Rainbow Dance

Rainbow Media has started shoring up its post-Sundance acquisition reality… and so far, so good as far as we can tell. With Sundance’s Larry Aidem set to head the new Rainbow Ventures unit, his able Sundance lieutenant Laura Michalchyshyn becomes Sundance GM while the much-respected Jen Caserta becomes GM of IFC. Both of them will report to IFC chief Evan Shapiro, who will now oversee both channels. All of this seems to have worked out especially well for Shapiro and Caserta, who both move up the food chain. Meanwhile, it’s good to see Caserta landing a lead role again after her tenure at Fuse ended last year with her return to IFC under Shapiro. It almost makes you think all of this was planned out long ago… hmmmmmm.

Big Ten Deal
Well, it’s about time, but Comcast and Big Ten Network on Thurs finally signed a carriage deal after what seemed like two millennia of carriage negotiations. The pact kicks in on Aug 15 and basically covers the Big 10 states… IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI, and PA, with the exception of the Philadelphia region, which will launch on a broadly distributed digital level of service. Next spring, Comcast can move the net to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most states. All of this just in time for the 2008 college football season. Nice.

YouTube Uncut
Yes, YouTube is lifting its 10-min time restriction on clips for its content partners, which of course include a good number of cable content firms (as well as indie film producers and others who would benefit from exceeding the limit). Let’s face it: We don’t need more than 10 minutes of dogs on skateboards… but movies and TV shows are another matter. It will be especially interesting to see how big content providers react, especially since News Corp and NBCU are doing just fine, thank you, with their ad-supported Hulu venture, and Viacom has been sicking its lawyers on YouTube for quite some time (even though the media company has benefited from publicity generated by all of those “The Colbert Report,” “The Daily Show” and “South Park” episodes floating around freely in the Wild West Web. In any event, file sizes will still be capped at 1GB, which should be adequate for high-quality compressed versions of half-hour and hour-long TV shows (it might be pushing it for 1.5 to 2-hour movies, however). Premium content owners have at least one reason to pause before throwing large amounts of long-form video up on YouTube: Namely that the Web site is exchanging its bandwidth generosity for the right to sell its own ads against the content. That’s probably going to be a dealbreaker for the big content owners of the world, although smaller players and perhaps some indie film mavens will find the exposure worth the loss of advertising control. Stay tuned, er… stay logged in, we mean.

Wireless HDTV?
Most content junkies are aware of 802.11n, a WiFi-based technology that’s supposed to enable high-quality video streams to fly around the home (or even the coffeeshop). But for something that could truly replace that expensive HDMI cable protruding from the back of set-tops and TV sets, ABI Research sees the primary battle shaping up between 3 technology systems: 5GHz, 60GHz and ultra wideband (or UWB for short). According to a new study, ABI predicts the current incubation stage will prompt fewer than 100,000 shipments of such devices in 2008, with 2012 as the first year that wireless HDTV will pass the 1-million device mark. It’s a side issue for content owners, but anything that makes it easier for consumers to get HDTV on multiple devices will no doubt drive further HD demand just as cable nets scramble to launch more HD channels and content delivery options. Private Viacom? The prolifically pontificating research analyst Rich Greenfield has reintroduced his longtime arguments for media giant Viacom to go private to take advantage of a depressed share price and the potential to leverage the deal for a tidy profit. Viacom has been trading in the low 30s lately, and Greenfield argues that taking it private for anything less than $49 would be a profitable enterprise. Of course, does anyone really think Sumner cares what anyone thinks?

