THE DGA has reached a three-year deal with the AMPTP that delivers significant new media advances. The Guild will have jurisdiction over content created for the web and residuals for downloads will be based on distributors’ gross instead of the 20% of producer’s gross used under the home video agreement. Directors will receive .3% of distributors’ gross for downloads and .7% when downloads exceed 100,000. They will also receive 3% of the applicable residual for Internet streams during the first 26 weeks of a release. The WGA will be reviewing the deal to determine if talks should resumes for writers.
TIME WARNER CABLE is planning to experiment with new variable pricing for Internet access, charging users based on the amount of data downloaded. Tiered data packages will be available similar to the way a phone plan is purchased. A company spokesman says 5% of users take up 50% of network capacity by downloading large amounts of data. Trials are expected to begin in Q2.
COMSCORE has released its latest online video stats, revealing that Americans viewed 9.5 billion online videos during November. Google video sites delivered 31% of all videos and 41.8% of the 138 million viewers. The average YouTube viewer watched 39 videos during the month. MySpace, the second top video site, saw an average of only 9 videos per viewer. The average amount of monthly viewing increased from 3 hours to 3.25 hours.
YAHOO will adopt the OpenID standard, bringing its 248 million members to the single username and login initiative. The move more than triples OpenID membership, which now totals 368 million. Yahoo users will now be able to login to non-Yahoo sites that use OpenID, avoiding multiple registrations and multiple usernames. Microsoft and Google recently announced plans to adopt the standard.
DOUG LIMAN has started Jackson Bites, a new digital production company that will create content for the web, set-top boxes, mobile phones and more. The successful Swingers and Bourne Identity director has taken funding from investors and already signed a deal with the WGA to use striking writers. He said this “could be the strike where the writers show they can do it without the studios.”