MediaBytes

The NEW YORK TIMES, GANNETT, and TRIBUNE CO. all announced first-quarter results. The Times profits fell 26%. Gannett profits were down 10.5%. Tribune showed no profit — losing $15.6 Million. GOOGLE acquired Marratech’s video conferencing software. The software provides document-sharing and communication via video, text, and VoIP. It will compete with Cisco’s WebEx. COMCAST urged Continue Reading →

MYSPACE will announce MySpace News. The site will aggregate news feeds from several sites using RSS technology. Users can rank headlines and stories, determining the placement of articles. AT&T has added 15,000 U-verse subscribers already this year. It had 3,000 subscribers at the close of 2006. The IPTV service is available in 200,000 homes, and Continue Reading →

NETRATINGS will drop “page views” as a ranking metric, and switch to “time spent” on a web page. COMSCORE will also decrease the impact of page views, and focus on repeat visitors. The tracking firms are trying to measure engagement more precisely. GOOGLE is preparing a Powerpoint competitor. It has acquired TONIC SYSTEMS for technology Continue Reading →

TIME WARNER may reduce its cable holdings. Under such a plan, the company would focus on being a content provider, with a growing focus on web businesses. The cable pullback will be discussed at an upcoming board meeting. GOOGLE plans a new copyright-filtering service, dubbed Claim Your Content. The service, which will allow automatic removal Continue Reading →

GOOGLE will be selling 5% of Clear Channel’s ad inventory, continuing its march into offline advertising. On Friday, Google purchased DoubleClick. Rivals are describing that deal as “anti-competitive.” ADOBE and MICROSOFT will become rivals on two new fronts. Microsoft’s is launching Silverlight, a Flash competitor. Adobe has announced Adobe Media Player, which offers functionality similar Continue Reading →

CBS is preparing to announce a huge web distribution initiative. The network will provide television programming to several web outlets, including MSN, AOL, Joost, and the forthcoming NBC Universal-News Corp. video service. VONAGE CEO Michael Snyder has left the beleaguered company. A patent infringement lawsuit from Verizon has the company in “crisis mode.” MGM will Continue Reading →

MySpace is currently blocking Photobucket Videos from user profiles. Photobucket has posted a response on its blog, asking users to submit complaints to MySpace. TuneCore has found a niche in the new digital media marketplace. The company handles digital distribution for independent musicians. For a small annual fee, Tunecore will distribute albums to online retailers Continue Reading →

Nielsen/NetRatings announced the top 30 news sites for February. NYTimes.com took the #1 spot, both in visitors and time spent on the site. The average NYTimes.com visitor stays for 37 minutes. Warner Music Group has signed a deal with Joost. Warner will provide Joost with video content, and the companies will share revenue from advertisements. Continue Reading →

Apple announced the sale of the 100 millionth iPod and released current sales figures for the iTunes Music Store. iTunes has sold 2.5 Billion songs, 50 Million TV shows, and 1.3 Million movies. Yahoo! announced a new media device. The device can play Yahoo Music files, connect to the web via WiFi, and sync with Continue Reading →

Yahoo has launched Yahoo Alpha, a new search engine that mirrors Google’s minimalist design. Today’s Wall Street Journal discusses the challenge that hotel television is facing in the new media environment. Portable DVD players, iPods with video, and laptops with Internet connections are eating into profits for in-room TV services. Blyk is launching a free Continue Reading →