• Fox Releases Hulu-Like Mobile App
    Fox's Mobile Group has launched a mobile beta application called Bitbop that provides free access to full-length TV shows on your phone. For now, users can sign-up for a trial on its Web site and the application is free and compatible on four BlackBerry phones. Like Hulu, it's loaded with TV shows from 25 content partners, including News Corp. NBC The Food Network, A&E, CBS TLC, USA and MTV. Previously, Fox Mobile's EVP of Global Products Joe Bilman told mocoNews that the application will be free, but in order to access to the whole catalog, a subscription will cost …
  • Disney Junior Will Replace SOAPnet
    The SOAPnet channel is over and will be replaced by Disney Junior, a new 24-hour channel aimed at preschoolers. The Disney-ABC Television Group said the channel is set to debut in 2012. It will adopt learning themes geared to kids ages 2 to 7. Disney Junior will replace the SOAPnet channel, which is available in 75 million U.S. homes and features reruns of daytime dramas. Before Disney Junior is launched as a 24-hour channel, the name will be introduced on the popular Disney Channel's daily programming block for preschoolers that's now branded Playhouse Disney. The new network will compete …
  • Comcast To Debut Social-Networking Site
    U.S. cable company Comcast will debut a beta of a social-networking service in two weeks that allows participants to let the world know what they are watching on TV and the Internet. The service, called Tunerfish, was developed by online address book provider Plaxo, which Comcast acquired in 2008. With Tunerfish, participants can post that they are watching, or have watched, a particular television show or Internet video, a tidbit tthen shared with other users. Shows can be called up by a search interface. The service also factors this user input into ongoing lists of the most popular shows, …
  • Conan, NCAA Put Turner In Big Leagues
    David Levy, president of Turner Broadcasting sales, distribution and sports, discussed the advertising market and outlook for the TV business. Asked how long will the broadcasters maintain their ad rate advantage over cable networks, he said: "There is only one genre left, entertainment, where there still is a difference. There are no differences in [advertising rates] in sports, news or kids programming, which has become a cable business. As we add Conan O'Brien, George Lopez, the NCAA, shows like "Fallen Skies" and "Glory Daze" and other original programs to our lineup, we will continue to close that gap." …
  • Rodale, MSN Sign Deal To Repurpose Mags Online
    MSN has entered into a partnership with Rodale Inc. which will repurpose the publisher's magazine content online at a new MSN-branded health and wellness site which is expected to launch this fall, reports Folio:. The site will focus on topics including diet, fitness and nutrition, and will feature original content as well as content pulled from Rodale's Men's Health, Women's Health, Prevention, Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.According to MSN executive producer Scott Moore, lifestyle content is increasingly popular among consumers as well as advertisers, and MSN sees "great opportunity in expanding our current lifestyle offerings by delivering a new …
  • Gregrian Named Warner TV CMO
    Lisa Gregorian has been promoted to executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the Warner Bros. Television Group. A 24-year company vet, she will continue to oversee the studio's worldwide television marketing team and work closely with television networks and stations worldwide to promote and market television properties. Additionally, Gregorian and her team will collaborate with Warner Home Video to secure production-related materials that will be incorporated into series' subsequent home video releases.
  • For Some Stations, Mobile Future Is Now
    By the end of June, around 20 Nexstar stations will have some form of mobile service such as WAP-enabled mobile sites, SMS texting or apps for iPhone and Droid smart phones. In addition, Raycom Media is offering mobile services at all 32 of its news-gathering stations. And Cox Media Group has either WAP sites or iPhone apps running in all 11 markets in which it operates. TV stations' current mobile efforts are a prelude to mobile DTV, the full-motion video service developed by the Open Mobile Video Coalition. Borrell estimates that local TV mobile revenues amounted to $29 …
  • AOL Boasts 4,000 Journalists, Most Part-Time
    AOL CEO Tim Armstrong says that the company now employs 4,000 journalists, 3,500 of which are part-time or freelance. As of last October, the company employed roughly 3,000 journalists. He thinks the future is hyper-local news. That's why AOL bought hyperlocal news site Patch and launching content machine Seed.com. Armstrong says that AOL is really "taking local to a local level." Patch is now in 53 markets in 5 states, including Connecticut and California. And it's been reported that AOL will pour $50 million into Patch this year and plans to roll out the model to "hundreds" of …
  • Sirius XM: Global Launch Or Trouble At Home?
    Ever since Liberty Media -- which bought 40% of Sirius XM in 2009 and bought up debt of international satellite radio operator WorldSpace, speculation has run rampant that perhaps Sirius and WorldSpace could work to bring Sirius XM's programming abroad. "The business is seriously unprofitable at this point it," David Trainer, president of Nashville-based research firm New Constructs said. Such an undertaking would require lots of additional capital and Trainer already gives the stock a "dangerous" rating, but Matthew Harrigan of Wunderlich Securities, thinks the satcaster could have the monies to go global in the next few years.
  • Comcast: FCC May Curb Broadband Investment
    Comcast Corp's top financial executive U.S. regulators' plans to tighten control over the broadband market could curb private investment in the sector. CFO Michael Angelakis said the No. 1 U.S. cable operator had been "disappointed" by a plan by the Federal Communication Commission that would give the agency power to regulate pricing of broadband, reports Reuters. "If the regulatory aspect becomes distressed, it's clearly going to impact our appetite to invest," Angelakis said at an investor conference.  The FCC plan, which would classify broadband services with traditional phone lines, follows a court ruling last month that said the agency …
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