Cynopsis: DIGITAL

08/29/08

Good morning, it’s Friday, August 29, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

In what could help to set a precedence in other video streaming cases, a federal judge in San Jose let Veoh Networks off the hook for presenting copyrighted material on its site uploaded by users. The lawsuit was originally brought by adult entertainment company IO Group, but was thrown out on the grounds that Veoh is protected under safe harbor provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Both Google and Viacom, still knee deep in their own litigation, weighed in on the decision. Google quickly applauded the ruling, reiterating its belief that the DMCA protects video sharing sites from liability. Viacom claimed the ruling does nothing to change the fact that YouTube’s business model is built on copyright infringement – “conduct that is not protected by any law, including the DMCA.”
 

 
Oxygen.com is planning to ramp up its online video and social networking integrations for this season of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, adding Facebook tools and games powered by partners Wiredset and Rock You! Games and applications have been developed especially for the show. “Date or Dump” allows players to choose the model they’d most like to take out. A planned video widget will allow users to embed their favorite Janice moments on their profiles.
 
i-Rights, part of the Digital Rights Group (DRG) and Canadian production company The Nightingale Company have signed a two year deal that will give DRG distribution rights for a new teen targeted 48-part online series and Alternate Reality Game, Do You Believe Me? The series is a co-venture between Toronto based Nightingale and beActive, the Portuguese production company behind Sofia’s Diary, currently appearing on Bebo.com and the UK’s Fiver TV.
 

 
Online video delivery platform Delve Networks completed a strategic partnership with PLYmedia to integrate PLY’s video widgets into its semantic video platform. PLYmedia’s tools allow publishers to enhance their video by adding clickable links and by attaching subtitles, closed captions, sign language and voice-overs in a number of languages.
 
Peer-to-peer HD quality online video distributor Vuze added MyToons.com as content provider beginning with MyToons Cartoon Classics. Note: you have to download the Vuze player to watch them, but the quality is amazing. So far there’s a nice selection of classic episodes of the mumbling Popeye and the sultry Betty Boop.
 

 
NBC Learn, the education arm of NBC News, will release “What’s Your McCain iCue?” on its iLike Music Challenge Facebook application, next Tuesday, Sept. 4. The app is the second in a series of 10 politically themed video trivia quizzes by NBC Learn hosted within the iLike application on Facebook. The first quiz was tied to Senator Obama, dovetailing with NBC’s multichannel coverage of the Democratic National Convention.
 

 
Sprint unveiled some of the content and location-based services that will be available as part of its planned Xohm WiMax wireless broadband network. The technology will enable high speed connections to be established while driving, which should lead to all kinds of navigation and location-based recommendation services. So far partners in the Xohm venture include:

• uLocate – chosen for its Where platform powering friend finding and other location based mobile services
• Yelp Inc. – providing user ratings and reviews of local restaurants, shops, doctors, etc.
• Topix – offering local news based on location
• AccuWeather – providing location based forecasts, radar/satellite images, etc
• Google – powering search functionality, Google Maps, etc

 
Reacting to increased scrutiny over its network management practices, Comcast announced it will cap its broadband internet subscriber bandwidth usage at 250 gigabytes/month beginning Oct. 1. (Look for a mailer in your bill next month for more details.) To put it in perspective, the company spelled out what it would take to use up this limit:

• Send 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
• Download 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
• Download 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
• Upload 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)

The FCC has set a deadline of Sept. 19 for the MSO to disclose details of how exactly it has been blocking access to P2P sharing sites and to submit a plan detailing how it will cease and desist the practice.

 
The two presidential campaigns are stepping up their efforts to woo voters via the web, given the attention viral videos are getting in the mainstream press and the overall bang they supply for comparatively few bucks. The Barack Obama campaign, which released over a dozen new videos yesterday on the candidate’s YouTube channel, received a boost from naming of Joe Biden as his running mate. (There’s also a new Obama Girl video where she travels back in time to encourage a young Barack). Yet the John McCain camp is actually upstaging Obama in terms of overall views. Interestingly repurposed 30-second TV spots are having the most impact.
 
Most Viewed Political Videos on YouTube – August 2008 (as of 8/28)
Rank           Candidate             Video Views
  1             John McCain             7,131,224
  2             Barack Obama         5,301,090
  3             Al Franken                  103,553
  4             Dennis Kucinich           101,462
  5             Ralph Nader                   88,515
 

 
WPP Digital named former Digitas executive Neal Prescott as CEO of its new New York-based digital production unit Deliver. The unit will tie together existing production outfits in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and South Africa and distribute content among WPP’s worldwide digital agencies.
 

 
In a nervous moment for tech junkies, CBS Interactive took the wraps off the newly-redesigned CNET.com. The first thing inquiring minds want to know; is it worth $1.8 billion? Well, the look and feel is much improved. The use of whitespace highlights colorful features that rotate manually with a mouse over. Power categories like the Apple iPhone 3G have been organized into their own sections on the home page making them easier to find. Video plays a more prominent role (such as Katie Couric livecasting from the DNC floor), whereas before it was mostly buried on the CNET TV page (which itself has received a nice upgrade.) Also the CNET review archive is much better organized, easily accessible by category, manufacturer, editor’s favorites and most-viewed. Of course the proof of success will be in convincing advertisers to pay top dollar for pre-rolls, post-rolls and for placement in the new “brand showcase” feature integrating products with CNET’s reviews. All in all the new CNET.com is a site for sore eyes. If a site about technology can’t pop, it’s not doing its job.

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
08.29.08

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JOB OPENING: REG ACCT MGR/ NY, LA, Dallas/V-me Media, Inc.: 10+ yrs network or nat’l media sales exp; proven leader with client and agency contacts; bilingual Spanish; US Hispanic Mrkt a plus; Res to: [email protected] (9/5)

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SITUATION WANTED: EMMY AWARD WINNING PRODUCER (NY/LA): 7+Yrs Network /Cable: Reality, Celeb, Court, News, Scripted. Expertise: Field, Coordination, Rights & Clearances, Trades. Professional, personable, reliable. [email protected] (9/4)

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