The Key To Making Free Music Services Work
photo: Flickr/BL1961
In a previous post I explained how free music services such as Spotify were making premium rental services such as Rhapsody and Napster incr… Read more »
Would Disney Yank ABC’s Signal? Iger: ‘We’re Pretty Resolute’
photo: AP Images
Fox and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) narrowly averted retrans Armageddon on New Years Eve. Will Disney (NYSE: DIS) and ABC manage the same feat d… Read more »
Newsday Said It Wasn’t Putting Up A Paywall To Sell Online Subscriptions — And It Isn’t
Updated to include Newsday’s response. It sounds like Newsday is fulfilling at least one part of its paywall plan: not selling online subscr… Read more »
@ Midem: Spotify CEO: Everything Hangs On The Library
photo: Spotify
Much-hyped music service Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek took to the stage at music-biz conference Midem and again tried to remind onlookers – it’s… Read more »
@ Midem: Labels Go Cold On Free Music Services; A Challenge To Spotify?
photo: Rasmus Andersson
Spotify has over 250,000 paying subscribers, SVP Paul Brown confirmed on stage at Midem, as streaming services fall over themselves to downp… Read more »
Cablevision And Scripps Settle Their Differences; Food Network, HGTV Due Back Today
photo: Iron Chef America on Food Network
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI) have reached an agreement that paves the way for the return of the Food… Read more »
Spotify Says It Can Multiply U.S. Music Subscriptions Five-Fold
photo: Spotify
Music streaming service Spotify is still yet to launch in the U.S., but it already has big ambitions for revolutionising the market there.… Read more »
Scripps, Cablevision Still Stuck; WPIX Gets The Win
photo: Iron Chef America on Food Network
No signs of movement in the contract spat between Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) and Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), which means more tha… Read more »
Newsday.com’s Pay Wall Lets In Ex-Cablevision Subs
There’s a bit of a hole in the pay wall set up by Newsday, the Long Island newspaper owned by Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) Systems: users with de… Read more »
Warner Music Got $9 Million in Lala.com’s Sale to Apple; Bronfman’s Salary
Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) got at least $9 million back of the $20 million it invested in online music service Lala.com, after the latte… Read more »
Netflix Agrees To Warner’s New Release Delay In Exchange For More Streaming Rights
photo: FDP.net
Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) and Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX) have reached new content distribution terms — with Netflix agreeing to a 28-day delay on… Read more »
Best Buy Launches New Social-Centric Site ‘The BBY’
Best Buy will have a major presence here at CES with a pop-up store in the parking lot, hotel kiosks, sponsorship, and a few hundred employe… Read more »
No End In Sight For Scripps-Cablevision Spat; No HGTV, Food Either
Licensing deals for some Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI) channels ended at midnight New Year’s Eve for Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC… Read more »
Warner Music in Video Deal With Hulu; Second Label After EMI
Hulu is looking more and more like a mini-Vevo competitor: after a deal with EMI, done last month before Vevo’s launch, Warner Music (not pa… Read more »
Playboy Sale Hopes To Iconix Fade; Too Complicated To Pull Off?
photo: shannonpatrick17
Update: From a source, no more immediate buyers are on the table for Playboy (NYSE: PLA) at this point. So back to the drawing table for Sco… Read more »
Nikhil Deogun To Become Managing Editor At CNBC
Doon School alumnus Nikhil Deogun will start the new year as the managing editor for business day programming at CNBC (NYSE: GE), Media Deco… Read more »
Newsday.com’s Krenek Promoted To Editor In Chief, Newsday; Will Head Both
Debby Krenek, who led the recent switch of Newsday.com to a subscription-only site, has been rewarded with a promotion to editor in chief of… Read more »
FLO TV Adds Disney And ABC To The Line-Up
Qualcomm’s FLO TV continues to add new content to its mobile broadcast TV network, this time roping in ABC Television Network and the Disney… Read more »
Playdom Hires Thomas Weisel Partners’ Christa Quarles As New CFO
Playdom has a former EA star as its CEO, a fresh round of $43 million in funding, and now a well-known financial analyst as its CFO. Christa… Read more »
Redbox Adds Retail Interference Claim To Warner, Fox Lawsuit
photo: Eddie Does Japan
Redbox’s latest claim in its lawsuit against Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Home Video is that the two studios are encouraging retailers l… Read more »
