A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE DIRECTV

Cynopsis: DIGITAL

09/10/09

Good morning, it’s Thursday, September 10, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
 
A fully-recovered (yet thinner) Steve Jobs, equipped with a 20-something’s liver, unveiled the latest iTunes software from Apple yesterday, along with a line-up of new iPods designed to take on more multimedia functionality. iTunes 9 makes some intriguing leaps forward in terms of intelligence and customization. The application will now make “Genius” recommendations for apps, movies and TV shows as it does for music, while improved synching functionality will make it easy to transfer downloads to multiple computers within the home. (iPhone synching has also been improved to allow you to organize your app layout from the desktop interface.) New kinds of content have also been introduced: iTunes LP is a multimedia packaging of music, videos, lyrics, artworks, liner notes and extras. iTunes Extras does this for movie and TV show releases, including documentaries, deleted scenes and interviews.
 

 
Verizon announced it is expanding its FiOS TV HD on demand content line up by adding 150 hours each from HBO, Cinemax and The Movie Channel and doubling HD VOD content from Starz by adding 150 hours from Encore.
 
Starz is promoting the premiere of season 2 of Crash by giving cable and satellite subscribers a free peek of the first episode, a week before its Sept. 18 premiere. It’s available from tomorrow on the On Demand services of Cox, Charter and Comcast. Crash #201 is also airing on DirecTV’s 101 network tonight at 8pm ET/PT.
 
Peter Rodgers Organization (PRO) became the latest program supplier to Hulu, licensing a number of movies and classic TV show episodes from its catalogue including The Rifleman, (starring Chuck Connors,) and The Cisco Kid.
 
Call for Content: FOX and MySpace are inviting aspiring performers to enter the GLEE MySpace Karaoke Contest by recording and uploading their own interpretations of featured songs from GLEE, including Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” and Kanye West’s “Gold Digger.” The competition is open to those 14 and older and ends Wednesday, Sept. 23.
 

 
Sweden-based DRM-free digital movie download service Headweb signed a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. The studio will make new releases such as Gran Torino, Benjamin Button Amazing Life and Hangover available for download in Sweden day-in-date of their release on DVD and Blu-ray. Headweb plans to expand the service to additional European markets later this year.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE IAB MIXX 2009

 
New York-based start-up eXelate launched its “Access + Partner Program,” integrating with video ad networks BrightRoll and TidalTV to give advertisers and agencies access to detailed targeting data to help them make more efficient video ad buys. The integration is part of an effort to build a platform that builds data verticals across demographics, interest and purchasing intent. As part of its “Data Anywhere” initiative, eXelate plans to announce several additional Access+ partners in the next few weeks.
 
Dynamic ad company Dapper, which provides templates for creating widgets, Google gadgets, Facebook apps, etc., launched an interview series to showcase efforts being made to save the embattled display advertising business. The first podcast in the series features Iggy Fanlo, CEO of AdBrite.
 

 
Perhaps responding to all those frustrated iPhone users, AT&T announced it will upgrade its 3G network in 6 major cities this year. AT&T will roll out High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, with initial service availability expected in these markets by the end of the year. The company says the technology will be available in 25 of the nation’s 30 top markets by the end of 2010. Taking a page from T-Mobile, AT&T also unveiled a new “A-list” feature, allowing subscribers to choose 5 numbers they can call on an unlimited usage basis.
 
Cable MSO Bresnan Communications has signed a deal to utilize the internet-based TV technology platform Clearleap to manage its localized VOD listings service “The Spot.” The system will streamline the process of ingesting, distributing, managing and monetizing local content.
 

 
Nearly 25% of U.S. households tune into TV content online, up from 20% a year ago, and Hulu is quickly catching up with YouTube to become the go-to site to view TV programs, according to a new survey from The Conference Board. Consumers are moving away from “appointment” TV viewing and being able to view favorite shows at any time in any place are the two major reasons cited by more than half of consumers for turning to online TV:

• Two-thirds of all online TV viewers access their favorite programs through streaming video, while 41% utilize free downloads
• 90% of online viewers enjoy online TV from their own home; only 10% do so at the office
• More than two-thirds of online TV viewers access television content through the official TV channel’s homepage
• Youtube.com still retains second place, accessed by 42% of online TV viewers. Hulu    usage has grown from 8% of households in 2008 to 32% today

 
A new study from Ipsos MediaCT agrees that Hulu is quickly on its way to becoming a household name, finding that 67% of U.S. online users have now streamed or downloaded content from the site. Awareness for Hulu jumped from 9% in Sept. ’08 to 41% in April ’09 (following those alien commercials,) while past 30 day stated usage increased from just 3% to 14% during the same period.
 
