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RTL Germany Ink Disney Deal For TV Shows And Movies

Kelly — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:59:02 +0000

Commercial German TV broadcaster, RTL Deutschland have signed a deal with Disney that gives the company the German TV premieres for movies from Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks and ABC TV shows.

RTL deal with Disney

The multi-year and exclusive deal comes as rival German network, ProSiebenSat.1 loses the Disney content as it’s deal ends. Content that will come to RTL includes John Carter, Brave, The Avengers and ABC fairytale show, Once Upon a Time.

No financial details were disclosed but speaking about the deal, Robert Langer from Disney said RTL were, “a perfect TV partner for our attractive series and film highlights in Germany”.

The news cements RTL’s dominant position and joins existing deals it has with NBCUniversal, Warner Bros and Studiocanal.

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Only Fools Do Remakes

Matt — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:56:16 +0000

It seems as though TV executives at ABC could be running out of ideas at the moment, as they look across the Atlantic for the inspiration behind their latest planned sitcom, a proposal to re-make of UK classic comedy, Only Fools and Horses.

It is thought that the network have commissioned Brian Bradley and Steven Cragg (writers of Scrubs) to produce a pilot of the classic format, raiding the BBC’s archive for a show that premiered in 1981 (over 30 years ago), and lasted for 7 seasons through to 1991, showing its final episode (a Christmas specials) in 2003.

While it is currently unknown just how close the BBC One sitcom will be imitated by ABC (such as the names of main characters Del Boy and Rodney, and their company ’Trotters Independent Trading’), the basic premise is thought to be a good match, as they describe a soon to-be-produced American pilot episode as: ”…the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and their ageing grandfather as they concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to become millionaires”.

Only Fools and Horses will not be the first UK-made series to be given a US re-production, as proven by more recent attempts such as E4 comedy The Inbetweeners (remade for MTV), singing contest X Factor (Fox), and Ricky Gervais’ sitcom The Office (NBC). While a number of formats have tried and failed in the USA, will this one manage to find success?

It is a former star of one of the more successful remakes, Steve Carell (The Office USA) who has given his initial support to the plans, having previously stated his desire to star in a remake as lead character ‘Del Boy’, saying: “That is my dream role. The British do sitcoms better than anybody else in the world. I think with the right scriptwriters and cast we could do Only Fools and Horses justice. If anybody wants to help me do a remake, I’d love it.”

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ACMA Find Double Catch-Up Viewing Figures In Australia

Matt — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:28:21 +0000

Users of online TV in Australia have doubled in the past year according to the country’s official media body ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority), with online streaming of TV-based content being used at its highest-ever rates.

The ACMA report, entitled ‘ACMA Communications Report 2010-11‘, claims that for June 2011, around 1.1 million unique users viewed TV content via an official catch-up service, up from the the figure of 568,000 recorded in June 2010.

The explanation for this near-doubled figure is that along with an increasing popularity of online TV services, Australian Internet service providers (ISP’s) now offer higher-speed and improved services with larger data usage allowances, potentially encouraging potential online viewers now that they have the proper means to do so.

National public broadcaster ABC’s Georgina Waite had claimed last month that the ABC iView (an Australian service with a number of similarities to the BBC iPlayer) was experiencing strong growth, with the channel’s comedy series Angry Boys getting 1.4m hits during the time it was on, with the iView website itself on a total of 1.6 million.

Meanwhile, commercial service Multi Channel Network recently announced that providers Foxtel and Austar would be coming together to launch a multi-platform catch-up TV service (free to subscribers) of their own in 2012, in a bid to rival the free-to-air iView in the online market.

Online TV, as well as social networking, are thought by ACMA to be the two main contributions to an increase of 76% in the amount of downloaded data in Australia, at a total of 274TB downloaded across the nation during the Q2 2011 measurement period, at an average rate of 25.1GB per Internet user during that time.

ACMA said that the destinations of these downloads was slowly seeing a growth of mobile services, stating: ”While mobile Internet use is increasing, fixed-line networks continue to do the heavy lifting of the digital economy, carrying an estimated 93% of total data downloaded via the Internet.”

With online services and viewing options certainly on the rise in Australia (like much of the rest of the world), will the huge rate of increase continue into 2012?

