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THE RECORDING INDUSTRY lost a major ruling in Atlantic v. Brennan when a federal judge in Connecticut ruled that merely making music available to other users is not evidence of copyright infringement. The judge also found that no proof of infringement was supplied by the record companies that brought the suit. With two of three Continue Reading →

THE OSCARS drew 32 million viewers, the lowest since 1974. That’s a 20% drop from last year’s 40 million viewers. This year’s broadcast averaged an 18.7 rating and a 29 share, compared to last year’s 27.7 rating and 42 share. The falloff is being blamed on the dark nature of the top films, such as Continue Reading →

SHELLY PALMER discusses the impact of newsclipper.org, a site that repackages video feeds from major content owners while stripping out the advertising. Read his analysis to learn more about this RSS-fueled challenge to the monetization of online content. THE OSCARS were dominated by “No Country for Old Men,” which received awards for best supporting actor, Continue Reading →

Scott Boyarsky, Director of Program Management at the Walt Disney Internet Group called me to chat about an extraordinary website called newsclipper.org. It’s extraordinary for a bunch of reasons (which I shall explain) but the most interesting part of our conversation centered around a simple, unavoidable truth: newsclipper.org does exactly what you or I might Continue Reading →

SHELLY PALMER and KEVIN MARTIN will talk about the transition to digital television on BLOOMBERG TV today at 12:10 ET. THE FCC is backing down from a plan to force TV stations to air up to 12 PSA’s per day warning viewers about the upcoming digital transition. Instead, the Commission is expected to accept a Continue Reading →

GOOGLE will announce AdSense for Video, allowing web site publishers to insert video ads into video content or to overlay text ads on top of videos. Ads will be contextually matched to both video and web site content. 20 partners have initially signed up for the program including Revver, Blip.tv, Brightcove and YuMe. THE DGA Continue Reading →

NBC has announced its plans for a modified upfront. In April the network will release a 52-week schedule of staggered show premieres and then hold small presentations for advertisers in New York, LA and Chicago. On May 12 it will host a “spotlight event” in New York to present the full range of advertising opportunities Continue Reading →

TOSHIBA has officially announced that it will stop producing and marketing HD DVD players. Shipments to retailers will cease by the end of March. The company said it “simply had no chance to win,” and that continuing the format would harm consumers. APPLE has signed a multifaceted deal with American Idol, making iTunes the exclusive Continue Reading →

TOSHIBA is planning to retire the HD DVD format. Reuters reports that the company is in the final stages of planning its exit from the high-def disc market, handing Blu-ray the role of industry standard. The move comes just days after Wal-Mart ended support for HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray. MTV NETWORKS has acquired Continue Reading →

When it comes to file-sharing, piracy, bootlegging or whatever name you like to call the act of infringing on other people’s intellectual property (IP) rights there is a general rule: Those with more time than money, steal — those with more money than time, buy. Although it is a gross over-simplification of a very complex Continue Reading →