Cynopsis: DIGITAL

10/19/09

Good morning, it’s Friday, October 16, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) approved a mobile DTV standard on Friday, clearing the way for broadcasters to transmit digital TV signals to a plethora of mobile devices. The formalization of the standard, in the works since May of 2007, gives chipmakers and gadget manufactures the template they need to develop handheld TVs, DTV-compatible netbooks and tuner-integrated mobile phones that can pick up ad-supported local news, weather and sports programming. In addition to live television, the new ATSC Mobile DTV standard also provides an application framework to enable receivers to bake in a number of interactive services. Look for iTV apps including live viewer voting, polling, advertising applications and audience measurement components to be built into the mobile DTV platform.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS MEDIA EVENTS

 
YouTube entered into a landmark programming deal with the UK’s Channel 4 to make a broad variety of catch-up programming available on YouTube’s British site after it initially airs. Full episodes of shows such as Skins, Hollyoaks, The Inbetweeners and Peep Show will be available in the coming months on the “4oD” VOD service, in a addition to a selection of some 3,000 hours of programming from Channel 4’s archive. YouTube will be permitted to sell ads around the content and the British broadcaster will also deploy its own digital sales force to help monetize the platform. The deal is the first time YouTube, which is now serving 1 billion video streams per day, has tied up with a major broadcaster to feature long-form content.
 
Ten pilot episodes were created through the Teletoon Detour Pilot Project, set to roll out on Sympatico.ca and thedetour.ca from Oct. 23. The initiative, initially launched in fall 2007, is an effort to encourage new comedic voices in the Canadian animation community and possibly find new programming for Teletoon’s evening and night time line-up. Beginning Friday, Oct. 23, one pilot title will premiere each week across the online platforms.
 
Showtime continues to turn to digital platforms to promote its premium programming, this time with a YouTube video quote game in support of the new season of Californication. Utilizing YouTube new video annotation feature, Fill in the Hank asks users to finish David Duchovny’s disillusioned sentences. A similar game launched for Dexter has racked up over 700k views.
 

 
Twitter is expanding into the Far East launching a new Japanese-language mobile site with partner Digital Garage, reports the AP.
 
Here at home, the NFL is not the only entity expressing fear of Twitter. Major studios are beginning to insert clauses in their contracts with executives, actors, and other creative folks to prevent unauthorized leaks or unflattering commentary that may reflect badly on the company, per THR. A number of major deals and scandals have broken on the micro-blogging platform.
 
White label information platform Strategy Eye announced the launch of its Publisher Platform, built to enable media companies to integrate global news and third party blog content alongside their own proprietary content. The solution aggregates and integrates content and allows publishers to index it by a number semantic perimeters.
 
Call for Content: Project Accessible Hollywood has launched a guerilla filmmaking competition inviting participants from the LA-area to create digital entertainment by using pro-sumer cameras and mobile phones with video-capturing capabilities. Post your submissions on the PAH website for a chance to win cash and have your work screened at this year’s PAH-Fest Oct. 25-Nov. 1. The event’s celebrity panel of judges includes Francis Ford Coppola, Julie Corman, Tom Waits and Elmore Leonard.
 

 
Seattle-based web-based retailer Amazon.com is feeling the pressure from a brick-and-mortar competitor. WalMart.com kicked off a price war of sorts, cutting the price of high profile hardcover books including Stephen King’s upcoming Under the Dome and Sarah Palin’s Going Rouge down to $10 (including free shipping) per the WSJ. Amazon responded by cutting the prices of its top ten selling titles to $9 (setting the Kindle version of the books at the same price.)
 
Mobile content retailer Mobile Streams and mobile solution provider A3 Media Network inked a deal to distribute short form comedy content to mobile users in Turkey, Greece and the Czech Republic. Mobile Streams’ catalogue includes video, wallpaper and ringtones from Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean series.
 
The ESPN Innovation Lab opened its doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. The Innovation Lab was built as a real-world testing ground for the development of new on-air products such as ESPN’s “Snap Zoom”, a freeze-frame technology that brings the fan closer to the play by zooming in an area of interest and providing insight to a current action on the field.
 

 
As is usually the case, September led to spikes in traffic at TV, Education, Information and Computer Software sites, according to ComScore. The TV category grew 17% to 95.6 million visitors as Yahoo! TV led the way with nearly 20 million visitors (up 63% month-to-month), followed by AOL Television with 13 million (up 7%) and NBC with 11.4 million. CWTV grabbed the #10 position with 5.8 million visitors, nearly tripling its audience since August. The sports category also scored record highs.
 
Top 10 Gaining Site Categories by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)
September 2009 vs. August 2009
                                                  Total Unique Visitors (000)
                                               Aug-09      Sep-09     % Change
Total Internet : Total Audience   195,538     197,311          1
Entertainment – TV                     81,833      95,601         17
Education – Information              62,899      72,321         15
Retail – Computer Software         30,172      34,357         14
Sports                                       86,388      98,180         14
Gaming Information                   52,083      58,901         13
Community – Green                  16,129      18,077         12
Online Gambling                       11,036      12,320         12
Community – Lifestyles             93,840     104,220         11
Religion/Spirituality                   22,419      24,861         11
Entertainment – Movies             70,994      78,143         10
Source: comScore Media Metrix
 
Top 10 Gaining Properties by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)
September 2009 vs. August 2009
                                                    Total Unique Visitors (000)
                                                Aug-09     Sep-09   % Change   Rank by Unique Visitors
Total Internet : Total Audience   197,311     198,378        1         N/A
CWTV.COM                                  1,846       5,380      191         226
FunnyorDie                                   3,647       6,331       74         193
CAUSES.COM                                3,226       5,445       69         223
HotChalk                                      7,688      12,595       64          89
ABC Television                               4,524       6,874       52         173
TV Guide Online Network                6,959      10,471       50         111
UNIVISION.COM                             3,331       4,943       48         250
Pearson Education                        11,953      16,684       40          63
Alloy Digital Network                     11,315      15,415       36          70
Liberty Media Holding Corporation    8,310      11,153       34         100
Source: comScore Media Metrix
 

 
Microsoft says it is “making solid progress” in restoring content and data lost across T-Mobile Sidekick devices and asks affected customers to be patient. T-Mobile is also sending $100 vouchers to folks who lost their personal contacts, calendar entries and photos. The companies have faced embarrassment and concern since a crippling outage was discovered on the platform earlier this month.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CTAM SUMMIT

 
If you see Mark Cuban whip out a netbook on the sidelines at the next Mavs game, you’ll know why. The NBA has launched a new video rule book on its website illustrating in living color examples of different kinds of fouls and violations, with detailed descriptions and explanations of each play. Varies of infractions include Block/Charge, Screens/Picks, Traveling & Dribbling violations (are those still active in the NBA rule book?) and Technical Fouls. You’ll also find PDFs of the current official rules and the 2008-2009 Officials Media Guide so you’ll know who to direct your ire towards. What would make this even more fun would be a user-submitted section where fans can upload clips of blown calls and non-calls. (O.K. – you’re right – it will never happen.) 
 
Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
10.19.09

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