Cynopsis: DIGITAL

11/10/09

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, November 10, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Google inked a deal to purchase mobile advertising start-up AdMob for $750 million in stock, providing the company with the technology to significantly enhance its presence in the mobile marketing space. AdMob places ads on mobile sites and within smartphone apps based on advertisers’ demographic targets. The company has been the most active ad server on the iPhone platform and has been ramping up efforts to handle ads on Google’s Android platform in recent months.
                                                         

 
Google users may not turn up any News Corp. articles in their searches after the company launches its paid content strategy, according to comments made by Rupert Murdoch in a Sky News interview. Murdoch complained that search engine readers hold little value for print sites’ advertisers and again held up his Wall St. Journal site as an example of what the model would look like. (Only the first paragraph of news stories would come up in search engines.) “There’s not enough advertising in the world to make all the websites profitable. We’d rather have fewer people coming to our websites but paying,” said Mr. Murdoch.
 
Discovery broke out what was previously a separate section on is flagship site into a separate site dedicated to Science and Technology News. Navigate sections including Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, Archaeology and History, comprised of general interest stories and features. Underlying the growing importance of the platform for media publishers, Discovery News is also launching as a colorful 99 cent iPhone app this week, powered by NewsGator Technologies.
 
Freedom Communications‘ OCRegister.com completed a site redesign enabling users to personalize the site based on their individual interests. Settings enable the minimizing, removing or repositioning of content within section boxes on the home page, as well as the adding of content from third party sites via RSS feeds. Hyper-local community pages can also be personalized at the neighborhood level within the “City News” section on the home page, organized within regional clusters.
 
Sony is releasing its animated hit “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” as an exclusive download to owners of Sony’s broadband-enabled Bravia HDTVs or Sony BD Live Blu-ray players, a full month before the movie is released on Blu-ray and DVD. The digital rental, available between Dec. 8 and Jan. 4, comes at a premium however – priced at $24.95. (Sony offered a similar promotion for Hancock two weeks before its release, but that was only $10.)
 
The Mexicanal Network is expanding its digital broadcast distribution signing three new markets: KGBT-TV (Channel 4.2), Oklahoma’s KOHC TV (Channel 45.3) and Kansas’ KCTU-DT Wichita (Channel 43.2).
 

 
Blending digital downloads with physical kiosks, NCR Corp. and MOD Systems will begin testing a network of kiosks in two Dallas-area Blockbusters and four Hollywood Video stores in the Northwest this week. The kiosks are loaded with some 1,000 library and new release films that will be downloaded to SD memory cards, cards which can be plugged into slots in a variety of TVs, laptops and Blu-ray players. The DRM allows users to retain the movie for 30 days, but they have only 48 hours to watch it once they begin.
 
Online TV episode and movie aggregation site SetJam is inching closer to launch (early Dec. is CEO Ryan Janssen’s best guess) and the site is inviting up to 500 Cynopsis Digital readers to have whack at it before it’s open to the general public. SetJam is designed for the growing numbers of cord-cutters who rely on the web to keep up with their favorite shows. It’s an idiot-proof search tool that indexes free, download to own, and add-to-your queue movies and TV shows on Netflix and Amazon, and the social functionality is pretty cool. It allows you to share your playlists with your friends and update your Facebook status while your streaming something.
 
Broadband-powered video on demand start-up ZillionTV received a new equity stake from Paramount in a deal that also includes access to a selection the studio’s library film titles as well as recent hits such as “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Iron Man,” per THR. ZillionTV, which will offer both paid downloads free ad-supported movies, has also struck licensing deals with 20th Century Fox Television, Lionsgate, NBCU, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.
 

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New marketing relationships, futuristic ad models and a shake up of current content windowing may likely result if Comcast is successful in its attempt to take over a controlling stake in NBC Universal, figures AdAge, sourcing media analysts’ opinions. Better windowing for video on demand and a genuine push to standardize addressable set-top-box based advertising could contribute immediately to Comcast and, by extension, cable’s bottom line.
 
CBS Interactive is debuting a next-generation ad unit across many of its properties that expands upon the ineffective banner ad. The “Lightbox” unit, now available to advertisers on CNET, GameSpot, CBS.com, TV.com, CBSNews.com and CBSSports.com, appears as an illuminated takeover ad that comes to forefront and brightens while the rest of the page dims. Beck’s beer utilizes the format here in an ad announcing a sweepstakes.
 
Social networking gamer Zynga (see Monday’s WSOTD) has been taking it on the chin for taking in revenue from “scammy” advertisers and CEO Mark Pincus is now promising to do a better job at screening such offers for user value, per TechCrunch.
 

 
The Comcast/NBC Universal deal took a major step forward as G.E. and Comcast have reached an agreement on what the company is worth, according to reports in Reuters and the WSJ. Both sides have agreed to peg the value of NBCU at about $30 billion and have also built in a clause to the deal that would allow Comcast to reduce the amount of cash it needs to bring to the table. Meanwhile, consumer groups are already lodging complaints about how such a deal might unfairly impact existing distribution models as well as nascent broadband video strategies.
 
Electronics Arts has agreed to acquire social gaming start-up PlayFish (Pet Society, Restaurant City, and Country Story) for approximately $275 million in cash and another $25 million in equity retention arrangements, with additional incentives that could yield its founders an additional $100 million if performance milestones are met.
 
Netflix has agreed in principle to delay releasing new movie titles by a month in exchange for more attracting pricing on the movies it purchases, but studios including Warner Home Video and Universal Studios Home Entertainment have not dropped their prices enough to suit the online rental firm, reports Video Business.
 
