Thursday, October 30th, 2008

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Cynopsis: DIGITAL

10/30/08

Good morning, it’s Thursday, October 30, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

After more than two years of haggling, Google reached a landmark agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers over compensation for Google Book Search, the company’s massive book scan project that gives users digital access to previews of books. The search giant has agreed to pay $125 million in exchange for the right to make up to 20% of copyrighted works available to users, who in turn will have the option to buy the complete work in digital format from the site. Google took a scan first, settle the legal conflict later strategy when in launched the Library Project in 2006. The company has signed more than 20,000 publishers and authors to its Partner Program and has scanned thousands of titles from city and university libraries such as the New York Public Library. With a deal now in place, Google will be able to vastly expand its catalog to include leading bestsellers and out-of-print books that can be tough to track down in print format.

~ MULTIPLATFORM CONTENT NEWS ~

MTV and Apple Corps. (the Beatles’ music label not the computer company) called an early morning press conference for Thursday to announce an “exclusive agreement” to develop “an unprecedented Global Music Project.” Unless MTV has pulled off a third party deal to represent the Beatles long-awaited digital music catalog, a Fab Four Rock Band game is the most likely news. (MTV owns the Harmonix, maker of the Rock Band console game.)

Sony Pictures Entertainment is installing new management, opening a new headquarters and preparing to commit a range of new full-length Sony TV shows and movies to Crackle.com reports THR. Eric Berger, who oversaw mobile entertainment at Sony, will take over at Crackle replacing Jonathan Shambroom, who has overseen the site since February. The site plans to premiere as many as five 13-episode original series each quarter beginning early next year with Angel of Death from comic-book artist Ed Brubaker.

Turner Sports-managed NBA.com launched the NBA League Broadband service offering access to up to 40 live games per week, the first time NBA games have been available online. Bells and whistles include a mosaic video player allowing fans to watch and track up to 3 games at once. The service is currently available for the early bird price of $169 for the season. Subscribers to the TV version get the broadband service for free.

Meanwhile the NHL is offering free access to its Game Center Live service today to drum up interest. A full season of hockey games also costs $169.

MSNBC‘s newest politico Rachel Maddow has got her own site now featuring full podcasts of her nightly show and a customizable interface allowing users to create embeddable playlists of their favorite clips. Viewers can also interact with Rachel using msnbc.com’s own social media news site Newsvine or via Twitter.

Comcast’s Fancast.com launched a new weekly blog called “Ask Judah,” featuring 30 Rock co-star Judah Friedlander fielding questions from users on any and all topics. His blog will run on Thursdays and Fridays to promote both linear and online viewing of 30 Rock. Two-time Dancing With the Stars winner Julianne Hough and Amazing Race Goth’s Kynt and Vyxsin also blog for Fancast.
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~ INNOVATORS & START-UPS ~

Broadband video streaming service TidalTV added CNBC programming to its line up including news updates and long-form originals such as The Hunt for Black Gold and Saving General Motors.

Andover, MA.-based online citizen journalism hub Helium raised $17 million in Series A financing led by Signature Capital LLC and including Northport Private Equity. Helium showcases and even pays some authors upfront for their work. It also operates a marketplace to help publishers find licensed content. Helium has attracted a community of 150,000+ writers who contribute on a broad range of topics.

Interactive One announced the launch of Elev8 , the latest in its suite of content sites powered by the BlackPlanet Universe. Elev8 is a personal empowerment-themed site dedicated to enriching the lives of African Americans by offering services, tools, information and community features.

Retailer Hot Topic, Inc launched ShockHound a music-based site offering MP3s, band merchandise, music videos and editorial content allowing indie artists upload and sell their work. Editorial content for ShockHound is headed by Editor-In-Chief, Randy Bookasta, formerly EIC for the alternative rock magazine Ray Gun, and Managing Editor, Dan Epstein, who had been with heavy metal magazine Revolver.

Netflix Player manufacturer Roku Inc. received an undisclosed amount of Series C financing from Melno Ventures.

