Starting this week, Google Play will be more tightly integrated into the Google TV experience. Google Play movies, TV shows and music will be available on Google TV in the next few weeks.
“You’ll be able to buy or rent content directly through the Google Play Store on Google TV, and purchases you’ve made on other devices will also be automatically available on Google TV,” according to the Official Google TV Blog.
“Google Play titles will also be discoverable through our TV & Movies app, which brings recommendations for shows and movies available on live TV and apps like Netflix, Amazon, and now Google Play,” notes the blog.
Additionally, purchases made on other devices will be available on Google TV.
“For developers, this update also enables many other Google Play features including auto-updates, subscription billing, and smart app updates,” explains Google.
In a deal with Cox Communications, Starz Entertainment will now offer online services to existing pay TV subscribers.
“Dubbed Starz Play and Encore Play, they are making good on Starz CEO Chris Albrecht’s promise to roll out the company’s own branded offers in the vein of HBO Go,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Much like HBO Go, Starz’s authenticated services online won’t allow for standalone subscriptions. All must be paying TV customers with a traditional Starz subscription in order to log on.
“We will rotate some of the content, mostly on the feature films side, to keep things fresh, but we will have critical mass,” explains Ed Huguez, president of the affiliate distribution for Starz Entertainment. “There is a lot of interest from all our distributors, so we expect additional agreements for our authenticated services soon.”
Free app downloads for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch apps are currently available. “The services are accessible through Wi-Fi and broadband connections,” notes THR. “Cellular connectivity for Android phones and tablets, as well as gaming consoles will be launched in the future.”
“At a time when jobs are top of mind in the national consciousness, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a study showing that the ad-supported Internet is responsible for 5.1 million jobs in the U.S. and contributed $530 billion to the economy in 2011,” writes Marketing Land.
The number of jobs increased from just 1.015 million in 2007 and includes direct jobs in the ad-supported Internet (2 million) as well as the jobs that support those direct employees (3.1 million).
“This year’s study showed the Internet advertising sector represented nearly double the contribution to the U.S. economy in 2011, as compared to 2007. It accounted for 3.7 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), up from 2.1 percent four years ago,” the post states.
Jobs were created all across the country, in part due to the fact that people can work anywhere over the Internet. While New York and California continue to carry the majority of ad-supported Internet jobs, other states have experienced growth, including Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Colorado.
Most of the job growth was in infrastructure, which grew 300 percent from 2007. Consumer services still remains the largest sector, increasing 229 percent to employ 885,000 people.
Companies like Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Square, Craigslist, YouTube and Kickstarter provided support to small businesses. “Very small businesses and sole proprietorships made up 375,000 full-time equivalent jobs,” explains Marketing Land.
A new Nielsen study indicates that women watch significantly more TV than men, “but it’s also finding that the rise of connected (seventh-generation) gaming consoles like the Xbox is changing that,” writes TechCrunch.
The study says that even though women spend nearly 40 minutes more in front of the TV than men do on a daily basis, men are spending twice as much time on gaming consoles.
With the numbers averaged together, women are still in front of the screen more by a margin of 11 minutes.
“Nielsen doesn’t break out what it is that men and women consume via the consoles — it can be anything from playing games to watching on-demand or catch-up TV services, or surfing the Web,” notes the post.
“But it does present an interesting challenge both for the advertising industry, and those working in any content service that appears (or wants to appear) on TV: if you want to use that screen to target men as much as women — then you have to think about services that work through those consoles as well as regular TV ads,” suggests TechCrunch.
The current focus seems to be on bridging the services between mobile and TV screens rather than finding solutions that bridge content offered by TV services and content coming from connected consoles.
In the wake of the $100 million Google invested in original YouTube content last year, the company is putting up $200 million to add another 50 channels. The money will be used to expand channels to France, Germany and Britain, cover marketing costs, invest in production equipment and even pay full production costs in some instances.
The channels are created by both smaller, online-only producers and major media producers like ESPN and Everyday Health.
“Other online video platforms — including Amazon.com, Netflix and Hulu — are also trying to compete for viewers by creating original content,” reports The New York Times. “But transforming from platform to producer has been challenging for all, including Google. And it is hard to argue that YouTube, or any other video platform, is on a path to soon replace television — whether for viewers, content makers or advertisers.”
Since the introduction of original content, YouTube has reported an increase in the hours viewers spend on the site, rising from three billion a month to four billion. Even so, content creator and advertisers aren’t yet betting heavily on online distribution.
“Though advertisers will increase their spending on digital video ads 46.5 percent to $2.9 billion this year, that is a small fraction of the $64.5 billion they will spend on television, according to eMarketer,” notes the article.