As if it didn’t have enough problems already, MySpace is burning almost $1 million a month on rent to pay for a slick new office space in the Play Vista area of LA that it no longer plans to move into, reports the FT. The company is locked into a 12-year lease, signed when its fortunes were rising, and the rent is set to double in the coming months.
 

 
Social software company Sulake (creator of virtual site Habbo.com) unveiled “Bobba Bar”, a virtual bar app now available on the iTunes App Store, Nokia’s OVI store and GetJar and at bobba.com. The app simulates a hang-out joint inviting users over 17 years of age to meet people from all over the world. The interface allows you to create avatars and chat with other guests using speech bubbles that appear on others’ phones. Over 47k Bobba accounts have been created to date.
 
On demand news and talk radio streaming app Stitcher launched a version for Verizon’s
best-selling BlackBerrys, including the Tour 9630, Storm 9530, Curve 8330 and 8830.
 

 
WCBS-TV New York President & GM Peter Dunn was named as the next President of the entire 29 station CBS O&O group. He will continue to mange WCBS-TV and report directly to CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves. Peter takes over for Tom Kane, who will exit the company.
 
Jodie Green has joined Meredith’s More magazine as Director of More.com. Jodie will be responsible for editorial direction of the site, including developing traffic-building content and strategic partnerships.
 

 
Baking Facebook connectivity into content sites is a must have feature at this point, but it’s nice to see that networks are getting a little more ambitious in terms of how they integrate that functionality into their sites. CBS.com unveiled the CSI Zeta Casefile site featuring exclusive content from the three CSI series. The site features a new app that involves fans in a CSI-inspired video, allowing them to create customized suspect dossiers by pulling images and information through Facebook Connect. Agree to the terms and you’ll see your profile photo and other photos you’ve uploaded used in a fictional dossier that includes your last known location, marital status and birthday (scary.) The Cadillac-sponsored site ties into a trilogy of CSI storylines that air on all three shows this week, involving human trafficking and black market organ harvesting. The site will also feature exclusive interviews with cast and real CSI experts, virtual tours of the three CSI crime labs, and the chance to win a trip to the set of the original CSI.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
11.10.09

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JOB OPENING:  VP BIZ AFFAIRS METRO TV/ATLANTA: 7+ yrs Exp’d Media Exec. Work on Budgets, Acctng, Potential Partnerships/Acquisitions, Extensive Margin Analysis & Back Office Ops. Apply/Details: www.westwoodone.com (11/14)

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JOB OPENING: RESEARCH DIR/MSG VARSITY/LI: Lead research for network functions incl. Programming, Digital Media, Outreach, Branding & Audience Measurement. 7+ yrs network research, 10+ yrs total www.cablevision.jobs req 9431BR  (11/12)

JOB OPENING: ASSOCIATE, MEDIA STRATEGY & PLANNING/Nat’l Geo, WILD Channel/DC:  Responsible for the planning and execution of on-air strategies.  BA & 5 yrs on air planning exp req. Apply www.FoxCareers.com job# FNG17607 (11/12)

JOB OPENING: MGR PRGRMG & SCHED/Nat’l Geo, WILD Channel/DC: Strategic creation of the Channel’s sched; mgt of day to day relationship w/Ad Sales, listings & titles. BA 5 yrs prgrmng exp & rsrch. Apply www.FoxCareers.com job# FNG17610 (11/12)

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JOB OPENING: MEDIA AS’T/PLUM TV/NYC: Organized, detailed admin to assist CRO/sales team of lifestyle media org (tv, web, social) focused on upscale market. 2+ yrs prev exp, Excel, Sales force exp req’d. See full post plumtv.com   (11/11)

JOB OPENING:  VP EAST COAST SALES – IFC & SUNDANCE /NY:Mng east coast sales team to drive ad rev. Great relationships w/ media clients, proven sales record & exp mngng team a must. 10+yrs in TV/agency. Apply: [email protected] (11/10)

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SITUATION WANTED: RESEARCH DIR/STRATEGIST – See what 20+ yrs media, Nielsen, Hisp, research, sales, presentation experience can do for you.Email: [email protected] (11/14)

SITUATION WANTED: MEDIA PUBLISHING, EXEC MNGMNT & SALES– 18 yrs in creative online/print client solutions for the most prestigious titles in the legal & fashion ind (ALM and Conde Nast). [email protected]  (11/14)

SITUATION WANTED:  20+ yrs. experience in TV Broadcasting & Cable ACCOUNTING/FINANCE. Seeking FT/PT or Temp-to-Perm position:  [email protected] (11/12)

SITUATION WANTED:  Extensive & experienced domestic & int’l broadcast and A/V equipment Sales and Mgt. (Atlanta). Can operate from home office & travel. Write [email protected] (11/11)

SITUATION WANTED: TV PRODUCER/ BOOKER (NY) Professional with experience in syndicated shows and news looking for Producer opportunity or in Media Relations/Communications/ Public Affairs.Email: [email protected]     (11/11)

SITUATION WANTED:  +5 yrs exp Media and Film Prod with exp in Marketing & Digital Film Sales, NBC reality tv, NYC MOFTB. Seeking on location/office Prod Coordinator position. email [email protected] (11/11)

SITUATION WANTED: Extremely detail oriented PRODUCTION MANAGER with 18+ years experience able to handle several projects simultaneously in a fast paced environment. Possess strong interpersonal skills. Email: [email protected]  (11/10)

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