A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM WE tv

Cynopsis: DIGITAL

03/04/09

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, March 4, 2009, and this is your first early morning digital briefing. 

Shiver me timbers. The highly publicized Pirate Bay copyright infringement trial concluded yesterday in Stockholm with the site’s young defendants claiming that the P2P portal is simply an innocuous piece of internet infrastructure – a tool used to search for content uploaded by others. In closing statements on Monday, prosecutors asked the judge to issue one-year prison sentences to each defendant for enabling illegal copyright infringement. Industry lawyers weren’t that generous, pushing for the maximum penalty of 2 years. The final verdict is scheduled to be handed down on April 17.
 

 
Following the larger open access distribution trend, CBS Sports is looking to expand traffic to their NCAA March Madness on demand product by again offering third-party sites access to free applications that feed live scores and other info from the games. CBS has exclusive rights to video of NCAA tourney games (offered in HD this year via Microsoft’s Silverlight platform) but rivals sites including ESPN.com and Yahoo! Sports will have access to the apps, along with the extended CBS Interactive family. The NCAA March Madness on Demand Developer Platform‘s selection of widgets are more sophisticated this year, including applications dedicated solely to brackets, live scoring, news or each of the Division I Men’s Basketball programs. CBS drew 4.8 million unique visitors on its March Madness On Demand site last year, delivering 4.9 million total hours of live streaming video. Video consumption jumped an astounding 81% compared to the 2007 tournament.
 
Reuters announced it will launch a pay video news network in June offering financial market news and analysis on demand. Part of a $1 billion initiative to update Reuters infrastructure and interfaces, the service will provide content from the company’s studios in Hong Kong, London and New York in addition to web cam-fed videos from all the Reuters bureaus around the world.
 
Pitting itself against InterActiveCorp’s Evite, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced a partnership and investment in online invitation site Pingg to offer Martha Stewart content to the site and add invite capabilities to the wedding, entertaining, food and holiday areas of marthastewart.com.
 
HBO is promoting the premiere of the Sex and the City movie with a $10,000 shopping spree sweepstakes and Flash-based interactive site, allowing fans to create embeddable “fashionista” likenesses of their favorite characters. You have to watch video clips on the Sex and the City site to find charm words to unlock clothing items. The dress up dolls are also embeddable on Facebook.
 
Univision signed a mult-year carriage agreement with DirecTV including the distribution of Galavision as well as the network feeds for Univision and TeleFutura.
 

 
Offering a new twist on the Wiki, Taiwan-based Qubes introduced Gagapost a collaborative blogging platform allowing multiple users to create posts they share authorship in. Each post links to individual authors’ blogs then Gagapost aggregates the post based on its affiliation into an individual’s “blog view.” An iPhone app adds a mobile component to the experience.

 
Yes – iTV products are finally coming to advertisers. Cablevision announced it will be making a suite of interactive advertising products and applications available to media buyers for the first time during this year’s upfront. Advertisers purchasing inventory from Rainbow Media networks AMC, WE tv, Sundance Channel and IFC will be able to add interactive television applications on Cablevision’s systems to their buys. Options include:

• Interactive iTV channels & interactive 30-second units driving consumers to dedicated VOD channels in automotive, home, health, travel and electronics. Advertiser opportunities include banner ads, pre-roll and lead-generation
• Telescoping featuring overlays on a local 30-second spot that triggers direct tune-in to a dedicated advertiser channel or content 
• RFI overlays on 30-second spots that allow viewers to generate a pre-populated RFI form on-screen to request additional information, samples, coupons, etc. 

 
CNBC joined the Google TV Ads platform, which allows advertisers to access ad inventory across dayparts and deliver measurable ads to Dish Network homes. CNBC is the third NBCU network to join the platform with Sleuth and Chiller; Oxygen and SciFi will join later this year.
 
Interactive classified ad solution Adicio signed a deal to power the online real estate classifieds for 12 MediaNews newspaper sites, including 9 daily paper sites in the LA area and LowellSun.com, Homes in York, and TwinCities.com.
 
The Advanced Marketing & Media Group announced it has been selected by Gannett to develop an advertising performance measurement system that the media company will use to measure marketing ROI across Gannett media assets, including newspapers, television stations, websites and mobile properties.
 

 
Adobe scored a huge win announcing an alliance with Time Warner that commits Turner Broadcasting, Warner Bros. and HBO to the Adobe Flash platform. Adobe continues to fight it out with Microsoft for marketshare in advanced video software.
 
President Obama made it official, selecting former Harvard classmate Julius Genachowski as the next FCC Chairman. Genachowski has backgrounds in both government – serving as a legal aide to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt and FCC General Counsel Bill Kennard during the Clinton administration – and technology, co-founding LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures.
 
