Bud.tv - not dead yet

Bud.tv gets another year of life.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

"Following a keynote speech Tuesday at the Online Media, Marketing & Advertising Conference & Expo, Tony Ponturo, vp global media and sports/entertainment marketing, also said that Anheuser-Busch decided to end its 25-year title sponsorship of NASCAR's Busch series and its role as the official beer sponsor of NASCAR so it could invest more in entertainment and the digital space.

"We wanted to get through the step of, 'OK, should we continue into '08 as we build our marketing plans?' and that was the decision," he said. "I think it (Bud.TV) is something that could have an ending someday, but I think if we keep learning from it and if we keep seeing assets from it ... then it makes sense to continue the site."

In-car Wi-Fi

Bridge Ratings has a report that looks at the coming availability of in-car Wi-Fi.

From the report:

"Of the estimated 30 million users of wireless access technology in the U.S., 75% or 23 million have wireless accessed Internet radio. In fact, 48% of those accessing the Internet via wireless technology seek out Internet radio. The number of Internet radio listeners accessing wirelessly will grow to 77 million by 2010 as wireless technology penetrates the average U.S. lifestyle.

ABI Research forecasts that the total number of Wi-Fi-enabled consumer electronics devices will grow from just 40 mln shipped in 2006 to nearly 249 mln in 2011.

Mobile WiMAX customers will grow at an annual compounded rate of 64% between 2009 and 2012, when telecoms embrace WiMAX as a fixed wireless broadband service, according to Pyramid Research.

By year 5 of in-car Wi-Fi acceptance, traditional radio can expect to see the amount of time spent listening to fall below 19 hours a week and by year 8 when we project that more than 23% of the U.S. public will have adopted wireless Internet technology in-car, weekly time spent listening to traditional radio will fall below 18 hours per week.

The availability of wireless Internet in-car poses a signficant threat to traditional as well as satellite radio. This study projects that the growth of Wi-Fi in-car should reach more than 50% of the U.S. population after nine years of market availability."

Comcast buys BuddyTV

The acquisitions continue.

From PaidContent:

"Seattle-based BuddyTV, a TV community site, is being acquired by Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), paidContent.org has learned from sources. BuddyTV took a loan of $250K from the Charles River Ventures’ Quick Start Seed Funding program back in May, before taking a $2.8 million investment from Gemstar-TV Guide this summer.

The site competes with a wide range of TV-related blogs and communities, but co-founder Andy Liu told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this summer that the site was receiving 3 million uniques per month and that it now has 20 employees. It seems likely that BuddyTV will be used in conjunction with Comcast’s Fancast.com site, as well as Fandango, which it acquired in the earlier this year."

Onow.com: free classified ads

Onow.com is a classified ad site from KMTV and its five radio stations.

From Lost Remote:

"It is its own brand and does not have the names/logos of the TV or radio stations on it. For now, users can post everything, including pictures and videos, for free. Eventually the site will charge for the pix and video, but the text ads will remain free."


And there is a blog that highlights listing.

Quincy Smith on Hulu

From Forbes:

"Yes, we're constantly talking to [Hulu]. We'd love the opportunity to do it, assuming that the deals make sense. I don't know Jason [Kilar, Hulu's chief executive], the guy they got from Amazon, though I certainly know a lot of people who know him and respect the heck out of him. If anyone could try and build a next-generation destination, it's probably him, based on his background.

I love everything about the joint venture and the notion of syndicating content with distribution partners that are already proven in the business, both in the video-destination and the widget business. But why--why still hold on to a destination [Web site]? That's a huge amount of infrastructure, that's a huge part of investment and frankly, a huge distraction."

Hulu does something - rumormill

TechCrunch set off a blogstorm of posts over the rumor that Hulu is buying Mojiti.

From TechCrunch:

"It is surprising that Hulu would use a third party platform for their service rather than build it themselves from the ground up. They’ve already missed their promised Summer 2007 launch date, however, and probably think the acquisition will get them to market faster."

