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digiBITZ: With a price tag of $19.5 billion, and despite minority fears of monopolistic appearance, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given the go-ahead for the acquisition of radio giant Clear Channel to two private equity firms… Some 40 employees of the CBS College Sports Network (CSTV) will lose their jobs due to the integration of the content provider within CBS Sports itself and the subsequent rebranding efforts… Fraudulent online advertising practices are going to cost ValueClick $2.9 million to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), due to incentive-based ad practices by the firm that initiated the government agency investigation last spring—no wrongdoing has been admitted by the company and they will now adopt “best practices” for lead generation… Well, sooner or later, such had to occur—the rejection by Yahoo! of the Microsoft acquisition offer has generated the first shareholder suit as a dereliction of the board of director’s duty to shareholders and it was filed by The Wayne County Employee’s Retirement System of Michigan, which has possession of some 13,600 Yahoo! shares…
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digiBIZ—The DIRECTV Group, Inc. has reported their Q4 2007 revenues increased 17 percent to $4.88 billion. Operating profit, before depreciation and amortization1 (OPBDA), increased 21 percent to $1.10 billion. Operating profit increased 4 percent to $617 million, compared to last year’s fourth quarter. The DIRECTV Group reported fourth quarter net income of $348 million declined 2 percent and earnings per share increased one cent to $0.30 compared with the same period last year. You may listen to the company’s earnings conference call via this link, but you must register in order to do so—El Segundo, California
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digiCONTENT—
This May, Disneyland is going to open up their “Innoventions Dream Home” in Tomorrowland. With the look of a suburban tract home, the interior will showcase hardware, software and touch-screen systems with lighting and thermostats automatically adjusting when visitors enter a room. Even the closets will help to “select” the right attire for a party and countertops will ID groceries set on them and will offer menu suggestions. Costing some $15 million to create, this venue is a collaboration of The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Company, LifeWare and Taylor Morrison, a homebuilder.
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digiBIZ—The Hollywood Writers strike is now history… the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the writers have approved a new contract, according to the Writer’s Guild America. Of 3,775 votes, 92.5 percent approved the terms, ending the 100-day walk out. However, the joy is tempered as many believe TV shows that rely on scripts will not reach production levels previously enjoyed, but the writers now have a piece, albeit small, of web revenues.
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digiCONTENT—Whether you are six-years of age or older, and you have a hankerin’ to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, eMedia Music’s tutorial hybrid (for Mac and PC) CD-ROMs can be of enormous assistance. My Guitar offers multimedia lessons developed by Kevin Garry, Ph.D. using video demonstrations and interactive games to help teach chords. Gary the Guitar guides kids through the more than 50 lessons and 20 songs that teach the basics as well as advancing to strumming chords, reading tablature and playing songs—Seattle, Washington
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digiDELIVERY—Been thinking about how best to retrieve and deliver to your home TV, computer or other video appliance digital flicks, TV shows and so on? One consideration is probably the Apple TV… now vastly improved, the AppleInsider offers a highly cognizant and thorough review of the newly upgraded product at this link. If you’re considering a purchase of the Apple TV, read this Prince McLean bylined review for a look at the pros… and cons…
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digiDELIVERY—A major technology initiative is being announced by Calrec Audio and their partner, Ross Video Ltd. Their collaboration has brought to fruition remote control of fader modules on any Calrec console. This protocol allows a vision mixer to take control over the serial interface to autofades on the Calrec deck. Plus, the interface provides individual control of faders, cuts, and pfl of as many as 192 faders on the Calrec console directly from the Ross OverDrive automated Production Control (APC) System. Calrec is also debuting an Offline Editor. This provides operators with an emulation of the Calrec console PC app on any other PC, allowing remote configuration of any Calrec console, especially useful for those working to a tight schedule, such as freelance operators planning for a specific outside broadcast—West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
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digiDELIVERY—Harris Corporation will roll out the complete Harris NewsForce high definition/standard definition (HD/SD) newsroom solution at the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention being held April 14-17, 2008, in Las Vegas. Built upon advanced Harris NEXIO shared storage server architecture, NewsForce is a comprehensive, HD/SD news environment that provides file-based newsroom workflow from field editing to delivery on air. In combination with its family of high-performance, MOS-enabled news editors and Inscriber graphics systems, NewsForce provides news operations with an HD/SD infrastructure that scales cleanly to accommodate all current and future broadcast needs.
The NewsForce product line includes a family of editors optimized for the quick edits and 24/7 demands of live news production: NewsForce ES, a high-resolution, high-performance news editor; NewsForce Desktop, a proxy editor that operates on standard desktop PCs; NewsForce XNG, a software-based laptop editor for the field and newsroom; and the proven Velocity NX, a full-featured promotions/craft-style editor used in newsrooms around the world. All NewsForce editors capitalize on the speed, flexibility and fault tolerance provided by the NEXIO storage area network (SAN) and provide seamless integration with AP’s ENPS, Avid’s iNEWS and other newsroom computer systems (NRCS) to streamline the end-to-end newsroom workflow. NewsForce also features full integration of Apple Final Cut Pro, enabling editing directly onto the NEXIO SAN — even during ingest — and sharing of media and timelines with NewsForce and Final Cut Pro editors. Plug-ins for Final Cut Pro enable content and metadata searches on the NEXIO SAN, browse viewing and shot selection, and MOS NRCS integration. This NewsForce integration empowers Final Cut Pro users with immediate access to all content on the NEXIO SAN, including content being recorded, and allows edits to air directly from the SAN without waiting for rendering to finish—Cincinnati, Ohio
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digiDELIVERY—
Combining digiforces are Vidiator and weComm. They will provide live encoding within rich media apps across a broad range of mobile devices, the first being a sports service so subscribers may listen to real-time conversations captured between sportsmen at live events. You’ll be able to select and rapidly switch between several audio channels from different teams. Plus, access to live news, info and stats will be available, all within a branded mobile app. The Vidiator Xenon Live Encoder is fully compliant with all applicable international standards and allows for real-time conversion of all current analog or digital audio and video signals. weComm’s mobile app platform uses a thin client for handset features integration and delivers advanced UIs faster, with more interactive experiences, than can be experienced with most traditional wireless WAP and browser-based solutions—Bellevue, Washington + London, United Kingdom
digiDELIVERY—
Netflix believes the final decision has been made in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray format wars… and they’ve selected Blu-ray. Until now, the company has made available both formats to consumers. But the decision by four of the six major movie studios to publish their titles that are hi-def in the Blu-ray format has made the decision somewhat easier to put into place. The single format transition occurs immediately, with Netflix only purchasing Blu-ray titles. Their HD DVD discs will be phased out completely by the end of this year.
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