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ABC Go GaGa For Thanksgiving

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:03:27 +0000

ABC have made a decision to centre their Thanksgiving line-up around one person, with a 90-minute-long show dedicated to popstar Lady Gaga celebrating the holiday with her friends and family.

The made-for-TV special, entitled A Very GaGa Thanksgiving, will see the singer featured in interviews with journalist Katie Couric, with the network promising ‘an intimate look’ into her personal life.

In addition to interviews, the show will take on a variety format, with Lady Gaga set to perform a set of eight songs for a selection of her family and friends, including a guest appearance from Tony Bennett. A further segment of the show will be celebrity chef Art Smith joining Lady Gaga in the kitchen to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner with special dishes.

Katie Couric said of the one-off show: “We all know Lady GaGa is a phenomenon. This is a chance to see more of who she is beneath the wild costumes and staged musical numbers. Lady GaGa as a high school student still bruised by being excluded from the party, Lady GaGa as a devoted daughter and caring sister, Lady GaGa as a 25-year-old woman embracing fame and fortune that seemed to come overnight. She will impress you, delight you and surprise you.”

The 90-minute show will air on this year’s Thanksgiving date of 24 November, but how will ABC’s celebrity-based special fare with the watching audience? With Lady Gaga involved, there is bound to be a talking point that will draw viewers in, and while this website does not do much in the way of celebrity gossip, you have to wonder whether the host of this show will be carving the turkey at her dinner, or just dressing up as one…

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New ABC Disney Deals For Netflix And Amazon

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:35:47 +0000

Disney-ABC have confirmed further licensing agreements with online Streaming services Netflix and Amazon.

Lost coming to Netflix and Amazon Prime

The deal with Netflix is an extension of an existing contract that lets Netflix stream content from ABC Studios, Disney Channel and ABC Family. For Amazon, the deal will see them streaming content from ABC Family, ABC Studios, Marvel and Disney Channel to $79 yearly Prime customers.

The deal will allow streaming of new seasons from Disney-ABC series, but only after a 30 day period after the last episode of the season has been shown. The deal brings big shows such as Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Lost and Desperate Housewives to US online viewers.

For Amazon the deal is for less content, but it cost less as Amazon will not be charging the rates that Netflix do. The deal comes just as they prepare to unleash the new Kindle Fire tablet.

Watching Online TV In Australia

Kelly — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 07:17:38 +0000

Though not quite as high-profile as the UK or USA, Australia still provides a key role in the English-speaking TV world, with a range of content through a number of Australian TV Networks services that are available to its population of over 22 million.

The terrestrial channel market is led by commercial network Seven Network, which is usually followed in the nationwide ratings by Nine Network and Network Ten, respectively. In addition to this, Australia has a national public broadcaster, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), similar in many ways to the BBC, except that it is funded entirely by annual government grants and official product sales.

All of these major channels, along with their affiliates, have a presence online, whether it be catch-up TV (such as the ABC iView), live streaming (often seen on news networks) or providing small clips and previews of popular shows. This can also be seen to a certain extent on websites of networks that feature on cable or satellite services, but some of these online TV packages are subscription-based along with their host channel.

A interesting feature for a couple of the major terrestrial networks is that their online services are provided in partnership with a big-name search engine (Seven Network on Yahoo, and the Nine Network on MSN), with all videos and channel information hosted on a website operated by the search engine that features branded promotion of both parties.

More information on networks and TV guides in Australia can be found on our Aussie TV networks page for the country. For a detailed look at the television industry in Australia, follow this link to Wikipedia.

Yahoo And ABC Deal Brings More News To The Web

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:39:39 +0000

Yahoo have agreed a deal with ABC News which will bring ABC news content to their website whilst bringing original shows to the Web. The deal means that ABC will become the premier provider of content for Yahoo News and will also bring an interactive Good Morning America show to the website.

ABC coming to Yahoo News

The agreement agreed Monday will get a predicted 100 million US monthly visitors to Yahoo News said Yahoo Executive Vice President, Ross Levinsohn in an interview. Their will also be new web content created by ABC journalists. a revamped GoodMorningAmerica.com website, powered by Yahoo will include a video series called Newsmakers, featuring both politicians, world leaders and celebrity guests.