Interactive Ads
The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s board elected a few new board members this week, including some familiar cable faces like Cesar Conde, evp/chief strategy officer at Univision and Greg D’Alba, evp/COO for CNN Advertising Sales & Marketing. Becoming vice chair is David Moore, chmn/CEO of digital marketing firm 24/7 Real Media. For those who want all the details, here’s a rundown of IAB’s diverse board assignments:

The two new members of the Executive Committee of the IAB Board of Directors are:

Lynda Clarizio, President, AOL/Platform A
Joseph Rosenbaum, Partner, Reed Smith, LLP

The Executive Committee of the IAB Board of Directors includes (new members of the Executive Committee are indicated *):

Chair: Wenda Harris Millard, Co-CEO and President of Media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Vice-Chair: David J. Moore, Chairman and CEO, 24/7 Real Media, Inc
President: Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO, IAB

Tim Armstrong, President, Advertising & Commerce, VP, Google Inc.
Neil Ashe, CEO, CNET Networks, Inc.
Lynda Clarizio, President, AOL/Platform A*
Bruce Gordon, CFO, SVP, Walt Disney Internet Group (Treasurer)
Mike Hard, VP, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, US Sales
Rich LeFurgy, Principal, Archer Advisers (Founding Chairman, ex-officio)
Dave Morgan, Chairman, Tennis.com, (ex-officio)
Martin Nisenholtz, SVP, Digital Operations, New York Times

Company Secretary: Joseph Rosenbaum, Partner, Reed Smith LLP* (ex-officio)*
Jim Spanfeller, President & CEO, Forbes.com
Steve Wadsworth, President, Walt Disney Internet Group

The six new members of the IAB Board of Directors are:
Lynda Clarizio, President, AOL/Platform A
Cesar Conde, EVP, & Chief Strategy Officer, Univision
Greg D’Alba, EVP & Chief Operating Officer, CNN Advertising Sales
Christopher Ma, Vice President, The Washington Post Company.
Gordon McLeod, President, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network
Joseph Rosenbaum, Partner, Reed Smith LLP (Secretary, ex-officio)

The full list of the IAB Board of Directors: (new members of the Board indicated with*):
Tim Armstrong, President, Advertising & Commerce, North America, VP Google Inc.
Neil Ashe, CEO, CNET Networks, Inc.
John Battelle, Chairman, Federated Media
Bob Carrigan, President, IDG Communications, Inc.
Sarah Chubb, President, CondeNet
Lynda Clarizio, President, AOL/Platform A*
Cesar Conde, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Univision*
Greg D’Alba, EVP & Chief Operating Officer, CNN Advertising Sales*
Ned Desmond, President, Time Inc Interactive
Jonathan Ewert, GM Advertising, Looksmart Ltd.
Joe Fiveash, EVP, The Weather Channel Interactive
Mitch Golub, President, Cars.com
Bruce Gordon, CFO, SVP, Walt Disney Internet Group (Treasurer)
Mike Hard, VP, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, US Sales
Peter Horan, CEO, IAC Media and Advertising
David Karnstedt, SVP, North American Sales, Yahoo!
Patrick Keane, EVP & CMO, CBS
Randy Kilgore, Chief Revenue Officer, Tremor Media
Rich LeFurgy, Principal, Archer Advisers (Founding Chairman, ex-officio)
Leon Levitt, VP, Digital Media, Cox Newspapers
Christopher Ma, Vice President, The Washington Post Company*
Dave Madden, EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, WildTangent
Riley McDonough, SVP, GM, Americas of Reuters Media
Gordon McLeod, President, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network*
Wenda Harris Millard, Co-CEO and President of Media, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
David J. Moore, Chairman and CEO, 24/7 Real Media, Inc.
Dave Morgan, Chairman, Tennis.com (ex-officio)
Peter Naylor, SVP, NBC Universal Digital Media Sales, NBC Universal
Martin Nisenholtz, SVP, Digital Operations, New York Times Company
Lance Podell, Chief Executive Officer, Seevast
Joseph Rosenbaum, Partner, Reed Smith LLP (Secretary, ex-officio)*
Randall Rothenberg, President & CEO, Interactive Advertising Bureau
Warren Schlichting, VP, New Business Strategy, Comcast Spotlight
Tina Sharkey, Chairman, Babycenter Tad Smith, CEO, Reed Business Information
Jim Spanfeller, President & CEO, Forbes.com
Steve Wadsworth, President, Walt Disney Internet Group
Jeff Webber, SVP & Publisher, USATODAY.com
Matt Wise, President & CEO, Q Interactive
Dave Yovanno, GM, ValueClick Media