So, what is it about Hollyweird that makes it so gorram difficult to either get, or, keep quality sci-fi (or, other scripted programming, for that matter) on the air? I'm gonna write this, initially, from a Browncoat perspective, but, please, feel free to add your own POV to the mix. I'm sure there are plenty of BSG fans who have some... comments... about the long delay in seeing the rest of Battlestar Galactica.
Please, let's keep this discussion polite (amongst ourselves, at least); I dun wanna have to move it to No Holds Barred.
My opening shot is from a blog about how poorly everyone's favorite network, F*X, treats popular genre programming (text included for the benefit of those with slow connections). I'll have some broader strokes of the brush with which to tar the rest of Hollyweird, later:
http://xenosparadox.blogspot.com/2008/02/w...ce-fiction.html
"Friday, February 22, 2008
Why And How FOX Hates Science Fiction
Well, because they can.
That's simple enough, hey?
But seriously, ok, here's what happens when a TV exec doesn't like a particular show.
The show gets put in the Friday Night Death Slot. It gets pre-empted for other stuff. They play the episodes out of order. There are breaks of as long as 3 weeks between episodes.
Then, after a few - less, often, than ten - episodes, the network announces that the show is cancelled due to lack of audience interest, and *poof* gone forever.
Right.
Fox is possibly the worst offender, here, but this is conduct all the networks are guilty of; they buy interesting shows with creative, new ideas, try everything in their power to keep people from watching them, and then cancel them.
Now, this is a new phenomenon. In The Olden Days, (read: the 1980's and prior,) when a show got cancelled it was because NO-ONE WATCHED IT. Thus, no other network would pick up a cancelled show for new episodes, because no-one was watching it anyway. But today, shows get cancelled on the slimmest of justifications - shows that would find a glad home in, for example, the Sci-Fi network, and yet BECAUSE THEY WERE CANCELLED, they can't - and then they simply vanish, never to be seen again.
Let's talk about an example of this.
FOX aired a great show a few years ago called "Firefly." It was written and directed by Joss Whedon, who was responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel; surely, that's a recommendation, right? It has cowboys in space, horrible bad guys, conflicted good guys, comedy, drama, romance, combat, the whole bag. Screams - just SCREAMS - SCiFI!!! (Note that this is not exclusive to Sci-Fi, but an AWFUL LOT of the cancelled-too-early shows are SF in nature.)
Right. So, first it goes into the FNDS; then the episode swapping and pre-emptions begin; then FOX declares it a failure and cancels it. Now, after a cancellation like that, you'd think that another network, seeing that the show would appeal to their core demographic - I'M LOOKING AT YOU, SCI-FI - would leap at the opportunity to grab up the show and start up new episodes again, but instead, no. There are two reasons for this; one is that SCI-FI execs apparently think to themselves "Gee, it got cancelled, it must suck then." This, despite the fact that the audience was strong enough to get a full-fledged, theatrical movie released over two years after the series' cancellation. The other is that, in many cases, FOX - or whatever network cancelled it if it wasn't FOX - refuses to sell the rights to the show, even after eliminating it.
Now, obviously, FOX is not the only network to do this, but the thing is that of the major networks, FOX has the most willingness to buy Sci-Fi shows, so the majority of them show up there, prior to their inevitable cancellation.
Want to see how bad it is? *deep breath*
Tru Calling: Fox, 26 filmed / 25 aired (October 2003 - March 2005.)
Point Pleasant: Fox, 13 filmed / 8 aired (January - March 2005.)
Firefly: Fox, cancelled after 14 filmed / 11 aired. (September 2002 - August 2003.) Followed by a feature film, Serenity.
Dark Angel: Fox, cancelled at the end of season 2. (2000-2002.)
The Lone Gunmen: Fox, 13 episodes (March - June 2001.)
Fastlane: Fox, 22 episodes (2002-2003.)
John Doe: Fox, 21 episodes (2002-2003.)
Wonderfalls: Fox, 13 episodes (March - December 2004.)
Jonny Zero: Fox, 13 filmed / 8 aired (January - March 2005.)
Killer Instinct: Fox, 13 filmed / 9 aired (September - December 2005.)
Justice: Fox, 13 filmed / 12 aired (August - December 2006.) (But not officially cancelled until MAY OF THE FOLLOWING YEAR.)
Standoff: Fox, 18 filmed and aired (September 2006 - July 2007.)
Vanished: Fox, 13 filmed / 9 aired (August - November 2006.)
The Wedding Bells: Fox, 7 filmed / 5 aired (March - April 2007.)
Brimstone: Fox, 13 filmed and aired (October 1998 - February 1999.)
V.R.5: Fox, 13 filmed / 10 aired (March - May 1995.)
Drive: Fox, 6 filmed / 4 aired (April 2007.)
And then, similar adventures off the FOX network:
Surface: NBC, 15 filmed and aired (September 2005 - February 2006.)
Threshold: CBS, 13 filmed / 9 aired (February - September 2006.)
Invasion: ABC, 22 filmed and aired (September 2005 - May 2006.)
Odyssey 5: SHO, 20 filmed / 14 aired (June - October 2002.)
Crusade: TNT, 13 filmed and aired (June - September 1999.) Note that the Sci-Fi Channel DID in fact attempt to pick up this spin-off of the successful Babylon 5, but was unable to afford it.
Right. I guess what I'm getting at is that there oughta be a law saying that any broadcaster that cancels a show forfeits rights to SUBSEQUENTLY PRODUCED CONTENT, and retains only ownership and distribution rights for the originally aired episodes; this would allow other stations to pick up and run with shows that, like Firefly, have a great audience, but just need a new home.
FOX: Get your heads out of your fourth points of contact, for God's sake, and stop buying Sci-Fi shows, since you clearly have no intention of actually airing any of them.
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ANGRILY SCRIBBLED BY: Xeno at 2/22/2008 10:08:00 AM"
Granted, not all the shows which were F*Xwhacked were of uniform high quality; however, remember that shows like Mary Tyler Moore, M*A*S*H, and, others, sometimes took more than one season to gain an audience. Now, the instant gratification factor (both network and audience) seems to militate against the chances of a new show staying on the air. Even Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which everyone seems to love, is in dire trouble, ratings-wise. Could it recover? We may not get the chance to find out.
The floor is open for comment.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
Full Version: What's wrong with Hollyweird
How could Terminator be in trouble???
Geez, with the writer's strike, they're gonna ax it before it gets started back?
I do not understand execs, clearly.
Comment?
What the bloody hell are they in this business for????
Geez, with the writer's strike, they're gonna ax it before it gets started back?
I do not understand execs, clearly.
Comment?
What the bloody hell are they in this business for????
QUOTE(DarthMarley @ Feb 27 2008, 06:08 AM) 
*Peals of insane, ironic laughter!*
-RC =o[.]0=
QUOTE
Wonderfalls: Fox, 13 episodes (March - December 2004.)
I didn't see it "live", but on a whim I bought the DVDs. I really enjoyed the show.
Part of the problem (the way that I see it) is that good sci-fi is smart. The smarter the sci-fi, the better. But the harder for most of the dopey public to understand. There were a whole three smart people watching Firefly when it aired. I was one of them. And my habits DON'T include watching much TV.
So perhaps broadcast TV isn't the right place for smart sci-fi? But "direct to DVD" has a bad stigma associated with it. What needs to happen is to bypass airing sci-fi at all, and create a quality direct-to-DVD production company. Turn the perception of D2DVD around.
QUOTE(EnterTheFist @ Feb 28 2008, 11:11 AM)
I didn't see it "live", but on a whim I bought the DVDs. I really enjoyed the show.
Part of the problem (the way that I see it) is that good sci-fi is smart. The smarter the sci-fi, the better. But the harder for most of the dopey public to understand. There were a whole three smart people watching Firefly when it aired. I was one of them. And my habits DON'T include watching much TV.
So perhaps broadcast TV isn't the right place for smart sci-fi? But "direct to DVD" has a bad stigma associated with it. What needs to happen is to bypass airing sci-fi at all, and create a quality direct-to-DVD production company. Turn the perception of D2DVD around.
Part of the problem (the way that I see it) is that good sci-fi is smart. The smarter the sci-fi, the better. But the harder for most of the dopey public to understand. There were a whole three smart people watching Firefly when it aired. I was one of them. And my habits DON'T include watching much TV.
So perhaps broadcast TV isn't the right place for smart sci-fi? But "direct to DVD" has a bad stigma associated with it. What needs to happen is to bypass airing sci-fi at all, and create a quality direct-to-DVD production company. Turn the perception of D2DVD around.
How did you know my wife and I were watching "The Train Job," at that same time?
But, yeah, there's a definite problem with the network system.
Here's some news on breakaway creative efforts:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0222/p01s02-ussc.html
"More Hollywood writers do end-run around studio system
The strike is over, but some top writers are still exploring ways to turn the Internet into a new business model.
By Daniel B. Woodand Gloria Goodale | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 22, 2008 edition
Los Angeles - The searchlights, red-carpet couture, and teary-eyed thank-yous will be back in place this Sunday for ABC's worldwide Oscar telecast. That's because the striking Hollywood writers came back to work just in the nick of time.