YouTube has focused on younger generations that have grown up online, acknowledging that older generations are less likely to switch over from TV.
The Google-sponsored original channels allow new content to get financial support as well as “bypass television’s frustratingly slow production schedule,” the article states. “Another contrast with traditional television is that it is much easier for video creators to get a start and gain a following.”
“Google and five publishers settled a long-standing legal battle over whether scanning university-library books and using snippets in search results can be done without the permission of copyright holders,” reports ReadWriteWeb.
“While the agreement lets Google continue its work, both sides deliberately avoided tackling the issue at the heart of the conflict: What does fair use mean in the digital age?”
Taking the debate to court would have put the fair-use doctrine at the forefront, “leaving open the possibility that a judge’s interpretation could give either side much less than they wanted,” suggests the article. “As a result, agreeing to disagree on their rights under the law apparently seemed like the wiser choice.”
“In terms of coming to an agreement on what was fair use, it was an agreement to disagree,” Andi Sporkin, the publishers’ spokesman told Wired. “We were able to get beyond that and establish business terms. Did we come up with a universal definition of fair use? No.”
“Fair use is an exception to the copyright law that gives authors exclusive rights over their creative works,” ReadWriteWeb explains. “In passing the limitation, Congress tried to balance the rights of copyright holders with the need of academia, critics, columnists, reporters and researchers to quote other works.”
Google claims its book scans fall under fair use because only portions of the book are available. Consumers wanting more are directed to where the hard copies are available.
Even after the deal, publishers dislike having whole books saved in Google’s database without permission. Also, the Authors Guild is still addressing the same copyright concerns with Google.
“Those opponents came to agreement last year, but a federal judge threw out the deal, saying the settlement gave Google more rights than those granted by Congress under the law,” the article states.
After a long seven years of litigation, Google and the Association of American Publishers have reached a settlement allowing publishers to choose whether Google digitizes their books and journals.
The publishers involved in the settlement include McGraw-Hill Companies, John Wiley & Sons, Pearson Education, the Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster.
While this decision forwards Google’s book-scanning Library Project, it does nothing to help litigation between Google and authors.
“Though the settlement will not change much about the way that Google and publishers already partner, it is the newest signpost for defining copyright in the Internet age,” reports The New York Times. “It is also the latest evidence of the shift to e-books from print, and of Google’s efforts to compete with e-book rivals like Amazon.com.”
“What’s really exciting about today’s settlement is the fact that Google will be getting access to books that have long been out of print, that are in copyright,” said Tom Turvey, director of strategic partnerships at Google. “It’s good for users who weren’t able to buy them before, and for publishers.”
“The settlement does not answer the question at the heart of the litigation between Google and publishers and authors — whether Google is infringing copyright by digitizing books,” notes the article. “It essentially allows both sides to agree to disagree, and gives publishers the right to keep their books out of Google’s reach.”
Patent lawsuits are burying companies and technologists in expenses. In contrast, the cost for the patent trolls is relatively minimal — even if their case loses.
In a GigaOM guest post, Twitter legal counsel Ben Lee writes, “meritless lawsuits cost us money in attorney fees, and force our engineers to spend time with lawyers rather than improving our product.”
He talks about a recent patent litigation where a patent lawyer fought Twitter over a “patent issued by the Patent Office with a near-zero cost-of-invention.”
“When you hear engineers complaining that the patent system is broken, a system that last year issued a record-breaking 247,000 new patents, this is the type of thing they are talking about,” Lee writes.
“According to the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s 2011 survey, an average patent lawsuit costs between $900,000 to $6,000,000 to defend,” he continues. “In the last month and a half alone, Twitter has received three new patent troll lawsuits. The law currently does not allow us to recover the millions of dollars in fees we spent to defend ourselves — nor does it compensate us for the time spent by many Twitter employees who worked on the case. The law only allows us to ask for certain types of minor fees, which is why the court was only able to order this particular patent troll to pay us $10,447.85.”
These costs do not include settlement fees. As Lee points out, Twitter has never agreed to settle a patent lawsuit.
He concludes by advocating for Congressional bills like the SHIELD Act that aim to improve the current patent system by placing the financial responsibility for “trivial patent lawsuits” on the patent trolls.
Prior to the release of Siri, Michael Phillips had been writing software that allows computers to understand human speech. In 2006, he co-founded a voice recognition company named Vlingo, “and eventually executives at Apple, Google and elsewhere proposed partnerships. Mr. Phillips’s technology was even integrated into Siri itself before the digital assistant was absorbed into the iPhone,” reports The New York Times.
