Through the Wire
By Linda Haugsted and Kent Gibbons, from bureau reports -- Multichannel News, 4/20/2003 8:00:00 PM
A Star Is Born in New Orleans
That was The Wire's reaction after Time Warner Cable exec Julie Simon warbled part of You've Got a Friend at a CTAM Digital Conference general session on April 9 in New Orleans.
Turns out the senior director of advanced techology is quite comfy on stage. Her bio pegs her singing debut (in New York's Beacon Theater) at age 10. She also knew the song: James Taylor recorded it, and Julie's aunt is (wait for it) Carly Simon.
After a mid-'90s stint at HBO, Simon pursued singer/songwriter status full-time, playing New York clubs with her band, only to be lured back to Time Warner in 1999, first with Net music venture Volume.com and now at Time Warner Cable. She's behind the MSO's new Answers on Demand interactive video-tutorial service, navigating cool on-demand features. "There's a lot of stuff that's really incredible and powerful [there] that people don't know about," she said.
She and her husband, composer Christopher Knight, have other powerful projects going on, led by expecting their first child, in September. You can hear more of her on MP3.com – even buy a CD — and on the occassional commercial.
Variations on a Theme
You made the April 15 tax deadline by the skin of your teeth. The calculator's retired and you're pooped. So what's next on your mind? Low-cost soft-core porn!
Playboy TV resurrected a 99-cent tax day promotion last week, allowing weary viewers the opportunity to blow off some post-filing steam with programming for 99 cents.
The promo was offered to viewers in the late 1990s, but lately was only offered to direct-broadcast satellite subscribers. It was scheduled across multiple platforms this year "because it's the most successful promotion we've had in years," said Playboy TV spokesman Scott Barton.
So, is the theme of the day getting screwed? "Uh, no. Stress relief. We hope they have at least $1 left over" after satisfying the government, Barton said.
The program block includes clips from the popular Night Calls Wednesday program with host Tiffany Granath, as well as teasers from other popular Playboy fare.
Playboy TV publicized the gimmick with the line, "Is lingerie tax deductible?"
Explained Barton: "In some businesses, it is. A lot of the talent has Web sites, so their make-up, facials, are all deductible."
Pooh-Poohed Playhouse
The Walt Disney Co. hoped to reap a promotional bonanza from new theme park attractions designed to extend the brand of its premium channel's popular "Playhouse Disney" block, as well as a new attraction featuring Winnie-the-Pooh.
Publicists gave the press plenty of warning to save April 11 for a bash at Disneyland and California Adventure for the grand opening of the attractions.
But you can plan for everything except war. The company pulled the plug on the event early in the week, acknowledging the fact that the majority of the press declined to attend. Journalists were too busy digging up local angles on the conflict in Iraq to spend the afternoon consorting with teddy bears and mice.
Fandom Buys Thanks
Note to fan groups: Networks appreciate thank-you notes backed by cash.
Some fans of Sci Fi Channel's Stargate SG-1 this week bought an full-page color ad in the channel's print Sci Fi Magazine, where a page sells for about $2,700. Specifically, they're fans of prodigal character Daniel Jackson (and actor Michael Shanks), who left the show after the fifth season but guest-starred in three episodes in the recently ended sixth season and will return full-time in season seven, starting on Sci Fi's Friday night schedule June 13.
Naturally, it's a thank-you ad, slated for the August issue, out in early June.
Sci Fi itself placed an ad in the June issue, telling fans who campaigned for Jackson/Shanks's return to "consider it done." That ruffled some fans' feathers, as factions formed after Shanks left. Can't please everyone.
iO? No, No
Memo to Cablevision Systems Corp.: Rein in your spammers.
A Wire correspondent in the New York area has at least twice this month gotten a Cablevision-touting email solicitation to an AOL address, from something called EMSi, to upgrade to the MSO's awkwardly named iO: Interactive Optimum digital service. Sadly, the recipient lives in Manhattan, not a Cablevision market.
A call to the toll-free number wasn't much help in getting off the spam list.
"Thank you for calling Cablevision," the recorded answer began. After repeatedly entering the home phone number and then home ZIP code, the answer came: "I'm sorry, your cable company is not participating in this service."
Our point exactly.
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