But behind the appearance of business-as-usual in the world of movies and TV is a shifting entertainment universe that is anything but. While the striking writers had their pens down and union hackles up, many were seeking creative new ways to rewrite the rules of engagement with the industry.
That means scores of adventurous, often-angry film and TV scribes reaching out to find new partners – venture capitalists, equity firms, advertisers – who can promise greater ownership, control, and independence within the new media world. The trend includes various ways to skirt studio bosses to reach consumers directly on the Web.
The trend was already percolating before the strike but exploded with new life during what became a contentious, three-month work stoppage. Now it is continuing with vigor as the 10,500-member-strong union returns to a dwindling number of studio jobs.
"A growing number of writers are trying to navigate from the prestrike world to the poststrike world by asking the question, 'How do we become smart and entrepreneurial on our own?' " says Tom Smuts, cofounder of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a Writers Guild member. "They're asking how we can proceed with new models, new ideas, in a way that doesn't recreate the studio system we all complain about."
Suspicious of studios
In recent years, as studios and networks explored ways to make money from TV shows and movies on the Internet, their reluctance to pay writers led to the strike. Terms of the new agreement now include a percentage of the profits for writers from the emerging digital platforms.
But the possibilities that many writers explored while off work have led them to believe it's time for a more fundamental change.
"The strike has caused skepticism and acrimony toward the studio system. Because of that, a lot of writers are doing their own website and creating content so that they don't need the studios' help," says Dyan Traynor, a WGA writer who has penned several pilots for Fox and A&E.
Premium content from established writers is already finding a place and audience online. Top comedy writer Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy") has inked a deal for an animated series directly for the Internet. Award-winning dramatic writers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick ("thirtysomething," "Once and Again") are other prime examples of writers who set up shop on the Internet.
This past fall, the writing duo took their new drama "quarterlife" directly to the Internet instead of shopping a traditional pilot to a broadcast network. More important, they funded it themselves and then turned around and licensed it to NBC, who will begin airing it next week, thus reversing a decades-old pattern of being writers for hire.
Smuts and others say enough writers will be launching their own programs – some licensed to a single website, some available across the Web, and some available by subscription – that the practice is likely to be considered mainstream in two years. The expansion of broadband access, which makes the streaming of digital content practical, is also driving the trend: As of October, more than 50 percent of US adults had broadband, up from 9 percent in 2001.
"I believe by the end of this decade, it will be commonplace to find content on the Web produced specifically for the Web by A-list Hollywood talent," says Gus Tai, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
Don't look for Oscar-caliber, yet
Full-blown, multimillion-dollar dramatic serials and scripted comedies – or high-gloss original movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" – may be a little way off, experts say. But a number of more modest early efforts from Hollywood writers are already appearing on websites such as Icebox.com. Budget fare – some of it sexually explicit – also can be seen on seven series now running on a site called 60Frames.
"It's definitely true that writers are looking for alternative ways to work," says Tal Vigderson, managing director of Icebox, which was created by top network TV show runners such as Howard Gordon ("24"), Rob LaZebnik ("The Simpsons"), and Jonathan Collier ("King of the Hill," "Monk") – all of whom have expressed frustration in working with network TV. The site has had as many as 100 writers creating original content including critically beloved scribes such as HBO's Larry David ("Curb your Enthusiasm").
Many of the writers working with Icebox say they've left TV because what ends up on the air bears little resemblance to what they conceived. "Writers like us because they see their creation done the way they wanted it done," says Mr. Vigderson.
As interest rises, efforts to help define and navigate the new terrain are also proliferating. Founders Media Group, a financial partnership devoted to the development of online content, is forming companies with writers and creators to zero in on different niche audiences.
Virtual Artists Co. – founded by screenwriter Aaron Mendelsohn ("Air Bud") – has at least 20 entertainment and software writers investing about $10,000 each to fund projects that include short films and feature-length movies. Investors also include Susannah Grant, who wrote "Erin Brockovich," and Warren Leight, who has run shows such as "Law and Order: Criminal Intent."
And in two weeks, Smuts will take over UnitedHollywood.com – a strike blog site that became a clearinghouse for producers, directors, writers, and other talent to investigate new distribution models and economic, advertising, licensing, and creative outlets.
"It's an open question how all this is going to work," says Smuts. "We still need to understand a lot of things, but we have to learn by doing it and having those who are trying share what they've learned."
• Monitor intern Alison Tully contributed to this report."
Can you imagine, a system in which creative minds aren't beholden to corporate pinheads? A system in which shows aren't cancelled, after being shown out of order, shuffled around, unannounced, from time slot to time slot, and, heavily pre-empted?
Welcome to the 21st Century!
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
Ray... this could be the new Mutant Enemy... all Joss really needs is money and time.
The folk that worked on Serenity and Buffy & Angel are great... all they need is space to work, and all that takes is...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Puttin the right people together!!!
C'mon, investors... step right up to the cash cow of the new millenium.
The folk that worked on Serenity and Buffy & Angel are great... all they need is space to work, and all that takes is...
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Puttin the right people together!!!
C'mon, investors... step right up to the cash cow of the new millenium.
QUOTE(Raycheetah @ Feb 28 2008, 10:47 AM)
How did you know my wife and I were watching "The Train Job," at that same time?
But, yeah, there's a definite problem with the network system.
Here's some news on breakaway creative efforts:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0222/p01s02-ussc.html
"More Hollywood writers do end-run around studio system
The strike is over, but some top writers are still exploring ways to turn the Internet into a new business model.
By Daniel B. Woodand Gloria Goodale | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 22, 2008 edition
Los Angeles - The searchlights, red-carpet couture, and teary-eyed thank-yous will be back in place this Sunday for ABC's worldwide Oscar telecast. That's because the striking Hollywood writers came back to work just in the nick of time.
But behind the appearance of business-as-usual in the world of movies and TV is a shifting entertainment universe that is anything but. While the striking writers had their pens down and union hackles up, many were seeking creative new ways to rewrite the rules of engagement with the industry.
That means scores of adventurous, often-angry film and TV scribes reaching out to find new partners – venture capitalists, equity firms, advertisers – who can promise greater ownership, control, and independence within the new media world. The trend includes various ways to skirt studio bosses to reach consumers directly on the Web.
The trend was already percolating before the strike but exploded with new life during what became a contentious, three-month work stoppage. Now it is continuing with vigor as the 10,500-member-strong union returns to a dwindling number of studio jobs.
"A growing number of writers are trying to navigate from the prestrike world to the poststrike world by asking the question, 'How do we become smart and entrepreneurial on our own?' " says Tom Smuts, cofounder of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a Writers Guild member. "They're asking how we can proceed with new models, new ideas, in a way that doesn't recreate the studio system we all complain about."
Suspicious of studios
In recent years, as studios and networks explored ways to make money from TV shows and movies on the Internet, their reluctance to pay writers led to the strike. Terms of the new agreement now include a percentage of the profits for writers from the emerging digital platforms.
But the possibilities that many writers explored while off work have led them to believe it's time for a more fundamental change.
"The strike has caused skepticism and acrimony toward the studio system. Because of that, a lot of writers are doing their own website and creating content so that they don't need the studios' help," says Dyan Traynor, a WGA writer who has penned several pilots for Fox and A&E.
Premium content from established writers is already finding a place and audience online. Top comedy writer Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy") has inked a deal for an animated series directly for the Internet. Award-winning dramatic writers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick ("thirtysomething," "Once and Again") are other prime examples of writers who set up shop on the Internet.
This past fall, the writing duo took their new drama "quarterlife" directly to the Internet instead of shopping a traditional pilot to a broadcast network. More important, they funded it themselves and then turned around and licensed it to NBC, who will begin airing it next week, thus reversing a decades-old pattern of being writers for hire.
Smuts and others say enough writers will be launching their own programs – some licensed to a single website, some available across the Web, and some available by subscription – that the practice is likely to be considered mainstream in two years. The expansion of broadband access, which makes the streaming of digital content practical, is also driving the trend: As of October, more than 50 percent of US adults had broadband, up from 9 percent in 2001.
"I believe by the end of this decade, it will be commonplace to find content on the Web produced specifically for the Web by A-list Hollywood talent," says Gus Tai, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
Don't look for Oscar-caliber, yet
Full-blown, multimillion-dollar dramatic serials and scripted comedies – or high-gloss original movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" – may be a little way off, experts say. But a number of more modest early efforts from Hollywood writers are already appearing on websites such as Icebox.com. Budget fare – some of it sexually explicit – also can be seen on seven series now running on a site called 60Frames.
"It's definitely true that writers are looking for alternative ways to work," says Tal Vigderson, managing director of Icebox, which was created by top network TV show runners such as Howard Gordon ("24"), Rob LaZebnik ("The Simpsons"), and Jonathan Collier ("King of the Hill," "Monk") – all of whom have expressed frustration in working with network TV. The site has had as many as 100 writers creating original content including critically beloved scribes such as HBO's Larry David ("Curb your Enthusiasm").
Many of the writers working with Icebox say they've left TV because what ends up on the air bears little resemblance to what they conceived. "Writers like us because they see their creation done the way they wanted it done," says Mr. Vigderson.
As interest rises, efforts to help define and navigate the new terrain are also proliferating. Founders Media Group, a financial partnership devoted to the development of online content, is forming companies with writers and creators to zero in on different niche audiences.
