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Industry News
Amazon Discussing Content...
Downloads with Hollywood studios Amazon.com may soon launch a service allowing consumers to pay for movie and TV show downloads if negotiations with Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers go well. Amazon visitors would be allowed to burn the downloads onto DVD's, according to sources.
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The New York Times.
Gen-Y-lives online
It is difficult to overestimate the extent to which the lives of today's under-24 set are spent online. Social lives, education and entertainment can all be planned, shared and conducted online, via wildly popular social sites like MySpace.com, with its 40 million members. For main-stream networking marketers, it is a challenge to appear credible advocating their products via social networks, but it is relatively inexpensive and offers a huge upside to those who are successful.
-BusinessWeek
Broadband providers angling for more clout
Online content and commerce companies are girding
for battle with telecom and cable giants as Congress looks to rewrite
the laws governing broadband access. Web companies are concerned that
the politically connected providers will lobby to impose fees on
content or else restrict user access to content supplied by the
provider -- the way cable TV companies control access to channels. The
broadband providers counter that these fears are overblown.
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BusinessWeek
HBO to offer mobile programming through
Cingular Wireless
HBO has signed a deal with wireless provider Cingular to offer some of
its programs on cell phones. The cable network is planning two
services for Cingular customers -- HBO Mobile and HBO Family Mobile.
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The iPod as TV accessory
For Apple to dominate the world of digital video, writes Slate
columnist Adam Penenberg, it's iPod will have to become a TV accessory
and not just a computer attachment and portable device. Slate
Comcast creates new interactive unit
Comcast formed a new division to expand its interactive programming
and services. Amy Banse, who had developed properties such as G4, TV
One and PBS Kids Sprout, was named president of the new online unit,
Comcast Interactive Media. Mediaweek (12/13), The Hollywood Reporter
(subscription required)
Cable's wireless dilemma
Cable is playing catch-up in the wireless business, an area that is
expected to boom in coming years. MSOs are faced with the prospect of
cutting deals with wireless carriers or buying their own spectrum,
both of which would be prohibitively expensive. Meanwhile, mobile
phone companies are forging ahead with video services that put them on
the leading edge of a cultural shift toward greater mobility. Barron's
Global sales of DVDs may be peaking, study
says
Worldwide sales of DVDs are likely reaching their peak, according to a
new In-Stat report, as consumers increase their use of broadband
offerings and VOD. "The PC industry is champing at the bit to provide
downloaded movies ... and pay-TV services want to add movies to their
video-on-demand services, to their new disk-drive-equipped set-top
boxes, and to their emerging high-definition TV services," according
to analyst Gerry Kaufhold, author of the report. CNET/Reuters
Does portable video threaten TV?
According to Dave Poltrack, CBS executive VP of research and planning,
pay-per-view on-demand portable video, whether saved to an MP3 player
or downloaded over a mobile network, does not command the kind of
audience yet to pose a threat to TV. Mediaweek
ComScore: 35-54 demo most likely to watch Web video
Internet users 35-54 watch 45% of online video -- which makes the
activity in that age group more popular than among people 25-34,
according to a report from ComScore Networks. Adweek
Behind the networks' VOD shift
Broadcast networks have begun to take small steps toward a VOD model
-- a shift that marks a major evolution in their business models.
While the change in strategy may work in their favor, it also has some
potential pitfalls, such as losing the ability to generate buzz for
new shows and weaken the rerun market. USA TODAY
Information Provided by news sources such as USA
TODAY, ADWEEK, Businessweek, Wall Street Journal, Media Week, NATPE,
The Hollywood Reporter, Slate among many others.
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