• First The 'S' Word, Now The "R'...
    No matter where you turn these days, all you hear about is the "R" word: recession. From The Wall Street Journal to The Hollywood Reporter -- recession, recession, recession. Is it really time to panic? Maybe. Then again, maybe not. With the Commerce Department reporting this week that gross domestic product growth slowed in the fourth quarter to 0.6% growth compared with a rate of 2.2% for the year, it seems that Hollywood is now abuzz with something new to talk about. But is it warranted?
  • Super Bowl Ads -- The Exception, Not The Rule
    So -- we're heading up to the Big Weekend Showdown. A proverbial clash of the titans, where the best in class and most expensive of their kind roll out to do battle in a bone-crunching, arduous contest for the ultimate prize -- and that's just the ads. The other thing we can expect plenty of is the usual hype around the commercials themselves. Nothing wrong with that, in principal. I'm all for the ruthless leveraging of any marketing campaign through secondary media and PR activity. I do, however, have a problem with the claims that the Super Bowl fuels relating …
  • The Fellowship of the Digital Ring
    Last week, I was surprised to learn that National Cable Communications (NCC), the nation's largest spot cable advertising representation firm -- and owned by the country's largest cable systems operators -- has been retained by telco Verizon to handle local inventory sales for its video service FiOS. I've always thought that the telco's IPTV plans to enter the video service realm would be construed most dangerous to the local cable operator - another entity competing for "fair share" of local market TV advertising budgets.
  • Jack Myers' Think Tank -- Two Sundance Film Festivals: Which Will Survive?
    There are two Sundance Film Festivals. One hosts several thousand film enthusiasts, movie industry professionals and others with passion for and/or professional interest in independent films. The other Sundance plays hosts to thousands of guests who have marginal interest in films or even relevance to the independent film community.
  • Whose Research Is It, Anyway?
    I've always been bemused by the view that "people don't want to interact with their TV. All they want to do is sit back and watch." It's a view that in my opinion amounts to little more than a failure of imagination. So it was interesting to see a release yesterday on a study from Harris Interactive that looks into attitudes toward remote-control-based interactive functionality on TV.
  • Broadcast Network Broadband Video Forays
    The broadcast networks and their parent companies are in the throes of developing responsible fiscal strategies to exploit their content in our ever-changing, evolving digital universe. Whether we credit Disney Chairman Bob Iger (iTunes) or News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch (MySpace acquisition) for throwing down the gauntlet in the second half of 2005 by challenging its executives as well as competitors to pursue untested digital distribution methodologies, which in theory could undercut their traditional revenue-generating practices, the media business has never been the same
  • Jack Myers' Think Tank: Prime-Time Ratings Will Increase Thanks To The Strike
    I'm going out on a limb to forecast that broadcast network ratings might actually increase in the next three months compared to last year's averages.
  • From Your Mouth To Someone's Ear...
    I have spent the last couple of weeks ideating... meaning, looking for ways for ways to drum up business (in case you hadn't heard, there is a strike going on!!). But I digress. My thought travels took me to a place I haven't been before, but I felt I needed to share with you: gospel.
  • Form Vs. Function (Size Vs. What You Do With It)
    The annual pilgrimage to Consumer Electronics Show at the start of the year always amounts to an exercise in sensory overload, but one which -- if carefully managed -- can yield something other than a dull ache behind the eyes (generally caused by the heady combination of bright flashing lights, too many digital screens, recycled air and maybe a few martinis).
  • Too Much Information -- Or Is Obfuscation The Preferred Policy?
    Trying to make sense of the fine print of a cable bill, I turned to the next page and the next and the next -- and then my head imploded....
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