Not Galactica!- August 31, 2007 Argh. I try to put personal feelings aside when I'm in analyst blogging mode, but this is a tough one. I watched a fair chunk of the previous season of Sci-Fi's awesome "Battlestar Galactica" (BSG) via iTunes downloads (I was traveling a lot, don't have a slingbox, and it was easier to view them via laptop). $1.99 was a fine price to pay. Now NBC's had a spat with Apple, and is withdrawing its content. As Michael pointed out, Apple's spinmeisters have masterfully seized control of the...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/not_galactica.html Til the End of Time- August 29, 2007 It's been ages since I blogged about telecoms stuff, ever since I handed off broadband coverage to my colleague Doug, in favor of the wild world of online video. But once in a while, nostalgia wins out, as in the story in the LA Times about the end of Time--that is, the service where you could dial a free local number and get a recorded woman's voice, well, telling you what time it was. For the kids reading this, this was useful if you wanted to synchronize watches, or reset the clock if you...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/til_the_end_of.html HD DVD News: World Not Safe from Transformers 2- August 22, 2007 Just when everyone thought that the silver lining to Paramount going HD DVD exclusively was at least we wouldn't have to see Transformers 2, director Michael Bay has backed down from his earlier strong condemnation of the decision. His reasoning for this "So today I saw 300 on HD, it rocks! So I think I might be back on to do Transformers 2!" The Gizmodo folks speculate entertainingly about some of the other persuasive things Paramount could've done to inspire this sudden about face, but...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/hd_dvd_news_wor.html Monday Night Football Strategy: Less Football, More UGV- August 22, 2007 In a bid to, what, keep Monday Night Football in line with the times ESPN's going to be inviting people to submit their own videos via the Internet, and will be picking two (count 'em) that will be broadcast each week. It's certainly an example I'm going to be citing often of the ever-more-blurry line between professionally created and user-generated video. Or at least of the co-opting of the latter by the former. But does anyone think this is going to make Monday Night Football any more...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/monday_night_fo.html Paramount DVD Decision Riles Michael Bay- August 21, 2007 Paramount created a stir yesterday by announcing that it (and Dreamworks) would go HD DVD only for movie releases. This bucks an industry trend; while Jupiter hasn't made a call on which format we think will win, with Blockbuster and Target Blu-Ray only, and Blu-Ray disks outselling HD DVDs 2 to 1, the momentum seemed to be in the other direction. I think smart consumers are going to be all the more reluctant to buy both Blu-Ray AND HD DVD after Paramount's announcement. And it's not just...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/paramount_dvd_d.html YouTube's Future: Aesop's Fable Version- August 13, 2007 A number of collegues and I have been having a conversation via e-mail about the future of YouTube, the likelihood of its being sued out of existence, who was likely to do the suing, and whether the whole analogy to Napster InformationWeek really applies. In the course of this, one of us mentioned "Battle at Kruger," a current huge (and non-copyright-infringing) YT hit-- 12.7m views and counting!-- featuring some exciting African wildlife action. It's an example of YT video becoming part of...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/youtubes_future.html Comcast Launches Fancast- August 10, 2007 Comcast's long-awaited foray into the online video destination (or perhaps e-EPG) business took off today with the beta launch of Fancast. It's definitely worth checking out. One early surprise: Comcast's famous Fan, the UI for video on the Comcast.net portal, is apparently not a part of Fancast. Comcast's doing 3 things at present: national TV listings, movie tickets (hello, Fandango), and online video (heavily geared toward pro content--movie trailers, TV episodes, etc.) The most...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/comcast_launche.html Didja Stop and Think About This- August 8, 2007 NBC-U (actually USA Networks) announced today the creation of "Didja," which they describe far better than I could, so I'll just quote from the press release: "A free online archive of current and classic television commercials, movie trailers and other brand-related content, Didja.com is a social networking destination that reinvents the commercial viewing experience by celebrating advertising as entertainment." I fully respect the notion that the best commercials attain the status of...http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/didja_stop_and.html Disney Multiplayer: From Pirates to Penguins- August 2, 2007 Disney yesterday announced it was acquiring kid-oriented, web-based "virtual world" Club Penguin, for $350m cash up front and another up to $350m performance-based over the next couple years. The price seems high, but this is very smart. It's probably easier to buy a virtual world phenomenon than to create your own. Despite lots of competition in the kid social space (Neopets--which Viacom bought a couple of years ago, Habbo Hotel, Webkins, etc etc), CP has a strong community, good buzz, and..http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/laszlo/archives/2007/08/disney_multipla.html |