|
|
Megaportal Yahoo has added some new, free video programming to its Yahoo Broadcast channel, but it won’t be free for long. The company will start exacting a toll for at least some of the new content by year’s end. The streaming-video offerings include episodes of an obscure sitcom, “Townies,” in addition to celebrity interviews, movie clips and music videos, plus commercials from the past. Additionally, Yahoo will webcast a Sting concert, cooking videos and a conference for survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks. Many of the video offerings are available to Yahoo through its new partnership with Carsey-Werner Distribution. That it will begin charging for the videos is not surprising, given that it has begun charging for many services, such as personal ads, in an effort to bring in more revenue from non-advertising sources.
AOL prez: Anthrax scare a boon for the web
While dismay, grief and anger are being felt across the nation about the anthrax attacks on the nation's media and government, a different spin is being put forth by AOL president Raymond J. Oglethorpe. In a breakfast address organized by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, Oglethorpe stated that the anthrax strikes against the U.S. Postal System would be a boon to the internet, as electronic communication would trump possibly infected snail mail. “It's incredibly positive for the internet,” he said to an audience of about 200 people on Monday morning in Chantilly, Va. Not to sound too insensitive, he also called the anthrax incidents "unfortunate." Two Washington, D.C.-area postal workers have died from exposure to an airborne version of the disease. Oglethorpe is not calling for the demise of the postal system, which he describes as being sound.
Jupiter Media Metrix layoffs expected
A number of Jupiter Media Metrix staffers are expected to lose their jobs as a result of the company’s acquisition by Nielsen//NetRatings. According to a company official, the layoffs are all but inevitable, given that the two companies share some functions, such as internet audience measurement. The number of redundant positions that will be cut has not yet been finalized. Jupiter’s other segments, such as AdRelevance and industry analysis, will remain untouched by the layoffs. The merger, if stockholders approve it, will become final sometime in the first quarter of next year. Jupiter Media Metrix earlier this month laid off 30 percent of its staff.
NBC farms out local O&O TV sites
NBC has outsourced management of the web sites of its local TV stations to another company, Internet Broadcasting Systems, which specializes in building and operating web sites for TV stations. The web sites of 13 NBC stations, among them New York’s WNBC, Los Angeles’s KNBC and Chicago’s WMAQ, will be affected. The sites will be revamped and relaunched. Because traffic to news sites has increased dramatically in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the point of the deal is to attract more surfers, and thus more local advertisers, to the sites. Additionally, the partnership will offer integrated television and web campaigns. Much of the content will still come from NBC on top of locally generated reporting. IBS, which is owned by Hearst-Argyle, Post-Newsweek, McGraw-Hill, and CanWest Global, operates the web sites of about 50 local TV stations; its flagship is WCCO's Channel 4000 in Minneapolis.
October 30, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
Printer-Friendly Version
|
Send
to a Friend
Cover Page |
Contact
Us
