By Carolyn Giardina
NEW YORK --Company 3 New York–an Ascent Media Group Company–has implemented Santa Monica-headquartered Ascent Media’s UP Satellite remote collaboration system for telecine sessions. Meanwhile, UP host sites have been added at The Whitehouse in Chicago; Universal Images in Southfield, Mich.; Post Blur in Cleveland; and Greybox in Richmond,Va.
The UP Satellite network also links Ascent companies Company 3, Santa Monica; R!OT Santa Monica; and Encore Hollywood. It includes host sites charlieuniformtango in Dallas and Brickyard VFX in Boston.
UP Satellite uses a satellite connection, provided by Ascent Media Network Services, to transmit digital video to designated host sites in other cities. Viewing takes place on monitors in each site that are properly calibrated, according to Ascent.
The goal is to allow agency creatives, directors, editors and others to collaborate with colorists at the previously mentioned Ascent Media sites, as if they were in the same room. “UP Satellite aids the creative process by removing geographic barriers,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, president of Company 3, who was heavily involved in the development of the service. “It makes it easier for advertising agencies to work with the artists they really want to work with.”
As for the host sites, none of these companies previously offered telecine, so UP Satellite enables them to broaden the scope of their services. “This is an innovative, practical and exciting use of technology that unquestionably expands the depth of creative talent available to our Chicago editors and clients,” said Charles Day, CEO of The Whitehouse, which also maintains shops in New York, Santa Monica and London.
Colorists now available via UP Satellite from Company 3 New York include John Bonta, Eli Friedman, Billy Gabor, Tim Masick, and Victor Mulholland.
“Our colorists are very excited about UP Satellite,” said Kenny Attard, operations manager at Company 3 New York. “They all have clients in other markets–Boston, Cleveland, Richmond, Chicago and other cities. Now, those clients no longer need to devote the time or incur the cost of a trip to New York to take part in a telecine session. They can do it from home.”
Ascent reported that additional host sites will to be opening soon in Miami, Minneapolis, and Portland, Ore.
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