The Change Mariner: Category: Industry - Entertainment

June 24, 2004

Digital Impact: Television Advertising

Yahoo! News: With TiVo's fast-forward, viewers' shrinking attention spans and new media choices, the 30-second TV ad has more rivals for consumers' attention. That is pushing marketers' thinking increasingly outside the TV box for ways to make the costly but...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:36 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

May 10, 2004

Media Pendulum Swings To Self-Censorship

The New York Times: Television and radio broadcasters say they have little choice but to practice a form of self-censorship, swinging the pendulum of what they consider acceptable in the direction of extreme caution. A series of recent decisions by...

Posted by Bob King at 1:06 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

'Jesus Is My Homeboy' Becomes Fashion Statement

Rugged Elegance: Driven by the success of "The Passion of the Christ" at the box office, "Jesus Chic" has become the new Hollywood fashion trend. Celebrities such as Madonna, Pamela Anderson and Ashton Kutcher have been recently spotted wearing "Jesus...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:09 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 20, 2004

Studios Rush to Cash In on DVD Boom

The New York Times: Not since the advent of the videocassette in the mid-1980's has the movie industry enjoyed such a windfall from a new product. And just as video caused a seismic shift two decades ago, the success of...

Posted by Bob King at 11:29 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 19, 2004

DVD War Looms As Advancements Draw Near

Yahoo! News The DVD stands out as one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies ever, but in the electronics industry it's akin to an aging king in Shakespearean drama -- rivals are lurking, knives drawn. Just as consumers are...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:33 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

April 5, 2004

First Soap Opera for Mobile Phone

Yahoo! News: The launch of TV's first-ever soap for the tiny mobile phone screen might not suit everyone's taste, but it is living proof that the TV and digital worlds are merging. With this convergence due to transform the average...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:40 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 31, 2004

New College Craze: Poker

CNN.com: The popularity of television shows such as Bravo's "Celebrity Poker," the Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour" and ESPN's coverage of the Texas Hold 'em championships have fueled a card-playing craze on campuses. College students are perfecting their poker faces...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:35 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 29, 2004

Leisure Pursuits of Today's Young Man

New York Times: The television industry was shaken last October when the ratings from Nielsen Media Research showed that a huge part of a highly prized slice of the American population was watching less television. As the fall TV season...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 4:33 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 24, 2004

Online Games Surpass $1 Billion

San Jose Mercury News: Online gaming on video game consoles gathered momentum in 2003, with U.S. retail sales of online games exceeding $1 billion. Market researcher NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y., said sales of games with online features rose...

Posted by Bob King at 3:18 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 19, 2004

Three Reasons TiVo Will Die

Yahoo! News: #1: Moore's Law The first one, ironically, derives from the same technology that enabled TiVo to live in the first place: Moore's Law. As chips got powerful enough and hard drives cheap enough, the PVR was inevitable. But...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 12:05 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

March 4, 2004

Digital Slide Slows on HDTV

New York Times: Thanks to the wonders of technology, now you, too, can live like Bill Gates. No, you can't suddenly afford to build a $50 million house overlooking Lake Washington. You will not have heated floors, sidewalks and driveways....

Posted by Bob King at 9:11 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 15, 2004

Comcast, Disney & The Video On Demand Future

Denver Post: It's too early to guess the outcome of the hostile takeover bid for the House of Mouse. Comcast, a company feared and loathed in this market and others as the industry Bigfoot, wants to merge with Disney, the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:58 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 12, 2004

BitTorrent: The Third Wave of File Sharing

New York Times: Three years later, Mr. [Bram] Cohen, 28, has emerged as the face of the next wave of Internet file sharing. If Napster started the first generation of file-sharing, and services like Kazaa represented the second, then the...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:06 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 9, 2004

How Home Theaters Are Transforming Entertainment

New York Times: The VCR and the DVD player have changed where and how Americans watch movies, and now home theaters are further transforming the experience. As setups like the Slotkys' become commonplace, TV watching is becoming more of a...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:21 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 6, 2004

Nielsen Media, TiVo Sign Agreement

USATODAY.com: Nielsen Media Research, the company that measures television viewership, signed an agreement Thursday with TiVo to provide information on digital video recorder usage. Television networks, concerned about declining ratings, have complained that Nielsen's measurements don't reflect the growing use...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 5:15 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 5, 2004

Corning To Invest $600 Million In LCDs

Techweb: Corning Inc. is making a $600 million investment in its liquid crystal display glass substrate manufacturing process to take advantage of the boom in flat-panel computer monitors and television sets. The company said the investment will be in stages...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:31 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

February 4, 2004

Janet Jackson's Bare Breast Tops Internet Searches

Reuters: A flash of singer Janet Jackson's right breast during a halftime Super Bowl performance has become the most-searched image in Internet history, online companies said on Wednesday. Jackson's unscripted flash of flesh during Sunday's Super Bowl halftime send Internet...