Virtual Artists Co. – founded by screenwriter Aaron Mendelsohn ("Air Bud") – has at least 20 entertainment and software writers investing about $10,000 each to fund projects that include short films and feature-length movies. Investors also include Susannah Grant, who wrote "Erin Brockovich," and Warren Leight, who has run shows such as "Law and Order: Criminal Intent."
And in two weeks, Smuts will take over UnitedHollywood.com – a strike blog site that became a clearinghouse for producers, directors, writers, and other talent to investigate new distribution models and economic, advertising, licensing, and creative outlets.
"It's an open question how all this is going to work," says Smuts. "We still need to understand a lot of things, but we have to learn by doing it and having those who are trying share what they've learned."
• Monitor intern Alison Tully contributed to this report."
Can you imagine, a system in which creative minds aren't beholden to corporate pinheads? A system in which shows aren't cancelled, after being shown out of order, shuffled around, unannounced, from time slot to time slot, and, heavily pre-empted?
Welcome to the 21st Century!
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
But, yeah, there's a definite problem with the network system.
Here's some news on breakaway creative efforts:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0222/p01s02-ussc.html
"More Hollywood writers do end-run around studio system
The strike is over, but some top writers are still exploring ways to turn the Internet into a new business model.
By Daniel B. Woodand Gloria Goodale | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 22, 2008 edition
Los Angeles - The searchlights, red-carpet couture, and teary-eyed thank-yous will be back in place this Sunday for ABC's worldwide Oscar telecast. That's because the striking Hollywood writers came back to work just in the nick of time.
But behind the appearance of business-as-usual in the world of movies and TV is a shifting entertainment universe that is anything but. While the striking writers had their pens down and union hackles up, many were seeking creative new ways to rewrite the rules of engagement with the industry.
That means scores of adventurous, often-angry film and TV scribes reaching out to find new partners – venture capitalists, equity firms, advertisers – who can promise greater ownership, control, and independence within the new media world. The trend includes various ways to skirt studio bosses to reach consumers directly on the Web.
The trend was already percolating before the strike but exploded with new life during what became a contentious, three-month work stoppage. Now it is continuing with vigor as the 10,500-member-strong union returns to a dwindling number of studio jobs.
"A growing number of writers are trying to navigate from the prestrike world to the poststrike world by asking the question, 'How do we become smart and entrepreneurial on our own?' " says Tom Smuts, cofounder of the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a Writers Guild member. "They're asking how we can proceed with new models, new ideas, in a way that doesn't recreate the studio system we all complain about."
Suspicious of studios
In recent years, as studios and networks explored ways to make money from TV shows and movies on the Internet, their reluctance to pay writers led to the strike. Terms of the new agreement now include a percentage of the profits for writers from the emerging digital platforms.
But the possibilities that many writers explored while off work have led them to believe it's time for a more fundamental change.
"The strike has caused skepticism and acrimony toward the studio system. Because of that, a lot of writers are doing their own website and creating content so that they don't need the studios' help," says Dyan Traynor, a WGA writer who has penned several pilots for Fox and A&E.
Premium content from established writers is already finding a place and audience online. Top comedy writer Seth MacFarlane ("Family Guy") has inked a deal for an animated series directly for the Internet. Award-winning dramatic writers Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick ("thirtysomething," "Once and Again") are other prime examples of writers who set up shop on the Internet.
This past fall, the writing duo took their new drama "quarterlife" directly to the Internet instead of shopping a traditional pilot to a broadcast network. More important, they funded it themselves and then turned around and licensed it to NBC, who will begin airing it next week, thus reversing a decades-old pattern of being writers for hire.
Smuts and others say enough writers will be launching their own programs – some licensed to a single website, some available across the Web, and some available by subscription – that the practice is likely to be considered mainstream in two years. The expansion of broadband access, which makes the streaming of digital content practical, is also driving the trend: As of October, more than 50 percent of US adults had broadband, up from 9 percent in 2001.
"I believe by the end of this decade, it will be commonplace to find content on the Web produced specifically for the Web by A-list Hollywood talent," says Gus Tai, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.
Don't look for Oscar-caliber, yet
Full-blown, multimillion-dollar dramatic serials and scripted comedies – or high-gloss original movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" – may be a little way off, experts say. But a number of more modest early efforts from Hollywood writers are already appearing on websites such as Icebox.com. Budget fare – some of it sexually explicit – also can be seen on seven series now running on a site called 60Frames.
"It's definitely true that writers are looking for alternative ways to work," says Tal Vigderson, managing director of Icebox, which was created by top network TV show runners such as Howard Gordon ("24"), Rob LaZebnik ("The Simpsons"), and Jonathan Collier ("King of the Hill," "Monk") – all of whom have expressed frustration in working with network TV. The site has had as many as 100 writers creating original content including critically beloved scribes such as HBO's Larry David ("Curb your Enthusiasm").
Many of the writers working with Icebox say they've left TV because what ends up on the air bears little resemblance to what they conceived. "Writers like us because they see their creation done the way they wanted it done," says Mr. Vigderson.
As interest rises, efforts to help define and navigate the new terrain are also proliferating. Founders Media Group, a financial partnership devoted to the development of online content, is forming companies with writers and creators to zero in on different niche audiences.
Virtual Artists Co. – founded by screenwriter Aaron Mendelsohn ("Air Bud") – has at least 20 entertainment and software writers investing about $10,000 each to fund projects that include short films and feature-length movies. Investors also include Susannah Grant, who wrote "Erin Brockovich," and Warren Leight, who has run shows such as "Law and Order: Criminal Intent."
And in two weeks, Smuts will take over UnitedHollywood.com – a strike blog site that became a clearinghouse for producers, directors, writers, and other talent to investigate new distribution models and economic, advertising, licensing, and creative outlets.
"It's an open question how all this is going to work," says Smuts. "We still need to understand a lot of things, but we have to learn by doing it and having those who are trying share what they've learned."
• Monitor intern Alison Tully contributed to this report."
Can you imagine, a system in which creative minds aren't beholden to corporate pinheads? A system in which shows aren't cancelled, after being shown out of order, shuffled around, unannounced, from time slot to time slot, and, heavily pre-empted?
Welcome to the 21st Century!
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
The problem with using the Internet is how to get paid. Now, I have some ideas on the subject, but...
Because that is what it is all about. Harlan Ellison had a column in the LA Free Press during the late 60s/early 70s which were collected into a couple of books, "The Glass Teat" and "The Other Glass Teat". It is probably some of his finest work and details his experiences with the TV industry. You'd think things have changed over the past 4 decades, but they haven't. Not really. The problem is that there is a stupifyingly amount of money in TV. Because of the amount of money, everyone tries to minimize risks. Even risks they have made up. Ellison details how a network insisted they change the name of a character because the character had the name of one of the kidnappers of the Lindberg baby. So everyone flocks to "safe" solutions. And safe is rarely interesting.
Fox is at least willing to try something new. But, as a result, they also have a hair trigger response to cancellations. Not sure if it is the smartest way to do things...
Actually, I am sure. It is pretty stupid.
Anyway, the Internet is going to be the future. And it is going to bypass the studios and the networks. Because they are obsolete and I don't think they can adjust. Once the payment problem gets solved, then things will change.
Have you ever seen "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning"? http://www.starwreck.com/
That is what can be done by a group of fans with consumer grade equipment. To get at least some money, they are flogging the DVD.
There has got to be a better way.
Star Wreck is an awesome piece of work! As much a great homage to Babylon 5 as to Trek, and, hilariously written. I wish JMS had had access to those Finnish fans who produced it when he did The Lost Tales, instead of donations from WB's petty cash and lunch fund.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
i think, in general, that sci-fi & fantasy don't get enough respect form "the entertainment" industry. those categories are viewed as "outside the main stream" and therefor not profitable enough. the lord of the rings trilogy was a fluke IMHO. if it didn't make a boatload of money there's no way it would've won so many awards. most of the ones it won were for technical stuff & effects.
I don't think the "Nielsen families" like sci-fi...
I have always imagined an isolated, little community out among the Iowa cornfields, culturally trapped in a time warp of the '50s... Their inbred imbecility matches their corrupted mores, which leads to a peculiar, inhuman fascination with the bizarre programs which, somehow, get great ratings, despite being execrable entertainment.
-Raycheetah =^[.]~=
I have always imagined an isolated, little community out among the Iowa cornfields, culturally trapped in a time warp of the '50s... Their inbred imbecility matches their corrupted mores, which leads to a peculiar, inhuman fascination with the bizarre programs which, somehow, get great ratings, despite being execrable entertainment.
-Raycheetah =^[.]~=
Another commentary on the current state of network television, focusing on Jericho and Moonlight, CBS' most recent axe-fodder (I just saw an ad for Jericho's replacement, Dog Eat Dog; talk about adding insult to injury!):
"Blood, peanuts and the future of television
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
It's been two months since CBS cancelled one of its most popular scripted dramas, Jericho, starring Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James, the show that fictionalizes a possible aftermath of nuclear fallout in the U.S. Even if there has not been much concrete news lately, the hope that the Jericho story may be continued is still very much alive.
Producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik posted this update on the CBS boards the other day:
"We can't share too much, but meetings are taking place and we are doing everything we can to find us a new home in many different incarnations. Your work is helping as always. Your dedication is unmatched."
The burning question left hanging in the air after the cancellation of Jericho is the following: how does a show that can attract an estimated six million viewers to sit down in front of their TV sets, top the numbers on iTunes, and launch a number of unbelievably disciplined and organized fan campaigns, not get picked up for a third season.
Moonlight
The question was revisited last week, when CBS announced their decision to cut another puppy loose. This time, it was Moonlight, a vampire/romance/detective drama starring Alex O’Loughlin and Sophia Myles.
In a move echoing the efforts of the Jericho Rangers, Moonlight fans have decided to run ads for their show in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter to let networks know that the vampire saga has a loyal following of eight million viewers who will stick with the show wherever it goes.
That's eight million viewers acknowledged by the Nielsen ratings system. The difference between those numbers and the real ones is, well, currently not something that can be measured by any standardized ratings system.
THE OTHER SET OF NUMBERS
Two recent Accenture studies illustrate the proportions of the disconnect between television networks' business models based on these ratings and the real number of viewers who tune in to see the latest episode of their favourite show week after week.
Moonlight
The 2008 Global Content Survey involved over 100 senior executives in the media and entertainment industry in North America and Europe. 70 percent of them said that they either derive some revenue from the new media (on-demand TV programs, digital advertising, etc.) or can’t determine how much money they make from these sources. Most of them said that the growth is tremendous and that revenue streams from new media are substantial.
More than 56 percent of the executives are already pursuing business opportunities in the realm of social media and user-generated content while 68 percent acknowledged these as high growth opportunities. Over a half of the execs believe that digital advertising will eclipse traditional advertising in five years' time.
Most importantly, two thirds don’t think that there is a chance that the Web 2.0 "bubble" will burst within the next two years.
Jericho
CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler apparently isn't one of them. In a recent statement regarding the cancellation of Moonlight, she said that the network’s experience with Jericho has taught them that, as Variety puts it, "creative efforts from passionate fans don't translate to sustainable Nielsen ratings."
Nielsen ratings.
Edward James Olmos summed it up nicely last year at a Battlestar Galactica convention. "Nielsen needs a hole in the head," he said, explaining that the current ratings system excludes too many viewers to be reliable. In light of the current global business trends, that really would be the no-nonsense way of putting it.
TV networks and advertisers, however, are not quite there yet.
Ms. Tassler's statement essentially reiterates what most people already knew: shows like Jericho and Moonlight cannot survive on a major network under the current business model, one that has not yet discovered a way to turn Web 2.0 and its "architecture of participation" into adequate sums of advertising dollars.
And six million viewers, as counted by Nielsen, are still not enough to ensure a safe spot on U.S. primetime on a major network.
THE TROUBLE WITH U.S. PRIMETIME…
… is that it does not belong to the U.S. alone anymore. It hasn't for years.
It takes maybe 30 minutes before a new episode of a popular show, freshly broadcast on television, finds its way to the Internet via different peer-to-peer networks.
Jericho for sale
Even though both Asia and Europe have more Internet users than North America, streaming TV content on official channels is generally an option limited to U.S. territory, so international fans of any particular American TV show do not have a civilized way of showing up for the headcount.
Most of these viewers belong to the Millennial Generation: born plugged in, avid consumers of meaningful content, used to instant gratification and, according to some, sporting the attention span of a goldfish. (But do revisit the last part after reading about the fan campaigns.)
The outlook, however, is not that bad.
As the 2008 Accenture Broadcast Consumer Survey reveals, a growing number of viewers (a sample of 7,700 adults in eight countries including the U.S. and the UK) are willing to either pay or watch ads to be able to download shows online. (43 percent of those aged 25 or younger and 45 percent aged between 25 and 34 would pay while 42 and 39 percent in the same age groups respectively would watch commercials.) For reference, 74 percent of the respondents in the first age group and 65 percent in the second enjoy watching some kind of programming on their computer.
With international audiences impatiently trying to keep up with latest episodes of their favourite shows and having no legal way of going about it, a huge potential chunk of the market is going down the drain right there.
And the irony of U.S. television networks still being dependent on the old forms of advertising and viewers in a single country keeps growing every day.
TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING VS. NEW MEDIA
Even though Internet advertising is more expensive than traditional one, the technology boom over the last several years has cemented several advantages that no business is able to overlook anymore.
The main ones are the fact that consumers get faster access to the product than they would in traditional offline marketing channels.
Advertisers, on the other hand, get global branding and marketing opportunities and — compare this to the Nielsen-dependent model — fast and easy direct access to consumer data via web analytics, which allows them to not only see more accurate numbers, but also conversion rates across different distribution channels and geographies (i.e. how many people who have seen an ad actually end up buying the product, where these people live and where they have seen the ad.)
Television networks are not keeping up with these opportunities. As much as aftermarket sales count for quite a bit, TV programming still lives on commercials during live broadcasts.
The biggest profits are earned from the ever so cost-effective reality shows, while top quality dramas – ones not bound by the imperative of catering to the lowest common denominator – can mostly be found on cable television these days.
And that is where the hope lies for both Jericho and Moonlight. Back in February, Jericho showrunner Carol Barbee revealed that she had already started looking for a new home for the show, saying: "There were other people who were interested in us to begin with, and now, I think, with the whole nuts campaign, and also with the amazing reviews that we've gotten for these seven episodes, I feel like we have made this franchise more valuable to a cable network who would want to take us on as a niche market."
After the show got cancelled, there were rumours of a move to the Sci Fi Channel or CW and talks of Comcast possibly helping out with the budget. There have been no updates on the Comcast deal yet, but the possibility definitely points to another new business model worth exploring.
It is a positive move, at any rate. Innovation is one of the leading trends in business today - not just for the purpose of improving upon existing revenue streams, but to survive on the market to begin with. With such rapid development of technology, it is no surprise that both broadcasters and advertisers are bashing their heads against the wall trying to find a new business model that is more in tune with a few very simple facts.
The main one? Networks don't have a clue to whom they are delivering their programming anymore.
As the Accenture consumer study shows, consumers take in 70.6 hours of media per week. The catch? A traditional TV device is involved only 23 percent of the time.
Another thing that should come as no surprise is that 64 percent of viewers named commercials as their pet peeve when it comes to watching 'live' television.
"People want content more than ever," says Newscorp chairman Rupert Murdoch. "Quality is more important than ever because the marketplace is more ruthlessly competitive. Options are not merely one click of the remote away; devices undreamed of a few short decades ago are at least as tempting as a change of the channel."
dollhouse, eliza dushku
Fox, for one, has been quick to react to these trends.
Formerly the embodiment of the proverbial trigger-happy network and online fans' favourite whipping boy, Fox has announced plans to test a new model on the two of its hottest upcoming shows, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse and J.J. Abrams' Fringe.
The "Remote-Free TV" experiment consists of adding extra time of actual content and having episodes run for at least 50 minutes while at the same tome limiting time for commercials to five minutes.
Interestingly, fans who have followed Joss Whedon since the days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or Firefly and saw the last two prematurely cancelled, have already started a Save Dollhouse campaign.
That the show's pilot, Echo, does not air until January 2009 illustrates the level of dedication that years of quality content can inspire. It’s a history very few shows can lean on nowadays, when you consider the average life span of a series with something of an arc on a major network.
CHANGING PLACES
Fringe
Variety recently reported that Fox has overtaken CBS as the most watched network in the U.S. and that it is the only big television network chalking gains this year - five percent - while CBS is on the opposite end of the scale and 19 percent down compared to 2007.
In light of all this, it is difficult to see the long-term benefits in insisting that a show or its fans have somehow failed based on a perspective dictated by the old model, one that does not even allow a network to reap sufficient profit from viewers as involved in the fate of a show as Jericho fans have been for the last 12 months.
Here are just some of the things they have done as part of the campaign to save and promote the show:
They have launched several letter writing campaigns, addressed both to CBS and potential new homes for Jericho.
In a deal with Amazon, they raised money to send Jericho DVDs to U.S. troops is Afghanistan and Iraq last year and are doing the same now.
Jericho DVD
They started preordering season two DVDs.
They raised money for full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
They are still working on getting a Jericho ad on primetime.
They raised some more money for a billboard in Studio City. Some of the funds were collected by auctioning items on Ebay. Several members of the cast and crew – Skeet Ulrich, Alicia Coppola and Brad Beyer among others – came out to sign the items to help them out.
A faction of the fans launched the Nuts to Nielsen campaign, sending peanuts to a Nielsen Media Research centre and an additional 26 cases to the Variety newsroom to get the effort media attention and protest the inadequacy of the current ratings system.
And that's without even counting the massive initiative in the social media to put Jericho in the spotlight.
These days, the fans' eyes are on Jerichon, the convention that takes place in Oakley, Kansas over the Memorial Day weekend.
Moonlight fans have not been lazy either. They rallied in front of the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank yesterday to show support for the show. The WB studio is where Silver Pictures, a production company behind the show, is based.
Moonlight, Moonlight Blood Drive
To ensure the survival of their show, they have also organized the Moonlight Blood Drive in cooperation with the Red Cross.