Also the White House denied it was reacting against YouTube‘s privacy policies when it decided to “experiment” with a new video solution using Akamai to host video on WhiteHouse.gov in an interview with the NYTimes. 
 
The FCC, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development are hosting a public meeting on March 10 in Washington D.C. to discuss the broadband initiatives funded by the Obama administration’s Stimulus Plan, including the new Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, the new Rural Development Broadband Program, and the development of a National Broadband Plan.
 

 
Here’s a disturbing trend for the studios: DVD sales figures, which have been leveling off for more than a year, finally began to pancake during Q4 according to figures from Adams Media Research sourced in the NY Times. Studios’ revenue from sell-through of conventional DVDs and Blu-Ray discs fell 23.4% to $2.6 billion – a drop of $800 million. The ease of renting movies electronically through services like Netflix and Amazon On Demand is likely to only accelerate this trend.
 
Mobile TV will finally begin to blossom in 2009-2010 in the U.S. thanks to a convergence of trends, according to a new study from research firm NSR. With commitments to launch mobile DTV services from 63 TV stations in 22 U.S. markets – covering 35% of television households nationwide – the format has a good chance to take hold particularly because consumers welcome free ad-supported service during tough economic times. Free-to-air is the clear answer to jumpstart demand to later be capitalized on via contextual/targeted ad revenue and upgrades to subscription-based services for premium programming. Because the long-term viability of the stand-alone FTA model is still unproven, NSR expects that players driving the initial phase will tend to be those with lowest spectrum costs and distributed network build out risks in need of new distribution channels. NSR projects North America to experience the highest growth rate in broadcast mobile TV between 2008 and 2013, reaching over 32 million TV-enabled mobile phones by 2013.
 

 
Microsoft began utilizing its employees to test a new search tool codenamed “Kumo” per the WSJ. (Kumo is Japanese for cloud, as in cloud computing, and spider, as in crawling the web for information.)                                                                
 
Apple unveiled a greener, more affordable line of desktop computers including a new 24-inch iMac (now $1,500) and a long-awaited upgrade to the Mac mini. The 2.0 GHz Mac mini comes in two configurations, each measuring just 6.5 by 6.5 by 2 inches.
 
Sony unveiled a quartet of new Blu-ray players and a new series of Bravia broadband-ready HD LCD TVs this week including a stand-alone player with Wi-Fi capability for easy BD-Live access. All four Blu-ray players feature 1080p/60p and 24p video output and BD-Live compatibility, after the addition of 1GB or more of external flash memory via a connection to the onboard USB 2.0 port. The Bravia sets offer access to Sony’s growing list of content partners including Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube and Yahoo, via the Yahoo! Widget Engine.
 
WhereTraveler and CityPass are teaming to create a travel destination site WhereTraveler.com as well as a line of mobile apps for the iPhone and (soon) the BlackBerry, providing concierge-style recommendations on the best places to eat, shop and play. Other WhereTraveler apps offer airport status, currency conversion, language translation and tip calculation.
 

 
Interactive entertainment software and gaming company Nexon Group hired Daniel S. Kim to serve as CEO for Nexon America, the North American publishing arm for Nexon Group. Daniel will oversee the day-to-day management and operations of Nexon America in Los Angeles, reporting to S.W. Choi, global CEO of the group.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CTAM

 
File this in the better late than never category. After offering the feature only to paying “pro” users, Yahoo’s photo sharing site Flickr has rolled out 90-second video sharing to any Flickr member. Members with free accounts can now upload up to two videos per month. Yet only pro members can upload unlimited videos or take advantage of the site’s new HD video capabilities. Yahoo deserves credit for slowly innovating the site, one of the go-to destinations on the web for photo sharing. Other new features include the video-enabled Flickr Clock, pinpointing the activities of members around the world at a given moment in time. But the company is missing an opportunity by severely limiting uploads for non-paying members. As cheap HD cameras like the nifty Flip Mino HD become more ubiquitous, communities of users will form online to share their works on other sites besides YouTube. Competitors without such restrictions will begin to siphon off Flickr’s huge user base and benefit accordingly.