~ GADGETS & APPS ~

Google’s Android mobile OS is slowly but surely accumulating some interesting apps. Electronic Arts unveiled three classic games for the platform yesterday including Tetris, available now, followed by the popular Bejeweled and Monopoly Here & Now coming in Nov. EA has developed a number of hit games for the iPhone including Scrabble and Spore Origins.

AT&T announced a perk for iPhone users subscribers can now connect to A&T Wi-Fi hotspots for no extra charge, available at thousands of Starbucks nationwide. (AT&T recently took over operation of Starbucks Wi-Fi networks from T-Mobile.)

~ TECHNOLOGY DEALS, MERGERS AND SKIRMISHES ~

IAC subsidiary Ticketmaster reached an agreement to acquire Front Line Management Inc. for $123 million in cash. The newly merged company, which continues to battle with promoter-turned ticket seller Live Nation, will henceforth be known as Ticketmaster Entertainment. Front Line is one of the most powerful talent management firms in the music business, controlled by Irving Azoff whose clients include the Eagles, Christina Aguilera and Van Halen. Azoff will stay on as CEO of the venture, reporting to Ticketmaster chairman Barry Diller.

Comcast demonstrated impressive growth during slowing economic times, adding 483,000 digital-phone customers, 417,000 digital-TV subscribers and 382,000 high-speed internet customers during Q3. The company reported earnings of $771 million on revenue of $8.55 billion. However Comcast’s basic video subs decreased by 147,000 to 24.4 million, an even larger decline than in Q3 2007.

Time Warner Cable signed a 5-year licensing deal with ITV-software developer BIAP to develop advanced advertising initiatives involving VOD and interactive programming guide integrations. The deal allows Time Warner Cable digital set-top boxes to run Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format applications created by the MSO, programmers or other third parties.
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~ DIGITAL ADVERTISING ~

Online video portal blip.tv unveiled a new system to dynamically stream ads within videos delivered via Apple’s iTunes platform. The IAB-compliant system allows advertisers to verify views using DoubleClick’s DART platform, the first time ads have been able to be tracked using a third party source within the QuickTime format.

Local search and ad platform Marchex added 23 new publishers to its ranks including UPI.com, NationalReview.com and The GlobeandMail.com, Canada’s top newspaper site.
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~ TRENDS, RESEARCH, ETC. ~

The growth rate of online video ad spending will peak at 78.9% in 2012 when both traditional and alternative media companies will be distributing far more professional-quality video content online, and when the national elections and the summer Olympics will contribute far more to video ad spending than they did in 2008, according to eMarketer projections.

U.S. Online Video Advertising Spending Growth, 2008-2013

Year % change

2008 55.9%

2009 48.5%

2010 53.3%

2011 65.2%

2012 78.9%

2013 70.6%

Source: eMarketer

On the event of its first birthday professional video portal Hulu released the results of survey conducted by Insight Express that polled nearly 20,000 of its users from July ’08 Aug. ’08. Hulu, which climbed to #6 in the most recent Nielsen VideoCensus data streaming 142 million videos in Sept., received mostly rave reviews in terms of the quality of its user experience and the effectiveness of the ads it serves:

98% of Hulu users say that they would recommend Hulu to friends, co-workers or family
Nearly 80% of respondents who used Hulu in the last 30 days rated it Excellent/Very Good on a scale of Excellent/Very Good/Good/Fair/Poor
8% of respondents watched a TV program (or clips) that they had never watched before even though it’s currently on TV
20% of respondents watched a TV episode (or clips) that they had missed for a series I normally watch on TV
19% of respondents watched a TV program (or clips) no longer on TV
93% of respondents said Hulu had the right amount of ads in exchange for content
In data aggregated across 4 brand advertisers (2 personal care products, a food distributor and an auto manufacturer), data supported brand awareness of above 90%

