Media & Entertainment

Cable and Congress are at it again. During a hearing that was supposed to be about indecency, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin brought up a study which “concludes that purchasing cable programming in a more a la carte manner in fact could be economically feasible and in consumers’ best interest.” The idea of a Continue Reading →

Last week we lived in a 1,000-channel universe. Since the mid-1980s we have been channel surfing to our hearts’ content, searching for just the right program at just the right time.  We’ve heard critics (old and new) say stuff like: “I’ve got 500 channels, but nothing to watch.”  Hell, even Andy Warhol weighed in on Continue Reading →

LET’S PLAY PRETEND FOR A minute. On the count of three, you will know everything there is to know about the viewing habits of your most coveted television audience: what they watch, when they watch, who’s in the room, how long … everything. In fact, since we are pretending, in this fantasy we’re even going Continue Reading →

By Lydia Loizides, Emmy Advanced Media Vice Chair – Research   Imagine if you will capex of $200 million for every 5 million cable subscribers every two years.  Internalize that hard-disc storage, while inexpensive to purchase is expensive to deploy and maintain.  Think about this statement, “DVR is a training ground for an head-end driven, Continue Reading →

According to Yahoo News:   Netflix, the world’s largest online movie rental service, today announced that it has surpassed three million subscribers, as U.S. consumers continue to respond enthusiastically to the company’s offering. Netflix entered 2005 with 2.6 million members. Since introducing online subscription DVD rental in 1999, the company has generated annual subscriber growth Continue Reading →

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The home video arm of the Walt Disney Co. announced it would release movies in the newly-developed UMD format for Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Portable handheld video game and media device.   Buena Vista Home Entertainment said it would release five movies this spring: “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse Continue Reading →

As reported by Ben Berkowitz: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp.on Wednesday gave some of the first key details on the next generation of its Xbox video game system, which will include an emphasis on high-definition content, an integrated media browser and “microtransactions” for in-game purchases.   In a speech at the Game Developers Conference Continue Reading →

This article by Seattle Times technology writer, Kim Peterson, tells you some of the facts about Halo 2 and Microsoft’s unusual plans to make it into a movie.  This is an interesting twist on the concept of line extension.  Most video games that have tried to cross over into linear story telling have enjoyed less Continue Reading →