The move said Levinsohn, “will create new demand” for online advertising on Yahoo, due to the increase in traffic and “premium” ABC content. Speaking for ABC News, Ben Sherwood, president said, “This relationship will give ABC News an unrivaled ability to reach across the Web, combining Yahoo!’s vast distribution and cutting-edge technology with our award-winning journalism. For years, we’ve proudly proclaimed that more Americans get their news from ABC News than any other source. Going forward, we will greatly expand this leadership by building a connection with a whole new online audience.

ABC News and Yahoo will share resources, news gathering operations and ABC will be top provider for Yahoo News. Both companies will collaborate on original coverage to appear on both the Yahoo News and ABC News sites.

Although the two companies may seem to be intrinsically linked, both will maintain editorial control of their own sites, ABC News, GoodMorningAmerica.com and Yahoo News.

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ABC To Follow Fox With Delayed Catch-Up Streaming

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:35:14 +0000

It seems that ABC are getting ready to follow Fox who have begun delaying catch-up streaming coming to connected devices and computers for 8 days. Fox are now making viewers who are used to watching shows the day after airing on Fox.xom and Hulu, wait eight times longer.

ABC imposing a catch-up delay for freeloaders

The rule does not apply if your a subscriber of any cable, satellite or IPTV service using the TV Anywhere initiative, or a paying Hulu Plus subscriber. It was expected that other networks may delay streaming via free services as well.

And now we hear that ABC will be joining Fox in the delaying tactics for non-subscribers for catch-up TV. Speaking last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger said,“You are right in your assessment that we’ll basically push the window back or make access to the programming more difficult or later, except if customers are authenticated as a subscriber.”

Iger confirmed that although they were happ distributing content to Hulu and Netflix, the cable companies are whats important and that he does not want any disruption with his existing relationships with the cable companies paying big bucks.

He continued, “The relationship that we have with the distributors is a very valuable one, and it’s one that we aim to respect by both protecting what we currently have and determining or figuring out ways that we can expand on it.”

The TV and cable networks are trying every trick to stop viewers cancelling their subscriptions, or cutting the cord, by putting everything back behind a paywall.

Free online TV is getting more marginalal and the pay options being sweetened to the point where we all re-sign up to a cable company or online subscription. Many will not mind the additional wait, but knowing that everyone else can watch the show will be painful for some.

Viewers will not experience the full effect of the move until the new TV season begins in September.

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Oprah Ends ABC Show And Moves To OWN

Matt — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:13:51 +0000

Even when she is not on her own talk show, she pulls in big ratings, so the last-ever episode of the quarter-century-long The Oprah Winfrey Show (commonly referred to as just Oprah) will come as a huge occasion of both celebration and disappointment amongst her millions of fans, as she looks to shift her focus towards her own-brand network.

Oprah, which has been the scene of numerous classic celebrity and social moments throughout its run, airs its much-publicised final original episode this afternoon on ABC affiliate networks around America, and the world, with the goodbye show for the 57-year-old host likely to be as tearful and emotional as the two-hour celebrity tribute special seen last week.

The show has been a favourite amongst American audiences for its multi-topical format, and she has long dominated the afternoon chatshow market, but fans will be pleased to know that with her focus now on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), she will be producing and presenting a night-time version of the format, titled Oprah’s Next Chapter, beginning in 2012.

The OWN, naturally, are to celebrate the end of the current 25-year-old show with special treatment, with all regular programming on the channel shut down between 4-5pm (ET), replaced by a message asking viewers to tune in to the finale of Oprah instead. This will be followed by the cable channel running a six-day block of special and exclusive Oprah-themed programming every night for the next six days, as well as a morning-to-evening-run on each day of the upcoming weekend.

The interim CEO of OWN, Peter Liguori, said of the tribute to their boss: “We couldn’t think of a more appropriate way to honor Oprah than for OWN to celebrate her ongoing legacy and enormous contribution to daytime television.” We will all be watching this truly historic event.”

Celebrity tributes are also coming in vast quantity for their friend and colleague. Rosie O’Donnell, who is to be launching a chat show of her own on OWN, said: “She has set the watermark for quality in television, daytime and nighttime, and it’s going to be my desire, my goal and my hope to reach that level, or somewhere close to it, to make her happy and proud.”

Will Oprah’s move into full-time cable TV production become a further success for the decorated host, or will she have been more at home on a sofa?

