A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE from THE WEATHER CHANNEL

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Cynopsis: DIGITAL

04/30/09

Good morning, it’s Thursday, April 30, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. 

Time Warner is moving close to reversing its disastrous acquisition of AOL by spinning off the company into a separate unit, according to a regulatory filing made by company. (Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes promised an announcement on the issue “very soon” on an earnings call yesterday.) Losses at AOL once again dragged revenue and earnings down at Time Warner, as revenue at AOL dropped by 23% due to deteriorating ad revenue and a further loss of dial-up subscribers. Time Warner’s cable, TV networks and movie businesses fared better, however, despite the ad slowdown. Triple-play customers (who subscribe for video, phone and internet services) grew by 146,000 during Q1 and now account for 22% of TWC’s total customers. Meanwhile discussions regarding the company’s “TV Everywhere” concept, which would allow paying subscribers to access cable TV content on multiple screens, are moving forward with distributors. The service could reach the trial stage by the second half of this year.

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Sony is dipping into its movie catalogue to try and attract more traffic and improve engagement on its recently redesigned Crackle entertainment portal. A new ad supported movie feature launched yesterday with an initial 100 or so titles including Spider Man 2, A Few Good Men, and Todd Solondz’ Welcome to the Dollhouse.
 
Almost a year after acquiring social aggregation service SocialThing, AOL’s MediaGlow publishing unit announced it is integrating the social networking tool across its 75 sites, enabling visitors to log on to new sites using their AOL screen name and password – enabling chatting, commenting and sharing with AOL buddies. (Users will also soon be able to use their Bebo, Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo or OpenIDs to log in as well.) Country Music blog The Boot is the first MediaGlow site to complete the integration.
 

 
Reuters signed a deal with interactive tool provider Apture to enhance its web pages with multimedia content. The technology allows novices to layer on videos, maps, images, slideshows, documents, and audio into stories enabling readers to explore related content directly from the featured page. Apture recently completed a $4.1 million round of Series-A funding led by Clearstone Venture Partners.
 
Revision3‘s flagship web show Diggnation, hosted by Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht reached a milestone yesterday, streaming its 200th episode. Beers consumed to date: 1,238. (Great segue into a plug for your sponsor Michelob, by the way.)
 

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A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM KCET

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A new study from IPG’s UM sponsored by AOL’s Platform A and presented at the OMMA Mobile Conference yesterday found that 53% of Smartphone users are clicking on advertisements, 35% request more information and 24% make purchases via their smart phone. Smartphone users were found to be much more inclined to respond to ads that are geotargeted and relevant to their experience:

• 47% prefer to receive ads that are related to the location provided and 39% on GPS location
• 42% want ads on what’s being viewed or searched
• Traditional ads also fare well, as long as they are not perceived as intrusive or impair they ability to access information
• Users also said they would prefer to receive ads while an application loads (28%), in text (26%) or banner ads ( 24%)

 
ContextWeb, creator of the ADSDAQ online Ad Exchange, launched a real-time impression based bidding system allowing ad agencies and networks to purchase media based on the real-time valuation of impressions.
 

 
The DOJ began an antitrust inquiry into the settlement Google struck with US authors and publishers for the right to scan and digitize their books, according to reports in the WSJ and the NYTimes. Google agreed to establish an independent “Book Rights Registry,” which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to participating authors and publishers. But concerns have been raised about allowing Google to corner the market on out-of-print or so called “orphaned” books whose authors cannot be found.

Far from immune from the internet ad crunch, IAC reported losses of $3.2 million on revenues of $332 million during Q1 as Media & Advertising revenues dropped by 22% to $167 million. Perhaps signaling a new interest in mobile applications, the company also announced the acquisition of popular iPhone app Urbanspoon for an undisclosed amount. (That’s the app you shake for GPS-powered restaurant recommendations.) The company plans to integrate Urbanspoon’s content across IAC’s local sites, including Citysearch and InsiderPages.

Lin TV is partnering with Capitol Broadcasting’s mobile subsidiary News Over Wireless (NOW) to distribute video content to mobile devices and develop ad supported iPhone apps for each of its local TV stations. The apps will feature local news, sports and entertainment, video, weather forecasts and traffic reports.

Sorenson Media today announced that its Sorenson Spark video decoder has been licensed by Qualcomm for chipsets targeted for use in next generation mobile phones, mobile computing devices, and other consumer products.

 
DVD sales dropped by 14% to $2.9 billion during Q1 compared to a year earlier, according to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG). Overall pre-recorded home entertainment, which includes new DVDs, used DVDs, Blu-rays and web downloads, declined 5% to $5.3 billion. While they didn’t make up for the overall slowdown, sales of Blu-rays and digital downloads did increase dramatically. Blu-ray sales more than doubled from a year ago while digital download sales increased by 19%, totaling $230 million and $487 million respectively.
 
