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Cynopsis: Weekender 02/01/07 Good afternoon. It's Thursday, February 1, 2007, and this is your Cynopsis: Weekender edition. Below are a handful of industry stories - with which you may agree or disagree. If you'd like to be heard - put together your own 350 word submission! Details below. Will SecondLife create First Life dollars for networks? NBC, Sundance Channel, and Showtime are testing the virtual waters By Larry Getlen With over three million registered members, it's no surprise that networks are testing the waters in the 3-D virtual reality community SecondLife (secondlife.com). The question is whether they can turn their investments into real world dollars. With only around 20-25,000 users logged on at any one time, a SecondLife presence is currently about innovation and branding. "SecondLife is one way for us to get the word out that we have compelling content," says Christopher Barry, VP/Digital Media and Business Strategy for the Sundance Channel, which just unveiled their own "island" on the site, and doesn't consider SecondLife a "huge monetization play." Showtime, which just launched a presence for "The L Word," considers potential revenue streams an "added benefit," says Robert Hayes, SVP/GM Showtime Digital Media. "Since we've launched, we've been approached by several people about advertising and sponsorship opportunities," says Hayes. "But in the short term, it's more about branding and generating user experience." Virtual world development company Electric Sheep created the sites for Sundance and Showtime, as well as one for NBC and MTV's stand-alone presence, Virtual Laguna Beach. The company's CEO, Sibley Verbeck, says that Sundance's SecondLife island cost around $50,000, while Showtime's was "significantly higher." Eventually, though, he thinks networks will need to budget $1-2 million to attract larger advertisers. "The main value is doing larger scale projects that the main portion of your audience interacts with, and then selling advertising," says Verbeck. While neither Sundance or Showtime have advertisers attached yet, according to Verbeck companies such as Nissan, Sears and Circuit City are virtually active, with Nissan giving out 10,000 virtual Sentras for people to drive around the site. Verbeck sees the beginnings of a generous ad sales business model and other profitable opportunities based on the dedication of SecondLife users. "We're seeing that significantly higher dollars-per-user are warranted than in TV or web campaigns," he says. "The average person spends more time in the virtual world with a particular entertainment franchise than they did with the show. That's a significant increase in the amount of time the network has to monetize that relationship." Upstart Veoh Links With Hollywood, Aims for YouTube in its Crosshairs By Daisy Whitney Online video site Veoh Networks signaled in the last two weeks that it intends to be a major player in the broadband video business this year, as it seeks to break away from the pack. Last week, Veoh struck a deal with US Magazine to create an entertainment show accessible on both Veoh and Usmagazine.com, adding a new competitor in the celebrity news genre. Under the Veoh-Us partnership, which launches in February, Us will provide exclusive video for the site, while Veoh will provide the technological tools for the service. Users can also submit their own videos using Veoh's technology. That deal followed fast on the heels of Veoh's NATPE news that it inked one of the first partnerships between a Hollywood talent agency and an online video site. United Talent Agency paired up with Veoh to find new talent online and to showcase digital content from UTA clients. Veoh board member Michael Eisner brokered the deal, Veoh said. A new channel will be created for the venture and will launch next month. UTA's broadband division, UTAO, will use it to aggregate the digital submissions it has received since starting the division in October 2006, letting Veoh users view and share the material. UTA will direct potential clients to Veoh as the means to submit video materials to the agency going forward. "Our vision is that we are building a new television broadcasting medium. First it was broadcast, then cable, then satellite and now Internet," said CEO Dmitry Shapiro said. Veoh's new approach tack has potential, said Will Richmond, President of broadband video research firm Broadband Directions. "It looks like Veoh is doing a good job of adding original broadband video programming to its site as an augment to the user-generated content that's been available for a while at the site," he said. Veoh is the 15th-most-visited online video site, logging 520,000 unique visitors in December, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Shapiro says there's more to come in this wave of deal-making as Veoh aims to carve out its sliver of the online video universe. So as Veoh strikes deals with Hollywood, he offers this bold prediction: "You will see a giant exodus of people who leave services like YouTube and merge onto services like Veoh." The gauntlet is thrown. Consumer Grade HD Cameras Offer Alternative For Producers--But Is It True HD? By Wayne Karrfalt HD television sets aren't the only things dropping in price these days. Consumer grade high def cameras like the Sony HDV Handycam are now hitting the market for under $5,000, enticing some producers to make the jump to HD for projects that until now have been shot on video. This advance could double the amount of product being delivered in the new format, say proponents. "To me, I'm touting them as the transition for cable networks that can't afford full HD but still want to be ready for it," said Bruce David Klein, President/Exec Producer