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Hulu Looking To Extend Online TV Content Agreements

admin — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:42:22 +0000

As the number of online streaming platforms increase, so does the competition for content rights. With this in mind, Hulu have been quick to try and tie up long term content agreements.

Hulu looking to extend content deals

Reports in MediaMemo say that new deals could be sewn up within a week, securing content from Fox, NBC and ABC on the catch-up tv website. It reports that, “An agreement to extend the content licenses that owners News Corp., Disney and NBC Universal signed two years ago should be in place within a week.”

What is still in question though, is whether the agreements will be exclusive or allow the content to be streamed by other services. MediaMemo say that, “It will have to accept whatever terms its partners arrange.”

Boss of Hulu, Jason Kilar has been trying to secure new content deals and even threatened to quit last year. He said in a blog post, that Hulu is looking to secure 1 million Hulu Plus subscribers and $500 million this year.

Of course some may argue that Hulu should be looking for new content rather than just renewing what they already have.

Comcast Adds Fox And ABC To On-Demand Service

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 15:03:54 +0000

Cable giant Comcast have announced a deal that will set them as the only on-demand video presence (Comcast On-Demand), which shows content from all of the four major American broadcast networks (ABC, Fox, NBC and CBS). This equates to an addition of over 20 network TV shows added to their roster of on-demand content.

As part of Comcast’s plan to embrace online video, the move will give customers of the service an even broader selection of pre-recorded content, and the move also sees Comcast become the first-ever pay-TV provider to host shows from all major networks, ABC (owned by Walt Disney Co.) and Fox (owned by News Corp.).

Shows available will include popular ratings winners such as Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, and Family Guy, amonst others, with each series’ four most recent episodes being put on the service tomorrow, with the new content coming at no extra charge to subscribers. Content will also be providing new episodes on the service just a day after they first air on their original host network.

Comcast are entering a tough arena and will be competing against several other cable, online, and satellite providers in the on-demand market, which features some big names like The Dish Network, DirecTV, Hulu, and Netflix, amongst others.

Marcien Jenckes, general manager of video services at Comcast, was pleased with the new deal, stating: “By nearly doubling the number of current TV series from broadcast networks, Xfinity TV On Demand offers our customers a one-of-a-kind experience that can’t be found elsewhere.”

The additions take Comcast’s on-demand offering to almost 600 unique series, with 56 of them coming from the four broadcast networks. Reports have also surfaced at Comcast’s plans to add to this with pre-theatrical window movie content at a high price, as DirecTV have recently announced, but any move into this market is currently at the planning stage.

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Video On Demand From ABC Comes To Portugal

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:53:28 +0000

US TV is the most popular worldwide so it comes as no surprise that ABC TV are launching their product worldwide. And the latest Country to get video on demand from ABC is Portugal via pay subscription TV service ZON Videoclube.

ABC Catch up on Zon

The launch involves ABC’s International cach-up-tv service ABC TV On Demand and will let subscribers of ZON watch 500 plus top US shows such as Criminal Mind, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Desperate Housewives. With the promise of continual new shows being added.

Portugese TV viewers will need to subscribe to watch the ABC content for around $15 monthly. Zon is an established on demand supplier offering around 5000 shows

This will be the first on demand deal of it’s type in Portugal and follows a deal with UK operator BT Vision in 2010. And luckily for ABC who are part owner of catch up service Hulu, they are not competing with the service as it is still only available in the US.

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ABC To Find 101 Ways To Leave A Gameshow

Matt — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:49:52 +0000

ABC have decided to expand on the gameshow front of their programming, after a successful pilot has resulted in the greenlight for a series order of 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show, a game show format from Endemol.

The show will be presented by Jeff Sutphen (BrainSurge), while the chief executive producer is Matt Kunitz (Wipeout), with a six-episode run set to start in the summer.

101 Ways, is seen as a sort of spoof on other gameshows, by aiming to feature as many entertaining ’exits’ as possible for contestants who lose rounds of answering multiple-choice questions, with the prize for the eventual winner being $50,000 cash prize.

The ejections from the show are undoubtedly the highlight of the format, which range from trapdoors, being shot out of a cannon, or getting dragged underwater by an anchor, amongst other weird and wonderful departures.

