Hellgate Network

SHELLY PALMER probes several issues surrounding digital rights. What are your rights as Digital Citizens of the United States? Do we have a national broadband policy? What is it? What should it be? Read about digital deficiency and how it may jeopardize our status as a “super power.”

MICROSOFT’s “white space” device failed for a third time and now the FCC refuses to continue testing it. The device was intended to show that white space spectrum could bring Internet access to mobile devices without interfering with television signals. The tech industry is behind the initiative but Microsoft’s repeated failures have not been helping the cause.

YAHOO is launching Shine, a new site targeted at women in the 25 to 54 age bracket. Shine will offer content focused on parenting, relationships, food, beauty and more including exclusive content from Hearst, Rodale, Conde Nast and Time Inc. Shine will allow Yahoo sell advertising targeted directly to women, an online demographic it believes is currently under-served. It launches today.

SONY will launch PIX, a linear movie channel on AT&T’s forthcoming MediaFlo mobile TV service. PIX will feature classic movies from Columbia, TriStar, Screen Gems and Sony Classics. It will focus on familiar movies so that viewers can miss the beginning and stop watching whenever they feel like it. Sony Pictures Television will also announce a new mobile Jeopardy game for handheld users.

MICROSOFT has signed a deal with Hollywood producer and talent manager Peter Safran to create original video content for the Xbox. Safran and Company will create scripted shows that run under ten minutes and focus on genres that are popular with the Xbox audience. The ad-supported shows are expected to begin this fall, starting with Xbox exclusivity before expanding into other distribution channels. A company spokesperson said the deal is “the first of many.”

MTV NETWORKS will become the first Viacom property to embrace mobile ad-supported distribution. The network will place clips on mobile destination Mywaves.

AFTRA and SAG will negotiate with the AMPTP separately.

IAC won a court decision that will allow it to split into 5 companies.

NEWSPAPERS saw print ad revenue drop 9.4% in 2007, the biggest decline since at least 1950.

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SHELLY PALMER analyzes Antigua’s threat to undermine U.S. copyright laws by legalizing piracy. Click through to prepare yourself for the danger proposed by the 1st InfoWar.

MARCH MADNESS streamed 2.8 million hours of video during Round 1 alone, compared to last year’s total of 2.5 million hours for the entire tournament. Unique viewers have doubled so far and the “boss button” — which replaces the video with a spreadsheet to hide it when the boss walks by – has been clicked two million times. CBS’s new strategy of allowing direct-linking to games and dropping registration requirements is a clear success.

MTV NETWORKS has made every single “South Park” episode available for free on the South Park Studios website. The extensive release covers all 12 seasons and over 150 episodes. An early sampling of the site revealed Toyota as the main sponsor. Viewers can skip skip forward and backwards through the programs but not during advertisements.

FORBES will launch the Forbes Business and Financial Blog Network, an online ad network connecting over 400 financial blogs. Ad sales will be handled by ADIFY. Forbes has already made modest projections for revenue increases resulting from the network and is expected to offered details during an announcement today.

YOUTUBE announced the winners of its 2007 YouTube Video Awards. Awards were granted in twelve different categories, including Comedy, Music, Sports and Eyewitness. Winners included laughing babies, tips on solving the Rubik’s cube and the impressive Human Tetris video. The most-viewed winner so far is a Harry Potter musical parody performed by puppets, which has been seen over 37 million times. Second among the winners is the music video sensation Chocolate Rain, which has racked up over 16 million views so far.

CBS canceled “Jericho” once again. The show was brought back after its first cancelation due to an online outcry from thousands of devoted fans. Past episodes were also performing well on iTunes and CBS.com. However, its revival did not increase its popularity and recent shows drew a 1.9 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic. The Jericho saga shows further evidence that online success is not a predictor of success on traditional television.

VERIZON will connect Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan to FiOS.  This is one of the biggest FiOS hook-ups so far, bringing the high-speed Internet service to over 11,000 apartments in New York City’s biggest apartment complex.

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NBC has a new idea that’s been around since the 50’s. The network will begin involving certain sponsors in show development. One deal will be a two-movie partnership with Liberty Mutual focusing on the excitement of insurance policies, responsibility and doing the right thing. The movies will act as pilots for the network. If picked up, Liberty Mutual will have the right of first refusal to become a partner in the series.

KEVIN MARTIN recommended that the FCC reject a proposal from SKYPE that would open up all wireless networks to third-party devices. Martin said the industry is moving in that direction anyway, citing Verizon’s new open network policy and mobile operator involvement in Google’s Open Handset Alliance. He sees no reason to regulate something he believes is already occurring in the free market.

SAG will begin negotiations with the AMPTP on April 15, before AFTRA negotiations start. Fear of a second strikes looms, especially since SAG was a vocal supporter of the WGA work stoppage. The negotiations will be watched closely.

BLINKX will launch BBTV, a new downloadable player that uses P2P connections to stream video content. The service will begin with a library of 40 independent movies and niche shows on finance, fashion, travel and more. BBTV doesn’t seem to have any major content deals that will make the service overly compelling. There’s a teaching moment here. People don’t watch platforms, they watch content.

FOX and NBC will use JUMPTAP to serve targeted ads on their mobile sites. JumpTap will utilize demographic data and past searches to show relevant ads. The company is racking up some major clients, having already signed carriers Virgin and Boost Mobile for search deals.

CBS will begin a round of major layoffs at owned-and-operated stations around the country.

VERIZON has beefed up its V CAST mobile video service with new content from MTV, CNN, NBC, ABC and more.

APPLE STORES are running out of iPhones causing rumor mongers to suggest that a new 3G iPhone is close at hand.