In 2008, Phillips was contacted by another, larger voice recognition company. That company’s chief executive told him, “I have patents that can prevent you from practicing in this market,” according to reports.
He was then told he had two choices: sell his firm or be sued for patent infringement. He didn’t sell and was hit with six lawsuits.
“Mr. Phillips and Vlingo are among the thousands of executives and companies caught in a software patent system that federal judges, economists, policy makers and technology executives say is so flawed that it often stymies innovation,” notes the article.
According to analysis from Stanford University, as much as $20 billion was spent on patent litigation and patent purchases in just the past two years — “an amount equal to eight Mars rover missions.” Apple and Google reportedly spent more on patent lawsuits and big-dollar patent purchases last year than on research and development.
“Many people argue that the nation’s patent rules, intended for a mechanical world, are inadequate in today’s digital marketplace,” explains the article. “Unlike patents for new drug formulas, patents on software often effectively grant ownership of concepts, rather than tangible creations.”
The patent office regularly approves patents for vague algorithms or business methods without demanding specifics. The result involves patents so broad that patent holders have the opportunity to claim ownership of potentially unrelated products.
“Often, companies are sued for violating patents they never knew existed or never dreamed might apply to their creations, at a cost shouldered by consumers in the form of higher prices and fewer choices,” suggests the article.
Dish Network has dropped its plan to convert Blockbuster into a streaming service and use the chain’s stores to sell mobile devices, according to Dish founder and chairman Charlie Ergen. The company, which acquired the video-rental chain out of bankruptcy in April 2011 for $320 million, plans to close more underperforming Blockbuster stores.
However, some of the stores still turn a profit renting DVDs in rural regions. About 900 stores remained open in the U.S. as of August after Dish shuttered some 500 locations.
Ergen’s streaming plans changed when the regulatory approval process for radio wave licenses was dragged out.
“Ergen’s airwaves, which Dish agreed last year to purchase from DBSD North America Inc. and TerreStar Networks Inc. for about $3 billion, require new handset devices with a chip that links the satellite spectrum to terrestrial towers,” reports Bloomberg. “The government’s delay has caused Ergen to change his mind about selling those products in Blockbuster stores.”
Also not satisfied that Netflix will iron out an efficient business model with content providers, Dish no longer plans to use Blockbuster as a competing DVD-by-mail or streaming service. Dish had also considered working with Redbox, but those plans deteriorated when Verizon announced its partnership with Coinstar.
Dish launched Blockbuster@Home for renting DVDs and games, streaming movies to PCs and accessing more than 3,000 titles via TV. The company still has plans for Blockbuster, although they have not been made clear.
“Worst case, we’ll take our money after having wasted some time, not much money, and life goes on,” Ergen said.
Independent filmmakers that face competition from big budget Hollywood productions are increasingly turning to video-on-demand to augment — and in some cases, to exceed — theater revenues and reach a larger audience.
For example, the indie comedy “Bachelorette” recently earned a paltry $418,000 in theaters, but $5.5 million in VOD rentals. Other VOD hits include “Arbitrage” with Richard Gere and last year’s “Margin Call.”
According to some estimates, the number of movies that will simultaneously be released in theaters and VOD will grow 30 percent in 2012. The number had already doubled from 2009 to 2011.
“It has become harder to generate revenue from independent movies [in theaters] and VOD is our next best option,” says Kevin Iwashina, managing partner of film production and sales company Preferred Content. “This is how we’re putting a Band-Aid on our business.”
“Many filmmakers remain skeptical that VOD can bring them the same prestige, not to mention profits, as the big screen, where quality movies have always premiered,” notes the Los Angeles Times.
There is a perception by some that movies made for on-demand distribution are not of the same quality as theatrical releases. Also, most filmmakers do not intend for their movies to be viewed on a small screen.
“There are definitely still people who resist and say the only kind of deal they will do is a traditional release,” suggests Jason Janego, co-president of the Weinstein Co. unit Radius-TWC, that specializes in multi-platform releases. “We hope more people will become open-minded and realize the potential.”
It is no secret that the current presidential campaigns are leaning on social media more so than any other time in history. However, in addition to the obvious choices of Facebook and Twitter, the Obama and Romney campaigns are posting quirky clips to Tumblr and other sites in the hope of attracting younger voters.
“They are taking to fields of online battle that might seem obscure to the non-Internet-obsessed — sharing song playlists on Spotify, adding frosted pumpkin bread recipes to Pinterest and posting the candidates’ moments at home with the children on Instagram,” notes The New York Times.
