Cars

You walk into a retail store a few blocks from home and see something you’ve been eying for a while on sale. You pick it up, talk to the salesperson, put it down, walk around, think. When the salesperson is not looking, you text the UPC code to 262966, that spells “Amazon” on your mobile Continue Reading →

SHELLY PALMER offers up some alternative theories for the OSCAR‘s incredibly low ratings this year. It could be that the films were dark and the actors were foreign, but it could also have to do with something much less variable. SAG‘s New York board is urging the Guild to begin contract negotiations with the AMPTP Continue Reading →

THE OSCARS telecast averaged an 18.7 rating and a 29 share. That’s TV-Geek-Speak for the lowest ratings since 1974, about 32 million viewers – a 20% drop from last year. Some pundits are blaming the dismal ratings on the dark nature of the top films. Best picture, “No Country for Old Men” focused on a Continue Reading →

THE OSCARS drew 32 million viewers, the lowest since 1974. That’s a 20% drop from last year’s 40 million viewers. This year’s broadcast averaged an 18.7 rating and a 29 share, compared to last year’s 27.7 rating and 42 share. The falloff is being blamed on the dark nature of the top films, such as Continue Reading →

SHELLY PALMER discusses the impact of newsclipper.org, a site that repackages video feeds from major content owners while stripping out the advertising. Read his analysis to learn more about this RSS-fueled challenge to the monetization of online content. THE OSCARS were dominated by “No Country for Old Men,” which received awards for best supporting actor, Continue Reading →

TNS MEDIA RESEARCH will begin receiving data from 100,000 DirecTV set-top boxes to analyze viewing patterns as part of a new service called TNS DirecTView. Households will be asked to join the service, which will record demographic data but be stripped of names and other identifying information. The new service will offer second-by-second ratings similar Continue Reading →

FOX and CW both released statements promising scaled-back and “truncated” pilot seasons. Fox has cut 8 scripts from 20th Century Fox while CW will drop around a dozen projects. ABC may reduce script orders by as much as 30%. Meanwhile, Jeff Zucker gave more details on his plans for scaling back NBC’s pilot season. He Continue Reading →

FRONTLINE WIRELESS has reportedly shutdown operations following a failed attempt to bid in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction. The company missed Thursday’s deadline for submitting the $128 million auction deposit after being unable to acquire funding. A company spokesperson released a statement saying “Frontline is closed for business at this time. We have no further Continue Reading →

THE FTC has approved GOOGLE‘s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, but the deal still requires acceptance by the European Commission. In conjunction with its decision the FTC released a set of guidelines for the burgeoning online ad industry, recommending greater consumer control over privacy and online tracking. Privacy issues have been a major concern surrounding Continue Reading →

NBC officially announced that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will return to the air on January 2nd without their writing staffs. Conan expressed his support for the writers and said his show “may be terrible” without them. Ratings have dropped off considerably during reruns, with both shows losing over 30% of their audience. THE FCC Continue Reading →