Endemol North America (producers of the show) chairman David Goldberg said of the pickup: ”101 Ways to Leave a Game Show is unlike any other show we’ve done before. Incorporating action-packed stunts that will eject contestants so outlandishly within the show, is sure to keep contestants and viewers on the edge of their seats having no idea what to expect next.”

By ABC’s series order, the USA becomes the seventh country/region to air their version of Endemol’s gameshow since its inception in 2010, following on from Great Britain (on the BBC), Turkey, Germany, Argentina, Italy, and Sweden, with Israel also set for a pilot version soon. Could this be another successful format from Endemol, following classic hits such as Fear Factor, Wheel of Fortune, and Wipeout?

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Oscars Suffer Ratings Drop

Matt — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:20:49 +0000

ABC‘s broadcast of Sunday night’s 83rd Academy Awards has recieved information on its viewing figures, and while over 37.6 million viewers tuned in, it was bad news for the 8:30-11:30 PM time-adjusted airing, after recording a 9% audience decrease from last year’s effort of 41.3 million.

Despite an effort to attract younger viewers into watching the ceremony by appointing younger hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco, there was a clear decrease in viewers in the 18-49 (11.7 share rating, down 12%), and 18-34 (5% drop) demographics.

Despite some poor reviews by critics, the Oscars need not worry too much about the ratings, as they have been swinging wildly between 30 and 45 million viewers on American TV for the past 10 years, while also drawing higher totals and ratings than the 2008 and 2009 editions. Part of the contribution to this statistic may be the popularity of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture, all of which grossed over $100M in the box office.

For local viewing on the 26 Nielsen Local People Meter markets, the most Oscar-friendly markets in America were New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, all of which recorded a rating of 33 or higher.

Ratings aside, this year’s ceremony was notable for the deserved success of some of the biggest films of 2010, with The King’s Speech and Inception leading the way with four Oscars each, although it was The King’s Speech which took the more prestigous honours of the night, such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Writing, whereas Inception was more recognised for its Visual Effects and Sound Editing, amongst others. Other films which recieved multiple awards on the night were The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Alice In Wonderland, and The Fighter.

Could it be that viewers cannot bear to sit through another sickening Oscar acceptance speech, or are they sick of celebrity backslapping and general brown nosing?

Whatever movies hit the headlines this year, it will be very tough to break the 57.3 million (35.3 rating) Oscar viewers record set by the 70th Academy Awards telecast in 1998, but will the 84th ceremony be able to regain some of its lost viewership?

Court Puts Stop To Ivi Streaming TV Episodes

delboy — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:50:59 +0000

Predictably after being taken to court, Ivi has been given orders to stop streaming Web broadcasts of tv episodes that are owned by TV networks, a US judge has ruled.

The District Judge in New York granted a motion by broadcasters that include CBS ABC and NBC. for a initial injunction against ivi ret-transmitting of their content.

ivi TV is a streaming service costing $4.99 per month, offering users top US TV content by means of a downloadable app that works wherever there is an Internet connection. Viewers have access to content weeks before the same shows going on air in their own Country on free to air tv networks.

Ivi are to appeal against the ruling, they say on their Website.

“We believe the court made an error in the ruling, We will be appealing the decision in the second circuit but in the interim we must shut down most of our broadcast channel offerings.”

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ABC Take Care Of Other Peoples Kids

Kelly — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:32:09 +0000

ABC have confirmed that they will be trying to bring yet another new show to viewer’s screens, with their pilot order of multi-camera sitcom Other People’s Kids.

The project will be strongly supported due to co-production from ABC’s in-house ABC Studios (alongside Brillstein Entertainment Partners), and was first concieved by Hunter Covington, with the plot based on a responsibility-free 32-year-old, who is thrust into a more dutiful life when his new relationship comes with his new girlfriend’s 2 kids, and run-ins with her ex-husband and his in-laws. Stacy Traub and Peter Traugott are to be co-executive producers for the project.

ABC’s new head of programming, Paul Lee, has expressed his preference and added potential with multi-camera formats for sitcom, proven by his ABC Family show Melissa & Joey, with Lee planning a return for ABC’s famed family-friendly, prime-time ’TGIF’ sitcom block. This personal preference is reflected in the pilot orders that have come about recently, with multicamera comedy projects such as so far with The Last Day of Man (pitched by Jack Burditt), Work It and Smothered (Andrew Reich & Ted Cohen), and Lost and Found (Marisa Coughlan), all joining Other People’s Kids past the planning stage.