Advice spread by blogs and community sites have a palpable affect on how female consumers spend their money, according to a new Women and Social Media Study from NBCU’s iVillage Networks, BlogHer and Compass Partners. According to the study, which queried some 2,800 women,

• 64% of these online women polled are posting product recommendations to message boards and articles online
• 77% of women polled say these community recommendations impact their purchase decisions (that number jumps to 87% within the iVillage community)
• “Millenials” (women 18-26) and “Generation X” (women 27-43) are the largest segments of social media users

 

                                                                                    
To build buzz for MTV‘s Justin Timberlake-produced reality show The Phone, Fanscape has launched an interactive Twitter-based game on MTV’s Twitter page. Similar to the popular kids’ game “Telephone,” Fanscape tweets MTV’s audience weekly with abstract messages, asking them to change one word and retweet the message to create progressively funnier conversations. The marketing agency says MTV’s Twitter account has grown by more than 27% since the game’s launch.
 

 
Former Detroit Free Press publisher David Hunke was hired by Gannett to become the new Publisher of USA Today. David, in turn, named acting editor John Hillkirk to take over as permanent Editor of the paper.
 
David Rosenblatt, the former head of DoubleClick, is stepping down as President of Google’s global display advertising unit, per the NYTimes. The loss follows the defection of several high-ranking sales executives at Google.
 
Chris Waldron has been upped to VP/Gaming Operations for Cartoon Network, reporting to Paul Condolora, SVP, Digital for Turner Broadcasting’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media group in Atlanta. Chris will oversee Cartoon Network’s game development studio, game production and overall games strategy for Cartoon Network Digital. 
 
Dailymotion hired Roland Hamilton has joined as SVP of Sales for North America. He was most recently with Mevio, where he was in charge of sales for the Eastern US. The video sharing site also added four new sales positions in North America, filled by Steve Moriya, formerly with World Wrestling Entertainment, Marc Cristiano, most recently with BET.com, Tamara Jones, formerly with Gaia Interactive and Andrew Freedman, who comes from Fox Interactive Media.
 
New York-based CheckM8 appointed Dan Scherer to the newly-created position of SVP/Sales and Marketing. Dan will manage the company’s relationships with large content publishers and ad networks and direct the introduction of the company’s Rich Media AdVantage platform.
 
Black Broadcasting Network hired former TV/OlympuSAT executive Paul E. Waters Jr. as SVP/Sales and Marketing. He will be based in Houston, TX.
 

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Foodies are going to want to check out Dish and Dine, a brand new cooking community site with a wonderfully organic look and feel. Launched by the trio behind Stonehouse Productions (which has produced a number of shows for Rachael Ray and the Food Network,) it strikes a perfect balance between professionally produced video and UGC and allows users to get as involved as would like by submitting recipes and videos or pinging the crowd for advice. The crew leveraged their contacts in the food world to get permission to shoot in celebrity’s home kitchens to give the site a homey feel. (Watch this to see what Christopher Walken does with a Chicken.) The interface revolves around a “map” which lays out various categories of foods and fun sections of the site. The “gadgets and gizmos” site reviews the latest utensils for the kitchen. There’s even a cool fast-paced flash trivia game quizzing users on their cooking knowledge. Co-founder Cheryl Carlesimo, whose photo is featured on the sample “my plate” graphic upon sign-up, says the layout was inspired by Pike Place market in Seattle. “We’ve been to a lot of the food sites on the web but felt that many lacked a visual feel,” says Cheryl.
 

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
04.30.09

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JOB OPENING: NATIONAL SALES MANAGER/WTIC/WTXX/Hartford: Seeking NSM with at least 5+ yrs media sales exp; broadcast TV, cable or radio exp. preferred; excellent negotiation skills; strong work ethic; Resume: resumes@fox61.com (5/7)

JOB OPENING: MANAGER, COMMUNICATIONS/Nickelodeon/NYC: 5+yrs exp TV programming PR relations, Strg writing skills, Strat/Creative Comm plans, Strng Press Relationships, Knwlg of TV Ind. EOE/M/F/D/AAP. Apply www.mtvncareers.com (5/6)

JOB OPENING: MGR, PPV SCHEDULING/iN DEMAND/NYC: Execute strategy & create monthly ppv schedule. BA, plus 3yrs exp in network scheduling/software required. Apply: resume@indemand.com (5/6)

JOB OPENING: SR MGR PROMOTIONS: 8+yrs , 20-25hrs/wk Dvlp/mng strategic promotions & mktg prgrms for cable clients. Oversee creative dvlpmnt, web prod, campaign support elements & prod. For complete job info: career9937@yahoo.com (5/6)

