Congress Says FCC Chair Abused Power: MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer December 10, 2008

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a scathing 110 page report titled "Deception and Distrust: The Federal Communications Commission under Kevin J. Martin." The report claims Martin manipulated findings on FCC reports on "a la carte" channels, as well as reports on the state of competition in the cable market.

Electronic Arts announced that it expects its fiscal 2009 report to fall short of its prior expectations. While EA had already lowered estimates due to a delay with the latest Harry Potter game, analysts are predicting EA will take in $5.06 billion in sales, which had been predicted to be as high as $5.3 billion. For the upcoming fiscal year, EA plans to cut costs by laying off 6% of its employees, while investing in marketing hit game franchises.

AOL is ready to share Bebo with the world. Bebo, the popular European social networking site AOL purchased for $850 million in March, has yet to gain a following in the States, and is losing its grip in the UK to Facebook. TW CEO Jeff Bewkes called Bebo the "riskiest acquisition" Time Warner had in 2008.

comScore says 13.5 billion online videos were viewed in October, a 45% increase year-over-year. While an increase in viewing is no surprise, the amount of time viewers spent watching an individual grew to 3 minutes, a sign users are more willing to watch longer video snacks.

Plus, today's consulting question, "NDP Group says that Black Friday sales were down 8% year-over-year, was that because of Cyber-Monday?" Shelly has the answer on today's MediaBytes.

Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy® Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at [e-mail]