AD BYTES

• BigBand Networks has launched a new media services platform, the BigBand MSP2000, by integrating with Widevine Cypher. The product is designed to provide users with a solution for inserting advertising on encrypted high-definition and standard-definition video streams, in both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4/H.264 formats. Inserting ads directly into encrypted video streams gives service providers an operationally efficient approach to ad targeting, while keeping programming content secure, the company said in a prepared statement. The product is built to eliminate the expense and operational complexity involved in de-encrypting and re-encrypting content for ad insertion by enabling ad insertion into encrypted streams, the company said. Additionally, the BigBand MSP2000 provides the flexibility to locate splicing nearer to the edge of the operator's network for improved ad targeting without compromising programming security. BigBand has expanded its integrations with tier-one encryption companies to support greater interoperability on behalf of service providers for targeted advertising and other personalized services. Widevine Cypher is a downloadable conditional access, digital rights management and digital copy protection solution used to secure content delivery to STBs, personal video recorders, PCs and Macs.
  
  
• Overall, ad spending is down 10% for the entire auto industry, Nielsen Monitor Plus. But not every category is losing ad revenue from the auto companies. Spot TV sales from auto companies fell 7% between January and July. Network sales fell 10% during the same time frame. However, cable sales were up 5% in the first six months of the year.
  
  
• Seachange International , a provider of software and hardware solutions for video on demand, posted fiscal 2009 third-quarter revenue of $51.8 million, up 6% from the previous year’s quarter that ended Oct. 31. Net income for the third quarter was $3.4 million or $0.11 per share, compared with net income of $3.3 million or $0.11 per share for the same period last year. Total revenues for the first nine months of fiscal 2009, ended October 31, 2008, were $147.9 million, which was $15.8 million or 12% higher than total revenues of $132.1 million, for the first nine months of fiscal 2008. Net income for the first nine months of fiscal 2009 was $5.2 million, or $0.17 per share, compared with a net loss of $9.1 million, or $0.31 per share, for the same period last year. The net loss for the first nine months of fiscal 2008 included $6.0 million or $0.20 per share of expenses in connection with cost reduction actions undertaken in the second quarter of last year. "We continue to forecast fiscal 2009 revenue to be approximately 10% higher than fiscal 2008 revenue and that we will be profitable for the fourth quarter, CEO Bill Styslinger said in a prepared statement. “Our confidence in our fourth quarter guidance stems from continued high levels of spending on VOD and advertising insertion software primarily from North American service providers and our continued focus on minimizing growth in our operating expenses."
  
  
• Less than three years after announcing that it would become a worldwide Olympic partner, Johnson & Johnson has decided not to extend its sponsorship through 2012, according to Sports Business Journal. Instead, the company said it plans to focus on other business priorities. Still, despite its decision not to return as an IOC partner, J&J may remain affiliated with the Olympics by sponsoring the U.S. Olympic Committee, other national organizing committees and possibly the 2010 Vancouver Games, sources familiar with the company said. expenses."
  
  
  
• Spot cable firm NCC announced that it has booked $1 billion in annual ad sales for the first time in its 20-year history, according to Mediaweek. By way of comparison, when NCC launched in 1988––at the time it was known as National Cable Advertising––total billing was around $10 million, or 1% of this year’s take.The agency has enjoyed particularly robust growth in the last several years, as the expansion of cable ad interconnects allows the NCC to reach 99 percent of wired cable homes in some 132 markets.
  
  
• Despite dramatic cuts in auto advertising at both the national and local level in 2008, 2009 is shaping up to be an even worse year, according to Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Research. Nielsen states that year-over-year spending from the Big Three (GM, Ford and Chrysler) dropped by only 6%-22% for the first seven months of 2008. While the looming threat of bankruptcy will likely push ad spend from the Big Three lower next year, Greenfield said he’s more concerned with the potential for foreign auto ad spend to head south after somewhat propping up the auto category in 2008.
  
  

PEOPLE

Barbara Shornick has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Oxygen TV. Shornick, who had been vice president of marketing for Imaginova Corp., will be responsible for leading the development of innovative multiplatform sales initiatives. She will work closely with the sales team to further propel Oxygen as an innovative and client-focused partner, lead the long-term marketing strategy and oversee the development of Oxygen's multi-platform initiatives, including product integration, promotions and sponsorships, Oxygen officials said.

Gospel Music Channel has named Tyrone Johnson as senior director, multicultural sales and development. The former national advertising sales manager at Black Family Channel, he had been a consultant to Gospel.

Angela Bandlow has joined Denver-based advertising software supplier WideOrbit as chief marketing officer. She comes from e-commerce company MarketLive, where she was vice president-product management.