The efforts are designed to reach younger voters who do not necessarily read the newspaper or watch TV, but spend much of their media time on the social Web. In the case of Tumblr, the interaction typically involves remixed photos, looping animated GIFs and funny videos.
“To remind Tumblr users about the first presidential debate… Obama’s team used an obscure clip of Lindsay Lohan saying ‘It’s October 3’ in the comedy ‘Mean Girls,'” explains the article. “And on Twitter, Mitt Romney’s bodyguard posted a picture of the candidate’s family playing Jenga before the debate.”
“The more people who interact with Mitt, the more likely he is to win,” suggests Zachary Moffatt, digital director for the Romney campaign. “Social extends and amplifies that.”
“It’s about authentic, two-way communication,” says Adam Fetcher, deputy press secretary for the Obama campaign. “Social media is a natural extension of our massive grass-roots organization.”
Conversely, unintentional gaffes or well-intended posts or pictures can lead to a negative impact with social media.
After Obama told a crowd “You didn’t build that” while discussing infrastructure, the Romney campaign uploaded photos of hot dog vendors and others with signs that played on the slogan: “I built this.” And Twitter and Tumblr were flooded with parodies of the empty chair used by Clint Eastwood during the Republican convention.
In an attempt to “confront the compressed audio inferiority that MP3s offer,” musician Neil Young is releasing a line of portable Pono players next year, a music-download service that could rival iTunes and a digital-to-analog conversion designed to “present songs as they first sound during studio recording sessions,” reports Rolling Stone.
Young hopes that the high-resolution music service will help unite the recording industry with cloud storage “to save the sound of music.”
“It’s not like some vague thing that you need dogs’ ears to hear. It’s a drastic difference,” musician Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers) says of analog vs. digital music recordings. “MP3s suck. It’s just a shadow of the music.”
The bassist recently tested out Pono and has since expressed support for the venture.
The “Big Three” record labels — Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music — have reportedly expressed interest. Even before WMG partnered with the Pono project last year, the label converted its 8,000-title library to high resolution, 192kHz/24-bit sound. UMG and Sony have not yet reported any partnerships with Pono, but have been approached.
“This has to be an industry-wide solution. This is not about competing — this is about us being proactive,” says Craig Kallman, chairman and chief executive of Atlantic Records. “This is all about purely the opportunity to bring the technology to the table.”
Some have raised some doubt about the venture, however, noting that consumers may not want to repurchase songs just to get the upgraded quality.
The bipartisan Internet Radio Fairness Act aims to change Internet radio royalty laws. Currently, some digital radio services, like Sirius XM, pay 80 percent lower royalties than others, like Pandora. The law seeks to change this discrepancy.
The new model proposes that Internet royalty rates be measured similarly to those for other forms of radio. Some estimate that if the law passes, Pandora’s stock could rise from its current $11 to over $28.
“Even terrestrial broadcasters support the measure,” notes Slate. “Powerhouses like Clear Channel stream their stations over the Internet these days, so pay higher fees to musicians and other copyright holders for distribution over the Web than over the airwaves.”
But the bill’s passing is not a foregone conclusion, and Slate cautions that entertainers and their powerful lobbyists will fight the legislation.
“MusicFirst, a coalition of labels and artists, also wants to level the playing field, but by raising royalty rates for other services, not shrinking them for the likes of Pandora,” explains the post. “Nevertheless, with a plan now on the congressional playlist, there’s greater option value to Pandora’s income streaming.”
Ania Ahlborn’s “Seed” was originally self-published, yet rose to the top spot on Amazon’s horror book rankings after being picked up by 47North, Amazon’s in-house science fiction, fantasy, and horror imprint. Now Amazon is adapting the book for film.
“‘Seed’ is the story of teen boy, who sees an unspeakable horror — an evil of some kind — on a rural road [and] flees his home,” explains The Hollywood Reporter. “Years later, after starting a new life, Jack, the boy-turned-grown-man, encounters the evil again when his wife and two daughters are caught in — but survive — a terrible car crash. Now Jack must stop it before it kills him and takes over his youngest daughter.”
Amazon Studios, the original content arm of the online retailer, started in November 2011 and has since put 21 movie scripts and seven episodic series in development.
Noting the book’s success in Amazon’s rankings, “…we already have a sense of the mainstream attraction of the story and are excited to keep the project in-house for movie development,” says Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios.
“Amazon Studios recently ran a fan book trailer contest for ‘Seed,’ awarding $3,000 to the winning trailer ‘Grinning Demons,'” the article states.