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
03.04.09

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JOB OPENING: MGR INT’L FINANCE/A&E Television Networks/NY: Acctg & fin reporting, budgeting, forecast, analysis. BS/Acctg; CPA + 3 yrs Pub Acctg. Media 7 entertainment exp in multinational. Apply: www.aetn.com/careers.html (3/10)

JOB OPENING: HR RECRUITER/Flashpoint Academy/CHI: Seek employ opps nationwide; film/TV prod, video game dvlpmnt, animation/special effects, recording arts & science, & dig. mktg ind. Creative field exp pref’d. Res: [email protected] (3/7)

JOB OPENING: ONLINE MKTG MGR/MusicChoice/NY: Resp for mgmt of content/mktg assets on website. Create/execute online mktg plans. 5+ yrs online exp required. Prefer exp w/12-24 demo.  [email protected] (3/7)

JOB OPENING: DIR NAT ACCTS/LA/Lifetime: Dist products & services w/aff cable/sat/telco/max dist to ntwrk & ntwrk media. 5+ yrs sles/cbl & new media sales pref’d. http://www.mylifetime.com/about-us/apply-jobs (3/7)

JOB OPENING: ON AIR MEDIA COORD/LA/Lifetime: Asst developing/sched’g, media plans/prfcnt onair pro, etc/liaison btw groups/BA, BS, equiv. http://www.mylifetime.com/about-us/apply-jobs (3/7)

JOB OPENING:   PROD/DIR /Jupiter Entertainment /Knoxville: Conceptualize, prd/dir a hosted pilot. Strong point of view; exp working w/ talent in challenging envir. Deliver high qual prgrmng on cable budget. Reel/res: [email protected]   (3/7)

JOB OPENING:  SALES DIR/BBC/NYC: Manage& coach sales team, direct selling, media licensing exp. Bring in new rev, est & implement strategy, grow biz. Apps to www.bbcamerica.com/employment.jsp (3/5)

JOB OPENING:  SNR MANAGER, DIGITAL SYNDICATION/BBC/NYC: Mng marketing & promo for BBCWW titles w/ partners, manage clients & program supply, coord clearance process. Apps to www.bbcamerica.com/employment.jsp (3/5)

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] .

SITUATION WANTED ADS, POSTED BY THOSE LOOKING TO BE HIRED …  There is no charge for placing your Situation Wanted ad … for more information contact Trish Pihonak at [email protected]

SITUATION WANTED: MEDIA BUYER/LA Based: 14+ years exp, seeking full time permanent/freelance projects. Radio and tv experience. Experience includes entertainment, retail, auto, fast food, supermarket. Email: [email protected] (3/11)

SITUATION WANTED: TONY NOM. B’WAY PROD/THEATRE CONSULT/ACQUIS. & DEV./NYC: 30+ yrs exp. in theatre. Superb theatre/film/TV contacts seeks FT or Consulting Position w/Studio/Prod Co. looking for properties. Contact: [email protected] (3/11)

SITUATION WANTED: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Extensive creative directing experience in cross platform integrated marketing/advertising, television promotion, and digital production. Will travel. Fly Me!! [email protected] (3/11)

SITUATION WANTED: SALES MANAGER/BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (Chicago): 24 yrs experience w/broadcast & cable seeks digital, OOH, emerging opportunities. Great communicator, solid relationships. Innovative & creative! [email protected] (3/11)

SITUATION WANTED: BUSINESS CONTINUITY/CRISIS MANAGEMENT/NYC: 5yrs production exp, 2yrs BCP exp. Crisis management for ent. industry, masters degree educated. F/T, P/T, freelance. Contact: [email protected] (3/11)

SITUATION WANTED: FREELANCE PUBLICIST 27 years experience in entertainment, personality, business PR creating & delivering campaigns on a range of clients. Will travel. Contact: [email protected] (3/10)

SITUATION WANTED: FREELANCE or Full-time MEDIA BUYER w/ over 25 yrs of buying exp. is newly available. Seeking F/T or Freelance wk from your office or my home (New York based) Please contact me @ [email protected]  (3/10)

SITUATION WANTED: OFFICE OR SET PA/PERSONAL ASSNT/LA:3 yrs. exp, creative, well organized, pays attention, catches on quick. Will travel + can start asap. email: [email protected] 323.605.2086 (3/6)

SITUATION WANTED: PROD. (TV, Print, Multimedia): Live/taped/field, booking, writing, editing, casting, on-camera, PR. News, biz, finance, entertainment, health, beauty, fashion & lifestyle. [email protected] (3/6)

SITUATION WANTED: CASTING PRODUCER/AP For Reality/Docs. Worked for NBC, CBS, ABC, TLC, E!, Reelz, and MTV. From Big personalities to experts/professors. Research galore. (In LA) [email protected] (3/5)

SITUATION WANTED: PRODUCER/WRITER/DIRECTOR (NY) Ultra-creative, award winning, all formats, all genres, all major networks and major cable. Fast, frugal and fun! [email protected] (3/5)

SITUATION WANTED: OFFICE OR SET PA/PERSONAL ASSNT/LA:3 yrs. exp, creative, well organized, pays attention, catches on quick. will travel + can start asap. email: [email protected] 323.605.2086 (3/5)

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