Playboy Promotes Editorial Director Jimmy Jellinek To Chief Content Officer
photo: shannonpatrick17
Amid ongoing plans to sell its media business piece-by-piece, comes news that Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) has promoted Jimmy Jellinek, e… Read more »
Corrected: Playboy Sale Moving Along; Iconix Still Front Runner; Buyers for TV/Online Lining Up
Before I drop off as my jetlag digs deeper in India, some new details I have gathered on Playboy’s sale process, some of which will be borne… Read more »
More on Playboy’s Mag Outsourcing: Profits Aimed By 2011; 25 Layoffs
Updated: From a Playboy (NYSE: PLA) SEC filing, some more details on the deal terms: it will pay AMI a “flat rate fee in consideration for t… Read more »
Playboy Magazine To Be Managed by American Media; Sale Still Being Worked On
Update: 30 minutes later, WSJ is also reporting along similar lines on outsourcing of print/publishing to AMI, though it doesn’t have anythi… Read more »
Hulu Tensions Show Conflict Between Online And Broadcast
Online video represents only a small piece of the total advertising pie, but the growth in streaming ad revenue is becoming more of a threat… Read more »
Playboy CEO: TV Biz Is Changed ‘For Good’; Focused On Licensing, Gaming And VOD
Layoffs, an executive team reorg and other cost-cutting helped Playboy (NYSE: PLA) narrow its Q3 losses — but the company’s media businesse… Read more »
Playboy’s Losses Narrow; Everything Still Shrinking; Hints More Layoffs
Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA), still clinging on to the hope that it can be turned around, has reported its Q309 results, and while the lo… Read more »
Former NBCU Chairman Says Now Is Not The Time For An IPO
photo: Corbis
It isn’t his problem anymore but former NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) Chairman and CEO Bob Wright has a few thoughts on whether Vivendi (EPA: VIV… Read more »
Most Of Cablevision’s Newsday.com Goes Exclusive For Print, Optimum Online Subs
Updated: Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is testing the power of its combined ownership of Newsday and the dominant Long Island broadband provider w… Read more »
Why Social Gaming Is Ripe For A Major Acquisition
photo: Margaret_Anne_Clarke
Reports have been flying around about Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) potentially buying hot social-gaming company Playfish — with sources tel… Read more »
Warner Music Hands Over Video Ad Sales To Outrigger
Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has a vision for how it’s going to make money with digital content this time around — and it includes a few… Read more »
Warner Bros. Emphasizes Mobile, Hires Farsi To Head Efforts
Warner Bros. Entertainment is putting mobile higher on the agenda by hiring Natalie Farsi to head mobile business efforts. Farsi will report… Read more »
Playboy Reorg Promotes Vaickus To President; Digital Head Stephen Adds Print Duties
As Playboy (NYSE: PLA) Enterprises’ sale plans remain in a state of suspended animation, the company is making some internal moves as it loo… Read more »
Perlman’s OnLive Raises Double-Digit Funding From AT&T, Warner Bros., Others
OnLive, the connected gaming technology company founded by *Apple* alum Steve Perlman, just received a major dose of credibility in the form… Read more »
Warner Bros. Tests VOD Release Of Some New Movies Before DVD
Warner Bros. may be trying to keep its new DVD releases away from Redbox and *Netflix* until it’s had about a month to sell them in stores,… Read more »
Updated: Warner Close To Deal With YouTube, In Early Talks With Vevo
photo: FDP.net
Updated: Have Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) and YouTube finally negotiated a deal that will bring music videos from artists like Madonna an… Read more »
Cablevision Debuts Sub-Only MSG Varsity TV Network Online; Also Includes VOD Channel
Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is trying a new tack with the launch of MSG Varsity, a network and VOD channel that doubles as an online video site.… Read more »
Verizon, iRex Teaming Up On E-Reader; Will Launch At Best Buy
*Sprint* has the Kindle. *AT&T* has *Sony* and still-to-launch PlasticLogic. Now Verizon (NYSE: VZ) gets the iRex DR800SG — and the wireles… Read more »
Updated: Hulu Will Charge For Some Content — Someday
photo: AP Images
While *News Corp*. COO Chase Carey, *NBC Universal* CEO Jeff Zucker and others have been out touting the desire to charge for some content t… Read more »
Zynga Accuses Playdom Of Stealing Trade Secrets, Gets Restraining Order
The legal drama between social gaming rivals Zynga and Playdom moved from claims of misleading ads to accusations of trade secret theft and… Read more »