Michael in the comments: "remember when they promised a mostly decentralized platform? no mention of that recently, and mojiti isn’t the right tech for that. I sense chaos and disorganization, not a smart strategic decision to buy v. build. And a new strategy to focus on a centralized, youtube-like site. And remember that Adobe already built all the hard parts of this and put it in the Flex platform. For some reason people are giving Hulu a lot of room before judging them. I prefer to judge them now."

From PaidContent:

"The exact role Mojiti will play technologically is unclear. NBBC’s technology was supposed to be the foundation for the distribution network—the distribution player will be skinned to match various destinations—but, in its previous incarnation, it hadn’t operated on the kind of scale Hulu requires. The destination portal will have its own video player, which is where what Feng and his team have been working on may best fit in.

Feng is just part of the shifting staff at Hulu, which started life with a team borrowed from NBCU and News Corp. Many of those involved at the senior level, including some whose managers expected to stay with the new venture, are in the midst of returning to their respective companies. The mantra I’ve heard: Kilar wants his own team."

FOX: Merchants of Cool

Where do you turn to find the hottest local bands? How about FOX Interactive Media's O&Os! Thats right folks, no longer satisfied with highschool sports, Local TV lashes out at local music.

From Lost Remote:

"FOX Interactive Media and a few FOX O&O’s have launched a few local music websites in connection with MySpace. The sites are an experiment to see if there is an audience for content that focuses on local bands, concerts and fans.

The first round of sites include mymusictwincities, mymusicboston and mymusichouston, with MySpace pages for each (example). The sites include streaming audio, video of performances, concert calendars and links to the bands’ MySpace pages. It’s kind of a flashback to what was a key to the success of MySpace."

Actually this is not as big of a deal as it might seem. FIM recently rolled out a much discussed content management application for its affiliate stations. This is just some additional content in the existing entertainment section.

Regardless of your views on FIM hosting local TV sites and taking half of the revenue, I can't get past the horsey graphics on the user interface. For whatever reason, the sites that use the scrolling updater completely freeze my browser.

First run and syndication end around

More bad news for local TV stations.

From Broadcast&Cable:

"ABC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Group struck a unique two-year digital-distribution agreement for four shows; Big Shots, Men in Trees, Notes from the Underbelly and Pushing Daisies.

The deal allows ABC to stream episodes of these series online and to retain advertising revenue generated on ABC.com’s broadband player. Episodes of the shows will be available on ABC.com the day after their broadcast premieres and will remain there for up to four weeks following broadcast. ABC can use pilots on alternative platforms to support the launch of the shows.

In the second year of the deal, Warner Bros. has the rights to stream past episodes of the shows that previously streamed on ABC.com. In addition, Warner will offer digital downloads of previous year’s episodes, as well as DVD boxed sets.

Warner can stream episodes to unlimited outlets, but episodes will be branded ABC and promote back to the network."

From Lost Remote:

"So now locals that are used to milking syndicated reruns should be concerned that the networks are going around them twice: once in the show’s original run, and then again in syndication. Get into the original, local production business and you’ll always own your stuff."

Velocity Investment Group

Two media big shots are starting an internet holding company, backed by General Atlantic LLC and advised by Allen & Co.

From the WSJ:

"Former AOL Chief Executive Jonathan F. Miller and former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn have joined together to start an Internet company, according to people close to the situation.

The new entity, called Velocity Investment Group, is already actively scouting for acquisitions and has signed letters of intent with a few consumer-oriented Internet companies. Velocity aims to purchase start-ups in related content areas and boost their online ad revenue by selling across multiple properties. Velocity is also considering buying out companies that broker ads for other Web sites. It is being advised by the investment bank Allen & Co.

The two executives are considering buying Internet companies in several niches, including online video, according to people close to the situation. The idea would be to buy up several companies in a related area, then possibly spin off the consolidated entity into a public offering or a sale."