It seems that Lee is not completely dismissive of the single-camera format for comedies, with some of their biggest series in this department - Modern Family, The Middle, and Cougar Town – all having been sensibly renewed for another season.

ABC have certainly been busy in retaining old and gathering new content, and have also confirmed the next summer-arrival of two new original scripted dramas: with CIA hunt-based Missing, and an unnamed medical series set in Afghanistan. It looks set to be a fresh new line of programming in the works at the ABC network, but will they further add to the mix?

Incoming TV searches:

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ABC Renew Six Top TV Shows

Matt — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:34:27 +0000

ABC do not like messing about when it comes to renewals, after they announced that six of their biggest shows are set for another new series.

The pickups have come earlier than expected, but ABC were probably desperate their star shows, such as sitcom Modern Family, Wednesday comedies The Middle and Cougar Town, popular drama Grey’s Anatomy and its own spin-off, Private Practice, and crime-based dramedy Castle, while bosses are also close to a deal for two extra series of Dancing with the Stars in addition to its current run.

One big-name series that ABC have been in less of a hurry to renew is veteran dramedy Desperate Housewives, which had recently posted a 20% ratings decline since its previous season, and although it is still said to be a key show for the network, could ABC be looking to bring it to a close after a 7-year run? Even if it is not, series creator Marc Cherry has claimed that he may relinquish his role as showrunner to focus on a new unnamed pilot project with ABC.

Regardless of the fate of Desperate Housewives, though, there will be promising times ahead for ABC’s primetime entertainment, as they keep hold of their most high-profile series for a while longer yet.

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Netflix Disney Deal Kick In The Nuts For Hulu

admin — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 16:04:34 +0000

Netflix giving rivals a bloody nose

The Netflix aquisition of more premium content this week, in the $150 to $200 million deal with Disney ABC has given rival online tv providers a wake up call. Hulu, in particular will have need to look at improving it’s line up and content value says a report in The New York Post.

Showing what a powerful force it has become, the Netflix deal signed earlier this week with Disney will shake up the existing cosy TV syndication setup. The deal gives Netflix customers (available in as little as 15 days after they air), streaming access to hundreds of premium shows that not only include Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty. But also content from Disney Channel and ABC Family networks.

Netflix have been striking a lot of similar content deals with the likes of MGM, Lionsgate and Paramount film studios. But the fact that Disney are one of the three owners (along with NBC and News Corp) of Hulu, makes this deal all the more painful. Hulu will have to now improve its content to Hulu Plus paying customers, or even drop subscription charges all together if it wants to compete.

Netflix is now looking in pole position to dominate the massive online streaming market. Whilst other big names are looking to get in on the act, such as Amazon and Microsoft. Netflix are doing deals and adding it’s service to more hardware devices almost weekly.

Where does Hulu turn when one of its partners license their content to a major rival? Although Hulu still have the edge and can show episodes sooner, the gap is closing, and Hulu have the much greater movie choice. It is definately game on.

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Netflix Add Disney And ABC Streaming Content To Online Lineup

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:37:27 +0000

Netflix tap into the Disney ABC archives

Netflix have enhanced their selection of streaming TV shows and movies for customers in a deal with Disney-ABC, the move showing what a serious rival they are becoming in the internet tv market.

In the deal, Netflix will get streaming rights to older seasons of top tv shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost. Disney shows and ABC Family content will also make their Netflix debut. The move follows Netflix as they have chosen to go for digital distribution and away from physical disc distribution. Netflix are quick to point out that watching tv and movies on demand is the preferred delivery method for its customers.

For Netflix, Ted Sarandos chief content officer said:- “TV content streamed from Netflix has proven to be immensely popular with our members. Adding to our existing Disney-ABC lineup with great network and cable shows, and opening up ABC Family for the first time, are important steps in creating a wide and diverse selection of content Netflix members of all ages can watch.”The company now offers a standalone streaming plan for $7.99 a month and DVD-swapping customers have seen small price increases recently.

