Time Warner Cable Asks Help on Rising Program Fees
Deborah Yao, Business Writer
Time Warner Cable Inc. is asking the public for help as it tries to curtail increases in the programming fees it has to pay to carry cable channels and broadcast stations on its systems.
The nation’s second-largest cable TV operator unveiled an advertising campaign Wednesday asking cable subscribers to vote online on whether it should “roll over” or “get tough” in negotiations over the fees.
Time Warner Cable says it’ll use the results of the survey in upcoming contract renewal talks.
It’s not clear whether the public response will be any good when past ads accusing programmers of price-gouging haven’t stopped fee increases. And the survey is far from scientific, as participants won’t be randomly selected.
US online Ad Revenue Down 5.4 pct in Third QuarterDeborah Yao, Business Writer
A new report says online advertising revenue in the U.S. fell 5.4 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, as the sputtering economy has kept its tight grip on even the fastest growing segment of industry.
But there’s a glimmer of hope: Revenue was up 1.7 percent from the second quarter, the first sequential increase since late 2008.
That’s according to a report released Wednesday by the industry trade group Interactive Advertising Bureau and prepared by PriceWaterHouseCoopers LLP.
Online ads have proven to be more resilient than other forms of advertising because of its ability to gauge whether customers are paying attention, through clicks on the ad and other forms of tracking. But the economy has slowed the growth of online ads.
4 NBC affiliates ban PETA’s Thanksgiving Day Ad
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Four NBC affiliates broadcasting the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are banning a commercial promoting veganism sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
PETA spokesman Michael Lyubinsky said Tuesday the organization wanted to air the commercial during the parade but stations in Raleigh, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Little Rock, Ark., had banned it.
The commercial depicts a young girl saying grace at Thanksgiving, giving thanks for “the turkey farms where they pack them into dark, tiny little sheds for their whole lives.”
The ad encourages viewers to “Go vegan.”
Brad Moses, general manager of Raleigh’s WNCN, said he decided to ban the ad in Raleigh and Savannah because it’s not appropriate for the spirit of the parade.
Joost Assets Bought by AdconionBarbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – The struggling online video startup Joost, begun with much fanfare by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, has been sold to an online advertising company.
Adconion Media Group said Tuesday it bought Joost assets for an undisclosed sum. These include the technology behind Joost’s video platform and the Joost trademark.
About 12 Joost employees – the majority – were given jobs at Adconion, which plans to continue operating Joost.com as an entertainment site.
Joost, which had been shopping for a buyer for several months, had earlier approached cable TV operators Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. about a sale.
The site was started with much fanfare by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the people behind the Internet phone service Skype and the file-sharing service Kazaa.
Joost turned to online video after an unsuccessful stint as a peer-to-peer sharing site. But it found that it couldn’t survive on advertising. As a result, the company again shifted its focus, this time from being a consumer-focused online video site to helping businesses manage videos on the Web.
Tyler Moebius, CEO of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Adconion, said the acquisition will help the company expand the video advertising products it offers.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry Donates $1M to NAACPBALTIMORE (AP) – Filmmaker Tyler Perry has donated $1 million to the NAACP to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the civil rights organization.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People says the gift announced Monday is the largest donation from an individual in the organization’s history. It will be distributed over four years.
In a statement, Perry says the perseverance of thousands within the NAACP helped pave the way for his success in the film industry.
NAACP leaders say the gift marks a major shift in black philanthropy. They say donations of this size have not typically gone to civil rights groups.
It’s also a key time for the NAACP as the group faces questions over whether it remains relevant.
Britain Wins 5 International Emmys; 1st for Brazil
Charles J. Gans
NEW YORK (AP) – British TV productions won five International Emmys (http://www.iemmys.tv) on Monday night as Brazil claimed its first, and Brits Julie Walters and Ben Whishaw took the top acting awards.
Walters, 59, who recently appeared on the big screen in the Harry Potter films and opposite Meryl Streep in the musical “Mamma Mia!,” was chosen best actress for “A Short Stay in Switzerland.” In the BBC drama based on a true story, Walters portrays a British doctor with an incurable neurological disease who seeks assisted suicide in a Zurich clinic.
Whishaw, 29, who recently played poet John Keats in director Jane Campion’s romantic costume drama “Bright Star,” got the best actor award for the five-part BBC thriller “Criminal Justice.” He starred as a man who is accused of murdering a woman after a drunken and drug-filled night on the town, though he is unable to remember what happened.
The winners were selected from among 41 nominees from 17 countries competing in 10 categories for International Emmys, honoring excellence in TV programming produced outside the U.S.
Also, British TV host-producer David Frost received the honorary Founders Award for lifetime achievement. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who is German-born, presented the honorary International Emmy Directorate Award to Markus Schachter for his outstanding leadership of Germany’s ZDF television network.
Brazil took home its first International Emmy for “India: A Love Story” in the telenovela category. The TV Globo production shot on location at the Taj Mahal and other scenic Indian locales focuses on the forbidden love affair between young Indians from different castes.
Denmark’s “The Protectors” about a special unit within the Danish Security and Intelligence Service was chosen the best drama series, while Japan’s “Hoshi Shinichi’s Short Shorts” was selected as best comedy.
The Netherlands won the non-scripted entertainment category for the second straight year – this time for “The Phone” in which the first person to pick up a hidden phone ringing in a public place gets plunged into a spy movie scenario.
The TV movie/miniseries award w ent to Germany’s three-part “The Wolves of Berlin,” which tells the story of a youth gang that comes together amid the devastation of postwar Berlin in 1948, up through the fall of the Wall in 1989.