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JOB OPENING: DIR, BRAND MKTG/SPEED/NC: 10+ yrs exp in mktg/adv/social ntwrkg/brand pos/strategic initiatives. Must have exp with trad and nontrad media platforms. Resumes to: www.foxcareers.com ref: FNG15901 (5/5)

JOB OPENING: ASSOCIATE ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/MARATHON VENTURES, NY: Sale of short/long form direct response inventory. DR exp req. Sales or Buying exp req. Apply: jobs@mvmediasales.com (5/5)

JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, ND&S/Hallmark Channel/Studio City: Increase distribution for Hallmark Channel & Movie Channel SD/HD. Min. 5 yrs. sales exp. See full posting & apply @ www.hallmarkchannel.com (5/2)

JOB OPENING: SALES COORDINATOR/LA/Ent-Media research co: Complete admin support to bus devel team. Strong multi-tasking/project mgmt skills a must.  Sales Force exp a plus. http://www.epollresearch.com/corp/aboutus/careers.view (5/2)

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JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR MKTG/The Sportsman Channel/NY, NY: Lead mktg team’s consumer awareness efforts & affiliate mktg. 5+ yrs exp in TV or digital media. Apply: hr@thesportsmanchannel.com (4/30)

JOB OPENING: VP AFFILIATE SALES/MKTG/The Sportsman Channel/Denver, CO: Lead sales & retention efforts in Western territory. 5+ yrs exp in cable television industry. Apply: hr@thesportsmanchannel.com (4/30)

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JOB OPENING: SVP AD SALES (1) /NY-CGO-LA/ TV Network: 10+ Yrs Sales & Mgmt. Oversee all aspects of new, fast growing TV ntwrk ad sales effort. Emphasis on mgmt, new biz dev, growing existing biz. Med travel. SVPsearch@gmail.com (4/30)

JOB OPENING: MGR, INTL MKTG/PROGRAMMING/RCN CORP./Herndon, VA: Mng/execute Int’l mktg strategy initiatives; negotiate Int’l mktg plans; 5+yrs exp /Int’l mktg exp. Pref’d. Apply www.rcn.com & send resume to: Aleisha.Bozin@rcn.net (4/30)

JOB OPENING: INTERNET SALES DIR: Mng fast growing websites, mobile platforms. Train AE’s aspects of int. & dvlpmnt of results mktg campaigns. Proven track rec of int sales success media, mktg/sales. Ltr/res: ed.bassler@wivb.com EOE (4/30)

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SITUATION WANTED: AVAILABLE NOW: 15-year veteran LOS ANGELES Audio Post supervisor/editor/sound-designer/mixer CREATIVE with ProTools and series television, national radio, corporate and feature film credits. emix2pix@gmail.com (5/7)

SITUATION WANTED: COLLEGE STUDENT/NYC/DC: Seeking exciting summer internship (paid or unpaid). Drama & Psyc major at Vassar College, particularly interested in film and TV. Enthusiastic and hardworking. bepalacios@vassar.edu (5/7)

SITUATION WANTED: WRITER, PROD. ASST., RSCH, CREATIVE CONSULTANT: (PBS, MTV, GSUSA, Columbia) Script/story dvlpmt TV, theatre; educa & corp dvlpmt. Music, children’s media. Good sense of humor! annakatherinemontgomery@yahoo.com (5/7)

SITUATION WANTED: SR MEDIA BUYER (FL): Exp’d Sr Buyer w/25 yrs exp, worked w/ major nat’l clients across all dayparts for TV, Radio & Cable. Team player, det. oriented, FT or freelance. greenblatt474@bellsouth.net or (954) 328-5136 (5/6)

SITUATION WANTED: EXPERIENCED GRAPHIC DESIGNER (LA): Reality-TV, Film, Commercial, Documentaries & Corporate. Creative & Flexible. Seeking Freelance or Staff Position, Remote or In-House. Reel & Contact Info: www.ChaztizedMedia.com (5/6)

SITUATION WANTED: ART DIRECTOR / DESIGNER/ILLUSTRATOR (NY): Children’s market highly desired, permanent or freelance. 20 years experience working concept through completion. Portfolio: www.baerdavis.com Email: scott@baerdavis.com (5/6)

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SITUATION WANTED: PA/COORD (NY) Prod/Admin experience. Team player, highly organized, detail oriented. Natural multi-tasker seeks FT, PT, freelance work in TV/Film prod. Email: lschupnyc@aol.com (4/30)

SITUATION WANTED: DOCUMENTARY. PRODUCER, DIRECTOR, WRITER in L.A. Credits: National Geo, PBS, Discovery, History CH, TLC and MSNBC. Contact email: Nyehouse@sbcglobal.net (4/30)

SITUATION WANTED: MARKETING EXECUTIVE in NYC area. View my web folio for resume and accomplishments: www.webprofile.info/jrayher/ (4/30)

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