The Netflix streaming service is making a big impression with it’s rivals, Hulu has dropped it’s subscription charge to match Netflix, and rivals Google and Apple are weighing up their next move in this increasingly competative market.

The deal which will last for a year with an option to extend is said to be worth $150-$200 million, and follows other big deals made with NBC and Warner. Netflix are also said to be offering big money to stream current shows rather than the mainly re-runs in it’s current catalogue.

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ABC Singing And Dancing With New Musical Shows

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:54:22 +0000

Musical series are all the rage at the moment, the trend started off a few years ago by Disney Channel’s movies and shows such as High School Musical and Hannah Montana, and carried further forward by Fox mega hit Glee.

This swing in singing and dancing entertainment mixed with a comedy or drama has prompted ABC, whose partner channel Disney so famously started the musical genre’s recent resurgence, are in the development stage of two brand new and exclusive music-themed series to premiere near the end of next year.

The break-out show planned from the network is set to be a drama containing musical elements, and starring Idina Menzel. The other is defined as a musical comedy, and although not much has been revealed about it, it is said to be written by Robert Horn, who has recently worked with several upcoming Disney Channel musical movie productions.

Idina Menzel is being lined up to headlining her own idea of a musical hour-long project based on a mother-daughter musical-based relationship, in a similar manner to famous early 2000′s hit Gilmore Girls. The Broadway actress will star as a single mother with a teenager who, work by waiting tables and performing at ceremonies such as weddings, said to be similar to how Menzel herself began her career. The ABC project will be packaged by ICM.

The un-named Robert Horn project, produced in association with Sony TV, will be a ‘half-hour, female-driven, musical comedy’, based on a concept by Beastlyco-producers Lindy Ascher and Susan Cartsonis, both lined up to executive produce alongside Horn. Horn is also said to have two more TV projects waiting in the wings at ABC: including a half-hour slot at Studios and an hour-long musical series at Family. Could this musical flavour be the start of a new direction for one of America’s best-known and longest-standing networks?

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FilmOn Turned Off By Courts

Matt — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:30:05 +0000

FilmOn bosses face tense negotiations with their television network affiliates in an effort to restore live TV streaming to its website, after federal court ruled on a temporary restraining order against the popular streaming website.

This ruling means that the website is, at least temporarily, shut down, while it defends its interpretation of the hotly debated copyright law that allows them to retransmit signals from their network partners. A failure to convince the courts of their innocence will result in permanent closure for the company.

The judge at the US District Court in New York issued a temporary restraining order against FilmOn on Monday, this follows a lawsuit filed by the four major US TV networks (Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC) after FilmOn streamed signals of the respective television stations across the Internet without prior consent. The controversy surrounding FilmOn is based on broadcasters hurring to get a grip on their distribution control, with new and lucrative of their content as a plethora of new distributors such as Google TV, Apple TV, and streaming sites try to bring shows and film to Internet users.

“We respect the Court’s decision in this matter and have temporarily ceased retransmission of free network television on FilmOn,” said a spokesman for the free site, which attracted over 30 million users in the first month of the September 2010 US launch.

A press release added: “FilmOn will be drafting papers in opposition to the Networks’ motion for a preliminary injunction in the coming weeks, with which it expects to submit to the court the opinion of an expert on FilmOn’s technology in order to demonstrate that FilmOn is indeed a cable system. If FilmOn successfully opposes the Networks’ motion for a preliminary injunction, the court’s Temporary Restraining Order – which by law can only remain in effect for a short duration – will be dissolved.”

The takedown comes shortly after FilmOn launched a free iPad streaming service. It is unclear at this time if the streaming will be shut down on the Apple device.

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Google Say Their TV Platform Is Not Replacing Cable But Complimenting It

Matt — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:51:45 +0000

Google TV not a threat to cable?

network have not experienced the smoothest product launch with their Google TV Internet platform. Criticised in some quarters, blocking of tv streams by the big TV networks and Hulu streams being cut off. However, Google have come out fighting, insisting that they are not a threat to the television business.

Speaking at the Streaming Media West Conference, Rishi Chandra, Google TV lead product manager said:- “We are not looking to replace cable. Our goal is not to replace it but to add to it”. Chandra also said that the Hulu service qould be coming to Google TV, but did not say when.