Other British winners included “Dustbin Baby” (children & young people) about an adopted teenager determined to find where she came from; “The Mona Lisa Curse” (arts programming) with critic Robert Hughes reflecting on his likes and dislikes in contemporary art; and “The Ascent of Money” (documentary) in which economic historian Niall Ferguson looks at the financial background behind great powers, wars and revolutions.
China Planning Agency OKs Shanghai Disney ProjectSHANGHAI (AP)–China’s economic planning agency has formally approved a plan to build a Disney theme park in Shanghai, giving the city a new showcase following next year’s World Expo.
The National Development and Reform Commission said in a notice Tuesday that the long-awaited park would be built, as expected, in Shanghai’s eastern Pudong district.
Disney has said the initial phase of the project would include a Magic Kingdom-style park tailored to the Shanghai region, mainland China’s commercial and financial hub.
Shanghai, China’s biggest city, and Disney have yet to announce final details for the amusement park.
Disney has gradually expanded its presence in mainland China after opening a theme park in Hong Kong in 2005 and now has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.
Shanghai is in the midst of a construction boom ahead of the World Expo, which will open May 1.
Some residents were long ago moved off farmland in C huansha, a part of Pudong district near the city’s main international airport, to make way for the theme park.
Indie Artists Waits, Bjork Come to MySpace MusicLOS ANGELES (AP) – Independent label artists Bjork and Tom Waits are coming to MySpace Music.
The joint venture between the News Corp. social networking site and major recording companies said Monday it signed a deal with London-based Merlin, a music rights licensing agency that represents more than 12,000 independent labels.
Several indie label groups had complained that the music streaming service launched in September 2008 without their participation.
Merlin nominees will now get to participate at certain MySpace Music board meetings. Artists represented by the group will also be paid royalties and be able to promote their content while getting enhanced usage data.
Merlin counts labels Beggars Group, Epitaph and Tommy Boy among its members and says it represents 10 percent of all global music.
Google Scoops Up Display Ad Specialist Teracent
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) – Google Inc. has snapped up another startup in its quest to sell more visual advertising on the Web.
The acquisition of Teracent Corp., a 3-year-old startup, provides Google with more tools for customizing the online billboards known as display advertising.
Selling more display advertising is a high priority for Google, which makes most of its money from short text messages posted alongside search results and other Web content.
Google started the expansion into display advertising last year after completing its $3.2 billion acquisition of the online ad service DoubleClick. The push poses a threat to Yahoo Inc., which is the Internet’s biggest seller of display ads.
Teracent’s technology automatically tweaks the look of an ad so the images are more likely to grab the targeted audience. The changes are based on factors such as a Web page’s content, the time of day and the user’s location.
Google didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, which was announced Monday.
Google’s dominance of the more lucrative Internet search market has left it with plenty of money to mount its challenge in display advertising. The company ended September with about $22 billion in cash.
Convinced the economy is on the improving, Google’s management is back on the acquisition prowl. The company is in the process of buying AdMob, a startup specializing in ads for mobile devices, for $750 million.
Teracent, which is based in San Mateo, Calif., was started in 2006 by Vikas Jha, a former engineer at one-time Google rival Inktomi.
Fox CEO Wants US to Join France on Internet PiracyKarolina Tagaris
ATHENS, Greece (AP) – The chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment said Monday the U.S. should join France in cutting off the Internet connection of users who repeatedly download copyright-protected films.
CEO Jim Gianopulos said Internet piracy is the single biggest threat to the film industry worldwide, and independent films are the hardest hit.
“The bad news is that the Internet is big, and it’s anonymous,” Gianopulos told a news conference in Athens.
But he said Internet service providers can track down subscribers whose IP address – the unique number assigned to every computer that connects to the Internet – has been spotted downloading films illegally and issue warnings.
Gianopulos said punishing repeat offenders would help create “a level playing field” for filmmakers.
“If we can do that, it would be a big victory against piracy,” he said, cautioning that taking away the small percentage of profit many films make threat ens the industry.
Gianopulos said that it is equally important to inform young people about the problem of piracy.
“It is important to show them that there is a connection between what they’re doing and theft, and what they’re doing and people’s jobs,” Gianopulos said. He was in Greece for a lecture, and talks with Greek film industry professionals.
France has already created what it says is the first government agency to track and punish online pirates.
The European Parliament initially opposed efforts by European Union governments to cut off a user’s Internet connection without a court order – but the two sides reached a compromise this month and EU lawmakers and governments agreed on new rights for Internet.
Film and record labels have heavily lobbied the 27-nation bloc, demanding better enforcement of copyright rules to protect profits that are shrinking in the face of online file-sharing, in which people swap music files without paying.
Google Adding Automatic Captions to YouTube Videos
WASHINGTON (AP) – Think of it as closed captioning for the new media world.
Google Inc. said Thursday it is introducing automatic, machine-generated captions for videos on its YouTube site. The new service, being launched this week, is intended to make online videos accessible to the deaf and hearing-impaired.
Hundreds of thousands of videos on Google sites already contain caption tracks that users have created and added manually with Google’s existing captioning service. But with 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, most videos on the site still lack captions.
So Google is tapping into the speech-recognition technology that it uses for its Google Voice call management service to make captions an automatic feature on YouTube.
Because the speech-recognition technology is still a work in progress, Google is launching the automatic captioning service on the YouTube channels of just a handful of partners, including PBS, Nati onal Geographic and a few big universities. But the company promises that the technology will improve over time – and it hopes for a much broader rollout.
In the meantime, Google is adding a new “auto-timing” feature to its existing manual captioning service to make it easier to use. Video creators will now simply have to create a text file with all the words spoken in a video and Google’s speech recognition technology will take it from there – matching the text to the words as they are spoken. Google hopes this will encourage more users to add captions to their videos.