This weekend, they are gathering at Moonlightcon, the first convention for the series. With the help of a rep from the National Bone Marrow Registry, they are offering free bone marrow testing to everyone who is interested. Really. They are.
To go back to CBS and the lesson learned… It is hard not to wonder what the purpose is of discouraging future fan efforts to promote their show in a high growth medium such as the Internet simply because the old glove doesn't fit anymore.
It's simple, really. People like entertainment. They like their entertainment to be a social experience. Web 2.0 delivers. No bubble in that.
Fans can work unlikely wonders on the web, but they have no say in the legalities that constitute the current plumbing of the entertainment business.
dollhouse
NBC's project Hulu, for instance, serves content from more than 50 providers including NBC, Fox, MGM and Warner Bros. Yet if you live outside the U.S., there is a catch:
"Sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed from within the United States. Hulu is committed to making its content available worldwide. To do so, we must work through a number of legal and business issues, including obtaining international streaming rights. Know that we are working to make this happen and will continue to do so. Given the international background of the Hulu team, we have both a professional and personal interest in bringing Hulu to a global audience."
The day content becomes available to international viewers may not be today or tomorrow, but Hulu is certainly on the right track.
THE BIG PICTURE
As bleak as things seem for American major TV networks this year, there are several very basic things to keep in mind.
Entertainment and communication have always gone hand in hand. Communication is only becoming more global. Out of the 6,7 billion people living in the world today, 1,4 billion use the Internet and the growth rate is about 21 percent.
This puts television into a very special position in the greater scheme of things. Not only has it become the go-to medium for a weekly dose of compelling original fiction, it also provides a common frame of reference that people across the globe can always use as a springboard for meaningful discussion on an endless number of issues. Politics. Religion. Life. Relationships. The environment. You name it.
The Accenture study concludes with four steps for media companies to take if they want high performance in the future:
* Think global and act local
* Build a robust capability to productize and monetize content managing rights, technology and content formats to ensure that content can be repurposed, packaged and bundled quickly and effectively across different devices and geographies
* Implement the right product creation and delivery infrastructure
* Create differentiated customer service capabilities because consumers worldwide want access to content anytime, anyplace, and they want it to work the first time
Jericho
Finally, to end on a high note: in March, Variety Asia reported that Jericho was one of the shows that would soon premiere in Japan on the Sci Fi Channel, newly launched as the first pay TV channel in the country.
Japanese audiences are well known for their passion. Imagine the scenario in which they get an instant opportunity to catch up and even tune in for a possible new season on the very same day that it is aired in the U.S.
The scenario has been happening worldwide for years now. And networks have earned exactly zilch from it."
Whip out your Shovvel and Digg the above article here.
The network with the vision to capitalize on the potentials currently being squandered could control the market for years to come.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
"Blood, peanuts and the future of television
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It's been two months since CBS cancelled one of its most popular scripted dramas, Jericho, starring Skeet Ulrich and Lennie James, the show that fictionalizes a possible aftermath of nuclear fallout in the U.S. Even if there has not been much concrete news lately, the hope that the Jericho story may be continued is still very much alive.
Producers Dan Shotz and Karim Zreik posted this update on the CBS boards the other day:
"We can't share too much, but meetings are taking place and we are doing everything we can to find us a new home in many different incarnations. Your work is helping as always. Your dedication is unmatched."
The burning question left hanging in the air after the cancellation of Jericho is the following: how does a show that can attract an estimated six million viewers to sit down in front of their TV sets, top the numbers on iTunes, and launch a number of unbelievably disciplined and organized fan campaigns, not get picked up for a third season.
Moonlight
The question was revisited last week, when CBS announced their decision to cut another puppy loose. This time, it was Moonlight, a vampire/romance/detective drama starring Alex O’Loughlin and Sophia Myles.
In a move echoing the efforts of the Jericho Rangers, Moonlight fans have decided to run ads for their show in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter to let networks know that the vampire saga has a loyal following of eight million viewers who will stick with the show wherever it goes.
That's eight million viewers acknowledged by the Nielsen ratings system. The difference between those numbers and the real ones is, well, currently not something that can be measured by any standardized ratings system.
THE OTHER SET OF NUMBERS
Two recent Accenture studies illustrate the proportions of the disconnect between television networks' business models based on these ratings and the real number of viewers who tune in to see the latest episode of their favourite show week after week.
Moonlight
The 2008 Global Content Survey involved over 100 senior executives in the media and entertainment industry in North America and Europe. 70 percent of them said that they either derive some revenue from the new media (on-demand TV programs, digital advertising, etc.) or can’t determine how much money they make from these sources. Most of them said that the growth is tremendous and that revenue streams from new media are substantial.
More than 56 percent of the executives are already pursuing business opportunities in the realm of social media and user-generated content while 68 percent acknowledged these as high growth opportunities. Over a half of the execs believe that digital advertising will eclipse traditional advertising in five years' time.
Most importantly, two thirds don’t think that there is a chance that the Web 2.0 "bubble" will burst within the next two years.
Jericho
CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler apparently isn't one of them. In a recent statement regarding the cancellation of Moonlight, she said that the network’s experience with Jericho has taught them that, as Variety puts it, "creative efforts from passionate fans don't translate to sustainable Nielsen ratings."
Nielsen ratings.
Edward James Olmos summed it up nicely last year at a Battlestar Galactica convention. "Nielsen needs a hole in the head," he said, explaining that the current ratings system excludes too many viewers to be reliable. In light of the current global business trends, that really would be the no-nonsense way of putting it.
TV networks and advertisers, however, are not quite there yet.
Ms. Tassler's statement essentially reiterates what most people already knew: shows like Jericho and Moonlight cannot survive on a major network under the current business model, one that has not yet discovered a way to turn Web 2.0 and its "architecture of participation" into adequate sums of advertising dollars.
And six million viewers, as counted by Nielsen, are still not enough to ensure a safe spot on U.S. primetime on a major network.
THE TROUBLE WITH U.S. PRIMETIME…
… is that it does not belong to the U.S. alone anymore. It hasn't for years.
It takes maybe 30 minutes before a new episode of a popular show, freshly broadcast on television, finds its way to the Internet via different peer-to-peer networks.
Jericho for sale
Even though both Asia and Europe have more Internet users than North America, streaming TV content on official channels is generally an option limited to U.S. territory, so international fans of any particular American TV show do not have a civilized way of showing up for the headcount.
Most of these viewers belong to the Millennial Generation: born plugged in, avid consumers of meaningful content, used to instant gratification and, according to some, sporting the attention span of a goldfish. (But do revisit the last part after reading about the fan campaigns.)
The outlook, however, is not that bad.
As the 2008 Accenture Broadcast Consumer Survey reveals, a growing number of viewers (a sample of 7,700 adults in eight countries including the U.S. and the UK) are willing to either pay or watch ads to be able to download shows online. (43 percent of those aged 25 or younger and 45 percent aged between 25 and 34 would pay while 42 and 39 percent in the same age groups respectively would watch commercials.) For reference, 74 percent of the respondents in the first age group and 65 percent in the second enjoy watching some kind of programming on their computer.
With international audiences impatiently trying to keep up with latest episodes of their favourite shows and having no legal way of going about it, a huge potential chunk of the market is going down the drain right there.
And the irony of U.S. television networks still being dependent on the old forms of advertising and viewers in a single country keeps growing every day.
TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING VS. NEW MEDIA
Even though Internet advertising is more expensive than traditional one, the technology boom over the last several years has cemented several advantages that no business is able to overlook anymore.
The main ones are the fact that consumers get faster access to the product than they would in traditional offline marketing channels.
Advertisers, on the other hand, get global branding and marketing opportunities and — compare this to the Nielsen-dependent model — fast and easy direct access to consumer data via web analytics, which allows them to not only see more accurate numbers, but also conversion rates across different distribution channels and geographies (i.e. how many people who have seen an ad actually end up buying the product, where these people live and where they have seen the ad.)
Television networks are not keeping up with these opportunities. As much as aftermarket sales count for quite a bit, TV programming still lives on commercials during live broadcasts.
The biggest profits are earned from the ever so cost-effective reality shows, while top quality dramas – ones not bound by the imperative of catering to the lowest common denominator – can mostly be found on cable television these days.
And that is where the hope lies for both Jericho and Moonlight. Back in February, Jericho showrunner Carol Barbee revealed that she had already started looking for a new home for the show, saying: "There were other people who were interested in us to begin with, and now, I think, with the whole nuts campaign, and also with the amazing reviews that we've gotten for these seven episodes, I feel like we have made this franchise more valuable to a cable network who would want to take us on as a niche market."
After the show got cancelled, there were rumours of a move to the Sci Fi Channel or CW and talks of Comcast possibly helping out with the budget. There have been no updates on the Comcast deal yet, but the possibility definitely points to another new business model worth exploring.
It is a positive move, at any rate. Innovation is one of the leading trends in business today - not just for the purpose of improving upon existing revenue streams, but to survive on the market to begin with. With such rapid development of technology, it is no surprise that both broadcasters and advertisers are bashing their heads against the wall trying to find a new business model that is more in tune with a few very simple facts.
The main one? Networks don't have a clue to whom they are delivering their programming anymore.
