Ben Silverman will be leaving his job as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Movie Studios to head a new venture with Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp focusing on producing and distributing multimedia content.
NBC named Jeff Gaspin, president and chief operating officer of the company’s cable entertainment group, to replace him. Gaspin also will keep his current duties as the new chairman of NBC Universal’s television entertainment unit.
IAC said Monday it is forming a new production company led by Silverman that will look to bring advertisers into further into the development process on new media products.
In an interview, Silverman said the company will develop content and marketing across every medium, “from Twitter to television.” He said the idea is to break out of the old media paradigm that centered on the 30-second TV spot.
“Attention is the toughest commodity to harness,” he said. “To get people’s attention you have to disrupt, you have to make things part of the culture, not just part of the marketing.”
IAC hopes to take advantage of Silverman’s broad media experience in the new venture.
He helped produce the “The Office” and the reality series “The Biggest Loser.” Before joining NBC, he had launched his own independent production company, Reveille.
In a statement, Diller, IAC’s chairman and chief executive, called the new company, “a next generation enterprise that bridges the gap between traditional television and the Internet.”
IAC said it will provide an undisclosed amount of initial capital but hopes to spin the venture off into a separate entity. The company launches formally in September.
IAC said Silverman, who started as co-chairman of NBC in June 2007, will continue to have a relationship with the network through its new company. He plans to stay on for the next few weeks to help with the transition.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More