AUGUST 8, 1997/Newly signed at Chelsea Pictures, New York, are directors Nicholas Barker, formerly of the BBC, and Janusz Kaminski, an accomplished DP. Joining the firm as head of production is Stacy Wolberg, who has worked as a freelance production manager/producer at several New York spot shops….Two music houses have partnered: Intuition Music, Chicago, and JSM Music, New York. The former, now Intuition/JSM, will have access to JSM’s entire composer/producer lineup….The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) has announced plans for a wide range of professional/educational programs aimed at attracting and retaining talented minority creatives. The new, independent AAAA Foundation will fund scholarships for minority college students pursuing advertising careers….
AUGUST 7, 1992/Jonathan Miller, president, Image Point Productions, Hollywood, has exited the company to become senior executive producer at Harmony Pictures, Burbank, and VP of its parent company, Harmony Holdings. Image Point, the spot division of The Cannell Studios, has effectively closed….Director/cameraman J. Wesley Jones, formerly associated with now defunct Rawi· Sherman Films, has formed Jones & Company, New York, a Screen Gems satellite….
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