Posted by Jennifer King at 2:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

January 19, 2004

Television Commercials Come to the Web

New York Times: Beginning tomorrow, more than a dozen Web sites, including MSN, ESPN, Lycos and iVillage, will run full-motion video commercials from Pepsi, AT&T, Honda, Vonage and Warner Brothers, in a six-week test that some analysts and online executives...

Posted by Bob King at 8:39 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

January 13, 2004

China Poses Trade Worry as It Gains in Technology

New York Times: Today, the principal international standard-setting organizations have representation from many countries, including China, but American interests often carry the greatest influence. "We are accustomed to the United States being the biggest market and the technology leader, so...

Posted by Bob King at 9:07 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Disney closes Orlando studio as digital animation takes over

Sun Sentiel (Florida): The Walt Disney Co. is shuttering its Orlando-based animation studio, cutting 258 jobs, as the company shifts from hand-drawn animated films to computer-generated features and videos. Some of the employees will be offered jobs in Burbank, Calif.,...

Posted by Bob King at 8:59 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 21, 2003

The Video Game Industry: On the Verge

New York Times: Has there ever been a cultural sea change as stealthy as the one represented by the rise of interactive entertainment? To anyone who came of age after, say, the introduction of the first Sony Playstation in 1995,...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 11:52 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 17, 2003

Intel Expected to Make Chips for Digital TVs

Yahoo! News: Intel wants to get inside your television. The world's largest microchip maker will soon unveil plans to make chips for digital televisions, opening a fast-growing market to a company that dominates the computer chip business, an industry...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:27 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Intel Digital TV

New York Times: The Intel Corporation is planning to do to digital television what it has already done to computing. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens on Jan. 8, Intel is expected to disclose the development...

Posted by Bob King at 8:34 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 13, 2003

Subscription Video On Demand

CBS Marketwatch: If you've wondered what the video-on-demand television universe might look like once it's fully integrated, Glenn Britt is in one of the best positions to tell you. Britt, the chairman of Time Warner's cable unit -- the nation's...

Posted by Bob King at 2:24 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 12, 2003

Stephen Jobs' View on TV Downloads: Very Different From Music

RollingStone.com: Q: Lots people who work in the movie business have watched what's happened to the music industry and think they're next. Do you see that? SJ: It is a problem. But movies are very different than music. First of...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:40 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

December 3, 2003

Cable Tops Broadcast TV In Sweeps Period for First Time

CNN.com: More U.S. households were tuned to cable television networks than broadcast networks last month during prime time, the first time cable has bested over-the-air competitors during a crucial sweeps period. Ratings for the sweeps period, used by the networks...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 4:40 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 29, 2003

China party repackages Mao as a rap artist

TelegraphIndia: In a desperate appeal to China�s fashionable youth, the Chinese Communist Party has approved the repackaging of Mao Zedong as a rap artist. Mao�s favourite exhortation � the Two Musts � is to be set to music and released...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:15 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

Presence of Powerful Woman Behind The Screen Translates Into More Women On-screen

NYNewsDay: ... Ms. Lauzen's latest study, which analyzed the 2002-3 prime-time season, found that women made up 22 percent of all creators, executive producers, producers, directors, writers, editors and directors of photography, a percentage that has remained virtually unchanged for...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 10:48 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 28, 2003

SBC calls action for Movielink rentals over broadband

ZDNet: SBC Internet Services is promoting an online video-on-demand service from Movielink, in the hope of luring new customers to its broadband access with film rentals. The high-speed Internet access provider, a unit of SBC Communications, has teamed with Movielink...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:29 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 24, 2003

TV and Land Line Receeding into the Background of 'Tech Elite'

InternetNews.com: ... The October 2002 survey of nearly 1,700 Americans focused on personal technologies, revealing that a greater proportion of enthusiastic tech users would find it more difficult to do without their computer, cell phone, and Internet than their television...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 8:17 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

WGBH-TV Rolls Out Digital Asset System to Position for Convergence

TVWeek: PBS flagship station WGBH-TV in Boston unveiled a digital asset management center earlier this month that is designed to serve as a test lab for the television industry. The multimillion-dollar facility is also critical to the future of WGBH...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:00 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 17, 2003

ITV's Future Could Hinge on DirecTV

TVWeek: Cable operators aren't convinced that interactive TV has got the goods, even though competing satellite service DirecTV will aggressively launch ITV in the not-too-distant future. That's the finding of a Yankee Group study released last week outlining expectations for...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:30 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

DirecTV Drops OpenTV's Wink Interactive Service

TheStreet.com: OpenTV said Thursday morning that one of its interactive television services would be dropped from DirecTV next month. DirecTV's decision to drop OpenTV's Wink service -- a move that will affect 10.4 million of the satellite operator's set-top boxes...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:25 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

FCC OKs 'broadcast flag' for digital TV

SiliconValley.com: The government Tuesday approved an anti-piracy mechanism that will make it harder for computer users to illegally distribute digital TV programs on the Internet. The goal is to speed the transition to higher quality digital broadcasts and ensure such...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:09 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

PCs As Heart of Home Entertainment

New York Times: This is not your grandma's PC," said Louis J. Burns, the executive in charge of Intel's desktop computer division. The arrival of the more flexible personal computers, Silicon Valley executives argue, is aimed at permitting the industry...

