Newspaper execs hopeful for industry’s future
Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive officer of McClatchy, and Dean Singleton, vice chairman and chief executive officer of MediaNews, agreed that newspapers aren’t headed for extinction despite the slow erosion of readers. The industry is holding up better than television and radio, which are fragmenting.But the Internet is another matter.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | BBC unveils radical revamp of website
The BBC today unveiled radical plans to rebuild its website around user-generated content, including blogs and home videos, with the aim of creating a public service version of MySpace.com.
Cable TV companies, AT&T at odds over regulatory bill
AT&T and cable companies operating in California squared off Monday in Sacramento over a proposed bill that would radically change how television is regulated in the state.
» The new meaning of programming | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com
But what happens when broadcast networks start putting up TV shows on the web, like ABC and Fox announced last week. Put another way, what happens to the value and need for traditional media programming when a show is placed on a non-linear medium like the web? Does making a show viewable on-demand negate the need for programming?
NBC Universal and its 213 affiliate stations have formed a joint venture to sell news, lifestyle, sports, weather and other video generated by local stations, it was announced Wednesday.
The new company, tentatively called National Broadband Co., is intended to give NBC stations access to millions of dollars in advertising migrating from traditional TV to the Internet.
The joint venture "will allow us to serve the market that seems to have an insatiable appetite for video," said Terry Mackin, chairman of the NBC Affiliates Board.
The company will be majority owned by NBC and offer behind-the-scenes and other video from the NBC Universal library along with footage produced by affiliates.
The new company is still developing a strategy to profit from the hundreds of hours of video produced daily.
Some scenarios discussed during a conference call included selling video to Web portals such as Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) as well as creating a new site where viewers could watch segments produced by local stations.
The joint venture is not likely to include prime time programming that NBC is selling through Internet download services such as Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes.
The network is in discussions with affiliates about splitting those revenues. But executives said they see a much more lucrative market forming for video produced by local stations.
"Revenue share for portable devices would be very small compared to this business," Mackin said.
Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.
‘’It’s the new public relations and it’s the new home page. Instead of a static home page, you have your blog," he said. It’s a way to let people know what you are thinking about the field that interests you.
Companies should create websites with terse, engaging language and logical designs.
BLOGGERS and internet pundits are exerting a "disproportionately large influence" on society, a report by technology researchers says.
The Public Broadcasting System is considering making its television shows available on the Internet or portable devices like MP3 players, its new president and chief executive officer said on Monday.
PBS is also weighing whether to partner with technology companies, in the same way that Walt Disney Co. has teamed up with Apple Computer Inc. to sell episodes of some of its ABC television network series on iTunes for downloading to iPods, CEO Paula Kerger said.
If a new idea from Philips catches on, the company may not be very popular with TV viewers. The company’s labs in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, has been cooking up a way to stop people changing channels to avoid adverts or fast forwarding through ads they have recorded along with their target programme.