BIG MEDIA has formed a coalition to stop pirated material from being released on the web. The group includes Viacom, Disney, Microsoft, CBS, Fox, MySpace, and NBC Universal. These companies have agreed to put “commercially reasonable” content identification systems in place by the end of the year. They issued a 15-point manifesto outlining extensive copyright-protecting principles for user-generated sites. Google was noticeably absent from the group.
SONY will add the Minisode Network to Crackle, V Cast, Joost and AOL starting Monday. Pepsi will sponsor the shows on Crackle with 15-second pre-rolls and Honda will remain the sponsor for other outlets. The collection of condensed classic shows was formerly limited to MySpace distribution.
THE BBC will make BBC.com an ad-supported site for visitors outside the UK. Ads will initially appear on high-traffic pages and later roll out site-wide. News Director Richard Sambrook said the site will avoid “intrusive advertising” and promised that the company has taken steps to manage conflicts between advertising and editorial content.
GOOGLE announced a 46% surge in third-quarter year-over-year profits. The company made over $1 billion in the quarter alone. Revenues were up 57% to $4.23 billion. Nearly a third of that revenue comes from sites that are not Google-owned but participate in AdSense.
DIRECTV has filed suit against COX claiming it has made misleading statements about the quality of the competing HDTV services. Cox has been citing the results of the same consumer survey that prompted DirecTV’s lawsuit against Comcast. Cox has quoted the study on its website under the headline “Cable Wins the HD Picture Challenge.” The quality claims will once again be tested in court.