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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 more lenient proposal from broadcasters that will give them the option of joining the transition effort. Participating stations will run 16 spots each week, with 4 occurring during primetime. The plan will also include screen crawls and a special 100 day countdown special. In other Commission news, the FCC is expected to imminently approve the year-old proposal under which Liberty Media would trade its 16.3% stake in News Corp. for a controlling stake in DirecTV.

CBS followed yesterday’s NBC news by announcing that its classic titles will also be available online for free ad-supported streaming. Star Trek, Macgyver, Melrose Place, The Twilight Zone and more will be added to CBS.com and across the CBS Audience Network. CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith said the new initiative is “solving for what the user wants.”

MICROSOFT claims it will make a major effort to share more technical information with software developers in an effort to satisfy EU antitrust requirements. The company will put 30,000 pages of formerly secret technical specifications concerning Windows and Microsoft’s server platform. The EU was not impressed, saying that Microsoft has already promised such efforts four times in the past. However, this time Microsoft may need to follow through to ensure approval of a Yahoo takeover.

ESPN360 broke new ground by offering the first HD stream of a live NBA game. The site was utilizing a new application from MOVE NETWORKS that automatically served HD quality video to users with fast connections and scaled down the quality for slower connections. The site will tap the technology again soon to present NCAA games in HD.

MTV will officially launch JackassWorld.com tomorrow, offering webisodes of the popular series and an interactive community of fans. The Jackass crew will takeover MTV all day tomorrow to promote the launch.

Get the full story at http://www.Media30.com.

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FRONTLINE WIRELESS has reportedly shutdown operations following a failed attempt to bid in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction. The company missed Thursday’s deadline for submitting the $128 million auction deposit after being unable to acquire funding. A company spokesperson released a statement saying “Frontline is closed for business at this time. We have no further comment.”

KEVIN MARTIN said the date for the transition to all-digital broadcasts is a “hard date” with no chance for delay. Speaking at a CES Q&A the FCC Chairman also revealed that the Commission is investigating Comcast for recent findings that the service provider intentionally throttles Internet connections. The FCC itself is now under a formal investigation that was launched yesterday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It seeks to address complaints about Martin’s leadership and the internal workings of the Commission.

THE DATAPORTABILITY WORKGROUP received a major boost yesterday when Facebook, Google and Plaxo all announced plans to join. In doing so the companies are committing to open standards and interoperability for online data. In related news, Google, IBM and VeriSign are reportedly in talks to join OpenID, the foundation dedicated to creating a single login and password for users across as many online services as possible.

GOLDEN GLOBES sponsors have begun to withdraw from the stripped-down “news conference” version of the awards ceremony. Overall, the debacle will cost NBC between $10 million and $15 million. Meanwhile, fear is mounting that the Oscars will face a similar fate — putting ABC’s $80 million payday for the broadcast in peril. In other strike news, Jon Stewart derided the Writers Guild on-air for not cutting a deal with him, even though he had convinced Viacom to sign-off on it. The WGA affirmed that it will not negotiate with individual shows.

MICROSOFT has bid $1.2 billion for Fast Search and Transfer, a Norwegian company that creates software to search internal corporate data. Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s business division, says the acquisition will make Microsoft “the clear leader in enterprise search.” Analysts believe that the acquired technology could also help Microsoft compete with Google in the consumer search market.

VIACOM announced online syndication deals with Veoh, Dailymotion, iMeem, MeeVee and GoFish. Content from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1 and other Viacom properties will soon be available on the video sites.

SPRINT confirmed an April launch for its WiMax service and unveiled prototype devices that connect to the network.

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COMCAST plans an imminent release of the first system that allows television ads to be targeted to the individual household level. The system will reportedly be deployed this June to over 100,000 homes in Baltimore. The technology is being developed by INVIDI, a company that has recently seen major investments from WPP, Motorola and others. One thing is certain: this June, the privacy police will be working overtime in Baltimore.

AT&T will launch a live mobile TV service based on Qualcomm’s MediaFlo in May. The service will offer eight channels with full-length content from Comedy Central ESPN, MTV, FOX, NBC, Nickelodeon and more. Two handsets will be supported at launch, LG’s Vu and Samsung’s Access. If you live outside a major metropolitan area, however, you may not be covered by the new service. The MediaFlo network won’t be fully deployed until February 2009, when analog TV shuts down and Qualcomm takes full possession of its spectrum.

GOOGLE is seeing continued decline in clicks on search advertisements, according to new data from comScore. During February, Google saw ad clicks fall 3% from January’s totals. That marks two consecutive months of decline. Google maintains that clicks aren’t the sole indicator of business success but Wall Street isn’t buying it. The company’s stock has fallen 40% since November. I’ve got a different question. How accurate are ComScore’s numbers and are they third party verified?

MTV.COM drew major traffic on Tuesday, serving up 1.8 million streams of a new episode of The Hills. The episode drew 4.8 million viewers when it premiered on MTV the night before. The online blockbuster comes at a fortuitous time for the network. MTV will host an upfront on May 8th, during which it will focus on its multi-platform capabilities.

THE FCC released the details of a plan that will allow satellite TV providers to phase in their support for local HD channels between 2009 and 2013.

WARNER MUSIC is hoping to tax your Internet access bill in exchange for unlimited music. Saying the music industry has become “one big tip jar,” Jim Griffen, Warner’s new digital guy, wants everyone to pay into a pool of money to save the industry. I see, the industry can’t get enough voluntary subscriptions, so they’re going to try to make everyone pay. Good luck with that.

CBS has begun testing online HD streaming using clips from “CSI,” “How I Met Your Mother” and other network shows. Clips are currently offered in 480p, with plans to offer 720p and 1080p soon. There are no full length shows posted yet.

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