Dora, Diego, Spongebob, Blue’s Clues and a number of other kids TV shows were taken offline by Netflix this week as the company’s deal with Viacom is expiring. Read more »
YouTube notched a major victory in its long-running copyright suit with Google. A New York judge emphatically rejected Viacom’s theory that YouTube had “red flag” knowledge that made it liable for content uploaded by its users. Read more »
Cablevision has sued Viacom over requirements to carry channels no one watches. The lawsuit could be a serious challenge to the cable bundle. That’s why it will likely be settled out of court. Read more »
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show could soon be available live on the internet, if Dish Network has its way. The pay TV operator is reportedly in talks with Viacom about making its live feeds available online. The question is: how much would you pay for it? Read more »
With the launch of Nook Video, Barnes & Noble will begin selling digital movies and TV episodes across devices. The company plans to release Nook Video apps, and the service will be available in the US and UK. Pricing and other details are unclear. Read more »
Reporting double-digit drops in both revenue and profit for its fiscal third quarter, Viacom announces a major overhaul to its most popular channel. Pundits suspected SVOD viewing of Nick shows had sapped ratings, but the conglomerate seems to be conceding that the shows just got old. Read more »
Analysts say DirecTV will end up paying Viacom about what it initially offered, around $2.80 per month per its 20 million subscribers. The satellite carrier wasn’t forced to take on Epix, and it also got a lot of TV Everywhere content rights. Read more »
After more than a week of public squabbling and dark channels, DirecTV and Viacom have a new licensing deal that restores all 26 of the channels — and leaves open the possibility that premium channel Epix will show up on the satellite operator. Read more »
According to a tweet from noted media technology analyst Richard Greenfield, DirecTV has “appears to have caved” in its standoff with Viacom. The conglomerate’s response? An actual deal is “news to us.” Read more »
They’ve been negotiating over some of the biggest cable networks on TV, but DirecTV says a near deal to end its weeklong impasse with Viacom has been undone by a lightly watched premium channel. The programmer calls that a fabrication, saying the two remain far apart. Read more »
Bernstein Research’s Todd Juenger and Craig Moffett publish some of the best data yet on this rather epic carriage battle. It will take both sides a long time to come to an agreement, they predict, and the solution will come through Viacom curtailing its digital activities. Read more »
Addressing DirecTV’s 20 million subscribers in a heavily rotated, one-minute, 23-second propaganda spot, Mike White says, “At the very least, we think Viacom should be willing to give your family the choice to pay for only those channels you watch,” Read more at GigaOM »
Nickelodeon has been the top-rated cable channel for 66 straight quarters. But with Nicks’ ratings in decline, and its shows spread across Netflix and other OTT outlets, the channel’s negotiating position may be softening. In the lastest carriage renewal conflict, DirecTV will find out how much. Read more »
Defunct Web 1.0-era VOD company Intertainer continues to file patent suits, alleging Viacom transgresses its technology when streams shows like Spongebob Squarepants. Intertainer is currently litigating with Hulu and has a 10-year history of filing complaints and winning settlements. Read more »
An agreement between Viacom and Time Warner Cable ends a year-long court fight and lets the No. 2 cable service stream channels like MTV and Comedy Central on iPads. But will it finally kick-start the kind of wide-scale dealmaking needed to make TV Everywhere a reality? Read more »
Speaking at an investor event in Boston Wednesday, Netflix CFO David Wells said online viewing of Nickelodeon content probably has very little to do with the double-digit ratings drops on the linear Viacom channel. He compared the ongoing discussion to the “global warming debate.” Read more »
Despite a research report that ties stark ratings drops on Viacom’s flagship kids channel to viewing of its shows on Netflix, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman still insists the declines result from a complicated series of factors that have very little to do with streaming. Read more »
WhoSay, a kind of TwitPic/Yfrog for celebrities, announced a deal with Viacom Monday in which the media conglomerate will sell advertising on the social-media management platform. Read more »
Today’s appeals court ruling in YouTube v. Viacom is the biggest copyright decision of the year and already both sides are proclaiming victory.
The case is about much more than the $1 billion that Viacom says it is owed for John Stewart and South Park clips that appeared on YouTube years ago. Read more »
An influential New York appeals court has resurrected an epic copyright case over whether Google should be liable for movies and tv shows uploaded to YouTube during the video-sharing site’s early days. Read more »
After enjoying a ratings monopoly during television’s first six decades, Nielsen increasingly finds itself challenged by upstart competitors… Read more »
Here is a roundup of some of the latest executive-level hirings and exits in the world of digital media business…
– Forbes Media: *Mered… Read more »
Believe it or not, MTV actually does still care about music: its Music Meter mobile application has shed the beta tag with its 2.0 release,… Read more »
Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) is expanding its Prime Instant Video library in a deal with Viacom (NYSE: VIA), bringing the total number of streaming v… Read more »
Nickelodeon, usually a ratings star, has been on a slide recently, and several analysts this week put the blame on Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX). On… Read more »
A California appeals court yesterday rejected Universal Music’s claim that video-sharing service Veoh didn’t do enough to protect content ow… Read more »
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) says that this year’s MTV European Music Awards (EMAs) received their highest audience ratings ever in the UK, attracting… Read more »
The third movie in the Transformers franchise helped boost Viacom’s revenues in its FY Q4 results both at the box office as digital distrib… Read more »
In the latest twist in the epic feud between Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), an appeals court has zeroed in on a narrow questio… Read more »
More than a year after a federal judge threw out Viacom’s $1 billion claim against YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), the parties were back at it today b… Read more »
Remember the epic $1 billion copy-fight that pitted Viacom (NYSE: VIA), the English Premier League and a gang of others against Google/YouTu… Read more »
» Yahoo’s Levinsohn On Executive Chaos: ‘You Sort Of Get Used To It’ (paidContent)
» So Much For ‘Working It Out’: Mi… Read more »
It seemed like a no brainer back in November. If Bob Pittman was willing to return to radio after forays at MTV, AOL (NYSE: AOL), Time Warne… Read more »
The continuing migration of audiences and ad dollars to digital has helped serve as a balm against growing economic fears that have resulted… Read more »
» @ F8: Facebook Unveils New Class Of Social Apps And Redesigned ‘Timeline’ (paidContent)
» @ F8: Zuckerberg Wants Us… Read more »
“I’d studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines,” Michael Stipe once sang, vicariously, as though channelling Dan Rather.
R… Read more »
Bitbop, the mobile video service once owned by News Corp. (NSDQ: NWS) and then sold in a whirr of a divestment strategy, looks like it is fi… Read more »
The “party line” from pay TV companies about iPad apps is clear now-it’s another television screen, not a new internet-based form of distrib… Read more »
Although Viacom’s stock, along with most everyone else’s, has been battered in recent days by the market declines the past few days, it migh… Read more »
The phone-hacking and police bribery scandal swirling around News Corporation (NSDQ: NWS) has revived long-simmering questions about Rupert… Read more »