Shortly after launch, the big three in ABC, NBC and CBS blocked Google TV viewers from accessing their internet tv players, leading many to believe the reason was fear of piracy. This was dismissed by Chandra and he pointed to the paywall setup of 3 Google TV partners in Netflix, Amazon and HBO saying:- “What’s important is that content owners are in control, they decide what content is distributed and monetized.”

Chandra said that the networks were only delaying the inevitable. “The Web is coming, with or without Google,” he concluded. “It’s inevitable.” The future will give the consumer thousands of channels instead of hundreds, of which the tv networks will only be a part of.

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TV Networks Closing The Pitches

Matt — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 09:48:31 +0000

Networks wrapping up for the year

As the development cycle for TV shows comes to an end for the year, it will be bad news to potential new show projects that the major networks, which have the power to make their creative ideas a reality, are now in the processes of shutting down their buying of new projects until the start of the next development season.

Those that have already ‘shut down’ for the winter include NBC, ABC and CW, wile Fox and CBS are still listening to a few more offers, preferably comedy. NBC have also claimed that they are done listening to new offers, with the exception of any project that has ’A-list’ credentials.

The recent buying season has been notable for a number of big dramas being approved by the recipient networks, including series projects such as J.J. Abrams’ Alcatraz (Fox), Jerry Bruckheimer’s Lost Girls (ABC), and David E. Kelley’s remake of Wonder Woman.

The other major theme for TV shows is comedy, and although the number of new pilot orders has decreased, there is still a good amount of humorous programming to look forward to, with Peter Tolan’s The Council of Dads (Fox), Darren Star’s Good Christian Bitches (ABC)and NBC show My Life as an Experiment all amongst the potential hits to look out for in the coming year. I

n the meantime, failed efforts and new brainstorms from production executives will have to go back to the drawing board, and probably wait a few months to fine-tune their ideas, and then have another shot at the lucrative world of silver-screen entertainment.

ABC Greenlights Charlies Angels Reboot

Matt — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:08:46 +0000

After a year of planning and development, ABC‘s reboot of their classic 1970′s show Charlie’s Angels has been given the all-clear to produce a pilot episode. The series is based on three women who work for a detective agency, under the leadership of their off-screen boss, Charlie.

Those involved in the project, produced in association with Sony TV, was originally set up with ABC for a similar pilot deal this time last year, with Josh Friedman employed as a writer. It failed to get as far as production, though, and the project was sent to redevelop with new writers on board, Smallville co-creators Al Gough and Miles Millar.

New ABC president Paul Lee is said to have been a big fan of the proposed script ever since he took over in August. Top casting director John Papsidera has been selected to discreetly hunt actresses for the three female leads. The pilot for the series is set to begin filming in January in Miami.

Alongside Gough and Millar on the executive production team are Leonard Goldberg (who served a similar role on the original series), Drew Barrymore(star of the two Charlie’s Angels movies), and Nancy Juvonen. The recruits all had a hand in the two movie versions of the hit series (2000 and sequel in 2003).

The reboot plan is set to follow the process of another popular 70′s series that has made a recent comeback, Hawaii Five-0, which had also had to go through two development cycles. ABC will be hoping for similar success from their new breed of Angels…

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Google TV Cut Off By TV Networks Due To Piracy Fears?

Matt — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:06:15 +0000

Networks vs Google

So, that was the reason major tv networks stopped serving streams to Google TV – Piracy. It looks like this is the excuse being trotted out anyway according to ubergizmo. ABC (owned by Disney) and CBS have both confirmed what everyone already knew, that they have stopped Google TV from streaming their catch up tv websites.

Apparently the thorny issue of piracy and the fact that both companies beleived Google eas not doing enough to prevent it. Of course it could just be that the networks do not want traditional viewers watching the cheaper ads that come via streaming of course. But then that would be a cynical thing to say.

Viewers of course can already watch/copy the traditional tv show that comes in full HD on standard tv. So why would they want to copy an internet stream? If people want a copy they can browse the net and find it anyway?

Other rumors point to the major networks running scared. An internet tv service supplying more than traditional cable or satellite will fasten viewers who plan on cutting the cord. And with Google TV promising to finally merge the internet and broadcast television in a simple way.

If this scenario is true, then it’s a cynical and short sighted response that will only delay the inevitable. The news comes shortly after Hulu also blocked access for the Google os system.

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