Warner Music and YouTube, co-owners of the one of the Web’s nastiest spats, are about to patch things up. How’d they do it? By cutting a deal that looks a lot like the one YouTube has already made with Universal Music Group.
Don’t say they didn’t warn you: Last week, Yahoo formally rolled out its new $100 million-plus marketing campaign. Today, the TV ads begin. Here’s what you’ll be getting if you watch AMC, ESPN, USA, Comedy Central, Bravo or any of the broadcast networks in the U.S.
Sure, you’re watching lots of video on the Web. But that doesn’t mean you’re cutting back on your boob-tube time. At least not yet.
Here’s another big media player trying — very cautiously — to get people to pay for online media: Disney’s ESPN is going to put the Website for its “ESPN the Magazine” title behind a paywall this summer. But the vast majority of the site’s stuff will remain free.
Comcast and Disney didn’t see eye to eye over the latter’s decision to join Hulu last month. But they’re still able to work together on other online video projects. Hence today’s announcement that ESPN, the Disney-owned sports behemoth, will be offering its streaming video service to 17 million Comcast broadband subs.
A bad quarter for Disney, but it could have been worse–at least Wall Street was expecting it. After factoring out one-time charges and write-offs, Bob Iger and company earned 43 cents a share on revenues of $8.1 billion. Wall Street had been looking for 40 cents and $8.15 billion, respectively. The bright spot for the entertainment conglomerate is the same one you see at every media giant these days: Disney’s cable business.
Adam Carolla used to get paid a lot of money to host a morning radio show with a national audience. Now he’s spending his own money to produce a podcast for a fraction of his old audience. Does that sound like progress to you? It should.
A deal to bring Disney’s TV shows and movies to Hulu has supposedly been imminent for weeks. But people familiar with the negotiations between Disney and the video site insist that discussions are now very, very advanced and that a deal could be struck any day. At this point, I’m told, Disney and Hulu, the joint venture between GE’s NBC and News Corp.’s Fox, are haggling over the finer points in the tie-up: Details like which Disney shows and channels will be included in the pact and how many seats Disney will get on the joint venture’s board. And opponents of the deal are plotting their next moves.
Anyone who makes money–or who is trying to make money–publishing on the Web is obsessed with getting more out of Google and its firehose of traffic. Here’s a novel approach from a coterie of big media brands, including the New York Times and Disney’s ESPN: Complain loudly that the search engine isn’t treating you fairly.
George Kliavkoff, who left his job as NBC Universal’s chief digital officer last year, has a new, similar-sounding gig: He’s going to work at at Hearst, where he’ll run digital operations for entertainment head Scott Sassa.
Everyone who wondered why Randy Falco and Ron Grant were still running AOL finally got an answer today: Time Warner was lining up their replacement. Google sales chief Tim Armstrong becomes chairman and CEO of the troubled Web property, effective immediately.
Think Web ads are annoying now? An industry trade group says they’re not annoying enough. Get ready for the “XXL Box” and “the pushdown”–online ads that insist on your attention.
Anyone who pays attention to Web video knows what the top sites are: YouTube, followed very far behind by the big sites run by big media conglomerates. So how did an obscure Hong Kong site just crack the Top Ten?
Both Comcast and Timer Warner Cable want to give their subscribers Web access to more shows than they can currently get–at least legally. But the two companies have competing plans, based on different technologies and philosophies.
Everyone has been expecting cuts at Disney and its operating units for quite some time. Now they’re here: ABC is firing 200 people and leaving another 200 positions vacant. And ESPN is cutting 200 jobs of its own.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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