Director Geoffrey Barish has signed with bicoastal HSI Productions. He comes over from now defunct Extension Films, a satellite of the recently closed Propaganda Films….Director Steve Carr, formerly of Propaganda, has joined bicoastal Lot 47 Productions for exclusive representation in spots and music videos. At Propaganda, he was best known for his music video work. He has also diversified into features, the latest being Dr. Doolittle 2….Phillip Detchmendy, former executive producer of the shuttered Satellite—a sister shop to Propaganda—has been named managing director of bicoastal Tool of North America. Additionally, Jennifer Siegel has become Tool’s executive producer, succeeding Dierdre Harrington….Bicoastal production house NSF-USA has signed the directing team Civilian….Director Kevin Bourland has joined bicoastal Treat…. New York-headquartered Creative Content Artists (CCA), the parent company to several postproduction/visual effects and audio post houses, has acquired Barasch Music & Sound, a longstanding New York music, sound design and audio mixing shop founded by Mark Barasch. In exchange for selling his 11-year-old company, Barasch gains an equity position in CCA and becomes one of its partners, joining CEO Steve Hendricks and chairman David Carmen. Barasch will serve as president of Octopus’ Garden, CCA’s newly formed music and sound division. Under the tentacles of Octopus’ Garden are Barasch Music & Sound and three other CCA holdings: East Side Mix, Lower East Side and Superdupe Recording. CCA is also parent to Post Perfect, Crush Digital Video and arc.light…..Mixers Bob Giammarco and Tom Goldblatt have come aboard Photomag, New York….Connie Griffin has been promoted from executive producer to managing director of R!OT Manhattan. She succeeds Dan Rosen who will serve as a consultant to the digital post/effects house….
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