• Microsoft to Offer ABC, Disney Programming on Xbox Live
• Comcast to Launch Portable DVR
• Gates: All Media Will Be Software Driven
• Microsoft Hits IPTV Milestone
• WGA to Picket Comedy Central
• Caucuses Drive Ad Sales
• Retrans Fees On the Rise

• WGA Pressed on Golden Globes
• Food Renews Good Eats, Iron Chef
• Food Gears for NASCAR

• Worth Watching
• Fox Business Reveals Numbers

Microsoft to Offer ABC, Disney Programming on Xbox Live
LAS VEGAS -- Microsoft Sunday night said its Xbox Live services had become a serious alternative to the cable set-top box for the delivery of video content on demand. As part of founder Bill Gates’ final keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show, the software giant announced that ABC Television, the Disney Channel and MGM will deliver TV shows and movies to the Xbox 360 console as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Live programming service online. The president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, Robbie Bach, said all U.S. Xbox Live members will be able pull down TV shows and movies from the ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC News, Disney Channel and Toon Disney as part of an agreement with Disney-ABC Television Group. All told, Bach said that Xbox Live members will be able to access “twice as much on demand content” as is provided by any cable or satellite TV operator. Microsoft said the latest announcements with ABC, Disney and MGM mean that 3,500 hours of TV shows and movies now make the Xbox 360 “a premier platform for on-demand” programs. Microsoft will deliver more than 500 hours of ABC and Disney content to Xbox Live users, in both standard definition and high definition. Among the shows: ABC’s Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives and Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and High School Musical, two of its biggest hits. click to read more...
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Comcast to Launch Portable DVR
LAS VEGAS -- Want your DVR for here or to go? At the Consumer Electronics Show here Monday, Comcast and Panasonic are debuting a high-definition digital video recorder that you can unplug and take with you to watch TV shows or movies virtually anywhere. The AnyPlay Portable DVR, developed by Panasonic for Comcast, functions as a regular HD set-top box when it’s set up in the living room. But the “P-DVR” can be removed from a docking station and unfolded into a portable video player. The AnyPlay P-DVR TZ-LC100 device features an 8.5-inch folding liquid-crystal display and stereo speakers, and provides 60 gigabytes of storage capacity for recording digital video. The co-branded Panasonic-Comcast AnyPlay P-DVR will be available in early 2009, the companies said. They did not disclose pricing information for either product. click to read more...
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Gates: All Media Will Be Software Driven
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters may just be starting to grapple with transmitting their signals in digits. But that is part of an inevitable transition to Bill Gates. “All media and entertainment will be software-driven,” the founder and chairman of Microsoft said in the final keynote address he expects to ever deliver at the annual Consumer Electronics Show here. In the past decade, software has overhauled how music is created, delivered and played back; made film almost obsolete in the creation of photos; and underlies feature-rich mobile and home phone services. Such change in communications and entertainment will reach “much faster and much further in the second digital decade,” Gates said Sunday night. click to read more...
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Microsoft Hits IPTV Milestone
LAS VEGAS – Microsoft, hoping to demonstrate that its Mediaroom Internet Protocol TV system has passed a vital milestone, is expected to announce that its IPTV software now serves up programming to 1 million set-top boxes around the world. At the Consumer Electronics Show here, Microsoft will feature demonstrations intended to show how the IP-based TV system enables new kinds of applications. More than 20 service providers in 18 countries have deployed or are testing out Mediaroom, according to Microsoft. The 14 customers that have gone live with the IPTV software include AT&T in the United States – which has publicly cited having some technical issues with the Microsoft software – and BT in the United Kingdom. click to read more...
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WGA to Picket Comedy Central
The Writers Guild of America will be picketing outside the studios of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report when they return to the air Monday without their writers, the striking union said. “These pickets will be against the media conglomerates – NBC and Viacom - and not the specific hosts, who we understand were forced to return to the air without their writers who remain on the picket lines,” WGA East spokesman Sherry Goldman said. The WGA, which went on strike Nov. 5 – putting late-night shows off the air -- will be manning lines every day Monday through Thursday this week outside the Stewart and Colbert studios. click to read more...
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Caucuses Drive Ad Sales
Contested races in both parties translated into a six-fold increase in spending on political ads on cable within Mediacom systems in Iowa, as compared to the 2003-04 cycle, a Mediacom ad-sales executive said the day after the caucuses were held in the Hawkeye State. Steve Litwer, group vice president of ad sales at Mediacom’s OnMedia unit, wouldn’t reveal actual dollar amounts spent on political ads in projecting the six to seven times multiple. But he also estimated Mediacom took in about 8-9% of the overall media spend by candidates in Iowa, an increase over 2003-04 and an indication that “spot” cable ad sales were taking a bigger share of the pie from broadcast TV stations. Cox and Cable One also operate systems in Iowa, but Mediacom is the dominant cabler. click to read more...
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Retrans Fees On the Rise
Payments for retransmission consent, a hot-button issue last year as several smaller cable operators battled with TV-station groups, is expected to heat up even further in the next two years. And if 2007 is any indication, cable operators, satellite-TV providers and telephone companies will have to pay through the nose to retain access to broadcast programming. Based on the first nine months of the year, three of the largest independent television-station groups — Sinclair Broadcast Group, LIN TV and Hearst-Argyle Television — are on track to blow through their retransmission revenue predictions for the year. And in the case of Sinclair, one of the most aggressive proponents of cash for retransmission consent, the station group could exceed its earlier 2007 predictions by as much as 25%. click to read more...
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WGA Pressed on Golden Globes
Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hope Monday to announce a solution to the strike to the Writers Guild of America strike that will allow the Golden Globe awards to move forward with the participation of actors. Jorge Camara, president of the HFPA, said the strike has put the press group in an “extremely difficult position” with its award show. The WGA has refused the group a waiver that will allow writers to prepare scripted comments for the show, and the members of the Screen Actors Guild have vowed not to cross the picket lines at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, site of the telecast. click to read more...
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Food Renews Good Eats, Iron Chef
Food Network has inked a three-year deal with Alton Brown, marking its third contract renewal with key network talent in the last two months. Brown, under his new deal, terms of which were not disclosed, in 2008 will produce new seasons of his signature series Good Eats and Iron Chef, plus a number of specials. click to read more...
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Food Gears for NASCAR
As NASCAR teams get ready for action on their upcoming circuits, Speed will rev up 22 days of coverage from four locations, beginning Jan. 7. Speed begins its "NASCAR Preseason Thunder" this week, presenting testing runs from NASCAR Sprint Cup , NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and, for the first time, the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour. click to read more...
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