FM Rocks, Santa Monica, which diversifed beyond its music video base with the launch of a commercial division during the SAG strike, has assembled a sales force, securing reps Nancy Workman and Chris Petranis on the East Coast, Cindy Moran and Jeanne Rashford in the Midwest, and Nancy Osborne on the West Coast. FM Rocks’ spot directorial roster includes Dave Meyers, F. Gary Gray, Gregory Dark and Tim Story. Eileen Terry is the shop’s executive producer….Director Jim Tozzi of bicoastal M-80 is now being repped by company staffers Dawn Schiffman and Delores Hively on the West Coast and in Texas. (Schiffman and Hively also rep M-80 helmers Thom Higgins, Simon Levene and Doug Taub.) Tozzi’s M-80 representation in these territories had previously been handled by Novick & Associates, San Francisco, which continues to cover the West Coast and Texas for M-80 director Tenney Fairchild….Bill Frazee has been named director of sales at R!OT, Santa Monica. Frazee joins the post/visual effects facility from Four Media Company (4MC), Burbank, Calif., where he held a variety of senior sales and managerial positions with post houses under the 4MC banner. R!OT and 4MC are part of the Liberty Livewire family of companies….Wax Music & Sound Design, New York, has added sales rep Rob Reynolds. He will represent Wax’s roster of composers and arrangers to the commercial, feature film, and electronic media industries…DPs Wally Pfister and Phil Walker have signed with bicoastal ICM for representation…..DP James Chressanthis has wrapped principal photography on the Judy Garland story Me and My Shadow, and is now available exclusively for spots through Los Angeles-based Lyons•Sheldon•Prosnit….DPs Steven Finestone and Gale Tattersall are now available for commercials and music videos via Montana Artists, Santa Monica. Finestone wrapped principal photography of the feature Dawg, while Tattersall finished work on 13 Ghosts. Additionally, DP Antonio Galloro and costume designer Lauren Landau have signed with the agency for spot and music video work….DP Ron Fortunato is available for spots via Sherry Rousso Associates, New York, after finishing work on Sidney Lumet’s new TV series, 100 Centre Street….
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More