Cable TV online may sound great, but a la carte pricing is still the key
I recently ditched all but the most basic television package from my cable provider — and I would have ditched it all, but it was something like $5 for basic cable on top of my internet service. I simply don’t watch cable television anymore. But… Continue Reading
Viacom to Time Warner: We’ll take Dora, and online episodes too
Time Warner Cable and Viacom’s drawn-out feud over rights fees could result in 13 million Time Warner and Bright House customers losing 19 popular channels, including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, on January 1. That’s right, you could be saying sayonara to The Daily Show,… Continue Reading
Roundup: AT&T cutting 12,000 jobs, record spending on Cyber Monday and more
AT&T cutting 12,000 jobs – That’s about four percent of the company’s workforce; it plans to pay about $600 million in severance over the next year.
Yahoo’s Search Assist gets image previews — The feature, which allows you to see the results for a suggested… Continue Reading
Roundup: Intel cuts estimates, iPhone games taking off and more
Here’s the latest action:
Intel cuts fourth quarter estimates — The chip maker says sales could fall by as much as 19 percent, and things look similarly bleak for chip companies Applied Materials and National Semiconductor.
IPhone takes on Nintendo and Sony in portable gaming… Continue Reading
MTV Networks starts making money on MySpace, via video ad-matching tech
MTV Networks can now make money when a MySpace user uploads its content — say a clip from comedy newscast “The Daily Show,” or prank show “Punk’d” — via ad-matching technology created by a Palo Alto, Calif. startup called Auditude.
Similar to the “Content ID”… Continue Reading
Is Hollywood forming DECE to wage a digital content war against Apple?
Digital rights management (DRM), for better or worse, is still the cornerstone of digital content. But the name has such a negative connotation now that major players in the entertainment and electronics industry appear to be trying to change it.
According to Reuters, some of… Continue Reading
Italian Prime Minister’s media company sues Google’s YouTube
Some companies you don’t want to mess around with. It’s one thing for the media conglomerate Viacom to sue Google for a billion dollars over YouTube, but it’s another when a television company owned by the Prime Minister of Italy files a lawsuit. Such is… Continue Reading
Google to veil the YouTube user data it’s handing over to Viacom
If you watched a YouTube video that may have been pirated, don’t worry, you’re safe from getting sued. Google will obscure the names of YouTube users and the unique internet addresses of their computers when it follows an existing court ruling and hands a massive… Continue Reading
Roundup: More YouTube user data fallout, MacBook Air SSD prices fall and more
Here’s the latest action:
More fallout from the YouTube/Viacom lawsuit — After a judge ruled that Google wouldn’t have to reveal YouTube’s source code but would have to open its user data for all to see, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote a post condemning… Continue Reading
New MMO games startup, Meteor Games, to target youth demographic
A new independent game development studio, Meteor Games, launched today with Adam Powell and Donna Williams at the helm — the two entrepreneurs who previously launched game company Neopets back in 1999 and then sold it to Viacom’s MTV Networks for $160 million.
The new… Continue Reading
Visible World, a targeted cable advertiser, raises $25M
Targeted advertising, based on geographic location, age, gender and other factors, is a pretty common concept by now. Visible World wants to bring it to cable television, with an added twist — editing of specific commercial spots to appeal more to individuals. Say a large… Continue Reading
Paramount moves into video games
It’s a little late from the point of view of its rivals, but Paramount Pictures has finally decided to take a plunge into video games.
The Hollywood studio is expanding its video game division with a slate of games that will start coming out later… Continue Reading
Roundup: Kyte gets more, Microsoft’s ad deal, NetSuite’s golden IPO, more
Here’s the latest (updated) action:
1) Kyte.tv raises $15 million
2) Electric Sheep Company lays off 22
3) FCC receives 700MHz auction applications
4) Microsoft signs $500M ad deal
5) GPS devices fly off the shelves
6) Netsuite sets high price for planned IPO
7)… Continue Reading
South Park creators get web revenue cut. Sweet.
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have signed a revenue-sharing deal with executives at Viacom-owned Comedy Central, their long-time television network, according to a New York Times article on Sunday.
This continues a shake-up in the way big-media works, the latest in a… Continue Reading
Internet TV company, Joost, raises $45M
Internet TV company Joost has raised $45 million in a whopper round of venture financing, giving it a significant war-chest to spend just as its product hits the market.
Lead investors were Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures. CBS Corporation, Viacom and the foundation of Chinese… Continue Reading
Delivery Agent lets you buy products in your favorite TV shows
Delivery Agent, a company that lets you purchase products you see on your favorite TV shows, has won a major deal with Viacom and raised $18.5M in a third round of funding.
If you like the jeans that Meredith was wearing in the latest episode… Continue Reading
Roundup: Frontline, Breitbart, Maxthon, Clipsearch, Yahoo-Viacom, Salesforce-Koral
Here’s the latest action:
Big names support Frontline Wireless, which wants to end-run carriers — James Barksdale, former chief executive of Netscape (left, top), and John Doerr, a big-name venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins (left, bottom), are the latest to back Frontline Wireless, the company… Continue Reading
The dirt on Amazon, Steve Jobs, Topix, Fatdoor, MySpace, VC tax and more
Here’s the latest action:
Amazon’s odd and scary patent — First, Amazon rolled out a product called Mechancial Turk (image left), where people do tasks for you that a machine couldn’t perform. Strange name, we thought, but nicely couched in history, and the people still… Continue Reading
Viacom files $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google
Viacom, the giant owner of video content, has sued YouTube and Google for “massive intentional copyright infringement” of Viacom’s properties.
It is one of the biggest challenges yet to what content owners say is a foot-dragging policy by Google when it comes to respecting copyrights…. Continue Reading
YouTube to start filtering for pirated video?
YouTube will start filtering videos and other content in order to stop pirated material from being posted to it site, reports the Mercury News’ Elise Ackerman.
The news is significant because the entire music and video industry has been up in arms about YouTube’s slowness… Continue Reading