As the Accenture consumer study shows, consumers take in 70.6 hours of media per week. The catch? A traditional TV device is involved only 23 percent of the time.
Another thing that should come as no surprise is that 64 percent of viewers named commercials as their pet peeve when it comes to watching 'live' television.
"People want content more than ever," says Newscorp chairman Rupert Murdoch. "Quality is more important than ever because the marketplace is more ruthlessly competitive. Options are not merely one click of the remote away; devices undreamed of a few short decades ago are at least as tempting as a change of the channel."
dollhouse, eliza dushku
Fox, for one, has been quick to react to these trends.
Formerly the embodiment of the proverbial trigger-happy network and online fans' favourite whipping boy, Fox has announced plans to test a new model on the two of its hottest upcoming shows, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse and J.J. Abrams' Fringe.
The "Remote-Free TV" experiment consists of adding extra time of actual content and having episodes run for at least 50 minutes while at the same tome limiting time for commercials to five minutes.
Interestingly, fans who have followed Joss Whedon since the days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or Firefly and saw the last two prematurely cancelled, have already started a Save Dollhouse campaign.
That the show's pilot, Echo, does not air until January 2009 illustrates the level of dedication that years of quality content can inspire. It’s a history very few shows can lean on nowadays, when you consider the average life span of a series with something of an arc on a major network.
CHANGING PLACES
Fringe
Variety recently reported that Fox has overtaken CBS as the most watched network in the U.S. and that it is the only big television network chalking gains this year - five percent - while CBS is on the opposite end of the scale and 19 percent down compared to 2007.
In light of all this, it is difficult to see the long-term benefits in insisting that a show or its fans have somehow failed based on a perspective dictated by the old model, one that does not even allow a network to reap sufficient profit from viewers as involved in the fate of a show as Jericho fans have been for the last 12 months.
Here are just some of the things they have done as part of the campaign to save and promote the show:
They have launched several letter writing campaigns, addressed both to CBS and potential new homes for Jericho.
In a deal with Amazon, they raised money to send Jericho DVDs to U.S. troops is Afghanistan and Iraq last year and are doing the same now.
Jericho DVD
They started preordering season two DVDs.
They raised money for full-page ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
They are still working on getting a Jericho ad on primetime.
They raised some more money for a billboard in Studio City. Some of the funds were collected by auctioning items on Ebay. Several members of the cast and crew – Skeet Ulrich, Alicia Coppola and Brad Beyer among others – came out to sign the items to help them out.
A faction of the fans launched the Nuts to Nielsen campaign, sending peanuts to a Nielsen Media Research centre and an additional 26 cases to the Variety newsroom to get the effort media attention and protest the inadequacy of the current ratings system.
And that's without even counting the massive initiative in the social media to put Jericho in the spotlight.
These days, the fans' eyes are on Jerichon, the convention that takes place in Oakley, Kansas over the Memorial Day weekend.
Moonlight fans have not been lazy either. They rallied in front of the Warner Brothers studios in Burbank yesterday to show support for the show. The WB studio is where Silver Pictures, a production company behind the show, is based.
Moonlight, Moonlight Blood Drive
To ensure the survival of their show, they have also organized the Moonlight Blood Drive in cooperation with the Red Cross.
This weekend, they are gathering at Moonlightcon, the first convention for the series. With the help of a rep from the National Bone Marrow Registry, they are offering free bone marrow testing to everyone who is interested. Really. They are.
To go back to CBS and the lesson learned… It is hard not to wonder what the purpose is of discouraging future fan efforts to promote their show in a high growth medium such as the Internet simply because the old glove doesn't fit anymore.
It's simple, really. People like entertainment. They like their entertainment to be a social experience. Web 2.0 delivers. No bubble in that.
Fans can work unlikely wonders on the web, but they have no say in the legalities that constitute the current plumbing of the entertainment business.
dollhouse
NBC's project Hulu, for instance, serves content from more than 50 providers including NBC, Fox, MGM and Warner Bros. Yet if you live outside the U.S., there is a catch:
"Sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed from within the United States. Hulu is committed to making its content available worldwide. To do so, we must work through a number of legal and business issues, including obtaining international streaming rights. Know that we are working to make this happen and will continue to do so. Given the international background of the Hulu team, we have both a professional and personal interest in bringing Hulu to a global audience."
The day content becomes available to international viewers may not be today or tomorrow, but Hulu is certainly on the right track.
THE BIG PICTURE
As bleak as things seem for American major TV networks this year, there are several very basic things to keep in mind.
Entertainment and communication have always gone hand in hand. Communication is only becoming more global. Out of the 6,7 billion people living in the world today, 1,4 billion use the Internet and the growth rate is about 21 percent.
This puts television into a very special position in the greater scheme of things. Not only has it become the go-to medium for a weekly dose of compelling original fiction, it also provides a common frame of reference that people across the globe can always use as a springboard for meaningful discussion on an endless number of issues. Politics. Religion. Life. Relationships. The environment. You name it.
The Accenture study concludes with four steps for media companies to take if they want high performance in the future:
* Think global and act local
* Build a robust capability to productize and monetize content managing rights, technology and content formats to ensure that content can be repurposed, packaged and bundled quickly and effectively across different devices and geographies
* Implement the right product creation and delivery infrastructure
* Create differentiated customer service capabilities because consumers worldwide want access to content anytime, anyplace, and they want it to work the first time
Jericho
Finally, to end on a high note: in March, Variety Asia reported that Jericho was one of the shows that would soon premiere in Japan on the Sci Fi Channel, newly launched as the first pay TV channel in the country.
Japanese audiences are well known for their passion. Imagine the scenario in which they get an instant opportunity to catch up and even tune in for a possible new season on the very same day that it is aired in the U.S.
The scenario has been happening worldwide for years now. And networks have earned exactly zilch from it."
Whip out your Shovvel and Digg the above article here.
The network with the vision to capitalize on the potentials currently being squandered could control the market for years to come.
-Raycheetah =^[.]^=
Sorry, no link to substantiate this second-hand article, but it's ominous:
"Strike 2? Hollywood nervous about contract talks
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood loves a good sequel, but here's one it could
do without: Another union strike just months after the town got up
and running again from a devastating walkout by writers.
The contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of
Motion Picture and Television Producers expires Monday, and
negotiations have dragged on for weeks with no apparent headway.
SAG leaders have said they are willing to continue talking beyond the
contract deadline. Yet their hard-line rhetoric and a squabble with
another actors union could put performers on the sidelines, taking
electricians, set-builders, caterers and other Hollywood working
stiffs along with them.
"If you're a below-the-line worker, your blood is probably running
cold, because they're the ones that took the biggest hit from the
writers strike," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles
Economic Development Corp., which estimates the WGA walkout cost the
town $2.5 billion in lost wages and other revenue.
A strike in July — or a potential actors lockout if producers decided
to play tough — could delay the return of many fall TV shows, which
normally would be going back into production then.
With a longer lead time, big-screen movies generally are in good
shape through the early part of summer 2009, with studios rushing to
finish production on most films before the actors' contract expired.
A few films such as "The Hannah Montana Movie" and Tom Hanks' "Angels
& Demons" could be forced to shut down if a strike occurred. A long
walkout could postpone movies scheduled to start shooting late this
summer and fall, including Russell Crowe's "Nottingham. "
"The possibility of another strike, especially in this economy, has
the town on edge, including the thousands of guild and crew members
who are still recovering from the last strike," said Jesse Hiestand,
spokesman for the producers alliance.
Big action films could ride out a short strike by turning to other
work while actors were off. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of next
summer's sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," said the
filmmakers factored in a hiatus where they can get by without actors,
working on visual effects instead.
But it would be another blow to an industry that remains in a stall
after the writers strike.
"It's not been a complete shutdown, but everybody's been working at
pretty minimal capacity the last nine months," di Bonaventura said.
"The pain everybody felt over the last nine months certainly makes
the prospect of another strike even more foreboding."
While the Writers Guild of America went on strike in general
solidarity among members, SAG is a house divided. Its 120,000 members
include 44,000 who also belong to the American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists, and leaders of the two unions are at
each other's throats.
AFTRA, with 70,000 total members, negotiated a contract similar to
ones writers and directors accepted this year. SAG is holding out for
a better deal that many in Hollywood say it cannot realistically
achieve in a business stung first by losses from the 100-day writers
strike and now by studio stinginess amid the weak economy.
"Militancy has its moments," said James Cromwell, a former SAG board
member who is among members of both unions urging AFTRA to approve
the deal.
"Under the circumstances, with this town having just gone through a
writers strike, militancy is useless," Cromwell said by phone from
Shreveport, La., where he is co-starring as George H.W. Bush in
Oliver Stone's "W."
While the unions traditionally have negotiated side by side, they
split this time, and SAG leaders are actively campaigning to defeat
AFTRA's contract, whose results are due July 8.
SAG is pushing for more money on DVD residuals, a raise producers
have refused to give other Hollywood unions. Leaders of SAG also say
the AFTRA contract shortchanges actors on potential revenue from
Internet programming.
"When unions compete with different contract terms, actors lose. It
starts a race to the bottom that SAG doesn't want to win," SAG chief
negotiator Doug Allen said in a June 23 message asking actors who
belong to both unions to vote against AFTRA's deal.