~ WEBSITE OF THE DAY ~

While the settlement of Google’s copyright infringement lawsuit may in fact pave the way for digital book distribution to finally take off, one start-up continues to bet on readers’ love affair with the printed word. Book Swim is a Netflix-style online book rental service enabling users to “pool” up and order books and keep them as long as they like for a flat monthly fee. The site’s most popular plan runs $19.98 for 3 rentals at a time, but a cheaper $15/2 book plan is also available. Why pay for books when the local library lends them for free? Well, some folks live miles from their local library or are too busy to make it during regular lending hours. The service is really a godsend for those who like to keep up with the latest bestsellers, which cost $25-$30 to buy and can take months to get from the library. Book Swim wouldn’t disclose how big its catalog is, but says it stocks the top 20,000 most popular titles on Amazon.com. The site is clearly tailored toward voracious readers; company spokesperson Eric Ginsberg cites national statistics that say while only 4% of the U.S. reads 3 or more titles a month, those who do pour through 20 titles a month on average. Any service that keeps people reading is a good one in our view. But it might not be a bad idea to have a digital distribution strategy in place when E-readers do take off. When devices like the Kindle improve and become cheaper, more and more of those power readers are likely to find them indispensable.

Later — Wayne
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
10.30.08

Cynopsis Digital Ad Sales:
Chuck Bolkcom – 646-468-6180 / [email protected]
Mark Bohn- 203-583-1224 / mark@cynopsis. com
Classifieds – Trish Pihonak- 203-926-9878 / [email protected]

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A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CYNOPSIS MEDIA: TOP TIER

What would a year be without something new from Cyn opsis? Introducing …

Cynopsis Media: Top Tier
Executive Search Division

High level executive search, candidates fully screened and vetted, meeting precisely your criteria.

For more information, call Trish Pihonak 203.926.9878
if you’re looking to make an executive change, or are looking for a change of scenery yourself.
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Cynopsis Media: Top Tier

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Cyn opsis CLASSIFIEDS – For More classifieds, visit the Cynopsis.com classifieds page here .

JOB OPENING: SERIES PRODUCER/Chorion/NYC: Experienced show runner with children’s animation experience needed for upcoming TV series. Send resume to [email protected] Must be based in NY (11/6)

JOB OPENING: CLIENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST/NY: Liaison between clients & tech. suppt & dev. groups in co. for software defects, user q’s, tracking, advert. or media indust. exp. DealMaker exp. a + Resumes to: [email protected] (11/6)

JOB OPENING: PUBLICISTS/ANIMATION-WEB-MOBILE/ Beck Media & Marketing/L.A.: Seeks accomplished pros (5+ yrs) with Animation and/or Tech PR experience for web, tech, and toon clientele. Resume and cover letter to [email protected] (11/6)

JOB OPENING: SALES MKTG MGR/Univision Online/NY: Resp for creating/mngng mkt prgrms/materials that will enable Bus Dev to enlist new websites to Ad Ntwrk, in addition help sales close new client bus. [email protected] (11/5)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXEC/Fuse/LA: Sell national on-air media. Incr exst’ing clnts, gen new biz. Prsnt new prgm’ing, brand pos, mktg opps. Excl. interpers’l/org skills/MS Excel & PP. Send Rez to: [email protected] “AELA” in sub (11/5)

JOB OPENING: DIR, ON-AIR PROMO/LA: Resp for mngmnt of creative/graphics (internal & ext vendors), ops, ovrsee promo schdulng & mgmt. 5-7 yrs on-air mngmnt/ops exp req’d; brdcst &/or cable ntwrk a must. www.foxcareers.com FNG14268 (11/5)

JOB OPENING: AE NATIONAL AD SALES/Comcast: Represent assigned ntwrks (E!, Style, G4, Versus) to customers; develop & maintain new & existing business. Nat’l ad sales exp. req’d. Apply: www.ecentralmetrics.com/url/?u=198871295-298 (11/4)

JOB OPENING: DIR MKT/RLTV/MD: Dev & execute affiliate mkt and media plans, set ROI and benchmarks, dev cross-plat partnerships and mkt alliances, 10+ yrs exper w/strong bus skills. Resume: [email protected] (11/4)

