A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM IFC + SUNDANCE

Cynopsis: DIGITAL

04/21/09

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, April 21, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. 

Oracle Corp. agreed to purchase Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion stock in a blockbuster deal, just two weeks after Sun concluded merger talks with IBM. Oracle will pay $9.50/share for the company – a 42% premium on Sun’s April 17 closing price. The deal gives Larry Ellison-led Oracle – the world’s second largest software company – an important foothold in the server and storage market as well as ownership of Sun’s Java programming language and Solaris operating system. Sun’s Java technology enables developers to write programs that work across operating systems and on a variety of devices. Sun says the software has been installed on some 800 million desktop computers and that it powers a total of 2.1 billion mobile devices.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE from ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES

 
Fox Interactive Media’s MySpace and sister News Corp. property Fox News teamed to launch a new social news site dubbed MySpace uReport. Fox’s answer to CNN’s popular UGC site iReport, the site links to the profile pages of Fox News personalities and enables MySpace members to upload videos and photos for possible inclusion on Fox News Channel or FoxNews.com.
 
The 2009 EPpy Awards nominees were announced, one of the longest running honors for online content sponsored by sponsored by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek. The website of the embattled Boston Globe received 5 nominations for categories including Best Sports Blog (Mazz –Tony Massarotti’s sports blog), Best Community Web Site and Best Entertainment Web Site (both Boston.com/ThingsToDo and Boston.com/ae were nominated.) AOL led all publishers with 6 nominations including Best Consumer Technology Blog Engadget and Best Entertainment Blog PopEater.
 

 
Seattle-based Fisher Communications signed a deal with Backchannelmedia to deploy’s the company’s Clickable TV solution across its 13 stations. The iTV solution, adopted first by Hearst-Argyle’s WCVB in Boston, enables viewers to interact with TV programs and ads by “bookmarking” content they can access through a web browsers. Stations can use the platform to sell clickable ad inventory based on actionable clicks or impressions.
 
Digg is terminating an exclusive ad sales agreement with Microsoft a year before it was scheduled to expire in an effort to take control of its own ad sales efforts, per Clickz. Microsoft will still manage Digg’s remnant advertising.
 

 
At its sold out Digital Video Marketplace confab the IAB unveiled new Video Player Ad Interface Definition (VPAID) guidelines to simplify and standardize the process of buying online video ads. The latest step in an ongoing effort to build a common digital video ecosystem the industry can agree upon, the VPAID standards seek to speed the adoption of next generation video ad formats that promise greatly improved engagement and ROI results for advertisers.
 
Green-focused ad network SustainLane Media has inked a partnership deal with radio conglomerate Citadel Media to launch SustainAmerica, a new Web resource to inform users on how to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle featuring news, blogs, product reviews and how-to’s on living green. As part of the deal Citadel Media will sell ad inventory from SustainLane Media’s 150-plus partner Green Ad Network, which SustainLane claims reaches over 30 million unique monthly users.
 

 
To try and bridge the final gap between interactive content and the television, Adobe introduced a version of Flash designed to be embedded in televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players and other entertainment devices. The new Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home will be available in the second half of 2009 with support from Comcast, Disney, Netflix and The New York Times Company. Adobe also unveiled a new framework codenamed “Strobe,” to enable developers using Flash to quickly and easily add rich functionality­such as advertising, user measurement and tracking, and social network integration­into new custom players that can be branded for individual content owners. Finally Adobe announced a new partnership with Brightcove to collaborate on technology and services that includes Brightcove’s adoption of the new “Strobe” framework.
 
The Washington D.C. local TV market will be the first to roll out mobile DTV services beginning late this summer, per the AP. Local affiliates of CBS, NBC, PBS and Ion and one Fox-owned independent station will deliver video content to cellphones, laptop computers, and in-car entertainment systems containing approved DTV receivers. The consumer test will come on top of industry trials set to launch in the coming weeks in Atlanta and Seattle, on the heels of a trial launched last week at Raleigh’s innovative Capitol Broadcasting station WRAL.
 
Comcast’s white label CDN the Platform signed a deal with 4Kids Entertainment to manage publication and delivery of online video for many of its youth-targeted programs on 4kids.tv and 4KidsTV.com including Yu-Gi-Oh, Sonic X, Kirby and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. thePlatform also manages video for PBS KIDS Sprout, Hit Entertainment and Corus Entertainment in the kids space.
 