Along with Cromwell, actors such as Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Kevin
Spacey and Morgan Fairchild are among hundreds who have signed an
agreement encouraging AFTRA members to approve the deal.
SAG, which accounts for about 90 percent of TV production and all of
the film industry, insists it can strike a better bargain. But if the
AFTRA deal goes through by a wide margin, it could undermine SAG's
leaders, who might not be able to drum up the votes should they
decide to ask members to authorize a strike.
"The worst thing you can do is to try to get it and fail," AFTRA
President Roberta Reardon said. "It's hard to imagine a performer
voting yes for one contract then voting to put himself out on the
street for the other one."
Alexandra Leighton, a 28-year-old actress who appears in two episodes
of the new CBS drama "Swingtown," said she is voting for the AFTRA
deal and would oppose a SAG strike.
Leighton backs SAG's demand for tougher consent rules over use of an
actor's image in online clips, but she said it was not worth losing
her job — her first acting gig outside of commercials.
"Too many people would be put out of work," Leighton said. "It's just
not worth it. The economy is already iffy, and it would just crush
the local economy."
It also could ruin some TV series. Audiences did without new episodes
on many shows for months while writers were on strike. If actors walk
and new episodes vanish again, fans could lose interest for good.
When writers returned in February, the feeling in Hollywood was that
cooler heads among actors and producers would avert another strike.
Optimism gradually eroded as the two actors unions began beating up
on each other.
While SAG has struck deals to allow work to continue with many
independent producers, studio production that accounts for most of
Hollywood employment has been hurled into limbo.
___
Associated Press Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles
contributed to this report."
Boogaboogabooga!
-Raycheetah =@[.]@=
"Strike 2? Hollywood nervous about contract talks
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood loves a good sequel, but here's one it could
do without: Another union strike just months after the town got up
and running again from a devastating walkout by writers.
The contract between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of
Motion Picture and Television Producers expires Monday, and
negotiations have dragged on for weeks with no apparent headway.
SAG leaders have said they are willing to continue talking beyond the
contract deadline. Yet their hard-line rhetoric and a squabble with
another actors union could put performers on the sidelines, taking
electricians, set-builders, caterers and other Hollywood working
stiffs along with them.
"If you're a below-the-line worker, your blood is probably running
cold, because they're the ones that took the biggest hit from the
writers strike," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles
Economic Development Corp., which estimates the WGA walkout cost the
town $2.5 billion in lost wages and other revenue.
A strike in July — or a potential actors lockout if producers decided
to play tough — could delay the return of many fall TV shows, which
normally would be going back into production then.
With a longer lead time, big-screen movies generally are in good
shape through the early part of summer 2009, with studios rushing to
finish production on most films before the actors' contract expired.
A few films such as "The Hannah Montana Movie" and Tom Hanks' "Angels
& Demons" could be forced to shut down if a strike occurred. A long
walkout could postpone movies scheduled to start shooting late this
summer and fall, including Russell Crowe's "Nottingham. "
"The possibility of another strike, especially in this economy, has
the town on edge, including the thousands of guild and crew members
who are still recovering from the last strike," said Jesse Hiestand,
spokesman for the producers alliance.
Big action films could ride out a short strike by turning to other
work while actors were off. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of next
summer's sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," said the
filmmakers factored in a hiatus where they can get by without actors,
working on visual effects instead.
But it would be another blow to an industry that remains in a stall
after the writers strike.
"It's not been a complete shutdown, but everybody's been working at
pretty minimal capacity the last nine months," di Bonaventura said.
"The pain everybody felt over the last nine months certainly makes
the prospect of another strike even more foreboding."
While the Writers Guild of America went on strike in general
solidarity among members, SAG is a house divided. Its 120,000 members
include 44,000 who also belong to the American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists, and leaders of the two unions are at
each other's throats.
AFTRA, with 70,000 total members, negotiated a contract similar to
ones writers and directors accepted this year. SAG is holding out for
a better deal that many in Hollywood say it cannot realistically
achieve in a business stung first by losses from the 100-day writers
strike and now by studio stinginess amid the weak economy.
"Militancy has its moments," said James Cromwell, a former SAG board
member who is among members of both unions urging AFTRA to approve
the deal.
"Under the circumstances, with this town having just gone through a
writers strike, militancy is useless," Cromwell said by phone from
Shreveport, La., where he is co-starring as George H.W. Bush in
Oliver Stone's "W."
While the unions traditionally have negotiated side by side, they
split this time, and SAG leaders are actively campaigning to defeat
AFTRA's contract, whose results are due July 8.
SAG is pushing for more money on DVD residuals, a raise producers
have refused to give other Hollywood unions. Leaders of SAG also say
the AFTRA contract shortchanges actors on potential revenue from
Internet programming.
"When unions compete with different contract terms, actors lose. It
starts a race to the bottom that SAG doesn't want to win," SAG chief
negotiator Doug Allen said in a June 23 message asking actors who
belong to both unions to vote against AFTRA's deal.
Along with Cromwell, actors such as Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Kevin
Spacey and Morgan Fairchild are among hundreds who have signed an
agreement encouraging AFTRA members to approve the deal.
SAG, which accounts for about 90 percent of TV production and all of
the film industry, insists it can strike a better bargain. But if the
AFTRA deal goes through by a wide margin, it could undermine SAG's
leaders, who might not be able to drum up the votes should they
decide to ask members to authorize a strike.
"The worst thing you can do is to try to get it and fail," AFTRA
President Roberta Reardon said. "It's hard to imagine a performer
voting yes for one contract then voting to put himself out on the
street for the other one."
Alexandra Leighton, a 28-year-old actress who appears in two episodes
of the new CBS drama "Swingtown," said she is voting for the AFTRA
deal and would oppose a SAG strike.
Leighton backs SAG's demand for tougher consent rules over use of an
actor's image in online clips, but she said it was not worth losing
her job — her first acting gig outside of commercials.
"Too many people would be put out of work," Leighton said. "It's just
not worth it. The economy is already iffy, and it would just crush
the local economy."
It also could ruin some TV series. Audiences did without new episodes
on many shows for months while writers were on strike. If actors walk
and new episodes vanish again, fans could lose interest for good.
When writers returned in February, the feeling in Hollywood was that
cooler heads among actors and producers would avert another strike.
Optimism gradually eroded as the two actors unions began beating up
on each other.
While SAG has struck deals to allow work to continue with many
independent producers, studio production that accounts for most of
Hollywood employment has been hurled into limbo.
___
Associated Press Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles
contributed to this report."
Boogaboogabooga!
-Raycheetah =@[.]@=
Um, maybe it's because Hollyweird is run by a bunch of bean-counter suits who have no artistic sense, and decide everything in committee as political strategies against one another?
And the fact that California is home to a bunch of extremist leftist whacko loose nuts?
And the fact that California is home to a bunch of extremist leftist whacko loose nuts?
An update on the SAG-AMPTP negotiations:
"By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer
Tue Jul 1, 11:03 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - The contract between movie and TV actors and major Hollywood studios expired early Tuesday after the studios made a final offer and the Screen Actors Guild said it would take more than a day to study it.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said the offer was worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to members of the guild over the three years of the proposed contract.
The current pact expired at 12:01 a.m. PDT, but both sides said they would continue to work under the old contract after the deadline passed.
"In short, our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work," the alliance said in a statement. The alliance said film production had been "virtually shut down" because of uncertainty about a deal.
The AMPTP will meet with guild representatives Wednesday afternoon to explain the offer, but will not entertain counterproposals, spokesman Jesse Hiestand said.
The guild said it would prepare a formal response once it analyzes the 43-page offer, but SAG's chief negotiator, executive director Doug Allen, immediately criticized it.
"This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors," he said in a statement.
For example, residual payments to actors for reruns of productions that were made only for the Internet were "incalculable," he said, adding it would "mean the beginning of the end of residuals."
The offer, made less than five months after the 100-day writers strike, was in line with deals cut with directors and writers guilds, as well as the tentative deal reached in May with the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, both sides said.
The guild, however, has waged an all-out campaign against the AFTRA deal, which some 70,000 members were asked to ratify.
SAG, which represents 120,000 actors in movies, TV and other media, shares 44,000 dual members with AFTRA, which includes actors, singers, announcers and journalists.
Results are due July 8.
The guild has said the AFTRA deal left many areas for improvement, including on residual payments for DVD sales, in the area of advertising weaved into scripts and on compensation for Internet content.
That position suggested SAG would turn down the producers' final offer, said Jonathan Handel, a former lawyer for the Writers Guild of America.
"SAG says it's reviewing the offer, but in fact what we can expect is a thorough rejection," Handel said. "This really is a situation where we're looking at a bit of a stalemate."
AFTRA declined to comment.
The dispute has split actors who have taken sides between the warring unions.
Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey and others have urged support of the AFTRA deal, arguing that doing otherwise could result in a painful repeat of the writers strike, which ended in February and is estimated to have caused more than $2 billion in economic damage.
Jack Nicholson, Josh Brolin, Holly Hunter and others support SAG's tactics, saying AFTRA should return to the bargaining table to get a better deal.
