Coda
by Staff -- Multichannel News, 3/16/2009 2:00:00 AM
Activists: Sprout’s Bad 'Night’
Washington — Children’s activists last week took aim at PBS Kids Sprout’s The Good Night Show, likening it to the TV equivalent of a sleeping pill for toddlers. But network president Sandy Wax took strong exception to the criticism.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Screen-Time Awareness have called out PBS Kids Sprout over The Good Night Show, which airs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In a letter to Wax, CCFC asked the cable and satellite channel to stop luring young kids by misleading parents into believing that the shows would help get their kids “wind down after a busy day. … We urge you to stop packaging your evening program as a sleep aid for children,” wrote CCFC.
“The Good Night Show is not a sleep aid for children,” Wax told Multichannel News. “It’s a tool for parents to help them establish a bedtime routine for their preschooler.”
CCFC, comprising more than two dozen kids’-advocacy groups including the Action Coalition for Media Education, Alliance for Childhood, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, argues that for very young children, TV viewing can produce irregular sleep patterns and avers it isn’t so hot for older kids either.
“Parents trust that programming on PBS and its affiliated networks will be beneficial to children,” said CCFC director Dr. Susan Linn in a statement. “Sprout is exploiting that trust by implying that its programming will ease children into sleep when research suggests that screen time before bed undermines healthy sleep habits.”
Sprout licenses programming from PBS, but it is a venture of four partners, PBS, Comcast, Sesame Workshop and HIT Entertainment.
The reality, said Wax, is that kids already watch a lot of TV and parents are looking for a way to share that time with quality programming that helps everyone relax together at the end of the day.
“Since day one, Sprout’s mission has been to foster parent-preschooler interaction,” she said. “Before we even launched The Good Night Show in September 2005, we heard consistently from parents that bedtime was the most challenging part of the day for them, so that’s why we created this tool to help parents wind their kids down and get ready for bed each night.”
She said the network has done its homework.
“Child-development experts play an ongoing and critical role in all Sprout programming. We even utilized pediatric sleep specialists to help us develop content for The Good Night Show, she said, adding that Sprout conducts ongoing research and keeps an “open dialogue” with its audience.
Sprout is available in 45 million homes on Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Cox, Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse.
Wax maintains that the block is not meant to lure kids from their parents.
“The Good Night Show is not a replacement for family activities like reading and playing,” she said. “We are passionate about kids and we believe that getting kids to bed is critical to their growth and development.”
— John Eggerton
Comcast: We’re No. 3!
Philadelphia — Comcast claims it’s now the third-biggest residential phone services in America with 6.47 million voice customers, behind only AT&T and Verizon Communications.
As of fourth-quarter 2008, Comcast reported 6.47 million residential phone customers throughout its 39-state service area.
Qwest Communications International, the third-largest telco, ended the year with 5.961 million primary consumer lines. While Qwest reported another 543,000 “consumer additional lines,” Comcast noted that those are second or third lines which would not change the overall number of residential customers.
“Consumers are switching to Comcast’s Digital Voice Service because of our low prices, reliable service and innovative features,” Cathy Avgiris, Comcast senior vice president and general manager of voice services, said in a statement. “Comcast Digital Voice is reinventing home phone service for the 21st century and we are thrilled that millions of consumers today are choosing Comcast for home phone service.”
— Todd Spangler
Internet-Video Startup Auditude Raises $10.5M
Palo Alto, Calif. — Auditude, a provider of online-video management and advertising services, has secured an additional $10.5 million in funding led by Redpoint Ventures with existing investor Greylock Partners.
The company’s customers include Viacom’s Comedy Central, MTV, BET and Nickelodeon; Warner Bros. Entertainment; and News Corp.’s MySpace.
Auditude’s platform combines a content “fingerprinting” technique — to identify TV content uploaded to the Web — with a targeted ad-management platform, with the promise of letting content owners monetize untapped inventory. Auditude claims its video index covers more than 1.3 billion minutes of video.
Auditude, founded in 1999, is based in Palo Alto, Calif., with offices in Los Angeles and New York City. CEO Adam Cahan was previously MTV Networks executive vice president of strategy and business development.
With the funding, Redpoint Ventures partner Chris Moore will join its board.
Harmonic Closes Scopus Acquisition
Sunnyvale, Calif. — Harmonic has closed its acquisition of Scopus Video Networks, an Israeli provider of digital video networking products, a deal worth about $50 million.
Under the terms of the deal, announced in December, each ordinary share of Scopus outstanding as of last Thursday was automatically converted into the right to receive $5.62 in cash subject to applicable withholding taxes.
Harmonic said that it continues to expect cost synergies of $8 million to $10 million on an annualized basis once Scopus becomes fully integrated into the existing Harmonic organization and management structure. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Harmonic’s non-GAAP earnings in 2009, excluding the amortization of intangibles and non-recurring charges such as restructuring and transaction costs. Harmonic’s bid was approved by about 90% of the outstanding shares of Scopus voting at a special meeting held Feb. 6.
— Todd Spangler
Comcast Serves Up VOD Ads In Sunshine State
10/12/2009Through the Wire
07/30/2006Comcast Splices VOD Ads in Fla.
10/11/2009Sprout Finds New Good Night Host
11/05/2006
