A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM FUSE

Cynopsis: DIGITAL

10/01/08

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, October 1, 2008, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Another drawn-out court battle is brewing over consumer rights to digital content with the official release of RealNetworks’ RealDVD software. RealDVD allows Windows users to make a digital copy of store-bought DVDs (extras and all) and save a backup copy of the movie to their hard drives for transfer to DVD-R. RealNetworks figures the product is legal because it leaves CSS encryption intact, making uploading and sharing of the ripped DVD a challenge. But just to be sure, the Seattle-based company filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the studios and the MPAA yesterday asking for a declaratory judgment protecting it against legal action. Sure enough the MPAA cried foul, filing a temporary restraining order itself against RealNetworks for violation of copyright protections. MPAA attorney Greg Goeckner even managed to insert a pithy one-liner into the brief, referring to RealDVD as “StealDVD.”
 

 
TBS throws out the first pitch on its MLB baseball playoffs coverage today with a full complement of broadband coverage. The recently re-launched TBS Hot Corner on MLB.com will feature live and on-demand segments (not full games) from multiple on-field camera angles and provide live statistics tracking individual teams and players. The Live Game Streaming application is designed to complement the TBS telecasts, where users submit questions to the booth to be answered on air, participate in polls and interact with other fans in the chat room.
 
Programmers are finding that comedy and sports go well together given the demographic crossover (male 18-49). ESPN.com set a launch date of Nov. 11 for Mayne Street, its first original web series from P3 Entertainment hosted by the deadpan Kenny Mayne. Kenny (who creates those ironic Mayne Event segments for Sunday NFL Countdown) will tool around locations in Bristol and New York City interacting with fictional crew members and real life ESPN personalities. Meanwhile GolTV debuts The Art of Football today at 8pm ET, a comic variety show all about the funny side of soccer hosted by Monty Python veteran John Cleese.
 
MobiTV reached an agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group to offer full-length episodes of many ABC prime time shows including Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy and Samantha Who?, in addition to a selection of content from ABC Daytime, ABC Family and ABC News. MobiTV has 4 million+ subscribers on multiple carriers including Sprint, AT&T and Alltell.
 
Taking advantage of Korea’s world-leading 94% broadband penetration rate, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution announced it will release a number of movie titles in the territory through VOD or IPTV services two weeks before they are made available on DVD as a test case. Recent research from the Korean Film Council indicates more than 47% of people in Korea have downloaded movies from the internet at least once.
 
Multiplatform on demand music service Music Choice is renaming this month “Rocktober” to showcase a new 4-part series profiling Rock’s best drummers, bassists, guitarists and vocalists.
 

 
Michael Eisner-backed web studio Vuguru signed a deal with online ad network Adconion to syndicate its latest original series Back on Topps, which debuted yesterday. (Back on Topps is goofy behind-the-scenes look at the Topps trading card company starring Jason and Randy Sklar, which Eisner’s Tornante Co. happened to purchase for $385m last year.) The show will be the first to take advantage of Adconion’s AMG-TV distribution service designed to increase distribution of video content and improve monetization by introducing partner Omnicon Media Group Digital’s (OMG Digital) client brands to media buying opportunities. However the twice-a-week Vuguru series will be featured initially on MSN-powered FoxSports.com, which negotiated for a 12-hour exclusive window.
 
Freshly redesigned video sharing site Veoh, also supported with Eisner funds, added a selection of shows from the new digital theWB.com including TV products The O.C. and Smallville as well as web series Sorority Forever and A Boy Wearing Makeup.
 
Podcaster Wizzard Media struck a partnership with Joost to increase distribution of its content. Wizzard shows such as Tiki Bar TV and anime review show Track-Shun are now available on the Joost site, which streams the Joost library from a Flash-based player now instead of a client-based app.
 

 
The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is urging over-the-air television viewers who want to participate in the TV Converter Box Coupon Program to apply for coupons before the end of the year to minimize the last minute rush. Consumers can apply for coupons online at DTV2009.gov, by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009.
 