"I hope that cool heads prevail and that people get a chance to work," actor Ron Perlman told Associated Press Television at the weekend premiere of his "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." "I'm hoping and praying that they find some middle ground."
Will Ferrell told AP Television last week that a strike would be unfortunate.
"I don't think anyone wants to have to deal with a strike or go on strike, but if that's what has to be done, that's what has to be done," he said.
In its statement Monday, the producers alliance warned of the damage of another walkout, saying a work stoppage would cost SAG members $2.5 million in wages every day.
Other labor groups in the industry would lose $13.5 million, while the California economy would take a daily $23 million hit, it said.
"With each passing day after June 30, there will be less work for those whose livelihoods depend on our industry," the statement said.
___
On the Net:
Screen Actors Guild: http://www.sag.org
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, http://www.aftra.com"
Here we go again!
-Raycheetah ='[.]'=
"By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer
Tue Jul 1, 11:03 AM ET
LOS ANGELES - The contract between movie and TV actors and major Hollywood studios expired early Tuesday after the studios made a final offer and the Screen Actors Guild said it would take more than a day to study it.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said the offer was worth more than $250 million in additional compensation to members of the guild over the three years of the proposed contract.
The current pact expired at 12:01 a.m. PDT, but both sides said they would continue to work under the old contract after the deadline passed.
"In short, our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work," the alliance said in a statement. The alliance said film production had been "virtually shut down" because of uncertainty about a deal.
The AMPTP will meet with guild representatives Wednesday afternoon to explain the offer, but will not entertain counterproposals, spokesman Jesse Hiestand said.
The guild said it would prepare a formal response once it analyzes the 43-page offer, but SAG's chief negotiator, executive director Doug Allen, immediately criticized it.
"This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors," he said in a statement.
For example, residual payments to actors for reruns of productions that were made only for the Internet were "incalculable," he said, adding it would "mean the beginning of the end of residuals."
The offer, made less than five months after the 100-day writers strike, was in line with deals cut with directors and writers guilds, as well as the tentative deal reached in May with the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, both sides said.
The guild, however, has waged an all-out campaign against the AFTRA deal, which some 70,000 members were asked to ratify.
SAG, which represents 120,000 actors in movies, TV and other media, shares 44,000 dual members with AFTRA, which includes actors, singers, announcers and journalists.
Results are due July 8.
The guild has said the AFTRA deal left many areas for improvement, including on residual payments for DVD sales, in the area of advertising weaved into scripts and on compensation for Internet content.
That position suggested SAG would turn down the producers' final offer, said Jonathan Handel, a former lawyer for the Writers Guild of America.
"SAG says it's reviewing the offer, but in fact what we can expect is a thorough rejection," Handel said. "This really is a situation where we're looking at a bit of a stalemate."
AFTRA declined to comment.
The dispute has split actors who have taken sides between the warring unions.
Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey and others have urged support of the AFTRA deal, arguing that doing otherwise could result in a painful repeat of the writers strike, which ended in February and is estimated to have caused more than $2 billion in economic damage.
Jack Nicholson, Josh Brolin, Holly Hunter and others support SAG's tactics, saying AFTRA should return to the bargaining table to get a better deal.
"I hope that cool heads prevail and that people get a chance to work," actor Ron Perlman told Associated Press Television at the weekend premiere of his "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." "I'm hoping and praying that they find some middle ground."
Will Ferrell told AP Television last week that a strike would be unfortunate.
"I don't think anyone wants to have to deal with a strike or go on strike, but if that's what has to be done, that's what has to be done," he said.
In its statement Monday, the producers alliance warned of the damage of another walkout, saying a work stoppage would cost SAG members $2.5 million in wages every day.
Other labor groups in the industry would lose $13.5 million, while the California economy would take a daily $23 million hit, it said.
"With each passing day after June 30, there will be less work for those whose livelihoods depend on our industry," the statement said.
___
On the Net:
Screen Actors Guild: http://www.sag.org
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, http://www.aftra.com"
Here we go again!
-Raycheetah ='[.]'=
Keep on kicking, SAG and AFTRA! Don't put up with the Studios' horse-shit. The writers caved, don't you guys cave!
Nielsen Surveys Hard-To-Reach Audience: It's Own Clients, Findings May Be Released Next Week
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=...p;art_aid=86441
"The TV industry's top researcher has quietly conducted some client research to figure out whether it should make some big changes in the way it researches how people watch television. Findings of the study, a survey of Nielsen's biggest TV ratings clients on their preferences for adjusting the so-called C3 ratings that have become the de facto currency of the TV advertising marketplace, are expected to figure in a series of meetings Nielsen will hold with its national clients next week in New York and Los Angeles to update them on a series of important developments, including the future of C3 ratings. Other items on the agenda include how Nielsen is preparing for next year's transition to digital broadcast spectrum, DVR penetration and activity, and so-called "three-screen measurement" - the simultaneous measurement of audiences of TV, PC and mobile devices.
The study, which was conducted among an elite group of couple of hundred clients, including a heavy composition of people from Madison Avenue, grew out of Nielsen's last big client meeting in April, which also focused heavily on the quality and merits of its C3 ratings research methods. Among the big issues discussed then, and queried in the client survey conducted early this month, is how to deal with new "non-conforming" TV commercial formats that appear to be eluding Nielsen's conventional commercial monitoring systems. Those formats, which include hybrid forms of content and advertising that may not always be distinguishable, have proved vexing, and Nielsen executives have discussed everything from establishing new edit rules for defining them to stripping them out of the ratings process altogether.
The study also surveyed clients on whether Nielsen should discontinue some of the multitude of new TV ratings steams that it began providing to the marketplace when it began reporting time-shifted viewing from DVRs. They currently include live-only, live plus same day of DVR playback, live plus one day of DVR playback, live plus two days of DVR playback, live plus three days of DVR playback, and live plus seven days of DVR playback.
It's unclear how Nielsen plans to use findings from the client study, or whether it will in fact present them publicly next week. Another big question is how Nielsen might tabulate its results, and whether it would break out the results of "buy side" Madison Avenue executives vs. "sell side" TV researchers who would appear to have different agendas on influencing the outcome of any new commercial ratings estimates.
A call to a Nielsen spokesman was not returned at presstime.
The most significant implication of the client survey is how it might influence the way Nielsen includes, or excludes the new, as-yet-undefined commercial advertising formats.
"Some clients are now using commercial creative formats that blur the line between program and commercial content," the Nielsen survey reads. "While some of these new formats are thirty or sixty seconds in length, most are between two and three minutes in length, and include:
* "Tagged" or sponsored program promotions or program excerpts
* Sponsored short-form original programs ("Minisodes")
* Sponsored "program wraps" leading out of and into commercial breaks
Joe Mandese is Editor of MediaPost. "
='[.]'=
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=...p;art_aid=86441
"The TV industry's top researcher has quietly conducted some client research to figure out whether it should make some big changes in the way it researches how people watch television. Findings of the study, a survey of Nielsen's biggest TV ratings clients on their preferences for adjusting the so-called C3 ratings that have become the de facto currency of the TV advertising marketplace, are expected to figure in a series of meetings Nielsen will hold with its national clients next week in New York and Los Angeles to update them on a series of important developments, including the future of C3 ratings. Other items on the agenda include how Nielsen is preparing for next year's transition to digital broadcast spectrum, DVR penetration and activity, and so-called "three-screen measurement" - the simultaneous measurement of audiences of TV, PC and mobile devices.
The study, which was conducted among an elite group of couple of hundred clients, including a heavy composition of people from Madison Avenue, grew out of Nielsen's last big client meeting in April, which also focused heavily on the quality and merits of its C3 ratings research methods. Among the big issues discussed then, and queried in the client survey conducted early this month, is how to deal with new "non-conforming" TV commercial formats that appear to be eluding Nielsen's conventional commercial monitoring systems. Those formats, which include hybrid forms of content and advertising that may not always be distinguishable, have proved vexing, and Nielsen executives have discussed everything from establishing new edit rules for defining them to stripping them out of the ratings process altogether.
The study also surveyed clients on whether Nielsen should discontinue some of the multitude of new TV ratings steams that it began providing to the marketplace when it began reporting time-shifted viewing from DVRs. They currently include live-only, live plus same day of DVR playback, live plus one day of DVR playback, live plus two days of DVR playback, live plus three days of DVR playback, and live plus seven days of DVR playback.
It's unclear how Nielsen plans to use findings from the client study, or whether it will in fact present them publicly next week. Another big question is how Nielsen might tabulate its results, and whether it would break out the results of "buy side" Madison Avenue executives vs. "sell side" TV researchers who would appear to have different agendas on influencing the outcome of any new commercial ratings estimates.
A call to a Nielsen spokesman was not returned at presstime.
The most significant implication of the client survey is how it might influence the way Nielsen includes, or excludes the new, as-yet-undefined commercial advertising formats.
"Some clients are now using commercial creative formats that blur the line between program and commercial content," the Nielsen survey reads. "While some of these new formats are thirty or sixty seconds in length, most are between two and three minutes in length, and include:
* "Tagged" or sponsored program promotions or program excerpts
* Sponsored short-form original programs ("Minisodes")
* Sponsored "program wraps" leading out of and into commercial breaks
Joe Mandese is Editor of MediaPost. "
='[.]'=
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