JOB OPENING: SR. COUNSEL/HIT Entertainment/NYC: Mid-level atty to draft and negotiate contracts & lic agreements. Exp kids ent, lic and/or branded products. Res: [email protected] (11/4)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/Rainbow Advertising Sales Corp/ Bronx NY: 3 yrs min exp major market tv, radio sales exp at ad agency level. See full posting and apply to www.cablevision.jobs req id 6841BR (11/1)

JOB OPENING: PROD/DIRECTOR /Cablevision/Norwalk, CT: Min. 2 yrs exp all aspects of vid.prod. Writing/shooting/non linear editing. Must know AVID/ Final Cut Pro. See full posting and apply to www.cablevision.jobs req id 7053BR (11/1)

JOB OPENING: ONLINE MKTG SUPERVISOR/iN DEMAND/NYC: Savvy marketer wanted with online expertise to maximize web strategies. Deg + 3 years exp. Apply: [email protected] (11/1)

JOB OPENING: DIR BRDBND VID/Lifetime/LA/: webst brdbnd vid prod; dev/prod webisde/vid cncpts/prog cntnt; mnge wrkflw vid creat/delvry. 5+ yrs vid prod; FinalCutPro; vid fr wbste; comprsn;stdrds; fld prdcng. Res: [email protected] (11/1)

JOB OPENING: EXEC SEC/IFC/NYC: Provide high level admin support to SVP of Orig Prog & Sr. staff. Highly org,detail orient prof w/2-4admin exp. Degree + related industry a +. rez: www.cablevision.jobs ref #7452BR (11/1)

JOB OPENING: SR GRAPHICS DESIGNER/Sundance/NYC: Design, concept &exec of branded ent& tent pole campaigns for off-air &Brdcst & Dig platforms.7+ yrs design/BC exp. Excel software skills. rez: www.cablevision.jobs ref #7258BR (11/1)

JOB OPENING: SUPRV-PROGRAM INVENT/Rainbow/LI: Resp for Orig Program Invent for AMC/IFC/WE/Sundance. Related exp a must. Data Analysis, database & PM nec. rez: www.cablevision.jobs ref #7366BR (11/1)

JOB OPENING: SR SALES COORDINATOR/TBS/TNT/truTV Chicago: Support Nat’l sales teams. 2-4 yrs experience necessary. Analytical thinker. Send resumes: [email protected] (10/31)

JOB OPENING: CINEMA MEDIA BUYER/ICON Int’l/Stamford CT(across from Metro North): 5yrs+ nat’l movie buying exp w/major ad firm. Strong math/negotiating/comm. skills, detailed & comp. proficient. Res/sal req: [email protected] (10/31)

INTERNSHIPS – These positions are for credit only – nobody gets paid here. These ads are always posted for free , and students work for school credit only. For more information on the specs for posting an Internship ad, email Trish at [email protected] .

FALL INTERNSHIPS CREDITS ONLY: Fujisankei Communications Intl/ NY: Seeks INTERN for ATAKU CHANNEL, a mobile TV channel for anime broadcast on MobiTV & Sprint Live. Submit cover letters/resumes to [email protected]. More info: www.fci-ny.com (11/6)

FALL INTERNSHIPS CREDITS ONLY: SESAME WORKSHOP/NYC seeks INTERNS for Sesame Street & International Production, dept. for various projects. Knwlg of MS Word/Excel/ email Res: [email protected] Stipend offered (11/6)

FALL INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: Soapbox Studios: An Atlanta based Post-production, Music Engineering, and Creative Design Studio seeks winter 2008 interns. Please contact [email protected] (11/5)

FALL INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: The Research department at CBS Television Distribution, in Los Angeles is looking for qualified paid Interns for Fall 2008. Please send resume to [email protected] (11/5)

FALL INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: NYC based entertainment PR agency seeks fall 2008 intern. Please contact: [email protected] (10/31)

SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED … Interested in posting your Video Resume? Contact [email protected] for more information ….

SITUATION WANTED: Freelance event planner/mktg director with 8+ yrs of experience in the entertainment/media industry. Available starting 1/1/09 to help w/ event plan’g, proposal writing or mktg prgrm dvlpmnt. [email protected] (11/6)

E-mail [email protected] for rates and specs for Job Openings.

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