribution systems that have no reliable audience measurement -- and this includes mobile DTV."

"It looks like 99 cents could become the new $1.99 for TV shows on iTunes. A new report puts Apple in talks with CBS about discounting at least a portion of the network's TV shows sold on iTunes to 99 cents, down from the standard $1.99 price point. If true, the move would confirm a previous Financial Times report which asserted that Apple's content partners are considering cutting iTunes TV shows in half when the iPad is officially released come this March."

NBC-Universal Vice President Richard Cotton called upon internet service providers to be permitted to filter content over their pipes for copyright violations, and compared copyright filtering to filtering for computer viruses."

Ultility regulators weigh in on FCC proposed regulation, stressing non-discrimination on peer-to-peer and political content by broadband providers.

Two dozen minority interest groups sign letter to FCC Chariman advocating for changes in FCC policy to promote media diversity. Details declines in minority radio ownership and includes several policy suggestions.

Highlights an Anneberg School of Journalism study that examines rates of media subsidy, and shows a marked decline. References historical tradition of media subsidy through postal discounts and tax breaks.

Senator Feingold raises the issue of bundling and a lack of a la carte pricing. The issue continues to be raised despite past industry opposition.

A look at how lobbyists are beginning to leverage social media tools for grassroots lobbying and coordinated public comment campaigns.

New Documentary about sampling, music, and copyright. Copyright Criminals looks at the creative and monetary debates over musical sampling, mashing up music videos, studio visits, history, and talking heads including George Clinton and De La Soul. The documentary on beat mining rounds up more issues than a town hall meeting, poring over everything from the best props for a sampled artist, to the basic merits and methods of the omnivorous art. The tone leans toward pro, with persuasive soundbites that liken sampling to archeology (the listener digs through the aural layers) and the democratic fact that "all these legendary musicians are in my band." As Picasso once said: good artists borrow, great artists steal.

Fending criticisms from multiple parties, Google once again made the case for digitizing millions of orphaned books before the U.S. District Court Southern District Court of New York, in a fairness hearing held Thursday. A total of 27 different parties requested to speak before the court. Five were in favor, including Sony, the National Federation of the Blind and the Center for Democracy and Technology. The rest -- 22 in total -- opposed the settlement, including Amazon, Microsoft, the Open Book Alliance, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Those in favor praised the idea of rendering hard-to-find books in electronic form, because they could be accessible to a much larger group of readers, and not be lost to the ages. The objectors, however, voiced strong concerns that the settlement case preempts U.S. copyright law altogether. Others voiced privacy and antitrust concerns.

Current fair use law is hazy by design; instead of laying out specific use cases, the law relies on the famous "four factors" about the purpose of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount borrowed, and the effect on the value of the original work. This can be maddening in many situations, because it is impossible to know in advance if a particular use qualifies. On the other hand, it gives a fair use incredible flexibility to adapt to new circumstances like the advent of the VCR. But in the paragraph that comes just before the four factors, Congress did see fit to lay down a nonexclusive list of fair uses: "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research." Is it time for more list items? The new Copyright Reform Act, proposed by Public Knowledge, would make a deceptively simple change to bring fair use into the 21st century-add seven words to this list. The CRA is a new project from Public Knowledge, with much of the heavy lifting being done by the Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford and the Technology & Public Policy Clinic at UC-Berkeley. While Berkeley's noted copyright scholar Pam Samuelson works up a new "model statute" for copyright law in the digital age, Public Knowledge hopes to make smaller interim fixes to copyright law that won't require the same dramatic reworking.

ubroadcast, inc. (UBCI 0.03, +0.00, +3.85%) , a leader in Internet Broadcasting, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Alexandria, VA-based iVu Media Corp., the developer of a state-of-the-art Video Content Management (VCM) system that works in tandem with a High Definition Playback technology. iVu Media's clients include Sony, Ford and Honda. For 2009, iVu Media had revenues of less than $500,000.

"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."

Help wanted. Must tweet. If you're "passionate about engaging millions" in advancing President Obama's \nagenda, the commander in chief has a job for you. The Democratic National Committee and Organizing for America -- the successor organization to Obama for America -- are seeking a "social networks manager" to oversee Obama's accounts on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. The ideal new hire, according to the official job description, will possess "strong, sharp and personable" writing skills, as well as the ability to craft messages that "move people to act" and managing multiple "complex" projects."

"J.K. Rowling has been named in a lawsuit alleging she stole ideas for her wildly popular and lucrative "Harry Potter" books from another British author. The estate of the late Adrian Jacobs added Rowling as a defendant in a lawsuit it filed in June against Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for alleged copyright infringement, according to a statement released by the estate's representatives, who are based in Australia."

Google has been awarded a patent that describes a software method for selectively restricting the availability of content on the basis of access privileges and geographical location. On the surface, it may look like this patent covers techniques for censoring politically sensitive content in specific countries-a practice that Google has recently spoken out against in its ongoing feud with China. A closer look at the patent's claims, however, shows that it has little to do with censorship and may actually relate to the company's controversial book scanning initiative.

"Movie tie-in games are tough to pull off, especially if you stick too closely to the story of the movie (hello, spoilers). \nHowever, Toy Story 3 hopes to pull it off with an open world mode that stays true to the movie while still giving players something entertaining (and non-spoilerific) to do. Disney Interactive Studios announced a Toy Story 3 tie-in game Wednesday that's coming out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and the iPhone/iPod Touch. No surprises there; but we were glad to hear there's an \nopen world mode in the game that adds a touch of originality to the game called Toy Box."

"The future of print media is digital. Just as new printing techniques revolutionised the industry and gave birth to full page color images in print media, digital content will change the way we read and consume print media in the future. The ideals and stories will (hopefully) still be there at the heart of digital media but consumers will be given the opportunity to delve deep into the articles. Digital media will put elements that enrich the reading experience - like rich colour photos that can be enlarged, video, sound, animations and 3D images -at the fingertips of every reader"