On demand technology vendor Edgeware announced a partnership with Avtrex to provide full interoperability for video services delivered over the internet, including ad-insertion and “trick play” capabilities. By combining these solutions, service providers and OTT operators can add capabilities typically found over IPTV or CATV to Web TV delivery, advancing the possibilities and potential of Web TV applications.
 

 
TiVo announced it will launch a local market version of its Stop||Watch research tool that provides anonymous, second-by-second ratings data for programs and commercials viewed on its DVRs. Tivo said Stop||Watch includes sample sizes ranging from 25,000 TiVo subscribers in the Top 20 markets down to 5,000 in the smallest local markets.
 
Multitasking online while watching TV is quickly becoming the norm in the U.S. according to a new study from Integrated Media Measurement. During weeknight television viewing (Sunday-Thursday), viewers spent an average of 9.3% of primetime viewing minutes surfing the net.  The breakdown between cable and broadcast was 8.2% and 11.0%, respectively. Time spent watching broadcast television while surfing the web was found to more than double as the week progresses, going from a low of 5.8% of primetime media minutes on Monday to a high of 15.9% on Thursday. The data also showed that women engage in the most simultaneous viewing.
 
If you’re still not convinced of this trend check out this stat – over 66 million consumers across demographic categories are surfing the net while camped out on their sofas watching TV, according to market research firm In-Stat. About 1/3 of all males and 1/4 of all females engage in such two screen behavior, but the number climbs to over 50% among younger male demos. Another 20% of all respondents reporting IMing while watching TV.
 
Generate‘s Insight division conducted some Earth Day-themed research to discern how 13-29 year olds feel about climate issues and the green movement. While this generation is well informed about green issues, the company found that concerns with higher prices and the enormity of climate change are slowing their drive to put what they know to use in the marketplace:

• 74% of Millennials believe they can make a difference in saving planet earth, but the number decreases significantly amongst the younger demo (13-17 years old.)  Only 48% of 13-17 year olds feel they can make a difference
• 87% of millennials recycle, 84% turn off lights when not in use, 80% reduce water use, 73% use energy-efficient light bulbs
• Three of the biggest hurdles in embracing the green movement are Cost (41%), Proof that they’re making a difference (24%) and Ease & effort required (12%)

                                                                                    
NBC’s Today Show launched an iPhone/iPod Touch app powered by Zumobi delivering audio and video segments and photos from the show as well as additional info and expert columns about food, travel, fashion and relationships. The interface allows you to scroll horizontally to browse headlines than zoom into view the full stories.
 

 
comScore hired former CFO of video surveillance software firm ObjectVideo Kenneth Tarpey as Chief Financial Officer. He succeeds John Green, who will be assuming the role of EVP and Head of Human Capital.
 
Video indexing, analysis and publishing technology provider Digitalsmiths added a pair of new sales executives. Robert Bryson, a former senior executive from Move Networks, joins as SVP/Sales and Business Development. Melissa Sargeant has been named VP/Marketing of the Research Triangle Park, N.C-based company.
 

 
Dominoes is being rightfully lauded for utilizing web video and Twitter to minimize the carnage on its brand last week after a YouTube video showing two employees espousing unsanitary practices made the rounds. Dominoes posted a video response to the PR nightmare on YouTube and established a Twitter account to field questions from concerned customers. In the old days the typical corporate response to such a stunt would be to get YouTube to pull the video (which they did) then ride out the storm so as not to feed the fire of publicity. But burying your head in the sand doesn’t work anymore in the digital age – consumers are concerned citizens who now have a myriad of platforms at their disposal with which to voice their concerns. The booger video, for lack of a better name, had already reached the zeitgeist stage – embedded on thousands of blogs and profile pages and spawning plenty of crude YouTube tribute vids. Better to utilize the very platform that created the hurricane to confront the problem head on, instead of dismissing it as an immature phenomenon. Consumers appreciate honesty not obfuscation.
 
Clarification : AutoTrader and Adify are both subsidiaries of Cox Enterprises – not subsidiaries of Cox Media and Cox Communications.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
04.21.09

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