Bicoastal production house 8Media, the shop launched by Steve Golin, has officially changed its name to Anonymous. The company has also added director Jeffery Plansker, formerly of bicoastal/international Propaganda Films, and West Coast rep Charlie McBrearty…Feature filmmaker Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Batman and the upcoming The Man With The X-Ray Eyes) has been awarded his first spot job for an American agency: a Timex assignment out of Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis. Burton helms spots via A Band Apart.35mm, Los Angeles. The Timex project is set to shoot in Prague, where it will be facilitated by Milk & Honey Production Services. Burton’s first ad endeavor was Hollywood Gum’s "Gnomes," produced by A Band Apart for Euro/RSCG, Levallois-Peret, France….Pam Tarr, president/ executive producer of commercial production house Ace Entertainment and music video shop Squeak Pictures, has consolidated the two Los Angeles operations into a hybrid spot/music clip company that will operate under the Squeak banner. Squeak has also added a director, actor/comedian Andy Dick, for commercials as well as videos; and has expanded its geography with helmer Bobby Sheehan to exclusive representation throughout the U.S. for spots and music videos….Word is that feature director Brad Silberling (Casper, City of Angels, Baby’s In Black) has signed a deal for spot representation with Dark Light Pictures, West Hollywood….Chicago—based music/sound design shop Com/track has added composer/producer David Hutten, who comes over after assisting at the Northfield, Ill.-based home studio of former Com/track composer/producer Gary Fry; Fry recently joined Chicago-based Catfish Music….Rick Cordero has opened The Cordero Group, a full-service staffing company for the commercial production, post and television industries. Cordero was formerly general manager at Miami, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach and Boca Raton, Fla.-based Broadcast Video Inc. (BVI) and its visual effects subsidiary Deep Blue Sea, Miami. The Cordero Group has offices in Miami and New York….The first entry deadline for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ (ATAS) primetime commercial Emmy Award has been extended to March 31. Frank Scherma, a proprietor in bicoastal/international @radical media, is senior governor of ATAS’ Commercial Branch….
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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