Another Distribution Model
News Briefing for Monday, June 16, 2008 You can find the 18-hole U.S. Open playoff at noon ET on ESPN or online at espn360.com. As Tim Russert used to say, “this is a great country.” Good day.
Yet another way to distribute content online, perhaps profitably. Sony will release 8-minute portions of a show online during the course of 10 weeks next year and then sell a DVD with the entire story on it, The Wall St Journal reports. The DVD “will tie the pieces together in a movie-like way,” the Journal says. The show is called Angel of Death and it’s being produced for $1 million. [WSJ]
Lifetime’s breast cancer-related original film Living Proof is adding a slew of stars, including Amanda Bynes, Angie Harmon, Swoosie Kurtz, Bernadette Peters, Jennifer “Stiffler’s Mom” Coolidge and Regina King. The film stars Harry Connick Jr and premieres in October as part of the network’s Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Internet traffic will jump sixfold between 2007-2012, with the biggest push coming from online video, a Cisco study says. The Wall St Journal story says Latin America has the fastest-growing Internet traffic demand. [WSJ]
The Sirius-XM merger looks to be a go with the FCC, The Wall St Journal says. But FCC chief Kevin Martin wants assurances from the companies that prices for consumers for satellite radio and receivers will not rise. An AP piece on The NY Times’ site says Martin decided to bless the deal in exchange for a promise to turn over 24 channels to noncommercial and minority programming. [WSJ] [NYT]
Alessandra Stanley in The NY Times is lukewarm on Showtime’s saucy new series, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, saying it “…has amusing touches, but not enough to sustain an entire series. Mostly the show indulges the common male fantasy that whores truly enjoy prostitution.” They don’t? [NYT]
Briefly Noted
MySpace generates plenty of buzz, but not enough ads, The NY Times reports. [NYT]
Through its grief, NBC must begin to determine how to replace Tim Russert, The NY Times says. [NYT]
Will he or won’t he? Apparently CNN’s Lou Dobbs will not run for governor of New Jersey, the Newark Star-Ledger says. [NSJ]
Late Stories
Cable had a respectable showing Friday evening at the 35th annual Creative Arts & Entertainment Emmys. Among others, Food Network and Discovery Kids each picked up 3 trophies, while Discovery Channel, Nick and Nick Jr grabbed 2 apiece.
Among the winners: Food’s Everyday Italian grabbed 3 awards, for outstanding lifestyle program, host (Giada De Laurentis) and directing. Discovery’s Cash Cab won for outstanding game/audience participation show and The Backyardigans (Nick Jr) won for outstanding special class animated program. Cable dominated one category, individual achievement in animation, where El Tigre (Nick), Wow! Wow! Wubbzy (Nick) and Growing Up Creepy (Discovery Kids) pulled down wins.
Outstanding children’s series went to Discovery’s Greatest Inventions with Bill Nye, and Eartha Kitt was named outstanding performer in an animated program for Disney Channel’s The Emperor’s New School. The late Steve Irwin’s daughter, Bindi, was outstanding performer in a children’s series for Bindi the Jungle Girl on Discovery Kids. Other awards included The Wonder Pets! (Nick Jr) won for outstanding music direction and composition. And little ESPN Deportes’ work on its Rio 2007 Pan American Games Opening Ceremony won for outstanding achievement in costume design/styling.
AMC said today it’s working on a pair of drama series, Ice and Carter Beats the Devil. Ice deals with diamond dealers in NY City, while Carter is a fictional account of President Warren Harding’s mysterious death.
Bravo is taking its Top Chef series to the streets, embarking Saturday on a 20-city promotional tour that will allow fans and cable affiliates to meet Top Chef talent and participate in cooking demos inside TC’s 48-foot-long truck. The tour ends in late September.
Academy Award winner William Hurt will join the cast of FX’s Damages for season II, set to return early next year. In an hilarious bit of press release journalism, FX says: "Details of Hurt’s character are being kept under wraps, but insiders have intimated that Hurt’s character will not only share a professional past with [Patty] Hewes [Glenn Close], but a personal one as well." Got a tip? Contact [email protected] and [email protected]
Who are cable’s most powerful women? Its most influential diverse executives? Nominate your favorites today and see them (or yourself) honored in CableFAX: The Magazine issues later this year. Women. Diverse Executives.
