By Ken Liebeskind
MILAN, ITALY --The advent of Internet TV accelerated last week with the introduction of Babelgum, a new Internet TV network launched by Silvio Scagli, the founder of Fastweb. The announcement follows the recent launch of Joost, a network that has succeeded in reaching an agreement with Viacom to broadcast some of its content.
Babelgum “expects to carry content from major studios, but specifically lends itself to niche content, which although professionally produced and high quality, rarely receives airtime on traditional television platforms,” according to Erik Lumer, Babelgum’s co-founder/CEO.
Content is arranged in thematic channels, including news, sports, documentaries, fiction and animation that can be accessed on demand. Content owners will be able to create their own branded channels and users can configure personalized channels with content scheduled to fit their tastes and interests, Lumer said.
Babelgum will be ad-supported and free to users. “We are building an infrastructure that will deliver targeted advertising,” Lumer said. “It is envisaged that advertising will be incorporated into programming in much the same way as it is in existing broadcast television models. The difference is that user profiling will deliver sophisticated online marketing tools to enable highly targeted promotion of goods and services.”
When asked what type of ads will play at Babelgum, Lumer said, “Advertising formats are currently under development, however it is envisaged that advertising will initially follow the practices established in the traditional broadcast television model, both program sponsorship and timed inserts.”
He said Babelgum will sell advertising, but content providers and third party networks may sell it, too.
Lumer declined to compare Babelgum with Joost, saying “Players like Joost and Babelgum are developing an entirely new and global market. It is a market that offers great promise for all the participants.”
In NBC’s “Brilliant Minds,” Zachary Quinto Plays Doctor–In A Role Inspired By Physician/Author Oliver Sacks
There's a great moment in the first episode of the new NBC medical drama "Brilliant Minds" when it becomes very clear that we're not dealing with a typical TV doctor.
Zachary Quinto is behind the wheel of a car barreling down a New York City parkway, packed with hospital interns, abruptly weaving in and out of lanes, when one of them asks, "Does anyone want to share a Klonopin?" — a drug sometimes used to treat panic disorders.
"Oh, glory to God, yes, please," says Quinto, reaching an arm into the back seat. The intern then breaks the pill in half and gives a sliver to the driver, who swallows it, as the other interns share stunned looks.
Quinto, playing the character Dr. Oliver Wolf, is clearly not portraying any dour, by-the-rules doctor here — he's playing a character inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the path-breaking researcher and author who rose to fame in the 1970s and was once called the "poet laureate of medicine."
"He was someone who was tirelessly committed to the dignity of the human experience. And so I feel really grateful to be able to tell his story and to continue his legacy in a way that I hope our show is able to do," says Quinto.
He's a fern-loving doctor
"Brilliant Minds" takes Sack's personality — a motorcycle-riding, fern-loving advocate for mental health who died in 2015 at 82 — and puts him in the present day, where the creators theorize he would have no idea who Taylor Swift is or own a cell phone. The series debuts Monday on NBC, right after "The Voice."
"It's almost as if we're imagining what it would have been like if Oliver Sacks had been born at a different time," says Quinto. "We use the real life person as our North Star through everything we're doing and all the... Read More