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Season 3 of AMC's Mad Men got off to a fantastic start Sunday night. Viewership was up 33% from last year to 2.8 million, the show's largest audience ever. E! also had a big weekend with "Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami." And Lifetime had two season highs with "Drop Dead Diva" and "Army Wives." Are these new audiences or are they stolen from broadcast TV? Guess
Kiss, the self-proclaimed "hottest band in the land" is following the hottest trend in classic rock: the Walmart exclusive. Kiss' new "Sonic Boom" is a three-disc set that mixes new songs and old material with video content at a low price, $12 bucks. It's win/win. Did you forget that Wal*Mart was also the world's largest music store?
MySpace is in advanced talks to acquire social recommendation application iLike. Sources say News Corp. will pay approximately $20 million for the application company, which is popular with Facebook users. While purchasing iLike may help slightly increase ad rev for MySpace, it will surely not help the News Corp. venture boost its social network's status.
Dreamworks and Reliance Big Pictures have completed their first phase of funding. Worth an estimated $325 million, the deal had been postponed for months because of uncertain economic conditions. The deal has Dreamworks producing six films a year, to be distributed by Disney, who will also loan money to Dreamworks.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell will indeed launch a smartphone in China. The phone, dubbed the mini3i, will be available from an exclusive wireless provider and will have access to China Mobile's app store. The move is Dell's first foray in the smartphone market.
Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer 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. Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net For information about Get Digital Classes, visit www.shellypalmer.com/seminars