Digital Video Website Awareness and Stated Usage
                  Sept. 2008           April 2009
               Awareness/Past 30 Days Stated Usage
YouTube        83%/49%              87%/56% 
iTunes          46%/8%                 49%/10%
MySpace       54%/13%               46%/9%
Hulu               9%/3%                 41%/14%
Source: Ipsos MediaCT
 
Nielsen informed its clients that it is preparing to measure online viewing of cable and broadcast TV programs and to include that data as part of its TV ratings service, per Adweek.
 

 
The new iPods are here and while they’re not earth shattering, they are certainly worth mentioning:

• The new iPod nano has a built-in video camera, FM tuner and built-in pedometer (that’s kind of cool.) You can hit pause when you’re listening to the radio then resume listening to the show or song. A “tagging” feature allows you to bookmark songs you hear to later purchase them on iTunes. It also ships in 9 colors, retails for $149 for 8GB or $179 for 16GB and features a larger 2.2″ screen
• The price of the 8GB iPod Touch (the iPhone without AT&T 3G connectivity) has been lowered to $199, cementing it as the must have pocket computer/gaming device, with access to over 75,000 apps. (Apple says it has sold 20 million iPod Touches to date)
• The tiny iPod shuffle is now available in a 2GB model for $59 and a 4GB model for $79

 
Three months after unveiling the Palm Pre, Palm Inc. unveiled the smaller, more affordable Pixi smartphone, set to be released in time for holidays at a price point of around $100. It will ship with a 2.63 inch touchscreen, a 2 megapixel camera, 8GB of flash memory and an always-present keyboard (unlike the Pre keyboard, which tucks away.) Palm also said it was cutting the price of the Pre to $149 with a two-year commitment from Sprint and a $100 mail-in rebate.
 
Fantasy Footballers will be happy to know that there are two new iPhone apps to help them mange their teams:

• The ESPN FF app ($4.99) provides live scores and stats, head-to-head point totals and personalized push notifications of injury updates and line-up changes. ESPN says its ScoreCenter app has been downloaded more than 2.2 million times and that the FF Draft Kit app was downloaded more than 350k times
• Yahoo also launched a free FF app this week, enabling line-up changes, match-up scoring, waiver wire pick-ups and video round-up viewing.

 
Greg Grunberg’s (Matt Parkman on Heroes) mobile couponing app Yowza! released an update featuring a wealth of new features including mapping, push notifications of new offer alerts at selected stores and improved sharing features including integrations with Twitter and Facebook.
 

 
Underlying the growing importance of China as a consumer electronics market, the CEA announced that Zhou Houjian, Chairman of Hisense, will deliver a keynote address at CES next year as part of the third annual Technology and Emerging Countries (TEC) Program.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE WESTDOC

 
The death and downsizing of print publications across the country has given birth to some vibrant local news sites as groups of local reporters take their buyouts and set out to make a go of it on the web. Former Multichannel News reporter Linda Moss says she has been contributing to NewJerseyNewsroom.com, founded by some former scribes from The Star-Ledger. The site, which prides itself on its coverage of local political races like the increasingly nasty contest for New Jersey Governor, is at least being read by politicos themselves – N.J. Gov. Corzine gets a printout of it every day and the gubernatorial candidates have all written for it, says Linda. Local news sites being led by news reporters may eventually be able to break through if they can deliver impactful news on a consistent basis – that is if advertisers are willing to follow the local readers. Many of these sites seem to lack expertise in ad sales and sponsorships, but start-ups often learn as they go. Other promising starving reporter sites include In Denver Times, founded by some former Rocky Mountain News reporters, and Seattle Post Globe, run by former Seattle Post Intelligencer staffers. The latter has taken to soliciting $10/month donations from readers to help keep the servers going. Brother can you spare a 10-spot? That’s not a bad price to pay to help guarantee a free press.
 
Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
09.10.09

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