Posted by Bob King at 4:22 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 16, 2003

Sony's New Strategy: Position Content and Electronics for Wireless, Interactive Broadband

TV Week: Sir Howard Stringer sheepishly conceded that his Sony Corp. of America is to blame for the mysterious disappearance this fall of males age 18 to 34 from network television, his old stomping ground. "They are playing on my...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 9:04 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

DVD Recorder and TiVO in One Unit - Here Comes the Portable Library

AlwaysOn: Ever wish you could save a TV show with your digital video recorder and take that recording with you to watch elsewhere? Now you can with Pioneer Electronics' new DVD recorders. Besides playing and recording DVDs, they also incorporate...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 1:09 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 13, 2003

comScore Locates Young Men: 'They're Online'

MediaDailyNews.com: After reported sightings of 18- to 34-year-old men just about everywhere but network television, comScore Media Metrix finds about 75 percent of the men in the demographic are on the Internet - and they're spending more time there. Nearly...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:05 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 12, 2003

Baby Media Booming

TwinCities: Meanwhile, the baby media market is booming. Baby Einstein, the most popular line of baby videos, which was bought by Disney in 2001, will release its 13th title this month. According to the Kaiser study, one in four children...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 11:32 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

PluggedIn: TV viewers find TiVo addictive

San Diego Union-Tribune: TiVo television recorders that allow viewers to replay programs and skip commercials have turned casual TV watchers into prisoners shackled to sofas, unable to keep up with the flood of their favorite shows. "For something that is...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:57 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

News Corp said to seek Russian satellite TV

FT.com: NTV, one of Russia's biggest national television networks, has been in discussions with Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation regarding the sale of NTV's satellite business, said two people close to the negotiations. Such a sale would come as...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:53 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

TV has made nation complacent, Gore says

KnoxNews: The "quasi-hypnotic influence" of television in America has fostered a complacent nation that is a danger to democracy, former Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday. Gore, speaking on "Media and Democracy" at Middle Tennessee State University, told attendees the...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:39 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

Rivals Move to Exploit a Network TV Problem

New York Times: Competitors of broadcast network television are moving to capitalize on its problems with data from Nielsen Media Research that show a decline in viewership among men ages 18 to 34. Trade publications this week are filled with...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 12:34 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

November 3, 2003

Internet, Video Game, DVD Use May Be Fueling Exodus of Young Male TV Viewer

TVWeek: ... Network executives witnessed as much as a 12 percent decline in persons using television levels for the men 18 to 34 demographic in the first few weeks, and as much as a 20 percent decline for men 18...

Posted by Norm M. Wada at 5:55 PM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 29, 2003

Flat-Panel Display Demand Surges

New York Times: Looking to the fastest-growing segment of the world television market, Sony announced Tuesday a $2 billion joint venture with Samsung, to produce liquid crystal displays, commonly known as flat-panel screens. With production to start in South Korea...

Posted by Bob King at 10:47 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

October 23, 2003

LCD Television Sales to Boom, Affordable from 2005

Yahoo! News: Sales of LCD televisions look set to double next year, but the explosive growth expected to propel the industry in the coming decade is still more than a year off, industry executives and analysts said. The new generation...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 9:28 AM | See the full story | TrackBack

September 21, 2003

A Torrent of TV Show Downloads

Yahoo! News: First music, then movies -- now Internet file traders have tuned in to television, going online to download their favorite shows. Web sites like Suprnova.org are doing for TV downloads what Napster did for digital music files. You...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 1:37 AM | See the full story

September 12, 2003

Interactive TV Enhances Ads

BBC NEWS: The last five years of digital TV in the UK have transformed viewing from a passive experience to one where viewers have far greater control over what they watch and when. A lot of this is due to...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 10:40 AM | See the full story

September 10, 2003

Latino Roles On The Rise

SignOnSanDiego.com: As Hollywood moves to capture the burgeoning Latino market at the box office -- and the hiring of more Latino talent to work on and off-camera -- Latino actors are increasingly hiring dialect coaches. Indeed, the numbers show a...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 1:46 PM | See the full story

The Death of the CD, DVD: RIP

CNN.com: In the 1950s, the revolution was all about rock 'n' roll. The 70s brought punk and disco. And sometime this decade, the rebellion shifted from the music genre to the digital domain. ... "On-demand services are the future of...

Posted by Timothy Fredel at 7:04 AM | See the full story

The Change Mariner Industry - Entertainment - TV