 
Online video optimization specialist Gotuit has partnered with white label video search engine Pixsy to deliver enhanced video search and syndication capability to its customers. Gotuit’s Video Metadata Management System (VMMS) will now offer clients mRSS feeds of their Gotuit-powered video library published to and ingested by Pixsy’s Media Search Platform to drive greater traffic and monetization.
 
Widget platform Clearspring acquired bookmarking and sharing service AddThis. AddThis makes those little “+” buttons that make it easy to share and track content across third party sites.
 
Michael Bay, director of Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen – slated for release simultaneously in standard and IMAX theaters on June 26, ’09, says he will shoot key sequences of the movie using IMAX cameras. The high-res footage will be integrated with CGI effects to better fill the large-format screen. 

 
Forbes.com introduced a new Total Guarantee initiative allowing marketers to set minimum targets for the reach and frequency within their target audience. The program requires a minimum of $1m add spend over 90 days; if advertisers don’t reach their stated goals they get their money back. The program is an extension of a program initially launched in 2003 for campaigns spending at least $150,000 over a period of 60 days. Over 100 companies have participated to date, according to Forbes.

 
MTV signed a deal with broadband analytics firm Visible Measures to get a more precise reading of video consumption across its 340 sites. Visible Measures provides tools to gauge performance and engagement of video content on in house destination sites as well as a selection of 150 video sharing sites, counting UGC content such as responses, remixes and mashups as part of the mix.
 
USANetwork.com reported record usage and streaming metrics during Q3 ’08 with double and triple digit growth year-over-year in unique users, page views, visits, video streams and time spent per visit. Video streams and time spent set new records in third quarter 2008 boosted by Character Rewind – the site’s full episode video player, with an average of 13.2 million streams and 45.4 minutes per unique. Character Rewind averaged 8.8 million streams and 621,000 unique streamers who spent an average of 120 minutes with USA’s full episode video player. Burn Notice proved to be USA’s most popular online show.
 
Acton, MA.-based Azuki Systems identified the top “barriers” preventing mobile phone users from accessing more rich media content such as video clips on their phones. The time it takes to download led the pack with a 69% of those surveyed placing it in their top 3 complaints. Difficulties in finding and navigating to relevant content was the second most popular beef, named by 66% of respondents. Interestingly almost 70% of mobile users surveyed would prefer mobile ads in exchange for free access to mobile content. Additionally, if their mobile phones had location tracking capabilities that would present them with promotions for local businesses, more than 65% said they would take advantage of this opportunity.
 

 
Renee Plato has been named VP/Digital Video Distribution by Disney and ESPN Media Networks. She will oversee multiplatform distribution efforts of The Walt Disney Company and ESPN through affiliate partner digital channels such as broadband, electronic sell through, ITV, VOD, and other emerging digital-focused platforms. Renee reports to Matt Murphy, SVP/Digital Video Distribution out of ESPN’s Cheshire, Conn. offices.
 
San Francisco-based comedy syndicator RooftopComedy.com added a pair of new executives. Former AOL and eHarmony sales executive Jennifer Manger joins as Sr. Director of Sponsorship and Advertising Sales and former Yahoo and Current TV programmer Colin Decker comes aboard as the Head of Programming. Both will report to Founder/CEO Will C. Rogers.

 
One of the reasons total television views of last Friday’s debate were down by 10 million viewers from 4 years ago is no doubt due to the event’s wide availability online. Thanks to innovation in video streaming interfaces, now users don’t have to sit through the whole thing to get the gist of what the candidates are saying about issues important to them. (If the 80’s spawned the MTV generation the 00’s gave birth to the YouTube generation, which demands navigation and personalization features above all.) MSNBC unveiled a new politically-themed video player yesterday allowing users to skip to specific topics by selecting one of 20 keywords. A legend below the screen identifies which candidate mentioned the topic and adds related analysis points from NBC News commentators. NYTimes.com, which also hosted a live stream of Friday’s debate, calls its interface the Debatinator. This player provides a live transcript of the debate alongside the video and also lets users to skip to specific moments by offering thematic sections. Times’ editors provide analysis of what happened in “Check Points” of scrolling text. Both outlets will feature the highly anticipated Joe Biden/Sarah Palin debate live on Thursday night.

Later — Wayne
 Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis: Digital
10.01.08

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