At press time, a California budget committee comprised of lawmakers from the State Assembly and Senate had approved the Film California First Program for inclusion in the 2000-’01 fiscal year budget. The program would allocate $15 million each of the next three years "to reimburse state and local government agencies for the costs they incur for television and film productions in their jurisdictions." If the final California budget is passed with this provision, it would translate into feature, TV, commercial and music video producers realizing certain savings, including reimbursement of state and federal employee costs related to filming, and local public costs for fire services and non-police public safety. The program is part of a California anti-runaway production package proposed by Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.)….Bicoastal production house Anonymous has signed director David Denneen, formerly of bicoastal/international Cylo, and helmer John Dolan, a new talent signed on the strength of a spec reel…Director Marc Chiat has exited Santa Monica-based Green Dot Films, and is again helming spots via his own Red Dog Films, Culver City, Calif. When joining Green Dot a couple of years ago, Chiat had pulled Red Dog out of the commercialmaking business, maintaining that shop for his other projects. Now, however, he’s decided to again have Red Dog bark up the spot tree….Hollywood-based DNA has signed director Yuki, an honoree earlier this month in the student category of the AICP Show at MoMA, for exclusive spot and music video representation….
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