NBC has asked NIELSEN to move sweeps to January next year to avoid complications associated with the transition to digital television. If accepted, the February 2009 sweeps would start on January 15th and conclude on February 14th – 3 days before all analog television signals are turned off. The impact of the digital transition is unknown and NBC wants to avoid a possible drop-off in viewers during the valuable sweeps period.
KEVIN MARTIN has begun circulating a proposal that would force cable operators to carry hundreds of low-power Class A stations. The move would put yet another restriction on cable owners while boosting the fortunes of Class A station owners who currently have little cable presence. The proposal will be presented at the FCC’s meeting on February 26.
THE BIG FOUR are facing inquiries from the Justice Department over Total Music, a proposed online music service that is still in the planning stages. Universal Music Group had proposed Total Music to the other top labels as a way to combat the dominance of iTunes and have more control over pricing. The service was supposed to include both an online store and a handheld device for music playback. However, the government may kill this one before it even begins.
YAHOO has launched Yahoo Live, a new platform for live streaming video. The service allows webcam owners to setup a dedicated profile page with their live video stream. Users can chat and interact on the pages. TechCrunch did some early testing and found the service to be flaky and unstable. TechCrunch also reports that Yahoo has called a special board meeting today to decide whether or not to accept Microsoft’s takeover offer.
OPENID got yet another boost as IBM, Google, Microsoft, Verisign and Yahoo all joined its corporate board. The foundation’s goal is to have one user name and password for all users. It is currently accepted on over 10,000 sites. With growing industry support, the days of trying to remember your password for that obscure shopping site may be nearing an end.
ARM is expected to demonstrate a prototype phone running Google’s Android operating system on Monday at the Mobile World Congress. Google plans to have phones running the software on the market by the second half of this year. Monday should give an early glimpse of how this initiative is proceeding.