of Atlas Media Corp. High production costs have certainly helped slow the transition to HD: Full-blown HD cameras like the Panasonic VariCam cost over $100,000. With the technology changing so rapidly, production houses are hesitant to make such an investment, even as more networks are demanding it. Yet although consumer grade HD cameras deliver images in 1080i resolution, some producers question their quality. A rarified air still surrounds the medium and no one wants to be accused of delivering sub par product. "We've avoided using consumer grade HD. At the end of the day, it doesn't hit the quality and technical standards some networks demand. We've had to follow where they are going," said Stephen Ellis, President of Toronto-based Ellis Entertainment. What may arise is a two-tiered system in HD production. Image-driven nature documentaries and high-profile scripted fare will be shot in full-blown HD, while handheld style non-fiction and reality programming will be delivered using the cheaper cameras. For one thing they are much smaller--think camcorder instead of Arriflex. They are also much more forgiving, befitting the rough and tumble conditions of a reality shoot. "When you talk about full blown HD, you almost have to adopt 35 mm standards when you shoot it. It's so sharp, it will throw up stuff that's not in focus or has the slightest little wobble. You don't get away with anything," said Doug Allen, Cameraman for BBC's Natural History unit. Allen supervised shooting of the 11-hour "Planet Earth," a Discovery Channel/BBC co-production premiering on Discovery Channel March 25. Cutting Off Your Nose to Spite First Base By Jordan Yanco Say you're a die-hard Mets fan, but live in Ohio. Major League Baseball has a package called Extra Innings, which allows you to see out-of-market games, up to 60 per week, through your cable provider for only $170 a year. Life is good. Flip to the channel and it's like you're watching the local broadcast. Extra Innings is available to 75 million cable households along with DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers. So, why mess with a good thing? Money. DirecTV is close to inking a deal that will make out-of-market games available exclusively through DirecTV, who is also launching an All-Baseball Channel in 2009. They've agreed to pay MLB $700 million over seven years for that privilege, which is obviously designed to lure baseball junkies to sign onto DirecTV. So far their subscriber base is 15 million, but could skyrocket if die-hard fans want to watch their favorite out-of-market teams. There is only one other alternative to yielding to the DirecTV machine, and that's to watch a live - albeit choppier - streaming feed from MLB.TV, but that would require a high-speed broadband service, something only about 28 million households have; less than half the number of households with cable. But if you're MLB, the $700 million is worth it, right? Not quite. They're discounting the people who are still on dial-up and can't access MLB.TV and refuse to get satellite. More importantly, what about the new fans, who are just getting into baseball, but want to watch more than just their local broadcast? Does the sport really think it's doing that well to have only its current fan base? What about getting new fans? Not everyone even knows about Extra Innings, and for that casual fan it would be a huge commitment to get a satellite hookup for watching baseball when they've grown up with cable. Two things can result from this. Either MLB converts the masses from cable to satellite; or the All-Baseball channel fails, the $700 million runs out when fans resent the squeeze play, and the League strikes out with any potential new fans. * WEEK'S RECAP *
SUBMISSIONS / AD SALES/ SUBSCRIBE & UNSUBSCRIBE Cynopsis Ad Sales - Mark Bohn - 203-583-1224 / Article submissions for Cynopsis: Weekender are welcome, provided they are no longer than a maximum of 350 words. News articles used are paid at the rate of $1/word. Not all submissions are used. Editorials (also 350 word max) may be submitted but are not paid, and not all are used. Send submissions to Cynopsis at . The Weekender edition is published every Thursday and includes a few items to ponder over the weekend, as well as the highlights from the week. It is delivered to the entire Cynopsis subscriber list, unless you specifically request to be unsubscribed. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your email subscription, go to the Cynopsis website, www.cynopsis.com and click on the subscribe tab.
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What's On This
Weekend:
Saturday: 8-11p, February 3, 2007 ABC: World's Greatest Sports Bloopers, Movie: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy CBS: CSI: Miami [r], Without a Trace [r], 48 Hours Mystery FOX: Cops, Cops [r], America's Most Wanted ION: Movie: The Electric Horseman [7], Movie: The Super MNT: Wicked Wicked Games [weekly recap], Watch Over Me [Weekly Recap] NBC: Dateline, Law & Order: SVU [r], Law & Order: CI [r] PBS: Local Programming, Austin City Limits TELE: Vas o No Vas [7], Seguro Y Urgente, Especial: Vicente Fernandez UNIV: Sabado Gigante Sunday: 7-11p, February 4, 2007 ABC: EM: Home Edition [r], AFV [r], Movie: Old School CBS: Superbowl XLI: da Bears vs. Indianapolis Colts, Criminal Minds CW: Beauty and the Geek, Beauty and the Geek, Beauty and the Geek FOX: The Simpsons, Movie: X2 X Men United ION: Kung Fu, Hackers, Kojak NBC: Grease: You're the One That I Want [r], Grease: You're the One That I Want [r], Grease: You're the One That I Want [r] PBS: Nature, Masterpiece Theatre TELE: El Maravilloso Mudo de Disney, Cinemundo Premier UNIV: La Hora Pico , Bailando por la Boda de mis Sueños 
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