We're Not Who You Think We Are
“Ducking the Shoe” is a phrase coined by Daniel Fienberg a couple of days ago on Twitter to mean “escaping even the most minor of punishments for extended errors or misdeeds.”
Well, yeah.
So in the spirit of George W. Bush’s ninja-like ability to duck a shoe thrown at him from point blank range, the following people and things spent 2008 getting away with shit that they really should have been busted on.
[Read more…] about Medialoper’s 2008 Ducking The Shoe Awards
Starting on September 5, you will be able to access the CBS Evening News from the comfort of your laptop. That’s the good news. The bad news? After a series of what seemed to be good moves, CBS is taking a step backward. This time, it’s a classic case of protectionism.
The question is, of course, who is CBS protecting?
With Katie Couric at the helm, CBS is hoping to attract a younger viewing audience. Setting aside the fact that the audience they’re gunning for — the net generation — isn’t likely to be swayed by the addition of Couric, except from a curiosity perspective, CBS’s move seems like the same old appointment television with an online twist.
[Read more…] about CBS Reaffirms Its Commitment To Appointment Television
When faced with the world of 21st Century Television, different networks do different things to bring audiences to their shows. In the past couple of weeks we’ve learned that FOX will continue to ruin the baseball playoffs; ABC wants to disable the fast-forward button on DVRs and CBS is going to advertise on food.
Lame lame lame. (Actually, I recognize that the FOX/MLB partnership is shrewd from the marketing standpoint; it’s just that I’m a lifelong baseball fan who recoils in horror at being faced with Tim McCarver, those dopey “Sounds of the Game” and sitcom stars in box seats every goddamn October until 2053 or whenever it is.)
So just when you’d figure that NBC would also come up with some kind of dumbass stunt or idea of their own, they actually go in the complete opposite direction and do something very very smart.
Mention the 1960s and 1970s to broadcast TV execs, and you probably get sad sighs, as they reminisce dreamily about a time before the internet; before TiVo; before VHS; before original cable programming; before the remote control; when people would turn the TV to one single network and leave it there all night, watching the commercials and everything. It was the “Golden Age of TV,” for sure. Because TV got all of the gold.
Those days are gone, of course, but it doesn’t stop the broadcast networks from devising plans to once more grab, trap and have their way with a mass audience. Last week, ABC reportedly wanted to disable the fast-forward buttons on DVRs, and this week, CBS has announced their bold new marketing strategy: they are going to advertise on eggs.
Came across a small piece on the CBS news site that made me laugh. It was essentially touting the fact that New York Times TV Critic Virginia Heffernan now has a blog dedicated to web video.
That’s not what made me laugh: I’ve read Heffernan’s writing ever since her Salon days, and it’s great that she’s leaping into this frontier. I’ll even betcha that it was something she asked for rather than was assigned.
What made me laugh was this bit of old-media-on-old media-puffery, courtesy of the CBS News website:
[Read more…] about New York Times Blog Not An Online Video Milestone
I’ve been thinking about something these past weeks, and two stories from yesterday really brought it all together for me: this new media stuff is going to get damn expensive. You have $9.99 here, $4.95 there, a monthly subscription, service fees, you name it — it all adds up.
I am pretty enthusiastic about CBS streaming local news to cell phones. I like the idea of accessing my local news during times of trouble — what could be more convenient during an earthquake or, heck, a playoff game? But to pay $4.95 a month for the privilege (plus my regular cell charges) strikes me as, well, so not worth it.
The original plan for this week’s look at the upfronts was to single out a single interesting thing that each network was doing with one of its more interesting shows.
That plan worked out fine for NBC, who are pinning their hopes on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and ABC, who have responded to rerun-crazed Losties by putting the kibosh on repeats.
But when I got to CBS, I realized that from where I sit, they really don’t have any interesting shows.
[Read more…] about Upfronts: CBS? More Like CBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I said I was going to watch an ABC program online and I will. I promise. But I’m kind of in the mood for something different tonight, and Kirk promised me that CBS’s “Innertube” was going to work just fine. I’m trying to remember if he’s ever lied to me before.
Okay, step one. Go to CBS site. Luckily, I remember two days ago and recall the name of the feature. Because things are rotating and I got distracted, the front page has changed (Innertube was the featured item when I started, now it’s something else that seems like it’s what I want but is really something called “CBS On Demand”, which is not what I want). So I click on the menu item for “Innertube”.
Last week Fox announced it plans to make 100% of its prime time programming available online within the next three years. While this is the most ambitious move yet by a major network to embrace online programming, what sets Fox apart from the other networks is the way it has dealt with its local affiliates.
While NBC, ABC, and CBS have been selectively testing limited programming downloads (to the dismay of their local affiliates), Fox has been working to obtain affiliate buy-in before making any moves online. The result is an agreement that has Fox sharing online revenue with local affiliates in exchange for the right to eventually make all of its programming available on the web.
Presumably the other networks are in similar negotiations, but one has to wonder whether those negotiations will be any easier now that the networks have made their initial move without first consulting their affiliates.
While Fox’s approach might look like a win for local affiliates, the nature of online programming raises questions about the very concept of network affiliates. In a world where consumers can obtain programming from the web, iTunes, cable, and satellite, do networks still need local broadcast affiliates?
[Read more…] about Will Online Programming Kill Local Television Affiliates?
Lots of recent sabre-rattling directed at YouTube, who have come out of nowhere to be the one of the most-trafficked video web sites. In the past couple of weeks, they’ve been hit with a pair of high-profile “get that thing off of your site” letters from uptight copyright holders, making people wonder if they can avoid being tagged the “Video Napster.”